January 23, 2010 at 8:18 am · Filed under Uncategorized
China Daily has lots of stuff, including:
The Internet originated on American soil. In 1969, the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Defense Department established the world’s first testing packet-switched network (PSN) to connect four universities on US soil. The world saw a remarkable expansion of the scale and number of Internet users from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. In September 1989, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was founded with a grant from the US Department of Commence to administer the Internet terminal server. Over the past 40 years, the US has been dominating the world Internet as the core technique holder with an inherent advantage of being the cradle of the Internet.
read more
January 6, 2010 at 10:08 am · Filed under Uncategorized
came across this interview on ann waddell’s blog:
“It might take us a lifetime to find out what it is we need to say. Most of us fall into where our feelings are headed while we’re quite young. But the beauty of all this uncertainty would be that in the process of exhausting all the possibilities, we might actually stumble unconsciously into the recognition of something that’s useful to us, that speaks to a deep need within ourselves. At the same time, I like to think that in order for any of us to really do anything new, we can’t know exactly what it is we are doing.”
read more
December 30, 2009 at 11:06 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Blaming China for Copenhagen Won’t Help the Climate
by Alex Pasternack, Feb 28, 2009
This article is a good summary of the Copenhagen failure. The idea of rich countries, who are also the biggest emitters, being the ones to legislate on climate change, is absurd, but no more absurd than any other part of our political system. as Nature puts it:
“Anyone who uses energy from fossil fuels at a price that does not account for climate-related costs of greenhouse-gas emissions is also ‘winning’ at someone else’s expense. Winners and losers may be the same people, but usually they are not.”
December 29, 2009 at 3:44 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
A taxi driver in Kunming was very excited to know his passenger came from America, the “old big” one, as he put it.
“But America is already in decline,” I told him.
His reply: “A starving camel is still bigger than a horse” (瘦死的骆驼比马大).
December 28, 2009 at 9:53 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Verdant Mountains Cannot Stop Water Flowing; Eastward the River Keeps on Going
- Premier Wen Jiabao at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference
By Zhao Cheng & Tian Fan (Xinhua News Agency), and Wei Dongze (People’s Daily)
BEIJING, 24 Dec. (Xinhua) – On 19 December, the Copenhagen climate change conference finally produced major and positive outcomes after complicated and tortuous negotiations. The Copenhagen Accord issued at the conference firmly upheld the basic framework and principles established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, further clarified the due obligations and actions of the developed and developing countries respectively according to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”, and reflected international consensus regarding the long-term goal for addressing climate change, financing, technology, transparency of actions and other issues.
From 16 to 18 December, in the nearly 60 hours Premier Wen Jiabao spent in Copenhagen, he held intensive talks and consultations with other leaders to drive the negotiation process forward. We, as members of the travelling press corps, witnessed the roller-coaster, nail-biting negotiations at Copenhagen. But more importantly, we experienced the sincerity, confidence, resolve and effective efforts Premier Wen brought to Copenhagen, which fully demonstrated China’s image as a responsible big country dedicated to development and cooperation.
read more of this article
December 28, 2009 at 9:39 am · Filed under Uncategorized
posting the entire text here because danwei is blocked in china
Danwei interviews Jonathan Watts on Copenhagen
Posted by Alice Xin Liu, December 25, 2009 2:30 PM
Danwei: Were you optimistic before taking off for the Copenhagen summit?
Jonathan Watts: I was impressed with the progress that was made before the
summit started. Getting so many nations, including China, US and India, to
declare carbon targets was an achievement. I did not have high expectations
for the Copenhagen conference, but I was hoping to see a little movement on
some of the major issues.
Danwei: At which point − before or during Copenhagen − did you realize that
the climate accord was going to freeze Europe out and as Miliband said, be
“hijacked by a group of countries”?
JW: I don’t see it quite as you describe. There was a gulf in the
expectations of the different parties. It soon became apparent that the
BASIC group (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) were playing for a 0-0
draw. They did not want to sign up to anything that would constrain their
future economic growth. Europe wanted ambitious, legal targets for 2020 and
2050. The US was most concerned about ensuring China made its emissions data
more transparent and avoiding criticism for its dismal record in recent
years. Europe was the furthest from achieving its goals, which is depressing
as I think its targets were the best way to keep the rise in temperature
below two degrees celsius. China and the US, the world’s two biggest
emitters, came away happier as they can now continue emitting without legal
constraints for a longer period of time, perhaps indefinitely.
Danwei: What’s your opinion concerning the outcome?
JW: If you consider only the past two weeks, the outcome was disturbing.
Very little progress was made in Copenhagen despite all that effort, all
those nations, all those leaders and all the political capital invested.
From Obama and Wen to Desmond Tutu and Arnold Schwarzeneger, from scientists
to civil society, from pop music to the aristocracy, mankind lined up its
A-team to solve this problem, yet they only just salvaged a two-page
document. Given how close the conference came to complete failure, I wonder
whether leaders will ever again dare to sit down and try to thrash out a
deal. It will be difficult to get the political stars in alignment again. As
one depressed Asian delegate said to me, “We have wasted the opportunity of
a lifetime.”
On a broader, more hopeful note, the build-up to Copenhagen focused
unprecedented attention on climate change. It has forced nations to set
targets. We do have a deal of sorts and a greater commitment of funds. Now
leaders need to learn from the chaos of the conference and find a new way
forward. Building trust will be essential. There was little of that around
in Denmark.
Danwei: What are your plans now after reporting on Copenhagen for The
Guardian?
JW: I will continue to focus on the climate. Copenhagen will shape our lives
for years to come. But I will also look more widely at other environmental
issues. The high amount of carbon in the atmosphere is only one symptom of a
wider malaise. The main cause is the unsustainable consumption of a huge and
growing share of the world. It is an issue of development and individual
lifestyle choices. I hope I can reflect this in future articles. But damn,
it is hard to make people interested in any story that suggests they might
be at fault for something. Me included.
Danwei: Have you been proud of any one particular article that you’ve done
for The Guardian on environment? What was it and why do you think it’s
important?
JW: Tough question. I am never satisfied with any of my stories. This
subject is so important that I don’t feel I can ever adequately do it
justice. But I was lucky to get good access to coal mines and coal-to-oil
plants in Ordos recently, I was impressed by the work of young
conservationists trying to halt the trade in endangered wildlife in
Guangzhou, and I was proud to be part of the Guardian team in Copenhagen −
despite the disappointing outcome.
The biggest project of the year, though, was a “Climate Frontline”
interactive project I did before Copenhagen with Swiss photographers Mathias
braschler and Monica Fischer.
The Guardian invested heavily in this eight-month, 16-nation multimedia
project, which tried to show the human face of climate change. I joined for
a part of the trip and took some video of Mongolians affected by a dried-up
lake in Hebei, Russians whose homes are sinking into the melting Siberian
permafrost and Thai swamp dwellers who are losing their homes and
livelihoods to rising tides and temperatures.
Danwei: A bit of media speculation frenzy has been caused by Mark Lynas’
article published in The Guardian, where he claims that China refused to
agree on targets and intentionally humiliated Obama during Copenhagen’s
final meetings. Should we trust his account or just see it as one voice in a
cacophony? What’s your take?
JW: Lynas has given a partial view from the inside. It is fascinating, but
we will need a lot more than this to build up a full picture of what
happened. The post-conference blame game is now well underway. Europe, and
the UK in particular, have come out of Copenhagen with guns blazing. They
are frustrated because their strategy for the conference fell apart almost
from day one.
Their plan had been for the Danish hosts to introduce a compromise deal at
some point early in the talks. About a dozen countries, including China,
India and Sudan, had been consulted about this in advance, according to one
European negotiator. But this strategy collapsed when someone leaked the
“Danish Draft” to my Guardian colleague John Vidal. Nations that were not
part of the consultation were furious. The authority of the chair was
undermined. From then on, the talks ground to a halt. Almost the entire two
weeks was wasted as a result.
Was China to blame? Well, there is no smoking gun. The killing of the Danish
draft served the interests not only of China, but also other nations such as
India that were determined to block any proposal that might constrain their
future growth. Nonetheless, China was repeatedly cited as the main obstacle,
particularly on the final day. While Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and a core
group of leaders from about thirty nations or regions tried to hammer out a
deal, Wen Jiabao sent officials in his place. This was primarily a defensive
tactic. He did not want to be strongarmed into a deal. Those negotiators
choked almost every numerical target.
Three European negotiators confirmed to me that Chinese negotiators not only
blocked targets for themselves, but also a target proposed by Angela Merkel
for developed nations to trim emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
I found that disturbing and perplexing. Was China doing this because it will
be a developed nation by mid-century? I would like to hear China’s
explanation, but its delegates have been very quiet since the end of the
conference.
Danwei: Could you tell us a little about your book, to be published in June?
JW: The book is an environmental travelogue across China. It explores what
happens to people, wildlife, the economy and the climate when development
passes the point of sustainability. Is red China really turning Green? Can
crap save us from algae? How screwed are we as a species? Between
considering those questions, the book takes the reader from the Tibetan
Plateau to the Inner Mongolian deserts via waste dumps, nature reserves,
coal mines, eco-cities, melting glaciers, cancer villages, science parks,
Shangri-la, Xanadu and a Barbie Emporium.
December 26, 2009 at 7:39 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
more poetry from kurt wagner:
We all know love is free
But gets you fried chicken
I hear those people ring
Conversation listen
A false security
Breezes of the past
Impossibility
Reminds us of what’s best
Lost in topography
Each with our possessions
Those difficult days
A butcher of our conscience
A public enemy
That reaches for our guts and heart
A possibility
A magnificent obsession
December 26, 2009 at 7:24 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
a few years ago the goat introduced me to lambchop. it may be wrong to take lyrics away from music, so here is a *poem* called the old fat robin, on their album thriller:
The old fat robin sticks his beak into the ground
With a brain the size of an eraser
Kitty runs by causes the robin, she does floppin’
Soon another one lands there to replace her
Hear the tweeting and your sinuses
Count the pluses and the minuses
Turn frustration into sadness
Say goodbye to mister badness
A strong gust of wind blows upside my balding head
Makes my balls shiver
Makes a lump in my hokey bed
Except for a squirtle and some gasoline
Completely distracted by the american dream
Hear the tweeting and your sinuses
Count the pluses and the minuses
And though I may be wrong
We’re so glad you came along
songwriter: kurt wagner
