World's message to Thailand: hot air won't fight climate change

[webfact]

STREETWISE
World's message to Thailand: hot air won't fight climate change
Achara Deboonme

BANGKOK: -- Watching a Discovery documentary last week gave me a chilling insight. A Nepali man whose community had been wiped out by floods from melting Himalayan glaciers was speaking: You in developed countries can continue driving your cars and doing other things you take for granted, he said, but you should know that people in Nepal are suffering from the consequences.

Worried there was more devastation to come, he had begun to educate schoolchildren about climate change.

It was the right thing to do, given that the adults of this generation barely talk about climate change, ignoring the reality and living their daily lives in business-as-usual mode. Meanwhile, future generations who will benefit from any actions taken today are too young to know what climate change will mean for them.

How many in Thailand know we actually have a climate change master plan for 2012 to 2050?

The plan emphasises the role of public-sector stewardship in inducing change, while also promoting partnership between public, private and civil society and the use of the polluter-pay principle (PPP).

But much of it is conceptual and ineffective.

For example, we currently offer special tariffs for power generated from renewable sources. But this does little to tackle climate change when at the same time the real culprit - use of fossil fuels - is promoted by policies like the first-car scheme.

Not knowing how long I will live and how long I will have to endure news of worsening natural disasters, I am saddened by foot-dragging. Yet, on the bright side, it's heartening to hear about genuine and effective efforts that will benefit all, including the laggards.

Biodegradable plastic bags are available at more and more supermarkets. Frozen food containers are being made of less-polluting materials.

Consumers are taking the issue seriously. And the business sector is following suit to project a positive image to the public.

In Thailand, Siam Cement stands out here. In the past few years it has introduced measures to combat environmental degradation and begun sharing best practices with other companies in Thailand and neighbouring countries.

Sadly, the same cannot be said of PTT. Aside from its so-called "green" Energy Complex, our national oil and gas firm has focused more on energy security than on sustainable growth. There have been very few reports on this issue from the conglomerate.

At another state enterprise, Thai Airways International, though the business is making huge losses, progress on sustainability is more obvious. THAI has joined the United Nations' carbon offset programme, allowing its customers to pick the projects the funds will go to.

Airports of Thailand, which manages six international airports in the Kingdom, should also impress the public. Five of the six are now under the airport industry's Airport Carbon Accreditation Programme, launched in Europe in 2009 to recognise airports' carbon-busting measures.

While Suvarnabhumi is now at Level 2 in the programme (Reduction) to reduce its carbon footprint, the airports in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Don Mueang and Hat Yai are this year included in Level 1 (Mapping), whereby their carbon footprint is being measured. Though they are among only 21 airports in Asia-Pacific and 111 worldwide to be accredited, the good-news story has won little publicity.

In contrast, none of the provincial airports under the management of the Civil Aviation Department is in the programme.

That's no surprise - the government sector sees noticeably less effort for energy efficiency. Government offices are still mostly lit by fluorescent bulbs, though energy-saving bulbs have been standard elsewhere for some time. Well, we can blame that on the limited budget.

Last weekend brought news that under its latest five-year business plan, the State Railway of Thailand aims to resume profitability in 2019. That period should also be devoted to considering policies to cope with climate change.

The "no-suit" policy to cut down on air-conditioning has been absent for some time, with energy authorities doing a marvelous job in ensuring no power outages.

Air-conditioners at five-star hotels and shopping malls are running at full capacity, even when the number of tourists and shoppers drops.

The Finance Ministry allows a 200 per cent deduction on corporate tax for research and development spending. Yet finding out the aggregate deduction in the previous fiscal year is difficult and time-consuming - an indication the government needs to do more to make this tax incentive more alluring.

Well, we can't expect Thailand to be as ambitious as Europe. In October, the European Union announced new climate change mitigation and energy policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions by at least 40 per cent from 1990 levels by 2030. Yet, we should come up with something if we want to show the world how committed we are. How about an annual conference at the national level with speakers drawn from all parts of society? (Providing, of course, the National Centre for Peace and Order would allow it.)

The clock is ticking. The United Nations aims to build momentum for action with global discussion in Lima next month, followed by agreement on a post-2020 regime in Paris next year. Hopefully, the Thai government is prepared and knows what it has to offer.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Worlds-message-to-Thailand-hot-air-wont-fight-clim-30247963.html


-- The Nation 2014-11-18

[doremifasol]

That's the thing....we keep dragging our feet

and expect the government to solve the problem for us.

It takes two to tango

[chainarong]

The G20 just held in OZ President Obama and Chancellor Merkel of Germany both hammered home this climate change message , falling on PM Abbot of Australia deaf ears , he is in denial on most things and dreams and dithers on others , however one move for Thailand to overcome at the grassroots is the burning off of pasture and clean up the rubbish , Thailand's climate is harsh and hot, so trying to cut back on Air-Conditioning is a waste of time , better building materials is needed in this direction or making the cities less car friendly and the use of more public transport, some of this is now either being built or in the planning stage ,however more needs to be done, damage to the ecology by land clearing is another issue and not helped by releasing more land , keep working on it Thailand you owe it to future generations.

[canman]

Oh good, another global warming thread

[mojorison]

tldr

[mike324]

a good start will be to set the AC at 24-25 degrees, its silly that Thais love to set it at 20c and wear a jacket indoors. Better road infrastructure and public transportation will also decrease the amount of times car are stuck on the road.

[WhamBam]

Climate change????

Boring.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[outsider]

Sure, the large companies and organisations play a role, and should take the lead in protecting the environment. Also, Thailand - especially those in power - should stop spewing so much hot air on a daily basis. That may actually bring regional temperatures down a few notches. As for the Thai government being prepared and knowing what it has to offer at the UN discussion in Lima next month, sure!!!

Thailand has smoke-free islands. Wow!

[AlQaholic]

Considering that water vapor's effect on climate change is about 97% or so and the effect of CO2 on global climate change is somewhere around 1% I am still a bit skeptic about the effect of human CO2 emissions on climate change (Note not all CO2 is released by human activities). Yes I know the scientists answer to this is the acceleration effect from CO2 that gives a total global warming effect, but the data supporting this seems a bit flimsy. I do understand that global warming is happening, I do not deny this fact, but maybe there could be other factors that can account for this?

I am very concerned that the world focus on global warming is overshadowing the much more serious problem of global heavy metals emissions which are much more dangerous on a global scale. These heavy metals are in minute quantities in all fossil fuels but especially in coal and are evaporated during the burning process and released high into the atmosphere and then spread all over the globe. So no matter where the power plants are, it affects everyone on the planet. Mercury can be found in fish samples taken just about anywhere on the planet nowadays.

Other very serious climate pollution issues that should have the attention of the global environmental protection community about are also forgotten in the global warming "industry", which for some has proven quiet profitable.

Edited November 18, 2014 by AlQaholic

[maidee]

one day, we all will buy a can of fresh air at the supermarket, just like you buy your red bull or beer now

[Dogmatix]

Hot air also won't make Thailand a democracy, make foreign tourists come back to Thailand, get foreigners to invest despite a tightened up FBA, etc etc.

[zydeco]

Didn't we just see a thread a few days ago where Thailand was going to sign an agreement with China to burn China's garbage, in effect becoming China's toxic waste dump? Everything in this article is chicken feed compared to the environmental devastation of becoming China's dump. Yet no mention. Yea! We turned down the a/c in the hotels--and let China pour mercury and heavy metals into our river basin.

[AlQaholic]

Didn't we just see a thread a few days ago where Thailand was going to sign an agreement with China to burn China's garbage, in effect becoming China's toxic waste dump? Everything in this article is chicken feed compared to the environmental devastation of becoming China's dump. Yet no mention. Yea! We turned down the a/c in the hotels--and let China pour mercury and heavy metals into our river basin.

Yes, and I just heard about a case where Japan is sending their Garbage to South Korea and paying for that. South Korea concrete industry has been mixing this in their concrete at a ratio of about 10%. Know what they did not know is that there are many toxic pollutants in there and some radioactive stuff as well.

A Korean professor who's family started getting sick, put one Korean concrete block in a fish tank and another Chinese concrete block in another fish tank. Within a week all the fish with the Korean concrete block was dead while all the fish in the tank with the Chinese block was healthy.

Sadly nobody in Korea seems to react on this, even thought almost all Koreans live in concrete jungles.

[sawadee1947]

The G20 just held in OZ President Obama and Chancellor Merkel of Germany both hammered home this climate change message , falling on PM Abbot of Australia deaf ears , he is in denial on most things and dreams and dithers on others , however one move for Thailand to overcome at the grassroots is the burning off of pasture and clean up the rubbish , Thailand's climate is harsh and hot, so trying to cut back on Air-Conditioning is a waste of time , better building materials is needed in this direction or making the cities less car friendly and the use of more public transport, some of this is now either being built or in the planning stage ,however more needs to be done, damage to the ecology by land clearing is another issue and not helped by releasing more land , keep working on it Thailand you owe it to future generations.

well, as long AUSTRALIA is promoting their coal, and as long THAIS(and Chinese) did not learn (or cannot), there will be hardly any change, even the two leaders of Western world (Obama and Merkel) are stressing the need of change.

To stay away from air conditioning is impossible of course, but if you would change and use solar energy to the most, there would be no need to follow AUSTRALIAN offers. (however I can understand Australia: what do they have to offer beside coal?)

Solar, wind and water energy would Thailand give sufficiant energy for private and industrial fields.

[Baerboxer]

The G20 just held in OZ President Obama and Chancellor Merkel of Germany both hammered home this climate change message , falling on PM Abbot of Australia deaf ears , he is in denial on most things and dreams and dithers on others , however one move for Thailand to overcome at the grassroots is the burning off of pasture and clean up the rubbish , Thailand's climate is harsh and hot, so trying to cut back on Air-Conditioning is a waste of time , better building materials is needed in this direction or making the cities less car friendly and the use of more public transport, some of this is now either being built or in the planning stage ,however more needs to be done, damage to the ecology by land clearing is another issue and not helped by releasing more land , keep working on it Thailand you owe it to future generations.

well, as long AUSTRALIA is promoting their coal, and as long THAIS(and Chinese) did not learn (or cannot), there will be hardly any change, even the two leaders of Western world (Obama and Merkel) are stressing the need of change.

To stay away from air conditioning is impossible of course, but if you would change and use solar energy to the most, there would be no need to follow AUSTRALIAN offers. (however I can understand Australia: what do they have to offer beside coal?)

Solar, wind and water energy would Thailand give sufficiant energy for private and industrial fields.

Have a read up on the German coal mining industry and their annual increases in extractions over the last few years. Note how Germany is increasing its reliance on coal powered electricity generation.

Merkel says Germany will of course hit its carbon reduction targets. I'm sure the German government will show figures that indicate that too.

Perhaps she can explain the marvelous technology in Germany that makes this possible?

German hypocrisy - do as we say, not what we do. Believe our figures.

Of course she is lying.

[Doc46]

Climate change????

Boring.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Yea it is veeeery boring all the things cost billions & billions on taxes and peoples money to try to change the world from the so called global warming something that the smart idiot dreamed up.They try to brainwash the public,,,,,Why????,,,,,It is just a new ICE AGE cycle,,,Learn to live with that.YOU CAN'T CHANGE THAT,,,

[KIWIBATCH]

Solar energy ......for the generation of electricity in Thailand........why is this not already a major industry?.....millions of rooftops.....could be "rented" from the owners by a Solar Energy Company...all rooftop panels linked and feeding into the national grid........tremendous potential... Thailand's climate - generally sunny 99% of the time!!!!!

In New Zealand any individual homeowner (at his expense - together with a 25% NZ Govt contribution of startup capital ) can install solar panels and then can either use the electricity generated for his own use or sell the power his solar setup has generated to the National Electricity Company.

Incidentally the 25% Govt grant does not have to be repaid.

The current solar power equipment and technology exists.

[masuk]

The G20 just held in OZ President Obama and Chancellor Merkel of Germany both hammered home this climate change message , falling on PM Abbot of Australia deaf ears , he is in denial on most things and dreams and dithers on others , however one move for Thailand to overcome at the grassroots is the burning off of pasture and clean up the rubbish , Thailand's climate is harsh and hot, so trying to cut back on Air-Conditioning is a waste of time , better building materials is needed in this direction or making the cities less car friendly and the use of more public transport, some of this is now either being built or in the planning stage ,however more needs to be done, damage to the ecology by land clearing is another issue and not helped by releasing more land , keep working on it Thailand you owe it to future generations.

Many of us are not proud of what Abbot did. It was a cheap trick to gain votes from those who still believe the earth is flat. (and industrialists of course!).

The Pacific islands are already feeling the effects, as the sea is invading their land, their crops, killing the coconut palms.

The term "Climate Catastrophe" is more appropriate.

[brain150]

CO2 is 0.04% of the atmpsphere.

Humans are responsible for 6% of this 0.04% ! [0.0004*0.06=0.000024 !!!]

And that's what causes the 100% to change ???

How stupid can anybody be to believe BS like this ?

Climate change is real but WE are not the ones changing it !

... and there is NOTHING we can do or need to do about it.

[Ace of Pop]

If its written in English foreget it.

[Skywalker69]

CO2 is 0.04% of the atmpsphere.

Humans are responsible for 6% of this 0.04% ! [0.0004*0.06=0.000024 !!!]

And that's what causes the 100% to change ???

How stupid can anybody be to believe BS like this ?

Climate change is real but WE are not the ones changing it !

... and there is NOTHING we can do or need to do about it.

Agreed 100% We may help speeding it up, but we can´t stop it. Climate changes comes and goes.

[AlQaholic]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

CO2 is 0.04% of the atmpsphere.

Humans are responsible for 6% of this 0.04% ! [0.0004*0.06=0.000024 !!!]

And that's what causes the 100% to change ???

How stupid can anybody be to believe BS like this ?

Climate change is real but WE are not the ones changing it !

... and there is NOTHING we can do or need to do about it.

Agreed 100% We may help speeding it up, but we can´t stop it. Climate changes comes and goes.

Exactly what I was trying to say in post number 9 but apparently was not clear enough.

[mgjackson69]

There must be a template for the press release for any discussion on climate change and reaction to same:

” will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by by < some year>”

” will begin to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by ”

Despite the good intentions of some people, these things always turn into a third-world money grab, with USA ad other Western nations footing the bill.

[Pimay1]

When I was just a boy I learned the hard way when a person erroneously believes something and is shown the light, it is better to step into the light than to live in darkness. I erroneously believed that I enjoyed smoking grape vines until mother caught me and showed me the light with a keen peach tree limb switch. That was sixty years ago and a real life changing experience.

What does that have to do with climate change you ask. Well I'll tell you. I was always a dipped and died in the wool global warming denier. When global warming was proven to be a hoax I felt exonerated in my belief. Then it was decided since the globe wasn't warming, the name had to be changed to something not so easily proven to be a hoax. After a long and arduous analysis of the argument from ignorance name pool, Climate Change was chosen. Argument from ignorance also known as appeal to ignorance asserts that a proposition is true because it has not yet been proven false. True to form I jumped on the denier bandwagon once more. That is until I read the heart wrenching article below describing how global warming, uh, Climate Change, uh, Climate Disruption has impacted these poor defenseless goats of Alpine Meadows. My mind went back sixty years to the valuable lesson of the keen peach tree limb switch and I then realized I had been living in the darkness of denial all these years. As I write this the name is once again being changed by the UN to Climate Disruption.

Please take time to read the article below and join me in support of the UN in their lofty battle against Climate Disruption before these poor goats of Alpine Meadows shrink to the size of a bumblebee bat.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/10/22/Climate-Change-is-Shrinking-Goats-Say-Researchers

[Krataiboy]

More coal-fuelled power plants needed for competitiveness

- from the Business Section of today's online Nation newspaper. Kind of says it all, really.

[brain150]

Ok, first of all we should try to understand what are we are talking about.

There is a huge difference between "climate change" which is very real

and "man made climate change" which is a hoax !

Also, pollution and destruction of the environment have actually nothing to

do with climate change ... it's just destroying the planet we live on which

in fact is a stupid thing to do but most would call this "necessary progress"

in their brainwashed heads.

Now, the whole "man made climate change" hoax is based on 2 things:

1. Global warming: This is just BS as in fact it is not warming at all.

Proven fact is that NASA and other "services" have falsified data to make it look like

it is warming. Simple fact is: Tha highest temperatures in the 20th century were

back in the 30th !!!

2. CO2: This is also just BS as it is in fact not possible for 0.04% to change anything about the climate !

And humans only produce 6% of this 0.04% ... how on earth can anybody believe that this tiny amount

of the total could cause the whole thing ???

In Greenhouses the air gets enriched with CO2 because it supports plant growth ...

CO2 concentration is following temperatures as most of the CO2 is disolved in the oceans.

Warmer oceans release CO2, colder oceans store CO2. The delay is about 800 to 1000 years !!!

The climate is changing but it is NOT humans who are changing it.

[apart from the insane climate engineers who think they could cool down the planet by

spraying heavy metals into the atmosphere]

The whole "human caused climate change BS" is just a tool to make people agree to

regulations and restrictions they would normally not accept.

It is part of Agenda 21 from the UN which was signed more than 20 years ago and ALL

UN member states have agreed to implement it.

Read it and find out for yourself what the UN has planned for us !

[... it's probably one of the most criminal institutions on this planet together

with the catholic church and maybe the USA]

Stop watching TV and start to educate yourself ... our children grow up believing

that humans change the climate and many other lies they are told.

What future will they have when their whole believe system is based on lies

and scientific nonsense ???? Time to wake up, learn something and end this insanity !!!

[atyclb]

"Record Antarctic Ice Extent Throws Cold Water On Global Warming Scare" Forbes Magazine, not exactly a bastion of conspiracy theorists

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2014/05/16/record-polar-ice-extent-debunks-antarctic-global-warming-scare/

[bheard]

"Biodegradable plastic bags are available at more and more supermarkets."

I am willing to be corrected, but these plastic bags are not BIOdegradable.

Bags can be described as "degradable" but what this means is that in sunlight they will degrade into small pieces of plastic which get smaller and smaller as time goes by, but are still the same stuff.

After a while you can't see them but they are still there and still plastic. Small enough to be ingested unknowingly by many organisms, including Humans. This means that in the bodies of most people in developed countries these days there is a percentage of plastic, and it's building. Impossible to avoid.

Good luck with that.

[MRDave]

A lot of it has to do with the size of the World population and the methane given off by the need to have more cows to feed that increasing population. I say we need a cull so lets kill all killers and pedos in prison. Then we need to ban Catholic do gooder's stopping contraception in Africa. We should also sterilize any members of problem family's. you know the types where the dad, son and his kids are all into crime making their neighborhood a misery. If you think that sounds crazy look up all the crimes that can get you the death penalty in China. We could also impose a ten year World wide ban on people having kids but I don't think it would work because of politicians. So we will probably have to start a few wars to get the numbers down.

I know I sound harse but somewhere down the line some politicians are going to have to take a day off stealing money and sort it out. Wont happen in our life times though it will happen.

[Gonsalviz]

When I was just a boy I learned the hard way when a person erroneously believes something and is shown the light, it is better to step into the light than to live in darkness. I erroneously believed that I enjoyed smoking grape vines until mother caught me and showed me the light with a keen peach tree limb switch. That was sixty years ago and a real life changing experience.

What does that have to do with climate change you ask. Well I'll tell you. I was always a dipped and died in the wool global warming denier. When global warming was proven to be a hoax I felt exonerated in my belief. Then it was decided since the globe wasn't warming, the name had to be changed to something not so easily proven to be a hoax. After a long and arduous analysis of the argument from ignorance name pool, Climate Change was chosen. Argument from ignorance also known as appeal to ignorance asserts that a proposition is true because it has not yet been proven false. True to form I jumped on the denier bandwagon once more. That is until I read the heart wrenching article below describing how global warming, uh, Climate Change, uh, Climate Disruption has impacted these poor defenseless goats of Alpine Meadows. My mind went back sixty years to the valuable lesson of the keen peach tree limb switch and I then realized I had been living in the darkness of denial all these years. As I write this the name is once again being changed by the UN to Climate Disruption.

Please take time to read the article below and join me in support of the UN in their lofty battle against Climate Disruption before these poor goats of Alpine Meadows shrink to the size of a bumblebee bat.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/10/22/Climate-Change-is-Shrinking-Goats-Say-Researchers

Those poor goats. But I think I'll overlook that one.