Category: other

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The ocean, microbes and biodiversity

Warren Tang4 Comments

Human beings have such a habit of underestimating things. A recent survey of the ocean suggests that the Earth’s bioversity may be ten times more than previously thought.

In a single litre of sea water scientists can have as many as 20,000 species of microbes – they were only expecting to find two thousand. This number means that there could be more than ten million species of microbes alone.

Dr Sogin, one of the members of the research team in the new findings, said, “It really points to our lack of knowledge and how much more there is to learn.”

But should not the greatness of this number in itself teach us that it is impossible to master the knowledge? Should it not tell us that there will always be more to learn? And should it not make us aware of the fact that we are really insignifcant in the scheme of things?

We are but one species among tens of milllions if not hundreds or even thousands. It is estimated that the average species has a lifespan of 100,000 years. Some of these have changed little from since the beginning. Others have come and gone without us even knowing. And Man’s vanity has kept his species going for perhaps much too long.

Today we know approximately the age of our planet (3.5 billion years old) and how much longer it will exist if no “hiccups” occur (another 3.5 billion years). The Earth is middle aged. The present human species, with our ability to understand and record history in our own unique way, has only been here for 10,000 years. Some may stretch that back to thirty thousand years more. Either way the rest of the history of the planet makes this time – our time – insignificant.

I doubt we, as intelligent comprehending animals, will last much more than another 50,000 years. And that is being generous I think. But as for life itself it will go on as if nothing happened until the very end because we are just another species among millions, millions that have been far more successful at surviving than we have been so far.

We think six billion human beings is a great number when on our very bodies we may find more than that of any one species of microbes.

Rethinking population

Warren Tang2 Comments

Teaching elementary school in Japan gives me an opportunity to talk about Australia, my home country, quite a bit. Mostly I like starting with the land mass of the two countries. Australia is roughly 20 times larger than Japan. Then move on to the population. Whereas Japan has 130 million people, Australia has 20 million. And this shocks the students somewhat.

Remembering my pre-teen years I too was a little naive and believed a country’s size would be proportional to its population. It is only natural that being human we are fallible to make such an assumption.

I also remember that it seemed to me back then that a country’s population was somehow equated to the greatness of a nation. The Chinese want to claim that. As does India. As an English teacher I also see how English speakers hide the fact that even after totalling the number of English speakers in the world we still only manage to be second and that they were actually third until only recently. By number English is still ranked second and they do not want to remind you of this fact. It only embarrasses them. Yet there should be nothing to be embarrassed about. Simply a large population does not equate to cultural superiority.

Population growth is not something to proud of. There is no logic behind it. People talk as though it is some achievement to see an increase in its nation’s population like it is the strength points in some video game. Furthermore no one ever bothers to ask when enough is enough.

If a nation’s population were like the human body then the world today could be seen as being obese. And perhaps we should population as the human body analogy because like all things there is a limit.

While the environment puts a limit on the system by checks and balances human being chooses to see it as though there is no limit. And this is where human understanding has failed or is flawed. While man is undoubtedly clever he is also foolish to thinnk that he can beat the system.

So let’s just hope that some time soon he will become the wiser and learn to live within the limits of a system that is made for abuses because no matter what it will catch up to us in the end. And hopefully we will learn that the ecosystem does not care whether the human species is part of its picture or not.

Zero degrees of separation to Jimmy Carter

Warren Tang2 Comments

The distance between Jimmy Carter and myself used to be one degree but now I will meet the former president and intrepret for him.

This August I will be going to Atlanta for my town as their interpreter. They do this every year but he does not (or cannot) always meet with those from my town. Though he makes an effort because his hometown and ours are sister cities.

Through this chance I have gain insight into Mr Carter’s peace activities. He became particularly active after his term in office. Habitat for Humanity is one group where he plays a major role. This group is about building housing for the less fortunate in the poorer nations in the world. This year the Jimmy Carter Work Project will be in India. His goals are admirable, but again I cannot always agree with them.

From a holistic viewpoint the very name “Habitat for Humanity” seems to shut out the rest of life on Earth. Sure humanity is important but so is the rest of the web of life – the biodiversity that we depend on for survival. So to me, peace activism should include peace with the animal kingdom as well. And this is a dimension in Mr Carter’s work that I feel is lacking.

So if I had one question I could ask him it would something about his view on the relationship between (human) peace and environmentalism. But, unfortunately as interpreter it will not be the place for this. I am very much looking forward in meeting him and I feel privileged to be interpreting for him and be a bridge to the people of my town.

China – the “new face” on the environmental scene

Warren Tang2 Comments

China will spend over the next five years $175 billion dollars on the environment. This number, according to the BBC, is about 1.5% of China’s annual economic output (my italics).

So let me do my math: is not that equal to 0.3% of its current annual economic output each year? $175 billion sure sounds like a lot of money but it really isn’t if you think about it. That’s about one hundred US dollars for each person living in China over five years, or about twenty US dollars each year for the five years.

I think the people of China and environment will need much more than that to reverse the damage this country has already caused. So what is this new face of China anyway? Why now? Perhaps we should keep in mind that two years from now, in 2008, a very big money spinner called the Olympic Games will be hosted by Beijing.

Environmental sensitivity is sure a great place for public relations these days. Even better than, say, human rights. China, of course, is trying to deflect attention from its own track record on this issue. And what better way than to look good in one area that many find hard to criticise. So, to me, the new face of China is really an old one. It is only a face lift, one that has been done fairly well but somehow you still know its fake.

The True (Techni)colours of Al Gore

Warren Tang3 Comments

I used to think former vice-president Al Gore was an idiot. He was portrayed as such by the media. And people, like myself, bought into this unfair caricature. It was not until I read about David Suzuki’s encounter with Mr Gore that I was given a different perspective.

Mr Gore as vice-president used to avoid environmental issues in political campaigning. It was something of a dead platform he believed. The American people simply weren’t ready to hear it. And he knew it would not give him a chance in elections.

And how right he is. Politics isn’t about the issues. It is about choosing the right issues that win elections. How sad it is that something as important as the environment – our future – should be left out of the political discourse because it lessens one’s chance in winning elections. It says something about the fickleness of politics, particularly democracy.

And now that Mr Gore is no longer a man with political ambitions he can say what he wants, say what really is on his mind. It is truly a pity that good men (as well as the bad) in politics must spend much time and effort to deceive the public during the election campaign in order to do what they really want when they get into power. It is this deception that has led us to the environmental degradation today. But I blame not politicians (though they have a hand in it) but also voters must learn to see the political rhetoric for what it is and make better choices for our future’s sake.

Mr Blair, thermostats and nuclear power

Warren Tang3 Comments

There is this man named Tony Blair who one day decided to do something for the environment and then a month later decided to do another. Must be a pain to be scrutinized in the public light in this way.

SDB News – May 2006

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This month has been another very slow month. Finding the time to keep up with the news and write about it has been a struggle. The main goal is then to focus on “pillar” posts, which I see as my strength when taking time into consideration.

There have also been some aesthetic and practical changes to the appearance of SDB. The calendar function is now gone. Its function only seemed to be to highlight blogging infrequency. The lesson here is that calendars are only good if you are a prolific poster. So it seemed logical to remove it and concentrate on content – quality over quantity – instead.

Continue reading “SDB News – May 2006” →

Paradigm shift, dolphins, language

Warren Tang5 Comments

When man saw in his telescope a planet for the first time he noticed it was round and came to guess that his own planet (indeed that is what it was) might also be round. The act of circumnavigation by Christopher Columbus (even though it was not quite a circumnavigation – he mistook America for Asia) proved it conclusively. This is just one instance of how wrong one can be from using his senses alone. Sure, the earth seems to be flat, but it is not. The discovery brought about a major shift in our thinking to say the least.

Such shifts are not uncommon as Thomas Kuhn has famously shown – he called them paradigm shifts. Paradigm shifts have occurred many times throughout history. That the Earth revolves around the sun was one such shift. Less dramatic was the discovery that language does not have inherent meaning (that it is arbitray) is another. Our perceptions change or shift through such discoveries.

But how do paradigms come into existance? Most simply through a lack of information. The terracentric view of astronomy came to hold sway (at least in Western culture) – partly but not holy wholy – because 1) it seems that way since the planet does not feel like it is moving, and 2) a book (the Bible) said so. This is nothing but presumption from available information, without another method to verify it that it comes to become fact. And often with persumption comes arrogance, as in the following case.

It has been discovered that dolphins actually call each other by something akin to a name, suggesting that they have the capacity – like humans – for language. But why have we come to presume for such a long time that we are the only creatures on this planet to have language capacity is a complex and perplexing one. In our conceit we have dulled our senses to sounds that turn out to be sophisticated communication, perhaps as sophisticated as ours. Or to put it another way, we have simply dismissed something as noise when in fact it was language.

So please tell me: how many times do we have to make the same mistake before we will learn to be humbled by how little we really know? Or are we again going to congratulate ourselves for making such “great” discoveries and forget our past stupidities?

Why this blog was aimed at the wrong audience

Warren Tang2 Comments

Peter Gibson in this article argued a very good point – that people in poorer areas are simply too busy with life to worry about ozone depletion. He points out that the majority of people in green groups (in developed Western nations, at least) are mostly white middle class. In other words their message and concerns are for areas already well established and rich, or rather environmentalism is for those who afford to be concerned about the environment.

Most of the world’s population today still do not have internet access. So I am really talking preaching to other like-minded people who do not need to hear the message. What I do need to do then is not work for my already nice clean area, but help those in other areas in need of help.

Often I have talked about leaving human concerns out of the equation – calling this “strong sustainability” – but really leaving economics and government out is not the same thing as working for human rights. So I must reassess my line of thinking.

The work ahead then is both for the environment and for humankind. While the environment is most definitely a victim of politics and capitalism, I now must reconsider that the underprivileged and the need-not-be lower class are also part of the same systematic victimization.

Thank you, Mr Gibson.

Research needed on marine sound

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There was an article in the Daily Yomiuri earlier this month about how marine sound might seem like a jet engine roar to whales. Sometimes we only think of noise pollution as a human problem, but really it is as much a problem to the animals with whom we share this planet as it is to us.