Who's against doing something about climate change - Fact #1
Saudi Arabia does not want rich countries to cut on carbon emissions, because if they do, they won't buy a lot of fuel anymore, and if they don't, the Kingdom won't sell a lot of fuel anymore. Monetary compensation did not convince the kingdom, why you ask? Because it's all about power.
Saudi Arabia influences smaller and weaker Arab countries in the climate change negotiations.
Power vs Survival
And we wait to see what happens in COP15, Copenhagen climate conference in December 2009
Blog Action Day is a single day–October 15–when bloggers write about a particular topic in order to raise awareness. Last year, the issue was poverty, and over 12,000 bloggers covered it, reaching a total audience more than 13 million readers.
As you might imagine, we think that issue should be climate change. Because it falls on October 15, Blog Action Day presents an excellent opportunity to set the stage for October 24's International Day of Climate Action. Plus, climate change negotiations on the Copenhagen scale don't happen every year.
On that note, Friday 28th of August will be 100 days away from the Copenhagen meeting (COP15), where a treaty about Climate Change will be agreed on, so on the local scene, something is going to happen in Downtown Beirut at 9pm! Be there.
Topic Selection for Blog Action Day 2009 - Help us pick Climate Change
Hi Everyone,
Blog Action Day takes place every year on October 15th, where all blogs blog about the same topic all over the world. They're doing a survey in order to select the topic that all blogs will be talking about, so let us all vote for Climate Change and spread it as much as we can.
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: The Blog Action Day Team<mailout@blogactionday.org> Date: Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 4:08 AM Subject: Big News: Change.org to lead Blog Action Day 2009
Hey BAD bloggers!
It's almost that time of year again, and this time I have some exciting news to announce.
When we started Blog Action Day two years ago, we had no idea how large it would become. Now that it's grown beyond our wildest expectations, we've decided that it's time Blog Action Day had a more permanent home where it can continue to expand.
To that end, we've asked the social issue blog network Change.org to take over the project and make Blog Action Day bigger than ever. I'm thrilled to say that they've agreed, and their team has already started working on preparing for this year's event on October 15th.
As a first step, the Change.org team wants to get your thoughts on the selection of this year's topic. To give your feedback on the topics being considered or suggest your own, click the link below to a short 5-question survey:
If you have any questions, additional suggestions, or want to get involved beyond blogging, email Robin Beck, Change.org's Director of Organizing, at robin@change.org.
Thanks for all the support – we look forward to having you all involved in this year's event, and you'll being hearing more from the folks at Change.org over the coming weeks as we all get ready for Blog Action Day 2009.
ANADiva - Group challenges women's beauty perception
New campaign 'anadiva' aims to show there is an alternative to plastic surgery By Dalila Mahdawi Daily Star staff Thursday, August 20, 2009
ANADiva (Arabic for "I'm a diva") is the brainchild of 26-year-old Gwen Bou Jaoude. As part of the campaign, she has launched a social networking site where members can discuss representations of beauty, and a competition to create the campaign's character.
...
Lebanese cartoonist Stavro Jabra and Nienke Klunder, a Dutch-American photographer who works with the themes of body image and self-expression, have already signed up to collaborate on the campaign, as has web developing company Star Point Star, who offered to design the website.
...
"The public should be given an alternative" to the one currently toted by the mainstream media and advertisers, she added. "They brainwash you [about how you should look] without you even realizing."
Fake Collection of Funds made in the name of Association des Guides du Liban
Texte en Francais:
Chères Guides, Anciennes et Chers Amis Nous venons par la présente vous informer que certaines personnes inconnues, ont initié une collecte de fonds au nom de l'Association des Guides du Liban, elles opèrent à travers des appels téléphoniques ou des visites dans les maisons et les commerces.
Ces personnes-là n'ont rien à voir avec l'Association et leurs actes portent préjudice à l'image de notre association.
Pour cela vous êtes priés de transmettre ce message au plus grand nombre de personnes et de nous communiquer immédiatement toute information utile (numéros de TEL et les coordonnées des personnes qui appellent) si disponible.
Fraternellement
Pour Le Bureau Central La Commissaire Générale Raghida Milan
Text in English: (Roughly Translated)
Dear Girl Guides, Ex-Members and Friends, We would like to inform you that some unknown person, have initiated a collection of funds in the name of Association des Guides du Liban (Association of the Girl Guides in Lebanon), they work by phone calls or paying visits to the houses and companies.
These persons have no relation whatsoever to the Assosication, and their behavior ruins the image of our association.
Kindly transmit this message to as many people as possible and let us know immediately of any useful information (their phone number and the credentials of the persons they are calling) if available.
H1N1 in Lebanon has already spread among 162 people, according to Daily Star's recent article on how getting tested for swine flu being a true hard project.
As already declared by WHO, swine flu or H1N1 does not kill, and most people who have died from swine flu already, have already underlying health problems, such as the most recent 1 death case in Lebanon, where the deceased already had cancer. WHO also explained that many people who had H1N1 did not even need to check with a hospital, and they get better on their own.
Lebanon has declared the following concerning who will be qualified to receive the vaccination against the H1N1: - Those already having H1N1, especially those with sever symptoms, such as vomiting, ... - Patients with chronic illnesses such as cancer, asthma, ... - Kids under 3 years of age - Pregnant women - People who work in day care and preschool
Every year in early August, we can observe the Perseid meteor shower ("the Perseids"). And it's a fascinating sky event.
Every year in August, the Earth passes through rock and dust fragments left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle, last time it came near the Sun. As these small particles collide with the Earth's atmosphere, they burn-up, often creating a startling streak of light across the sky.
You can easily observe this and it can be a wonderous spectacle.
Click here to read BBC's article on the subject. And click here to know more about Perseids. And NASA's take.
Climate Change v/s Global Warming, What is Climate change?
In this post, I will be talking about what Climate Change (also referred to as Global Change) is, what Global Warming is, and the difference between them.
Global Warming
Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the last century.
The greenhouse effect is the process by which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by gases in the atmosphere warm a planet's lower atmosphere and surface.
So in summary, with the greenhouse effect, the more the CO2, the more the absorption of the sun's radiation by the Earth, thus the increase of the global temperature. (See Photo)
Climate Change
Climate change is any long-term change in the statistics of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. Climate change may occur in a specific region, or across the whole Earth.
Lately, a change in the climate is occurring fast, and we can see those changes today. To name a few, increase in the sea water level (see previous post about the Maldives Islands to disappear, causing what we call Climate Refugees), increase in the spreading of diseases (e.g. the Dengue fever in Bangladesh), increase in the number of cyclones (e.g. in Oman), bleaching of coral reefs, glaciers melting, etc... As now climate change will be affecting the whole Earth, it is also being referred to as Global Change.
Difference between Global Warming and Climate Change
Put in simple words, we can say that Climate change (the recent of course) is the consequence of Global warming. Global warming already happened, climate change is happening as we speak, and the target of these NGOs by December 2009 in Copenhagen is to introduce a treaty that will let the countries work on mitigating (decreasing) the effects of climate change on Earth as much as possible, by setting the goal of decreasing the gas emissions by 80% by 2050, to reach the 350 ppm (parts per million) CO2 in the atmosphere (it's around 378ppm now), to prevent from letting the temperature of the earth increase by 2 degrees Celsius (more details on this in future posts) which if they don't, it will have catastrophic and disastrous effects on Earth.
In future posts, I will be telling you about the effects of Climate Change on Lebanon directly, the difference between Mitigation (increase in gas emissions activities) and adaptation (in case the tipping point in climate change is reached, what will we do then), the science and the politics behind Climate Change and the most common words and expressions you will be hearing that are related to Climate change.
Make a change in climate change before its too late
IndyACT and 350
I had the pleasure and the great opportunity to attend the Climate Change Media Workshop that was organized by IndyAct, an NGO based in Lebanon and who is playing a big part in this whole story. It took place on 5 and 6 August 2009, where we also met Bill McKibben, from 350 campaign which I will tell you all about in a future post.
Edited: I added the below movie so everyone can understand what 350ppm (parts per million) means. Because the world needs to know.
Climate Change
As the next person, I had heard about climate change, but I thought its consequences were something to happen in the next century or the one after, but sadly it's much less, we're talking 40 years only. I can't tell you what I learned in this workshop in 1 post, however I will pass these information along the next weeks to you so you can share as well... Actually, please share, it's your life and my life at stake here.
Climate change is a direct threat to our lives and the lives of our children. It would be completely unfair to ruin this world for them while we have the chance for once to make history and actually do something good.
Copenhagen December 2009
In December 2009, we will all be hoping for the leading countries to sign on an agreement and not just any agreement that will abide them to decrease gas emissions. More on Copenhagen December 2009 in another post.
Small Islands to disappear from the face of the Earth
I will share with you this video of the President of the Maldives, Mohammed Nasheed, in which he talks about how the Maldives, as small Islands will disappear before 2050 due to the sea level rise that is caused by climate change. Think about it, a whole country will disappear? Where will the population go? Plus, a whole country will disappear under our own eyes!!!!
The trial of a Sudanese woman charged with wearing "indecent" clothing is due to resume in the capital, Khartoum.
"I want to change this law, because hitting is not human, and also it does not match with Sharia law," Ms. Hussein told the BBC. She's a journalist who used to work at the UN but left it in order to lose immunity from prosecution and be able to proceed with the court.
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