Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The French are here!

Yes it's La Fete again,for the 6th year in Bangkok,and so far one of the best events I've seen so far was the show Lands End.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Pat's Environment Diary(Part 5)

China 'unfairly seen as eco-villain'

China is often seen as the main villain in contributing to the ever increasing global warming with its massive expansion of its cities and infrastructure;in addition its exploitation of the Earth's energy and natural resources isn't imroving China's image.

However,China has also made dramatic strides in protecting the best examples of natural habitats in nature reserves and other protected areas

click http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8100988.stm
for the BBC NEWS article

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Pat's Environment Day Diary (Part 4)

Well this is the last day of week one of my diary.Today I took some paper and plastic bottles to the recycling bins at the entrance to the Siam Shopping Centre.
In general people don't hhave much time to recycle things and so far I've only found recycling bins at the Siam Shopping Centre.

And despite lots of promotions and advertising Bangkok does not seem to do much in the way of recycling. There are a few projects with the different coloured rubbish bins but they hardly affect the people in Bangkok;and their attitude towards recycling remains unchanged.

In fact the scavengers in Bangkok are the main form of recycling the rubbish ;in my street I often see a man with his three-wheeler collecting all kinds of household rubbish and sitting in the road sorting out the newspapers,cardboard boxes,paper,plastic bottles,metal cans.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Pat's Environment Day Diary (Part 3)

Today I didn't do many environmentally friendly things apart from remembering to switch off any unneccessary lights,the standby lights on my computer,and use the air conditioning less often.
This morning(Saturday) I took some jam jars to the recycling bins at Siam shooping centre but the two bins(extremely small ones!) that are there are only for paper or plastic/cans.In fact Bangkok doesn't seem to have big recycling containers like in Europe.

Here is some good news: Discovering a 'lost forest'
Mount Mabu, in northern Mozambique, is a vast forest untouched by the modern world.

Scientists from London's Royal Botanic Gardens came across it after looking at satellite images on Google Earth.

Intrigued, they set off on what they believe is the first expedition. Once there, they discovered what are thought to be some new species.

The expedition leader was Jonathan Timberlake.
click the link to see a audioslideshow: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7860561.stm

Pat's World Environment Day Diary (Part 2)


On Wednesday I was doing limericks with my Pronunciation class and in the last part of the class the students wrote up their opinions on saving the environment;two of the girls incorporated their ideas into a limerick! By the way I must remember to switch off the stand-by lights for my computer at home;the other night I forgot.
Is it time to take tuna off the menu? Bluefin tuna - the staple of sushi boxes the world over - is on the brink of extinction, with its plight highlighted in a new film. Sandwich seller Pret A Manger is changing its stance on tuna, but should the rest of us follow suit?


click the link for more info:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8090277.stm

Pat's Environment Day Diary

Well,what can I do to save Planet Earth and its people destroying their home?
First of I don't really do that many environmental friendly things,well I;m not a member of Greenpeace and I don't go planting lots of trees but in the mornings I try to save energy (and money;I save over 2,000 Baht a month)by walking to the Sky Train station Ari (it's only a fifteen minutes walk)rather than taking a motorbike taxi or normal taxi and I do the same thing when returning home.The walk is also good exercie.My landlady uses her car to do a ten second journey to a nearby block of flats where she rents out property!That is extreme laziness! and what a waste of petrol!

Yesterday afternoon I saw the film "Home"-very impressive;actually I had already seen the film on channel 9 on early Saturday morning but it was interesting to see the film up on the big screen.

Today: This morning I took some plastic bottles to a recycling bin;however,there weren't any recycling bins in the area of Ari but there were some at the entrance of Siam Shopping Centre;a long way to recycle things!
I've just signed up to Prince Charles's Rainforest Project.

to be continued.....

Pat