Blogger note: In the 'create a new post' window, the two quotes below are the same colour, although the fonts are different. I have this problem frequently now that I am on a Mac.
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The Joongang has this to say:
Melons now grow in greenhouses in Yanggu County, Gangwon, and apples grow outdoors. Tangerines are being grown in Gangneung, Gangwon.
All of this shows that semitropical temperatures are moving north, leaving some to wonder what the temperature will be like in 100 years. The meteorological administration says that if the temperature continues its meteoric rise, the average temperature in Korea will be about 4 degrees higher. Ski resorts in Jeolla and Gangwon may have to shut down. Pine trees, which are symbolic of the Korean soul for many Koreans, could also disappear.
Apples growing outdoors is a sign of increased temperatures? I confess that I chiefly remember only wild apple trees rather than orchards in my part of Canada, but I have trouble thinking of apple trees as sub-tropical.
"Ski resorts may have to shut down"? Well, perhaps we can be done with Olympics bids, then.
From the Chosun, we learn that Gangneung has planted a field of sunflowers along the Namdae River:
The 8,000 sq. m field is made up of one million sunflowers and it is drawing people out of their cars to get a closer look. These sunflowers are different in that they only come up to a person’s waist, whereas ordinary sunflowers usually grow to the average person’s head.
Alright, maybe sunflowers aren't tropical either (and the article made no such connection) but they have the word 'sun' right in the name. Read critically, people!
I will work, next week, on finding and photographing one or both of these crops.
Roboseyo* has (re)posted a video about global warming that compares the costs and benefits of acting on global warming with whether or not such warming is taking place. The speaker in the video makes a fair point but I feel the worst-case-scenarios (while possible) aren't the way to convince fence-sitters.
On the other hand, I would have added that if we take action against global warming and it never does occur (and that Gore and the others, the many, many others, were wrong), we still come out ahead. I say this because most of the action needed to reduce or slow global warming have other great benefits - reducing fuel emissions is good for more than keeping us cool, it also prolongs how long we actually have fuel, reduces other forms of pollution, and walking and cycling rather than driving may make us healthier.
This is a point that GI Korea (link is to a search on his site for global warming) might not get. Either that, or he wants to argue the problem on it's own merits (is global warming happening or not) and not go off on tangents. Anyway, his blog is the best place for clear-headed anti-global warming information (not that I agree with it, mind you).
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Added later:
the Korea Times also has an article, an editorial this time, about Korea becoming subtropical. The writer is concerned that Lee Myoung-bak isn't doing enough. I can't really say, but I do know that Canadians have/had trouble accepting their government's One Ton Challenge, and Canadians produce far more carbon as individuals than Koreans do. I'm not exactly blaming Canadians: citizens are fewer and spread further out than Koreans are, making automobiles far more necessary.
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Roboseyo is also involved in KIVA, which is very cool. Follow the above link to his site. KIVA is sort of micro-loan bank. Instead of giving large groups piles of money, the micro-loans go to small-business people - to buy a sewing machine or a bike or, well, I don't know, but the loans are in the order of $20 to $50 or so. I don't think the loaner, Roboseyo in this case, makes money, but he has a wonderfully high likelihood of having the loan repaid and so is able to use it again. I have wanted to get involved but have always been too lazy.
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4 comments:
The sunflowers on the Namdae Stream come up to a short person's waist. I ride by them almost every day on my bicycle. Unless there is another field I don't know about, I don't think people are being drawn out of their cars to look at them because the field is hidden from any main road. I would say people probably stumble upon the field by accident or they read one of the banners around town advertising the field. It's very lovely to ride by a large field of sunflowers (a million? Wow) but they aren't very photogenic this year. The heads are all bowed. I do, however, see several people every day taking pictures of their friends and family there.
There was an article in either the Korea Herald or the Korea Times stating that Chuncheon didn't have a single "tropical night" this past summer.
It seems to me that "global warming" is actually turning into "global cooling" and these fluctuations between "global cooling" vs. "global warming" have a lot more to do with sunspot activity than man-made activities.
The world is billions of years old and the temperatures (and creatures on it) have been fluctuating since the first organisms sprang into existence. Who's to say the the planet wouldn't warm up again (or freeze over again) on its own. One day man may also go the way of the dinosaur on this planet, but hopefully our seeds will have spread out into the cosmos by then.
It's also interesting how Mr. Gore is profiting off his "state of fear" while still living awfully large (private plane travel, large house, big cars, etc.) while not reducing his carbon footprint much. He should set a better example if he really believed in what he is preaching. Our oil-based world came into existence rather recently in the grand scheme of things, and it will be replaced just as easily once it becomes too expensive to continue down that road when cheaper alternatives come into play.
Tips to save our environment
Did You Know??
1. Guns embed electrical plugs, although, when the electronic device is turned off = 40-50% saving of electricity costs you must pay each month. And that also, reduce the heat arising from an electronic device that spread to global warming.
So release all electrical plugs when you go or not used.
2. Plastic bags take 1000 years to decompose in the landfill (landfills). Around 300 million plastic bags were thrown away each year in Indonesia. Not to mention that dumped in the river behind the house and where they should not. 10kg paper prepared in the newspaper selling flea market, which requires 1 tree, takes 10 years to be big. Imagine what happens to illegal logging.
How many trees have been cut down for you? Imagine how they make the world hotter?
So bring own bags from home when you shop, try calculating how much you save when you plastic shopping once...?? ?
3. When you buy 1 liter of mineral water bought in supermarkets = 5 liters of water. Ask why?, Because at the factory, to cool the hot plastic bottles new printed, requires 5 liters of water.
Listing bottle what is safe to use as a bottle of water? See the sign below the bottle, look for 2.3 or 4 numbers. Number 2 than that, they're not safe, because you eat plastic!!
http://hernadi-key.blogspot.com/2009/09/tips-to-save-our-environment.html
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