Rashid's Blog: A Place for Inquisitive Souls

January 11, 2013 – BANGLADESH– A cold snap which saw temperatures drop on Thursday to their lowest point in Bangladesh’s post-independence history has killed around 80 people, officials said. The weather office said the lowest temperature was recorded at 3ºC in the northern town of Syedpur and the Red Crescent said hospitals were packed with patients suffering respiratory illness. Shah Alam, deputy head of the weather office, said the last time the temperature had dropped below 3ºC was in February 1968 when Bangladesh was still part of Pakistan. “Thetemperature is the lowest in Bangladesh’s history” he said. The Red Crescent Society said impoverished rural areas had been worst hit as many people could not afford warm clothing or heating. “They are not prepared for such extreme weather. Many could not even go to work,” the society’s general-secretary Abu Bakar said. “According to the reports of our…

Exploring future impacts of environmental constraints on human development(37 page pdf, Barry B. Hughes, Mohammod T. Irfan, Jonathan D. Moyer, Dale S. Rothman and José R. Solórzano, Sustainability, May 10, 2012)

Today we review a look at the long term impact of climate change on human development for the next century where the policy choices made to deal with climate change on the one hand (example carbon taxes applied globally) are combined in a model with varying degrees of possible environmental scenarios. Not surprisingly, the results do not produce a future or futures with a lot of hope and the road to global disaster “has a low probability”. The impacts on the economy, well-being and the environment,  particularly for developing countries could be very useful in preparing the world for what lies ahead.

To see Key Quotes and Links to key reports about this post, click HERE

Despite well-tomtomed conservation projects, tigers ( and other species) are facing an uphill struggle for survival. Since the acceleration of the Chinese economy in the 80’s, neighbouring India has lost out on ecological  conservation. The Chinese, be they in mainland China or abroad, like to show off their wealth. And they like to do it in style. Dinner parties are indispensable items where are served soups made of ( Indian) tigers and wine made of tiger bone. Tiger whiskers and bones are used in Chinese medicine to cure respectively toothaches and joint pains, rheumatism,… Tiger penises are supposed to give sexual power. Moreover, the Chinese love to buy tiger skins. They like it so much that the demand outgrow the supply.

The rarity of tigers has pushed up prices and the pressure has increased on India, home of most of the world’s tiger population. In the rest of Asia, the tiger…