Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Canuckophile]

I just posted a rather lengthy piece on the Buddhist nun's protest against the Korea Rail tunnel project. I had received an email from someone at KFEM (Korean Fed for Env Movement) asking me to spread the word - I have read this thread and obviously many of you are concerned about this issue.

I hope you will take the time to send the letter (by email) to Prez Roh - and also PLEASE pass this along to anyone you know who might be interested.

One small comment to "Jade" - the accelerated extinction in the world today has nothing whatever to do with natural selection. It has been linked definitively to man-made problems: habitat destruction is the most common, whether it's logging old growth forests or building new suburban subdivisions. (The tunnel falls into this category). The other is accelerated climate change, which is clearly mostly due to human activity since about 1750 when the Industrial Rev. kicked off, but folks - we don't have another 250 years to melt slowly. It's happening so fast now that the latest news I saw said maybe another 20 years before it's irreversible.

I also hope the DMZ will become a preserve but obviously that's unlikely. As far as the Korean tiger, I have read that the Koreans say the last ones were shot by the Japanese for sport during their occupation. Of course, many "extinct" species are simply very reclusive and this turned out to be true of the Florida panther, for ex. (although that doesn't mean they're thriving - they are definitely severely threatened). However, a tiger is darn big, and as far as I know, the Korean tiger hunts during the day or at least dusk/dawn. So I find it unlikely that one would not have been spotted in 50 years. The only cat that's thriving today ( though not in Korea) is the housecat, which I read recently may have more genetic links to foxes than the big cats anyway.

I was glad to see some serious enviro folks posting on this thread - IS THERE ANY INTEREST IN GETTING TOGETHER? Let me know... I would love to meet some people who have some love of nature in their blood. And maybe some shared political views, too -- Korea seems to attract a distressing number of the apolitical or right wing nuts, for some reason. (PLEASE NO COMMENTS ON THIS - if you're a right wing nut, have a happy old time just drowning in soju - we have nothing in common.)

CANUCKOPHILE

[rapier]

[jaderedux]

[red dog]

Canuckophile, thanks for posting the info from KFEM. I sent in my letter, for all the good it will do.

[Canuckophile]

I don't know that scientist by name (which means nothing; he could be famous as all get-out for all I know). There are plenty of scientists who dispute currently accepted scientific conclusions on global warming and biodiversity, to give 2 examples. There are many reasons they might dispute these: perhaps genuine disagreement on certain findings, perhaps squabbles with other scientists that turn public, perhaps sheer orneriness.

Let me comment on one short passage from the text you copied:

'We could just as reasonably blame it (global warming)on cows. In the nineteenth century the temperature went down. In this century it's gone up only about half a degree. The trend over the last two centuries is down. Down is not warmer. So if you like to worry, worry that we might be moving into a new ice age. We could be. '

Actually, cows ARE to blame for many problems -- one ex.: the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania USA is a mess because of manure run-off from the gazillions of dairy farms in that watershed. Cows are not a natural occurrence in the wild - this is a species bred and kept for man's use.

There are several reasons the temp may have gone down in the 19th century. The first is the eruption of Krakatoa (spelling?) in the Pacific, which spread dust and clouds worldwide and blocked the sun. (I think it was about 1815 - it was called the "year without a sun.") Another is coal mining, which also spread black coal dust and blocked the sun in coal-mining countries, esp England.

And what has been pointed out vis-a-vis temperature in the 20th century (I note this was published in 1998 - may have been written even earlier) is that the 1980's started the sharp acceleration in extreme temperatures - since 1998 this has accelerated further. A comparison of temperature fluctuations over the full century may not be as meaningful as extrapolating the last 10 or 20, if the last 10-20 show a pattern of unusual increase/decrease.

A fair number of scientists were squabbling about the "meaning" of global warming in the 90's (it turned out some were on the payroll of certain industries that don't want global warming examined too closely). At any rate, many have shut up now, because the passage of time has confirmed the earlier more tentative conclusions.

It's always hard to base a judgment on 5 or 10 years - even 30 or 40 years is tricky. An example: for more than a decade now there has been a persistent drought in SW US (Nevada in particular) -- new research shows that apparently there was an unusually wet period that lasted through the 1970's and maybe into the 80's and encouraged building. Now it's gone bone dry again - reverted to "the norm" - perilously little rain. Meanwhile, building in this fragile area with little natural water continues to accelerate - Nevada is one of the fastest growing states in the US. This makes no sense, given what scientists have figured out - but try telling that to developers, politicians, and people who want to live there.

And back to that phrase "extreme temperatures". Global warming is actually a misnomer. What we are facing is HOTTER summers and COLDER winters. That's one reason why the overall temp doesn't show as much change as it might be expected to. The heat is basically more deadly - for people, crops, animals, plants -- but the rest of the seasons also change. A word-of-mouth example of this is where I live in Nova Scotia, Canada. In August our temps are now going up to the top 20's or even low 30's (80's and 90's). The "natives" are not used to this - they collapse from the heat. But I've also been told that NS winters are not only colder but alarmingly WAY WAY windier than the "old folk" natives remember from even 30-40 years ago.

What does it mean? Is it just the normal cycle of weather changes? I wouldn't bet on it!

CANUCKOPHILE
PS Jade - I didn't mean whatever I said earlier to be insulting - I just happen to consider subjects such as these WAY more important than anything else - because the earth's survival is at stake. (Notice I didn't say human survival - there are some of us who will hang on until the bitter end and maybe some of them will shoot off in spaceships to colonize some other place! But I'm rather like Rachel Carson. I don't want to live in a world without an abundance of birds and other wildlife. And I love the earth - the animals, plants and insects.)

[Canuckophile]

Apparently the Blue House has blocked the website address given to me earlier.

You should be able to email Pres. Roh about the mountain/the nun/anything else you want to email about - at this address

[email protected]

[rapier]

Jaderedux: You've converted me . That novellist has just convincingly demolished the proof of thousands of scientists worldwide and their reports, based on decades of study in their fields. Its a shame for the thousands of wonderful and beautiful birds and animals that we humans are snuffing out, but thats just the way it is. have a little cry, and pull yourself together.
I've booked my flight to Canada to join in clubbing all the seals to death for stealing all what is rightfully our fish. If they weren't so stupid, they'd have adapted to eating weetabix by now and be able to talk.
You're right: the unprecedented rise in human population to 6 billion, jumped- off- the -scale levels of pollution, industrialisation, destruction of natural landscapes, deforestation and overexploitation of resources over the past 200 years, has no link whatsoever to the amazingly corresponding increase in species extinctions and CO2, and climate changes endangering our own existence.

Its all going to be fine! Nothing that we humans could ever do, no amount of chemicals we pump into the atmosphere over hundreds of years...none of it could possibly have any effect on our home, the earth, and our future. It would be arrogant to think so, and we bear no responsibility for altering the earths operational systems on a massive scale:)

[gmat]

[Canuckophile]

It took summer a long time to arrive in NS - an exeptionally cold and rainy June/early July - but w hen it did, it was warmer than the natives like - I am in Annapolis Royal (birthplace of Canada! Beautiful beyond belief!) and manyBB operators have put in air conditioning (would have been laughable a decade or two ago) because the temps go WAY UP (for NS) into the 80's and 90's during August.

Were you there?

CANUCKOPHILA

[rapier]

No offence jade, seriously. Its just that some of us have grown up in the wilds, close to nature, and are sick and tired of seeing it overrun and ruined piece by piece by people who know nothing except profit margins.
My main passion is to preserve the wonderful diversity of wildlife that enriches our lives.Its worth fighting for.

[gmat]

As I mentioned, the Valley is certainly warmer than Halifax, but historical temperature facts do not agree with your personal anecdotes. Using Nova Scotia as a basis for "Global Warming" is probably not the best idea .

Oh, yes I was there last Summer. Don't get me wrong, NS's weather in Late July-August is great because it is not too hot. But the point is you shouldn't use anecdotes as part of your argument and certainly don't use NS to bolster the GW story.

[Canuckophile]

In the summer, Annapolis Royal is WAY cooler and more pleasant than Halifax - in fact, significantly cooler than most of the towns not directly on the water, like New Minas. Virtually all larger commercial establishments in H'fax seem to have AC now - doubt it was necessary even 20-30 years ago.

I said the evidence was anecdotal - but it's something I have heard over and over again from native Nova Scotians - their "high summer" (August) is WAY hotter than they're used to, and their winters (old folks talking here) are way WINDIER than they remember.

I stand by it.

Were you in Annapolis Royal last summer? At what time? Or where else were you in NS?

CANUCKOPHILE

[Canuckophile]

You made a comment in a recent post about preserving the beauty we grew up observing in nature. Those of us who did so (I spent a year on a farm as a kid - changed my life) are - I think - a lot more aware of environmental issues.

One thing that I see in SK that has always distressed me is that in the massive move off the farm to the cities, Korean kids now rarely see anything other than the urbanized Korea. They nearly faint at the sight of a spider. (Frankly, I saw some of this even among the KFEM young adults, which I found really dismayiing).

I think that if you don't KNOW something (in this case, the beauty of nature), you certainly have no interest in protecting it. Frankly, you don't have any way of even understanding it.

That's one of my fears about Korea. It will be easy for the govt/businesses to chop down mountains, build roads, malls, and golf courses, etc., because there will be so few Koreans who know that This Is Not What Our Country Should Be -- and, anyway, a lot of Koreans are going to think that a golf course is an example of "nature."

I see more birds in one day in North America than I see in 6 months in Seoul - QUITE SCARY - and the decline in urban wildlife (mostly birds) makes it harder for the Koreans to understand the importance of nature in their lives.

CANUCKOPHILE

[rapier]

[gmat]

Holy Tangent Batman!!!

Itaewonguy, sorry for the hijack --- a post about a Buddhist Nun on a hunger strike in Korea and we're arguing about Summer temperatures in Nova Scotia, yikes.