Comments on: NCCN Climate Change, Crisis or Catastrophe? http://ourchiangmai.com/2010/07/12/nccn-climate-change-crisis-or-catastrophe/ Leave Chiang Mai a better place Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:08:09 +0000 hourly 1 By: Ricky Ward http://ourchiangmai.com/2010/07/12/nccn-climate-change-crisis-or-catastrophe/#comment-92 Ricky Ward Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:30:30 +0000 http://ourchiangmai.com/?p=816#comment-92 NCCN Meeting Notes for Wednesday, July 21st Attending— Kirk, Jere, Caroline, Ja, Aew and Duongchan. *** Name change—we approved change to Northern Climate Crisis Network. We might also add tagline. *** Mayor meeting—- There was a short report on the previous Mayor’s meeting which seemed hopeful in terms of getting him to adopt some of our agenda. The main two items to be discussed with him will be Water Management and Traffic Management. Under Water the main items will be the Mae Kha Canal, water quality, showing of the Story of Bottled Water(if ready in Thai). Under Traffic there were many items in our group discussion including—traffic management, bikes, training for bikes, public transport, sidewalks, red truck owners, samlaw support, foot paths, schools buses, water taxis and others. ***Alex—we decided to allocated 15 minutes for his campaign idea at the next meeting *** Monthly Meetings—– at the August 4th meeting we will set schedule and topics for coming. Tentatively we set September 10th as the first monthly meeting. Jere will contact Tomoko to see what her ideas are for topics. NCCN will have to do much of the planning and organizing of the events. *** Arriving at consensus about NCCN—we decided to skip this item because, after a short discussion, we thought that we were arriving at consensus just by the process of talking about various projects and events. ***10-10-10 — Jere gave short report. He did letter to NGO’s but Steve suggested substantial changes. Jere will make changes and get it to Steve and others for comment. ***E-News—— group gave permission to Kirk and Jere to produce e-news. Ja will forward to city’s website. Ricky can put it at Our Chiang Mai if he wants. Everyone wanted openness to accepting articles and event notices from NCCN members and others in the community. Group wanted as many articles as possible in Thai. ***50,000 baht— this is available for someone who might want to write proposal now and have event and report about it by the end of September. Contact Duongchan if you are interested. ***Other events—- Caroline told us about a Wed, Sept. 1st anniversary at a local school. They will have an area for environmental awareness. In our talk about this event and other possible ones we came up with a list of topics about which we might develop handouts— Climate and drought; fire/burning; emissions; general climate; food security and nutritional health, and water. ***Next meeting—Wednesday, August 4th, 5:30. People will bring food so we can eat and talk, thus, hopefully, not being so rushed. Expecting and hoping for more Thai’s attending this meeting we thought that we might need more translation at this meeting. We also thought we might have a short written history of NCCN sent out with Tentative Agenda. Aew will send to Jere what Duongchan and her have produced. <em>Ricky</em> NCCN Meeting Notes for Wednesday, July 21st
Attending— Kirk, Jere, Caroline, Ja, Aew and Duongchan.
*** Name change—we approved change to Northern Climate Crisis Network. We might also add tagline. *** Mayor meeting—- There was a short report on the previous Mayor’s meeting which seemed hopeful in terms of getting him to adopt some of our agenda. The main two items to be discussed with him will be Water Management and Traffic Management. Under Water the main items will be the Mae Kha Canal, water quality, showing of the Story of Bottled Water(if ready in Thai). Under Traffic there were many items in our group discussion including—traffic management, bikes, training for bikes, public transport, sidewalks, red truck owners, samlaw support, foot paths, schools buses, water taxis and others.
***Alex—we decided to allocated 15 minutes for his campaign idea at the next meeting *** Monthly Meetings—– at the August 4th meeting we will set schedule and topics for coming. Tentatively we set September 10th as the first monthly meeting. Jere will contact Tomoko to see what her ideas are for topics. NCCN will have to do much of the planning and organizing of the events. *** Arriving at consensus about NCCN—we decided to skip this item because, after a short discussion, we thought that we were arriving at consensus just by the process of talking about various projects and events. ***10-10-10 — Jere gave short report. He did letter to NGO’s but Steve suggested substantial changes. Jere will make changes and get it to Steve and others for comment. ***E-News—— group gave permission to Kirk and Jere to produce e-news. Ja will forward to city’s website. Ricky can put it at Our Chiang Mai if he wants. Everyone wanted openness to accepting articles and event notices from NCCN members and others in the community. Group wanted as many articles as possible in Thai. ***50,000 baht— this is available for someone who might want to write proposal now and have event and report about it by the end of September. Contact Duongchan if you are interested. ***Other events—- Caroline told us about a Wed, Sept. 1st anniversary at a local school. They will have an area for environmental awareness. In our talk about this event and other possible ones we came up with a list of topics about which we might develop handouts— Climate and drought; fire/burning; emissions; general climate; food security and nutritional health, and water. ***Next meeting—Wednesday, August 4th, 5:30. People will bring food so we can eat and talk, thus, hopefully, not being so rushed. Expecting and hoping for more Thai’s attending this meeting we thought that we might need more translation at this meeting. We also thought we might have a short written history of NCCN sent out with Tentative Agenda. Aew will send to Jere what Duongchan and her have produced.

Ricky

]]> By: Ricky Ward http://ourchiangmai.com/2010/07/12/nccn-climate-change-crisis-or-catastrophe/#comment-91 Ricky Ward Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:50:15 +0000 http://ourchiangmai.com/?p=816#comment-91 There is also a suggestion for joining the English 10-10 campaign about cutting emissions. I thought it sounded promising but then saw the following: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/06/1010-progress-carbon-emissions Frankly it made me shudder, not so much because 10% emissions cuts are a joke compared to the 90% required, but what unbelievably wasteful lives people lead. e.g. Why do playwrights and novelists have to fly about? And then they are proud of themselves for doing the same a little less. The folk from climate justice might be inclined to say “Why should I move from a motor bike to a bicycle when some rich guy moves from an Aston Martin to some other car which eats far more fuel than my motor bike?” Is this the right model for Chiang Mai? <em>Ricky</em> There is also a suggestion for joining the English 10-10 campaign about cutting emissions. I thought it sounded promising but then saw the following:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/06/1010-progress-carbon-emissions

Frankly it made me shudder, not so much because 10% emissions cuts are a joke compared to the 90% required, but what unbelievably wasteful lives people lead. e.g. Why do playwrights and novelists have to fly about? And then they are proud of themselves for doing the same a little less.
The folk from climate justice might be inclined to say “Why should I move from a motor bike to a bicycle when some rich guy moves from an Aston Martin to some other car which eats far more fuel than my motor bike?”
Is this the right model for Chiang Mai?

Ricky

]]> By: Ricky Ward http://ourchiangmai.com/2010/07/12/nccn-climate-change-crisis-or-catastrophe/#comment-90 Ricky Ward Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:07:59 +0000 http://ourchiangmai.com/?p=816#comment-90 As the person who originally suggested we stop using the term promoted by George W. Bush namely “Climate Change” in favour of “Climate Crisis” I would say lets do so now before the 3rd word becomes operative Worldwide namely “Catastrophe”. I am pleased to see a collective eagerness to act together ane meet again soon but expect once again I will be out of town on 21st. Please note the following day 22nd July is International Biodiversity Day and there is no greater threat to biodiversity than the Hot Earth we talk about in Thailand. A note of warning about drought. This year Yunnan & Lanna have drought but 3 years ago we had a record (90 year flood). While it appears weather systems are moving rains northward with greater flooding in northern USA central Europe and middle China, meteoroligists have yet to make conclusions about this and we would be better not to jump. Water conservation is sensible for obvious reasons- especially by stopping burning forest leaf litter. But except for this last point concentration on this issue will be counterproductive for our efforts to hugely reduce fossil fuel use – here and in industrialised countries. <em>Ricky</em> As the person who originally suggested we stop using the term promoted by George W. Bush namely “Climate Change” in favour of “Climate Crisis” I would say lets do so now before the 3rd word becomes operative Worldwide namely “Catastrophe”.

I am pleased to see a collective eagerness to act together ane meet again soon but expect once again I will be out of town on 21st.
Please note the following day 22nd July is International Biodiversity Day and there is no greater threat to biodiversity than the Hot Earth we talk about in Thailand.

A note of warning about drought. This year Yunnan & Lanna have drought but 3 years ago we had a record (90 year flood). While it appears weather systems are moving rains northward with greater flooding in northern USA central Europe and middle China, meteoroligists have yet to make conclusions about this and we would be better not to jump. Water conservation is sensible for obvious reasons- especially by stopping burning forest leaf litter. But except for this last point concentration on this issue will be counterproductive for our efforts to hugely reduce fossil fuel use – here and in industrialised countries.

Ricky

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