With the early rains this year May 2011 is a lovely time for tree planting.

This week from 10th May we plan daily tree planting from 1 pm each day

beside the walking path along the Mae Kha Canal south of Sri Donchai Road.

The area was formerly landscaped during the Thaksin era with shelters, seats, historical  murals and trees were planted for the 400 metre length of the path. Only one tree remains and local folk report the only maintenance work done by the Nakhorn Chiang Mai municipality has been dredging by a great machine which has destroyed many trees.

Two days of planting have seen over 20 new trees planted and a lot of digging out of weeds. Please join us if you have time on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday and call to let us know on  0849859668 .

คำกล่าวเปิดงาน ของท่านผู้ว่าราชการจังหวัดเชียงใหม่ ในงาน

“1^st Big Cleaning Day / Mae Tang River 2011”

วันเสาร์ ที่ 7 พฤษภาคม พ.ศ. 2554

ณ   หน้าที่ทำการ  อบต. กึ๊ดช้าง  อำเภอแม่แตง

ภาวะขาดแคลนน้ำโดยเฉพาะในฤดูร้อน และปัญหาน้ำท่วมในฤดูฝน โดยเฉพาะปีที่มีพายุโซนร้อน ไต้ฝุ่น หรือ ดีเปรสชั่นจากทะเลจีนใต้ ได้ส่งผลกระทบต่อพื้นที่หลายแห่งทางภาคเหนือของไทย โดยเฉพาะด้านการเกษตร นำความเสียหายมายังเกษตรกร คิดเป็นมูลค่านับพันล้านบาทต่อปี

การบรรเทาหรืรอการชะลอภาวะดังกล่าวข้างต้นไม่ให้เลวร้ายหรือแย่ไปกว่าเดิม จริงอยู่ทำได้หลายวิธี แต่วิธีที่ดีที่สุด ก็คือ การกระทำที่เกิดจากจิตใต้สำนึกของประชาชนในพื้นที่ ผู้มีส่วนได้เสีย องค์กรปกครองส่วนท้องถิ่นเครือข่ายผู้รักและหวงแหนธรรมชาติ รวมทั้งผู้มีจิตสาธารณะ ทั่วไป ร่วมกันรับผิดชอบ และโดยเฉพาะ ตลอดลำน้ำแม่แตงแห่งนี้ ซึ่งถือได้ว่าเป็นแม่น้ำสายหลักทั้งเพื่อการเกษตรกรรม และการท่องเที่ยว หากกล่าวเฉพาะด้านการท่องเที่ยวนั้น   ต้องถือว่า   น้ำแม่แตงเป็นศูนย์รวมของกิจกรรมหลักด้านการท่องเที่ยวของจังหวัดเชียงใหม่ เช่น กิจกรรมทัวร์ป่า ชมและ เรียนรู้วัฒนธรรมชาวไทยภูเขา   การขี่ช้าง   ล่องแพ   ทั้งแพไม้ไผ่และแพยาง การสัมผัสวิถีชีวิตชนบทด้วยการนั่งวัวเทียมเกวียน   มีศูนย์การเรียนรู้ทางธรรมชาติและวัฒนธรรมที่หลากหลาย   ซึ่งในแต่ละปีหากคำนวณตัวเลขนักท่องเที่ยวจากสถิติที่ได้มีการบันทึกไว้ ของจังหวัดเชียงใหม่เมื่อปี      พ.ศ. 2552  มีนักท่องเที่ยวทั้งชาวไทยและชาวต่างชาติมากกว่า 4  ล้านคน ร้อยละ 40 ของนักท่องเที่ยวจำนวนนี้ได้เดินทางเข้ามาใช้บริการด้านการท่องเที่ยวในพื้นที่ อำเภอแม่แตงของเรา และหากคำนวณ รายได้ต่อปีจากภาคท่องเที่ยวของจังหวัดเชียงใหม่อยู่ ที่ประมาณ 38,000 ล้านบาท รายได้ส่วนนี้จะกระจายอยู่ในพื้นที่ อำเภอแม่แตงของเราไม่ต่ำกว่า  10,000 ล้านบาท ซึ่งเป็นเรื่องที่พวกเราน่าดีใจ น่าภูมิใจและควรที่พวกเราทุกคนนอกจากรัก และหวงแหนทรัพยากรธรรมชาติเหล่านี้ไว้แล้ว ยังต้องป้องกัน รักษา และหาวิธีเพิ่มพูนความอุดสมสมบูรณ์ยิ่งๆ ขึ้นไป เพื่อคงไว้ซึ่งการมีส่วนร่วมและการพัฒนาแบบยั่งยืน

การจัดกิจกรรมครั้งนี้ ถือว่าเป็นกิจกรรมพิเศษอย่างยิ่งด้วยวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อถวายแด่พระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัว ด้วยกิจกรรมสาธารณะประโยชน์ เพื่อเป็นการแบ่งเบา พระราชภาระ สนองพระราชดำริ เรื่อง น้ำ ทรัพยากรธรรมชาติ สิ่งแวดล้อม และแนวทางการพัฒนาตามทฤษฎี เศรษฐกิจพอเพียง เพื่อความอยู่ดีมีสุขของคนไทยทุกคน ตลอดจนเพื่อประโยชน์ทางด้านการเกษตร การท่องเที่ยว และ อื่นๆ ที่เกี่ยวข้อง

กระผม  หม่อมหลวงปนัดดา  ดิศกุล    มีความยินดีและรู้สึกเป็นเกียรติอย่างยิ่งที่สมาคมธุรกิจท่องเที่ยว จังหวัดเชียงใหม่ องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบล กึ๊ดช้าง,  ผู้ประกอบการท่องเที่ยวในจังหวัดเชียงใหม่ และประชาชนในพื้นที่ ตำบลกึ๊ดช้าง และ อำเภอแม่แตง  โดยการสนับสนุนจาก

1. การท่องเที่ยวแห่งประเทศไทย
2. การท่องเที่ยวและกีฬา จ.เชียงใหม่
3. สำนักอนุรักษ์พื้นที่ ที่16
4. สำนักจัดการทรัพยากรป่าไม้ที่ 1
5. หอการค้าจังหวัดเชียงใหม่
6. เครือข่ายจักรยานเชียงใหม่
7. เครือข่ายอุตสาหกรรมรักษ์สิ่งแวดล้อมเชียงใหม่

ได้ร่วมกันจัดกิจกรรม บวชป่า ปลูกป่า ปลูกหญ้าแฝก เก็บขยะตามลำน้ำแม่แตงและสองข้างฝั่ง รวมทั้งรับบริจาคเมล็ดพันธุ์ไม้ยืนต้นท้องถิ่น เป็นระยะทางประมาณ 33 กิโลเมตร

กระผม หม่อมหลวงปนัดดา ดิศกุล และชาวเชียงใหม่ทุกคน หวังเป็นอย่างยิ่งว่า การจัดกิจกรรมครั้งนี้ แม้ต่างพระเนตร พระกัณฐ์ ก็จะคงประโยชน์ต่อส่วนรวมและทุกคน โดยเฉพาะพี่น้องชาว ตำบลกึ๊ดช้าง อำเภอแม่แตง และชาวเชียงใหม่ทุกคน

กำหนดการ

กิจกรรม   “1^st Big Cleaning Day / Mae Tang River 2011”

วันเสาร์ ที่ 7 พฤษภาคม พ.ศ. 2554

หมายเหตุ : สำหรับผู้เข้าร่วมกิจกรรมโดยการนำของ คุณกฤษดา  กำแพงแก้ว  ประธานเครือข่ายอุตสาหกรรมรักษ์สิ่งแวดล้อม / เครือข่ายจักรยานเชียงใหม่  และคุณ ชมจันทร์  ตาลคำมูล  ที่เดินทางล่วงหน้า 1 วัน ด้วยจักรยานของตัวเอง (ประมาณ 50 – 80 คน)  มูลนิธิหิมพาน และบริษัท ลีซูลอดจ์ จำกัด  อำนวยความสะดวกสถานที่กางเต็นท์เชิงสะพานแขวนบ้านเมืองกื้ด   ฝั่งตรงข้ามบ้าน พ่อกำนันประสิทธิ์  อินต๊ะ    พร้อมกิจกรรมคนรักษ์ป่าและแลกเปลี่ยนประสบการณ์และมีบริการอาหารว่างตามสมควร (ผลไม้ตามฤดูกาล)

Housing with a waterside view along Mae Kha

Here the Mae Kha has concrete walls and houses built obscuring the water

We all like Clean & Green these days so after a refreshing Easter Day service at the Chiang Mai Railway Park your reporter took a leisurely ride to view the real Mae Kha, also known as Mae Kha Noi, south of the Kham Tien Market.

The Mae Kha Noi winds along parallel to the straight Mae Kha canal which saw frenzied cleaning activity during 2010, the year of  ”Chiang Mai Yiem”.

Unlike its straight counterpart this is the real Mae Kha and often has old trees to make the point.  Another difference is that while it has assets the canal lacks, something otherwise distinctive along the Mae Kha today was completely  missing from the areas in these photos.

Narrow access way to houses built on public right-of-way

Convenience store built over the stream

So now you have seen the pictures can you name the assets they have and the problems that afflict other places but not here?

How about assets -

1. a close-knit community which keeps its environment as clean as possible under difficult conditions;

2. a car free residential precinct

3. no unsightly overhead wires ( the wires in the view from above are on the neighboring property of the Central Pattana mega-business. The lack of trees on the Central property made this picture possible.)

4.  convenient low energy (how many air-cons per 7/11 store?) shopping.

About problems – Despite the public cleanliness rubbish still comes down the stream and often lodges under the houses and although the air smelled sweet after a night of rain this is not always the case.

Yet the local and central governments seem happy to leave this community alone, despite the fact that all the structures are either over the stream or on public rights of way. And the big companies which own large tracts of land nearby feel no need to share there land with this community.

Meanwhile the municipality of Nakhorn Chiang Mai which has been talking about cleaning up the Mae Kha for over a year has just announced that a 2 million baht grant from Bangkok is to be spent on replacing a few small trees around the city moat and adding name tags, yet another obstruction to pedestrians, to the trees.

Practical help for Japan & the environment is developing (Courtesy Lloyd Helferty Biochar Consulting (Canada):

Dear Physicians for Global Survival (PGS),

I was contacted today by Julia Morton-Marr, the founder of the International Holistic Tourism Education Centre [IHTEC] and Vice President Education for the The Council on Global Issues (Science for Peace).
www.ihtec.org

Julia recommended that I contact someone at PGS since your organization works on “Nuclear Issues” and is also “concerned about global energy sustainability and climate change issues” along with health and security.

In consideration of the ongoing Nuclear disaster in Japan –  the ongoing multiple Nuclear MELTDOWNS that are now underway (as I write this) — , I noted yesterday that the Japanese government has recently raised the maximum allowable exposure for nuclear workers to 250 millisieverts from 100 millisieverts.
It was described as “unavoidable due to circumstances“.  This was back in March:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3475306/Nuclear-nightmare-in-Japan-worsens.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News

The damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant has already leaked dangerous radiation into the environment.
There are HUGE fears over food contamination in Japan right now and the entire Pacific food chain is likely to be affected**.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8394963/Japan-nuclear-crisis-fears-over-food-contamination.html

This disaster in Japan could even result in the gross radioactive contamination of the large urban populations of Japan.
If the wind blows the wrong way cities like like Tokyo could be the recipient of a massive cloud of deadly radioactive gasses.
It could become a really horrible crisis.  It is actually a wake-up call for nuclear energy.

Incredibly, I also just learned that the World Health Organization actually intends to double the “maximum allowable uranium in drinking water” worldwide and international regulators like the International Commission for Radiological Protection (ICRP) continue to push allowable levels of radiation upwards, forcing the public toward chronic exposures of low levels of radiation. (No level of ionizing radiation is safe.)

Considering that the Japanese are some of the biggest Seafood eaters in the world — and in particular, raw seafood (Sushi and Sashimi) is a staple part of their diet, the fact thatRadioactive water from the Japanese nuclear plant is deliberately being dumped into the sea‎ is already beyond criminal!~
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/east-pacific/Japan-Nuclear-Plant-to-Release-Contaminated-Water-Into-Ocean-119169659.html
As well, they are already halting the sale of vegetables from several areas of Chiba prefecture, which borders Tokyo because they “have tested above the legal limit for radiation”.

I am a Steering Committee member of the Canadian Biochar Initiative (www.biochar.ca), am President and Co-founder of Biochar-Ontario (a not-for-profit organization) and an Advisory Committee Member of the IBI (International Biochar Initiative - http://www.biochar-international.org/).

We have recently learned that is likely that it may be possible to utilize Biochar — along with specialized natural fungi like the ones that have been growing prolifically around the Chernobyl plant in Russia, to soak up (and hopefully permanently “sequester” ~ if harvested and pyrolyzed), the ionizing radiation from radionuclides that are in the soil.

– In other words, we may be able to remove these contaminants directly out of the soil with the use of specialized inoculated Biochar (blends) that promote the growth of these particular strains of natural soil fungi — which will also (coincidentally) promote the regrowth of the coastal forests … which in turn should be able to help protect the Japanese people against future catastrophic events like the Tsunami.  (In a similar way to the protection that Mangroves provide to coastal cities against Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida.)

I wished to bring this to your attention because we [certain members of the Canadian Biochar Initiative and Biochar Ontario, including myself], have been involved in an international Public Awareness Programme called “5ivePlanets“.
see: http://5iveplanets.org/ (Japan)

I have been attempting to head up an initiative called, “5ivePlanets Canada“, and one of our first tasks has been to assist with a project to bring the Tokyo Sinfonia[www.tokyosinfonia.com], a highly professional ensemble of 19 Japanese string players conducted by Robert Rÿker in Tokyo, into Canada from Sunday April 24 until Thursday April 28 (with scheduled Performances in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto).

This series of Charity Concerts in Canada is intended to be a Musical Fund-Raising Charity Concert Tour to raise money for the 5ivePlanets Japan initiative, whose mission is to leverage both education and technologies that work in balance with the natural cycles of the earth to increase our capacity to provide for our collective children on the one and only planet we actually have.

They will be establishing a 5ivePlanets Interpretive Center in an eco-restored house in Asahi Ward of Yokohama City and will provide education about managing resources wisely and demonstrating technologies to produce nourishing food without wasting water, depleting soil, or using petroleum based fertilizers.  These Biochar concepts can be applied in both urban and rural contexts and are geared toward developing platforms for sustainable communities.

Their Projects will include proof of concept demos of aquaponics systems, biochar humanitarian stoves and urban agricultural techniques, along with explorations of method of utilizing Biochar for the decontamination of radioactive soil using “specialized natural fungi” (with Biochar).

The use of Biochar to prevent radionuclides from entering growing plants and entering the food chain as well as preventing these highly toxic contaminants from entering run-off water from farms and forests and getting into the water supply system will be one of the priority research projects of the emerging Global 5iveplanets Research Network, the founding members of which are Canada and Japan.  (With some assistance from our friends at the University of Massachusetts and the Pioneer Valley Biochar Initiative at UMass.)

I was hoping that you might be able to forward this message, along with the attached documents to your members and contacts in order that we might begin to raise awareness about the ongoing critical situation in Japan and our efforts at informing people about one of the possibly critically important technologies that could be utilized in Japan — and elsewhere around there world wherever soil contamination is affecting food security — to begin the long process of “restoration” of the natural ecosystems that have been affected by these (multiple) natural disasters.

See also

“Prescription for Survival”: A Debate on the Future of Nuclear Energy Between Anti-Coal Advocate George Monbiot and Anti-Nuclear Activist Dr. Helen Caldicott

Urgent petition

Naoto Kan, Prime Minister of Japan

Katsumata Tsunehisa, Board chairperson, Tokyo Electric Power Company,

Accept the request made by the Mayor of Koriyama city and decide to decommission the Fukushima nuclear power plants!

Appeal:

Immediately decide to decommission all of the 10 reactors of the first and second Fukushima nuclear power plants.

Background of the appeal:

Masao Hara, the Mayor of Koriyama city, at the press conference in the afternoon on March 19, 2011, said, it was the outrageous mistake that the Japanese government turned down the support offered by the United States which suggested decommissioning the nuclear plants. He announced that he made a request to the Tokyo Electric Power Company and Mr. Kaieda, the Minister of economy, trade and industry to immediately take measures to control the nuclear accidents towards decommissioning the plants.

We urge the State and the Tokyo Electric Power Company to accept the request made by the Mayor of Koriyama city and decide to decommission the Fukushima nuclear power plants.

We are worried about the workers who have been courageously engaging in the operations day and night to suppress the reactors and avert the worst-case scenario at their peril of being exposed to the radiation at the Fukushima nuclear power plants which were affected by the recent and continuing earth quakes.

It has become clear to everyone that as long as the nuclear plants run, people are affected by the radiation. So many nuclear plant workers have been exposed to the radiation and some died from the radiation exposure even when the plants were running “safe”. The people are little known who died after a long suffering, when the causal link between the death and the radiation exposure became difficult to establish.

We must now stop our practice: enjoying the “safe” electricity from the nuclear power plants at the expense of the people exposed to the radiation.

Voluntary group calling for decommissioning the Fukushima nuclear plants (Japan)

***********

To sign on this petition, please send your name and address to fukushima.hairo@gmail.com

Please put “endorsement” on the title of your email.

1^st deadline: end of March 2011; 2^nd deadline: end of April 2011

เรียนทุกท่าน

Marty Bergoffen
will give a presentation entitled

“The Mekong River:

Protecting Biodiversity and Livelihoods”

Marty is a lawyer specialized in environmental issues. He has been advocating for a free-flowing Mekong River for over 5 years. Current plans by Thailand, Lao and Cambodia call for up to 12 dams on the lower Mekong. These dams will clog the river, preventing migrations by native fish, reduce downstream sediment and water flows that local farmers depend upon, and eliminate an essential food source and travel corridor for millions of people. Marty will talk about the Mekong River, proposals for dams, and impacts if they are built. He will also present ways to confront the dam developers, funders and enabling government agencies.

When: Sunday, April 10th, 2011, at 15.00.

Where: Dokmai Garden.

Driving information: http://www.dokmaigarden.co.th/howtoget.php

Cost: 100 Baht, includes coffee, tea or Jiaogulan tea (Gynostemma pentaphyllum f. pentaphyllum (Cucurbitaceae)).

Registration: To get a ticket for 100 Baht, please send an e-mail at least one day in advance to info@dokmaigarden.co.th

VIP card holders and lifetime members have free access to the garden.

Our sales nursery will be open.

Most welcome!

Ketsanee Seehamongkol & Eric Danell

Solidarity March for Japan – Chiang Mai  Tapae Gate 7.00 am Sunday 20 March 2011 – Walk & bike to US & Japan Consulates.

Dear Chiang Mai Friends

I wish you well for your Solidarity march this Sunday but as I am in Viet Nam I regret I cannot join you.

I suggest the terrible tragedy still unfolding in Japan will prompt the Japanese people to seriously consider the defects in their society which have made the consequenses of predictable natural event so very dire. It should also be a lesson to the rest of the World on how not to develop. The challenge for all countries will then be how we can restructure our societies to lessen the likelyhood of more simlar disasters.

I remember in the 1970′s meeting Japanese activists visiting Australia when the office of FoE (Friends of the Earth) was in a tiny house in Melbourne’s inner suburb of Carlton. They brought with them pictures of the horrors of Mercury & Cadmium poisoning from Mimimata in Japan and together we campaigned to prevent the mining of Australian Uranium for export. Then we predicted the nuclear disaster which we are now living through.

I also recall some years ago a radio program which described the Tokyo region, with its megapolis covering a huge area as the first place on Earth likely to undergo catastrophic collapse. The next great quake in the Tokyo region has the potential to be far more destructive in terms of life and property than what we witness now. Far worse than the Atom bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

So why has Japan found it self in this situation? There appear to be two reasons.

Firstly the population has grown far greater than the fragile environment can safely support. When natural disaters strike they need not be human calamaties if people occupy sturdy homes and work places far from land which will sweep them away in landslides and out of flood zones. But building communities to accomodate large populations in such a manner requires massive amounts of energy hungry steel and concrete.

This leads to the second factor. Japan is a high energy use society which uses and produces great quantities of consumer goods. Despite the fact that the country has excellent public transport networks and bicycle use is very high, as can be seen from the wake of the tsunami, the private motor car is widely used and Japanese aviation (according to last nights news report) accounts for around 10% of World aviation.

So how can folk in other countries best help the Japanese, or for that matter Pakistan where 6 million people were made homeless in last year’s floods? Is not the rest of the World building societies like Japan with too many people and excessive energy use? To make life in Japan sustainable does not the country have to say goodbye to the motor car and to flying? To help Japan do we not have to do the same.

In Chiang Mai is it not time we turned from the car and motor bike to the bicycle? Is it not time to cease building concrete and steel apartment buildings and houses, stopped concreting and widening roads? Doing these things is the best way we can help Japan rebuild but there is more to be done.

We need to make Chiang Mai safe for the eventuality of an earthquake here. Four hundred years ago a quake rent asunder the Chedi Luang. We need to survey all the city’s buildings to ensure they do not suffer collapse. For example I live atop a twelve storey apartment house which has a large empty swimming pool on the roof. Were it to be full of water I am told the building would be more stable in a quake. Should the owners not be required to maintain the pool? And what about the neighbours? Next door a new eight storey block is under construction. The building itself is earthquake proof as it has a huge thick solid steel and concrete foundation, but could my building topple and bring about its destruction?

And my last suggestion is about how to help the many Japanese residents of ChiangMai. Perhaps some would benefit from being given an extended period of refuge here as their homeland struggles to re-house the people who have lost their all. Please use the solidarity march to ask our Japanese friends here how best we can help them.  …  Best Wishes, Ricky Ward