[sustran] Earth Day News from Asia

[Ramón]

Below is news from all around Asia are reported by Reuters. Our Tour of
Fireflies was mentioned. It seems the Singapore Car Free Day bombed?

Students Block Cars, Monks Pray on Earth Day

April 22, 2002 03:19 PM ET


By Arshad Mohammed

WILMINGTON, N.Y. (Reuters) - President Bush, stung by a fresh defeat by
pro-environment forces in the U.S. Congress, on Monday marked Earth Day by
repairing a hiking trail and preaching the virtues of conservation in the
rugged, snowy Adirondack Mountains.

Under fire from his 2000 Democratic presidential rival, Al Gore, and others
for abandoning the Kyoto treaty on global warming and advocating oil
drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge, Bush visited the pine trees and
pristine lakes of New York's Adirondack Park to burnish his environmental
record.

"We have a duty in our country to make sure our land is preserved, our air
is clean, our water is pure, our parks are accessible and open and well
preserved," Bush said in a speech driven indoors by a heavy snowfall on a
cold, blustery day.

Bush hailed the Adirondacks, among the first protected wilderness areas in
the United States, as an example of the cooperative efforts between the
government, private sector and volunteers he wants to preserve the nation's
wilderness.

Critics like Gore, a possible White House rival in 2004, suggested Bush's
deeds belied his words and many honed in on his plan -- rejected by the U.S.
Senate last week -- to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge.

"The environmental and energy policies of our government are completely
dominated by a group of current and former oil and chemical company
executives who are trying to dismantle America's ability to force them to
reduce the extremely dangerous levels of pollution in the Earth's
atmosphere," Gore wrote in a New York Times opinion piece published on
Sunday.

Gore accused Bush of committing environmental "sabotage" by rejecting the
Kyoto global warming treaty that would require industrial nations to cut
emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and by voiding an
agreement requiring automakers boost fuel efficiency.

ASIAN ACTIVISTS PROTEST, PLANT TREES

On Indonesia's Sumatra island earlier on Monday, students at the University
of Lampung blocked all vehicles from entering the campus in a 10-hour
campaign that snarled traffic, the Antara news agency reported.

Environmentalists elsewhere in Indonesia, home to the world's second largest
expanse of rainforests after Brazil, held tree-planting programs, clean-ups
and seminars.

In Thailand, some 15,000 Buddhist monks and devotees gathered at a temple on
the outskirts of Bangkok to mark the day with prayers for the earth and
world peace.

Saffron-robed monks gathered from various parts of the mainly Buddhist
country for a special day of chanting and alms-giving.

In Singapore, a campaign to get people to use public transportation fell
flat, prompting "Car Free Day" organizers to complain it would take years
for the city-state to go green.

Penelope Phoon, executive director of the Singapore Environment Council
(SEC), estimated around 5,000 car owners gave up using their cars to mark
Earth Day -- a little over one percent of the 403,000 private and rental
cars.

THIRTY DECADE HISTORY

Earth Day was first marked in 1970 by American organizers Gaylord Nelson and
Denis Hayes.

Thirty decades on, the pioneers head an Earth Day Network based in Seattle,
which coordinates global Earth Day activities, and acts as a prominent
vehicle to stimulate environmental responsibility.

Their Web site (http://www.earthday.net) says the worldwide network has
grown to include 5,000 organizations in 184 countries.

A spokesman for the United Nations regional office in Bangkok said the U.N.
supported Earth Day, but noted his organization observed its own "World
Environment Day" June 5.

"These days, however, serve to remind us all to renew our commitment to the
environment," he told Reuters.

In the Philippines Sunday, thousands of cyclists took to the streets of the
capital Manila to press for more bicycle-friendly streets and to protest
against the city's horrendous air pollution.

The ride, covering 50 km (31 miles) through seven cities in the greater
metropolitan Manila region was also held to highlight the plight of
fireflies.

The Firefly Brigade, a volunteer citizens action group that organized the
cycle ride, claims the city's fireflies have all fled Manila because of the
high level of toxins in the air. Bush's visit to the vast state forest
preserve in the Adirondacks, covering almost 10,0000 square miles, follows
last week's defeat of the President's plan to allow oil drilling the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge.

In a blow to Bush's energy plan, pro- environment forces blocked the effort
in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.

Democrats view protection of the environment as a key issue in this year's
pivotal congressional elections in which control of both houses will be at
stake.


Ramón