PS: Let's accept the fact that if our biodiversity (wildlife) is disappearing, not only is this a foolish thing to allow, but we need to accept that we are the only bio-fools allowing it to happen. Loss of biodiversity globally has been fuelled by need for more energy, and bio-fuels now may be our answer here in the South Pacific.
Just the words, ‘South Pacific’ or ‘South Seas’, bring to mind for most quite quickly a feeling of ‘romance’ and ‘exotic holidays’ luring holidaymakers onto tropical palm-fringed golden beaches, even some 200 years or more after the first earliest discoveries by European explorers, missionaries, whalers and traders.
But the Pacific, today, as you’ll soon realize, may have changed considerably after these initial and more recent and more fatal impacts on the lives of today’s Pacific Islanders. These impacts are now daily, so, for the past two centuries or more, an accumulative effect has led to a more non-sustainable lifestyle for most Pacific Islanders.
These impacts have been largely driven by outside influences from the so-called developed world that is today no longer coping financially, morally, socially or environmentally. The health and education of Pacific Islanders is also at stake. We need to find solutions, earlier rather than later, and if this means planting bio-fuel crops, becoming independent power producers, replacing our diesel imports and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, then we Pacific Islanders are prepared to do anything to save our islands and peoples from the devastating impacts of global warming.
The Pacific languages in Oceania, all 3000 or more, are the fastest disappearing of any region in the world. And our Oceanic avian species are also now the most threatened of any region in the world. Why? A cash economy is now leading to mass destruction of ecosystems, both terrestrial and marine, and little effective technology has been implemented to reduce this increasing demise.
The Pacific is facing a global energy crisis, rising energy bills and/or failing energy supplies. And the global food crisis is pushing the cost of imported low-quality foods up within the Pacific. The impoverished are now even more impoverished, leading to even further widespread destruction of ecosystems that are so vital for the survival of the Pacific’s unique biodiversity and the integrity of its diminishing watersheds and cultures. Even alternate hydro-power options are declining as once perennial rivers cease flowing for many months. Action must be taken now to transfer this technology across or, better still, allow Pacific Islanders to better manage their own natural resources.
The choice is to remain a bio-fool or lunge into bio-fuels and help save this planet for future generations.
However, a new wave of energy saviors and energy investors are now needed, and urgently so. The Pacific needs some cost-effective alternate energy sources and alternate income sources, but where are these technologies in the Pacific today? Some Pacific countries are already rationing their energy supplies, many Pacific families have already reduced their energy demands, and now our standard of living can all but fall as we resort to a more subsistent existence compounded by irreversible climate change impacts (i.e. extinction of species being one).
There is a plethora of alternate technologies in the South Pacific, and yet these technologies are available worldwide, well so it is presumed. Samoa is poised to lead the way as it continues its fight against climate change, using both adaptation and mitigation technologies and methodologies.
Samoa and Fiji, for example, have sufficient fertile lands to grow bio-fuels, albeit just coconuts for now. But alternate and possibly more suitable biofuel crops (e.g. palm oil, Arundo donax [giant reed] and Jatropha curcas) already exist in the Pacific. And that is why it is so critical to integrate our emerging lifestyles into a low carbon economy with a stronger emphasis on biofuels. But how do we do this if we are the bio-fools that we are?
To conclude, today’s tourist brochures and websites for the South Pacific have as yet not dispelled this myth of a magical paradise full of pristine ecosystems and laced with happy villagers living an idyllic energetic lifestyle. Not one South Pacific ecosystem has escaped global climate change impacts, pollution is now global, mostly atmospheric and oceanic in origin. But, just imagine holidaying in a South Pacific ‘carbon-neutral holiday destination’, off-setting your carbon footprints with renewable energy technologies at your resort, visiting bio-fuel energy plantations that are producing more than just energy, and no longer being the bio-fool you thought you were.
Tourists today would welcome this opportunity to witness firsthand how Pacific Islanders are having to adapt. But, it will take a certain amount of money, and surprisingly, Samoa may soon have all the money it needs to make this transition thanks to the Clean Energy Fund, numerous Climate Change Funds and possible Clean Development Mechanisms that may further assist Samoa and other Pacific Island Countries.
With your help, we can energize the Pacific, saving our unique biodiversity and even saving the lives of Pacific Islanders. It is now time to prepare for a carbon-constrained economy within Samoa, taking it regionally and even globally, but with you bio-fools, it ain’t going to be easy.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Food for Thought
PS: Can renewable energy technologies really assist Samoa?
Samoa in 2009 may explore for geo-thermal energy, but it will trial wood gasification utilizing different biomass, a project that will impinge on our farming communities that lack both export markets and access to clean energy.
To augment this initiative, cocogen options are also being considered thanks to IUCN’s implementation agency skills with their $USD1.3M grant for Energy Efficiency in the transport sector.
Two additional projects, once unrelated to renewable energy (RE), but now very much becoming an integral component, are the agro-forestry and sustainable forest management projects, worth in excess of $USD6M.
We can now commence selecting biofuel cropping practices, but we lack the expertise and experience. However, FAO are kindly assisting thanks to a grant from the Global Environment Facility Pacific Alliance of Sustainability (GEF-PAS).
However, Samoa’s private sector are being further marginalized by rising energy costs, rising food prices and an increasing inability to compete in export markets. Value-adding locally and import replacement strategies are now in place and renewable energy technology transfer is the key to this new development paradigm.
Samoa is striving not only for greater sustainability, but also addressing its survivability in a world that it is now finding more difficult to survive in. Samoa is one of the most vulnerable nations on the planet to Climate Change and the Government of Samoa is now possibly the most prepared of all the Pacific Island Countries to combat climate change impacts.
However, these attempts are in vain as carbon and methane emissions continue to rise globally. To us in the Pacific, this is ethically unacceptable.
Our first concerted effort in 2009 is to secure in excess of $USD10M to address climate change mitigation and adaptation issues, and we now have these funds secured: we just need the renewable energy technology transferred to Samoa in the most sustainable manner possible.
However, there is a dearth of expertise in this area of proven renewable energy pilot projects within the Pacific. Why? We need more consultants stationed in the Pacific that have the skills to assess renewable energy needs, calculate technical assistance required, source and purchase equipments, install and train the operators, and even maintain these technologies so that our projects remain sustainable.
The challenge is to make these renewable energy projects boost the value-added potentials within the Pacific so that our socio-economic issues can be addressed quickly.
However, RE technologies continue to be trialed on ‘remote atolls’ before they are proven in our own capital cities. Let’s not make this mistake again.
We in the Pacific need proven working models/pilots, trained technicians and some efforts made to take a cross-sectoral approach and get the food security issues addressed in the Pacific, sooner rather than later.
Samoa in 2009 may explore for geo-thermal energy, but it will trial wood gasification utilizing different biomass, a project that will impinge on our farming communities that lack both export markets and access to clean energy.
To augment this initiative, cocogen options are also being considered thanks to IUCN’s implementation agency skills with their $USD1.3M grant for Energy Efficiency in the transport sector.
Two additional projects, once unrelated to renewable energy (RE), but now very much becoming an integral component, are the agro-forestry and sustainable forest management projects, worth in excess of $USD6M.
We can now commence selecting biofuel cropping practices, but we lack the expertise and experience. However, FAO are kindly assisting thanks to a grant from the Global Environment Facility Pacific Alliance of Sustainability (GEF-PAS).
However, Samoa’s private sector are being further marginalized by rising energy costs, rising food prices and an increasing inability to compete in export markets. Value-adding locally and import replacement strategies are now in place and renewable energy technology transfer is the key to this new development paradigm.
Samoa is striving not only for greater sustainability, but also addressing its survivability in a world that it is now finding more difficult to survive in. Samoa is one of the most vulnerable nations on the planet to Climate Change and the Government of Samoa is now possibly the most prepared of all the Pacific Island Countries to combat climate change impacts.
However, these attempts are in vain as carbon and methane emissions continue to rise globally. To us in the Pacific, this is ethically unacceptable.
Our first concerted effort in 2009 is to secure in excess of $USD10M to address climate change mitigation and adaptation issues, and we now have these funds secured: we just need the renewable energy technology transferred to Samoa in the most sustainable manner possible.
However, there is a dearth of expertise in this area of proven renewable energy pilot projects within the Pacific. Why? We need more consultants stationed in the Pacific that have the skills to assess renewable energy needs, calculate technical assistance required, source and purchase equipments, install and train the operators, and even maintain these technologies so that our projects remain sustainable.
The challenge is to make these renewable energy projects boost the value-added potentials within the Pacific so that our socio-economic issues can be addressed quickly.
However, RE technologies continue to be trialed on ‘remote atolls’ before they are proven in our own capital cities. Let’s not make this mistake again.
We in the Pacific need proven working models/pilots, trained technicians and some efforts made to take a cross-sectoral approach and get the food security issues addressed in the Pacific, sooner rather than later.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Traditional Technologies Combating Climate Change
PURILE PACIFIC PLEAS FOR THE PLANET
After 16 years of ongoing negotiating within the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC), and even more to come most likely, it is promising to see a Climate Change Bill being passed in the UK. Thank you.
We in the Pacific Islands are already suffering from climate change impacts, spending 50% or more of our environmental restoration grants on combating (adapting and mitigating) the negative impacts of climate change.
Now we have just learnt of climate-related diseases, and as if our Pacific health systems aren't already overloaded. With 130,000 people dying globally and annually from climate health-related diseases, we Kids want to make a difference.
Please help save our Pacific indigenous cultures, our unique wildlife and some 300,000 mostly low-lying islands. This is all we have.
After all, this is a human rights issue is it not? And surprisingly, little known to most of you, our forefathers have all the traditional knowledge to sustain life on this Planet. Just ask us.
And we Kids in the Pacific are rebelling against these senseless impacts of global climate change - our futures erode, our Pacific parents seemingly unable to react.
What can we Kids do next?
Guess we can transfer this traditional knowledge, South North as they say, from the less developed nations in the South to the developed nations in the North.
Guess we can publicize this traditional knowledge on how best to combat climate change impacts – better still, on how to prevent climate change impacts.
Put simply, all you need to do is follow in our forefathers’ footprints, along our deep soft white sandy beaches, adjacent to our tranquil azure lagoons, beneath the swaying coconut palm trees.
It’s that simple – just 4-5 Es.
Eat wisely, fresh native foods in-season.
Energy from the sun and the waves, with a little firewood collected from our beaches - forget fossil fuels.
Empathy for nature abounds in our Pacific cultures.
Ecosystems need to remain as they were, abundant, pristine and sacred.
Education, traditional or contemporary, as long as it is sustainable.
EEEEasy.
Got it.
To learn more, in person, we can train you here right on-site. It’s eco-friendly, energizing, delicious and respectful of our Elders’ collective wisdom. They’ve been practicing this for 3000 years or more, on these very islands, and they are still here.
But for how much longer?
We need our Elders to design a new curriculum to update their knowledge, improve their skills, and improve global capacity building techniques.
Can we do it, in time?
After 16 years of ongoing negotiating within the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC), and even more to come most likely, it is promising to see a Climate Change Bill being passed in the UK. Thank you.
We in the Pacific Islands are already suffering from climate change impacts, spending 50% or more of our environmental restoration grants on combating (adapting and mitigating) the negative impacts of climate change.
Now we have just learnt of climate-related diseases, and as if our Pacific health systems aren't already overloaded. With 130,000 people dying globally and annually from climate health-related diseases, we Kids want to make a difference.
Please help save our Pacific indigenous cultures, our unique wildlife and some 300,000 mostly low-lying islands. This is all we have.
After all, this is a human rights issue is it not? And surprisingly, little known to most of you, our forefathers have all the traditional knowledge to sustain life on this Planet. Just ask us.
And we Kids in the Pacific are rebelling against these senseless impacts of global climate change - our futures erode, our Pacific parents seemingly unable to react.
What can we Kids do next?
Guess we can transfer this traditional knowledge, South North as they say, from the less developed nations in the South to the developed nations in the North.
Guess we can publicize this traditional knowledge on how best to combat climate change impacts – better still, on how to prevent climate change impacts.
Put simply, all you need to do is follow in our forefathers’ footprints, along our deep soft white sandy beaches, adjacent to our tranquil azure lagoons, beneath the swaying coconut palm trees.
It’s that simple – just 4-5 Es.
Eat wisely, fresh native foods in-season.
Energy from the sun and the waves, with a little firewood collected from our beaches - forget fossil fuels.
Empathy for nature abounds in our Pacific cultures.
Ecosystems need to remain as they were, abundant, pristine and sacred.
Education, traditional or contemporary, as long as it is sustainable.
EEEEasy.
Got it.
To learn more, in person, we can train you here right on-site. It’s eco-friendly, energizing, delicious and respectful of our Elders’ collective wisdom. They’ve been practicing this for 3000 years or more, on these very islands, and they are still here.
But for how much longer?
We need our Elders to design a new curriculum to update their knowledge, improve their skills, and improve global capacity building techniques.
Can we do it, in time?
Saturday, June 7, 2008
BEST DIVE EVER
NB: Rule No. 1 - never dive on your own, always take a buddy along just in case he needs rescuing!
Talofa. For 20 years, we've explored some real gems around our 10 volcanic islands, my favourite an underwater (obviously) volcanic 'Nuutele Pinnacle' with 4-5000 fish/hour, including dog-tooth tuna, sharks, turtles and shoals of fish so dense that they block-out the tropical sunlight.
'Turtle Minefields' is another with both Greens and Hawkesbill Turtles all foraging on seagrasses and shellfish. Amazing to watch.
2500 foot crater lakes, Lake Lanotoo, with a bottomless history. Wanna try it?
Underground lavatube caves filled with water and entering the ocean.
'Piula Cave' with 3 caves all connected, but for the experienced cave divers only.
Miniature 'killer whales', all 4 inches of them, black and white and real cute.
And to surface, looking up at 6000 foot rainforested craters before you, gives you a real high.
Even the odd whaleshark from time to time, with Humpback whales in season - no calving, that all happens in Tonga (Vavau) from August to October - another diving must - only a one hour's flight away.
Highly recommend Aggie Greys Hotel next to Airport with all the watersports facilities (allow $USD1-200/day), great dive facilities and instructors/operators.
And try our nearby beach fales (grass huts) on Manono Island for $USD50 a night including 3 meals!
Want to read more? Try these scribbles My Book where 4 little Polynesian (half-cast) orphans get hit by a big wave out sea kayaking one day and end up for years living and diving on an uninhabited island, living the Life of Riley, comparing the West with the Traditional way of life of their Ancestors.
Mind you, these Kids are not so happy with what we adults have been doing to our colourful coral reefs. These Kids are now accusing us adults of 'adult-ery' and you can work the rest out.....
Some say I can talk underwater, so now trying to write underwater - my 20 year diving holiday is near over as we record these fantastic encounters, some real gems.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, Samoa, even for non-divers, friendly islanders, lovers of music, singing, dancing and laughter (so bring your guitars and be prepared to gift them to the first guitar-playing fisherman who takes you night diving catching crays and octopuses and spearing sleepy fish - bring a spare underwater torch, 6 batteries - makes another perfect gift, as do googles). You won't want to leave.
And Air New Zealand ex LA or Auckland (New Zealand) is the way to go, or Polynesian Virgin Blue ex Sydney (Australia) and NZ I think?? Only 2 hours from Fiji and twice as good. No real shopping here so safe guys to leave your credit cards with your wives!!
Google "Margaret Mead, Samoa' and she'll tell just how good Samoa still is.
BEST DIVE IN SAMOA - BEST DIVE EVER - my last birthday, all geared-up and my buddies all thinking about the 'morning after', no longer prepared to dive, so I exhaled, sank and left them wallowing for 75 mins whilst I sat at 40 feet and the fish came to look at me - nothing manmade in sight except one hell of a nice bottom (aluminium, right above me). I was so frightened for the first 5 mins!!
Talofa. For 20 years, we've explored some real gems around our 10 volcanic islands, my favourite an underwater (obviously) volcanic 'Nuutele Pinnacle' with 4-5000 fish/hour, including dog-tooth tuna, sharks, turtles and shoals of fish so dense that they block-out the tropical sunlight.
'Turtle Minefields' is another with both Greens and Hawkesbill Turtles all foraging on seagrasses and shellfish. Amazing to watch.
2500 foot crater lakes, Lake Lanotoo, with a bottomless history. Wanna try it?
Underground lavatube caves filled with water and entering the ocean.
'Piula Cave' with 3 caves all connected, but for the experienced cave divers only.
Miniature 'killer whales', all 4 inches of them, black and white and real cute.
And to surface, looking up at 6000 foot rainforested craters before you, gives you a real high.
Even the odd whaleshark from time to time, with Humpback whales in season - no calving, that all happens in Tonga (Vavau) from August to October - another diving must - only a one hour's flight away.
Highly recommend Aggie Greys Hotel next to Airport with all the watersports facilities (allow $USD1-200/day), great dive facilities and instructors/operators.
And try our nearby beach fales (grass huts) on Manono Island for $USD50 a night including 3 meals!
Want to read more? Try these scribbles My Book where 4 little Polynesian (half-cast) orphans get hit by a big wave out sea kayaking one day and end up for years living and diving on an uninhabited island, living the Life of Riley, comparing the West with the Traditional way of life of their Ancestors.
Mind you, these Kids are not so happy with what we adults have been doing to our colourful coral reefs. These Kids are now accusing us adults of 'adult-ery' and you can work the rest out.....
Some say I can talk underwater, so now trying to write underwater - my 20 year diving holiday is near over as we record these fantastic encounters, some real gems.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, Samoa, even for non-divers, friendly islanders, lovers of music, singing, dancing and laughter (so bring your guitars and be prepared to gift them to the first guitar-playing fisherman who takes you night diving catching crays and octopuses and spearing sleepy fish - bring a spare underwater torch, 6 batteries - makes another perfect gift, as do googles). You won't want to leave.
And Air New Zealand ex LA or Auckland (New Zealand) is the way to go, or Polynesian Virgin Blue ex Sydney (Australia) and NZ I think?? Only 2 hours from Fiji and twice as good. No real shopping here so safe guys to leave your credit cards with your wives!!
Google "Margaret Mead, Samoa' and she'll tell just how good Samoa still is.
BEST DIVE IN SAMOA - BEST DIVE EVER - my last birthday, all geared-up and my buddies all thinking about the 'morning after', no longer prepared to dive, so I exhaled, sank and left them wallowing for 75 mins whilst I sat at 40 feet and the fish came to look at me - nothing manmade in sight except one hell of a nice bottom (aluminium, right above me). I was so frightened for the first 5 mins!!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Time to tackle Climate Change
NB: Samoa is very late in tackling the climate change debate and even later in tackling the climate change impacts. The Pacific has waited too long to respond to such environmental insults. Our Ancestors would be turning over in their graves if they knew the severity of this situation.
For our rural villagers to respond to climate change, we Kids offer here 36 different activities for adults to contemplate, but preferably very quickly.
Samoa may have just won the 2008 International Rugby 7s Tournament against Fiji (May 2008), but if it wasn’t for a vital call from the Side-line Referee just as the final bell rang, who had mind you luckily identified a ‘late tackle’ penalty against the Fiji Team, then Samoa was bound to have lost against Fiji who had just scored hopefully their winning try – to then have it disallowed.
And, ironically, Samoa may have once again been saved by yet another ‘late tackle’, this time from the GEF-PAS. Yes, the Global Environment Facility's Pacific Alliance of Sustainability is offering millions of dollars to help Samoa fight climate change.
And we Kids in Samoa are inheriting $USD2Million in August 2008 from GEF-PAS LDC Climate Change Fund to ‘tackle’ climate change impacts on its 10 islands. This is indeed a very late ‘tackle’ in that we Kids have all known for many years that global warming is seriously affecting our Pacific Island Countries.
But, by the way the whole community is responding, rugby seems by far to be much more important than climate change impacts. Well, so it seems to us Kids anyway.
So what will it take before 20,000 Samoan Kids are seen marching on Parliament House in protest against the following array of serious climate change related impacts already being felt in Samoa, namely:
1. high susceptibility and vulnerability of Pacific Islands to climate change and sea level rise,
2. episodic extreme weather events, such as tropical cyclones, floods and droughts,
3. sea-level rise with salinization of ground-waters,
4. ecological impacts through temperature and ocean acidification related stressors on natural systems,
5. storm related inundation of low-lying coastal communities/infrastructure,
6. increased coastal erosion due to worsening tropical cyclone events,
7. flooding as a result of higher intensity/increased duration rainfall events,
8. drought as a result of longer periods without rainfall,
9. increased evapo-transpiration at higher ambient temperatures.
This could all be exacerbated in some low-lying areas by sea level rise,
threatened socio-economic development,
reduced national security and development,
increased necessity for extra hazard management,
altering traditional community disaster preparedness,
growing reliance on ecological and environmental knowledge,
growing necessity for culturally appropriate adaptation policies and measures,
necessity now for climate early warning advisories,
need for improved climate change decision-making,
need for capacity building framework,
need for community awareness building framework,
need for improved climate change educational outputs,
building the overall resilience of Pacific Islands to climate change related hazards,
need for strengthened weather and climate observation systems and activities,
updating analysis of existing climate data for all South Pacific Island nations,
developing international scientific linkages,
Improving climate change risk assessment skills,
Improving adaptation development at community levels,
Developing hazard models for communities,
Improving Cyclone Recovery Reconstruction Plans,
Designing appropriate stakeholder engagement and adaptation plans,
Implementing CIMs and CERPs,
Identifying fundamental gaps in understanding the effects of climate change on Pacific Island communities,
Developing practical hazard mitigation and climate change adaptation measures to respond to these risks,
Increasing the investment in sustainable development by implementing "An investment for sustainable development in the Pacific Island Countries – Disaster risk reduction and disaster management – A framework for action 2005-2015",
Increasing economic growth without harming ecosystems,
Alleviating poverty,
Improved environmental and social resilience to the impacts of such natural hazards,
Help implement the Pacific Island for Action on Climate Change 2006-2015 and
Making ESD compulsory in the schools and all public sector segments.
This is a comprehensive list of things to consider. For the sake of those who have just joined this broadcast, GEF-PAS is investing $USD99Million into hopefully restoring vulnerable, threatened and degraded Pacific Island ecosystems. And about half of these funds are going towards adapting to climate change impacts in one way or another.
What if Pacific governments still prefer to importing fossil fuels and, therefore, continue to add to the global warming impacts being felt globally? Samoa has taken a different tack by looking at growing its own ‘oil’. This may be the saviour crop our farmers have been looking for?
Also, Palm oil is now being grown in Indonesia at the expense of its own valuable vast tracts of native rainforests. Yes, the third largest set of ‘lungs’ of the Earth are being ‘surgically’ removed.
But, no matter what bio-fuel crop we plant in Samoa, we still need to complete a safety check, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), to ensure that no such damage like this is caused in Samoa.
But, just think about it. Samoa can grow these ‘energy’ crops and make its own electricity. In fact, we can help replace some of our expensive imported fuels (~$SAT100million per year is imported).
Samoa is about to design an agro-forestry project that could, if considered in light of the climate change impacts on Samoa, indeed become another very ‘late tackle’ from our agricultural sector.
Now our health sector needs to adapt to climate change. Yes, climate health is now a priority area for our health services to concentrate on. With more climate change impacts, Samoa may get more floodings and hence more typhoid and other water-borne, food-borne and vector-borne diseases like dengue fever and leptospirosis.
Should Samoa’s tourism industry also adapt to climate change impacts?
Should Samoa’s energy sector also adapt to climate change impacts?
Should villagers also adapt to climate change impacts?
These are just some of the questions that the Ministry of Environment (MNRE) is asking their key climate change stakeholders.
And the question we’d like to leave you with is: “Why are we Kids all tackling these climate change impacts in Samoa so late?”
Why the late tackle?
Luckily, The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has asked all Pacific Islanders to form a Pacific Alliance of Sustainability (PAS) so that all the governments of the Pacific can take a serious programmatic approach to one of the world’s most serious environmental challenges.
The GEF-PAS is going to tackle this climate change issue very seriously, spending in fact well over $USD10million to help protect the Pacific from climate change impacts.
So, what can we Kids do to help?
What can you adults do to help Samoa protect itself against these serious consequences of air pollution - all caused by too many carbon emissions from all the oil and other fossil fuels?
For our rural villagers to respond to climate change, we Kids offer here 36 different activities for adults to contemplate, but preferably very quickly.
Samoa may have just won the 2008 International Rugby 7s Tournament against Fiji (May 2008), but if it wasn’t for a vital call from the Side-line Referee just as the final bell rang, who had mind you luckily identified a ‘late tackle’ penalty against the Fiji Team, then Samoa was bound to have lost against Fiji who had just scored hopefully their winning try – to then have it disallowed.
And, ironically, Samoa may have once again been saved by yet another ‘late tackle’, this time from the GEF-PAS. Yes, the Global Environment Facility's Pacific Alliance of Sustainability is offering millions of dollars to help Samoa fight climate change.
And we Kids in Samoa are inheriting $USD2Million in August 2008 from GEF-PAS LDC Climate Change Fund to ‘tackle’ climate change impacts on its 10 islands. This is indeed a very late ‘tackle’ in that we Kids have all known for many years that global warming is seriously affecting our Pacific Island Countries.
But, by the way the whole community is responding, rugby seems by far to be much more important than climate change impacts. Well, so it seems to us Kids anyway.
So what will it take before 20,000 Samoan Kids are seen marching on Parliament House in protest against the following array of serious climate change related impacts already being felt in Samoa, namely:
1. high susceptibility and vulnerability of Pacific Islands to climate change and sea level rise,
2. episodic extreme weather events, such as tropical cyclones, floods and droughts,
3. sea-level rise with salinization of ground-waters,
4. ecological impacts through temperature and ocean acidification related stressors on natural systems,
5. storm related inundation of low-lying coastal communities/infrastructure,
6. increased coastal erosion due to worsening tropical cyclone events,
7. flooding as a result of higher intensity/increased duration rainfall events,
8. drought as a result of longer periods without rainfall,
9. increased evapo-transpiration at higher ambient temperatures.
This could all be exacerbated in some low-lying areas by sea level rise,
threatened socio-economic development,
reduced national security and development,
increased necessity for extra hazard management,
altering traditional community disaster preparedness,
growing reliance on ecological and environmental knowledge,
growing necessity for culturally appropriate adaptation policies and measures,
necessity now for climate early warning advisories,
need for improved climate change decision-making,
need for capacity building framework,
need for community awareness building framework,
need for improved climate change educational outputs,
building the overall resilience of Pacific Islands to climate change related hazards,
need for strengthened weather and climate observation systems and activities,
updating analysis of existing climate data for all South Pacific Island nations,
developing international scientific linkages,
Improving climate change risk assessment skills,
Improving adaptation development at community levels,
Developing hazard models for communities,
Improving Cyclone Recovery Reconstruction Plans,
Designing appropriate stakeholder engagement and adaptation plans,
Implementing CIMs and CERPs,
Identifying fundamental gaps in understanding the effects of climate change on Pacific Island communities,
Developing practical hazard mitigation and climate change adaptation measures to respond to these risks,
Increasing the investment in sustainable development by implementing "An investment for sustainable development in the Pacific Island Countries – Disaster risk reduction and disaster management – A framework for action 2005-2015",
Increasing economic growth without harming ecosystems,
Alleviating poverty,
Improved environmental and social resilience to the impacts of such natural hazards,
Help implement the Pacific Island for Action on Climate Change 2006-2015 and
Making ESD compulsory in the schools and all public sector segments.
This is a comprehensive list of things to consider. For the sake of those who have just joined this broadcast, GEF-PAS is investing $USD99Million into hopefully restoring vulnerable, threatened and degraded Pacific Island ecosystems. And about half of these funds are going towards adapting to climate change impacts in one way or another.
What if Pacific governments still prefer to importing fossil fuels and, therefore, continue to add to the global warming impacts being felt globally? Samoa has taken a different tack by looking at growing its own ‘oil’. This may be the saviour crop our farmers have been looking for?
Also, Palm oil is now being grown in Indonesia at the expense of its own valuable vast tracts of native rainforests. Yes, the third largest set of ‘lungs’ of the Earth are being ‘surgically’ removed.
But, no matter what bio-fuel crop we plant in Samoa, we still need to complete a safety check, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), to ensure that no such damage like this is caused in Samoa.
But, just think about it. Samoa can grow these ‘energy’ crops and make its own electricity. In fact, we can help replace some of our expensive imported fuels (~$SAT100million per year is imported).
Samoa is about to design an agro-forestry project that could, if considered in light of the climate change impacts on Samoa, indeed become another very ‘late tackle’ from our agricultural sector.
Now our health sector needs to adapt to climate change. Yes, climate health is now a priority area for our health services to concentrate on. With more climate change impacts, Samoa may get more floodings and hence more typhoid and other water-borne, food-borne and vector-borne diseases like dengue fever and leptospirosis.
Should Samoa’s tourism industry also adapt to climate change impacts?
Should Samoa’s energy sector also adapt to climate change impacts?
Should villagers also adapt to climate change impacts?
These are just some of the questions that the Ministry of Environment (MNRE) is asking their key climate change stakeholders.
And the question we’d like to leave you with is: “Why are we Kids all tackling these climate change impacts in Samoa so late?”
Why the late tackle?
Luckily, The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has asked all Pacific Islanders to form a Pacific Alliance of Sustainability (PAS) so that all the governments of the Pacific can take a serious programmatic approach to one of the world’s most serious environmental challenges.
The GEF-PAS is going to tackle this climate change issue very seriously, spending in fact well over $USD10million to help protect the Pacific from climate change impacts.
So, what can we Kids do to help?
What can you adults do to help Samoa protect itself against these serious consequences of air pollution - all caused by too many carbon emissions from all the oil and other fossil fuels?
Sunday, May 18, 2008
ISLANDS TO BE EXPLORED AND ENJOYED, but..
NB: To travel to Samoa these days may cause too much carbon pollution – better we all just learn to appreciate Samoa on the Internet. In case you are interested in Samoa, and choose not to travel to Samoa for environmental and cultural reasons, then, at best, we can offer a few words of encouraging descriptions. We appreciate your thoughtful consideration. You are not alone. Many travellers are no longer at peace with themselves travelling such distances by these polluting jets. If you can here to Samoa, then this may be acceptable (depending of course on the 'carbon footprinting' caused in the purchasing of your yacht).
The Samoan Islands are abundant with opportunities, offering, for some, the best of the best. Take for example a blissful carefree life, surrounded by tropical fruits and vegetables, all organically grown. You can eat safely to your heart’s content. The soils are rich, the rainfall guaranteed at 3-5 metres per annum.
And if you are a vegetarian, then you can even live more sustainably, especially if you are prepared to grow your own foods, walk and paddle your own canoe without burning fossil fuels.
These traditional systems still abound in Samoa, this empathy for nature is immersed in the very substance of this Samoan culture, proudly equipped with ancient values that put Samoa’s communities ‘streets ahead’ of modern societies.
But how can Samoa hang-on to these livelihood skills, all too precious to lose, especially in today’s rapidly declining ecosystems?
The following is one man’s exposure to such a traditional culture, recognizing that these traditional Samoan technologies are today being poorly broadcast to the world, and even, possibly, poorly understood by Samoans themselves, or even ignored locally at the expense of retaining our vulnerable and fragile tropical island ecosystems in an intact state.
SOME AMAZING ISLANDS AND EXPERIENCES TO BE EXPLORED
For nearly 20 years, Dr. Steve Brown has explored these mountain tops, deep valleys, even climbed inside volcanic craters and descended down lavatube caves, reaching some amazing locations, many still yet to be photographed. To have explored these islands with ethnobotanists, ornithologists, historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, epistemologists and even theologians has been an immensely personal journey. To personally witness these somewhat grave consequences has commenced yet another journey for Steve, a fulfilling experience ensuring that we adults leave something of note for our children to inherit.
INFORMAL OUTDOOR EDUCATION ABOUNDS IN SAMOA
To be accompanied by enthusiastic colleagues of all disciplines, all willing to share their professional skills in this abundant beauty has provided some significant personal experiences, and to revel in this personal education that these experiences can bring to one’s life, is still a joy remaining unexplored to its limits. Feelings often too difficult to describe, feelings too elusive at the start, all soon begin to overwhelm the more open-minded, the more receptive, the more adventurous. Samoa is an outdoor classroom, the teachers are the custodians of this knowledge, this traditional way of life. The Chiefly system, the fa’amatai, must be preserved at all cost. One day, the world will buy this technology, proven technology, from Samoan Chiefs.
BUILDING A SAMOAN SENSE OF COMMUNITY
Gaining one’s outdoor confidence comes easy for some, more difficult for others. But setting a goal, just reaching a family living in isolation along the forested clifftops, arriving with nothing, but offered everything in return, means a lot to most Samoans living on-island today: the gratitude, the hospitality, the friendship, that sense of community still abounds. You soon learn to rely on these remote Samoan ‘guides’, the hospitality of their families, and access to their natural resources. For that, Steve is so grateful, especially in today’s world where ecosystems are under constant threat, even here in Oceania, South Seas, the Pacific Ocean. A Report on the Status of the Pacific Ocean, 2020, will soon deliver some rude awakenings, even for Pacific Islanders who still remain oblivious to these happenings on their doorsteps.
This sense of community has to transgress all national boundaries: we need a sense of community for the entire Oceania region. After all, we are losing our 3000 languages and hence 3000 cultures, faster than any other region in the world.
A WHOLE RANGE OF SAMOAN LIFE EXPERIENCES WAITING TO BE RE-DISCOVERED
To return to such splendid locations on a different day, at a different time, with different colleagues adds even more weight to the range of life experiences that only Samoa can offer, from meeting villagers going about their daily lives to sharing close encounters with Samoan marinelife and seabirds and verdant rainforests.
A whole range of different habitats remain to be explored, but for how long?
To fully understand this wide array of delicate and vulnerable tropical ecosystems, from mangrove forest lakes to coral lagoons to remote island beaches, is a growing nightmare as the list of Rare Plants and Animals increases almost daily, often without us even knowing.
Meeting some of Samoa’s most intrepid traditional modern-day explorers, skilled enough to survive at sea for days, sleeping in freezing temperatures at 6000 feet, hunting pigs in high altitude (overnight) and uncovering ancient villages which have been deliberately forgotten, some of Samoa’s lost archaeological sites from the days when we supposedly were worshipping the 'devil' (mind you, we realize now that these were our true Ancestors), all takes determination of a differing kind.
Just listen to these legends, these stories, these experiences and compare these with our own life experiences abroad: no where in Samoan traditional oratory are there references to the modern-day threats that face these highly vulnerable small islands today. Climate change, ozone depletion, atmospheres poisoned with radiation, today raining down on these lost Pacific cultures, Pacific cultures losing their stronghold on humanity.
SHARING THESE SAMOAN EXPERIENCES WITH OTHERS
Having walked around Upolu in 5 days, cycled Savaii Island in 14 days (1990) and again in 2008 (3 days), kayaked to all 10 Samoan islands, over-nighted in over 100 villages (330 in total to choose from), climbed to the top of all 15 islands in the Samoan archipelago except Upolu and Apolima Islands, slept overnight at 6000 feet on Mt. Silisili, walked underground for 2 hours in the Aopo Lavatube Cave, and having walked and cycled and kayaked and scuba’d much more, leaves Steve with only a yearning to write about these experiences and the experiences of those that he has been so fortunate to share these beautiful sites with. Steve sends a sharp warning signal to all that dare venture to these remote corners of the globe: doing so will leave a ‘carbon footprint’ too big to wipe clean.
GROWING THAT SAMOAN SPLENDOUR
Therefore, having explored these pristine islands with so many friends and family, and even overseas visitors, it still brings Steve great pleasure to show-off the beauty and splendour of these islands, sometimes showing-off their hidden beauty, hidden deep in the oceans, deep inside lavatube tunnels, deep inside the lush rainforest, deep inside his innermost thoughts.
Steve now recommends sharing these experiences on the Internet, no longer able to consciously do this in person. We have all very sadly left ourselves with very few alternatives. We are all still leaving carbon foortprints today, too deep to mention. Or can we mention their depth, and the depth of dispair that is already being felt by Samoa's youth, here in Samoa and abroad?
SHARING THE SAMOAN SECRETS
Few realize today just how many sustainable livelihood skills it takes to survive on this Samoan archipelago of 15 islands, all volcanic, formed over 3 million years of eruptions. Samoans, unassisted by outsiders, are still living sustainably in absolute harmony with nature, but the global pressure is being felt locally. Samoans still have these skills today, but they still need to be identified and recorded, preferably practiced wholeheartedly by all on-island. However, this reliance on overseas support is now almost life-threatening, literally and figuratively.
Few other places on this planet can boast such abundance of natural resources, so little pollution, warm climate and a traditional indigenous society with an intact and intense sense of community that has been practiced for over 3000 years on this archipelago alone. Learn more of the fa’aSamoa and help put it into practice, worldwide.
ENGAGING IN COMMUNITY PROJECTS IN SAMOA
A whole range of activities and experiences (see below) are available today including participation in village projects. Steve is personally involved in over 20 environmental restoration projects valued at in excess of $SAT30-40 Million, ranging from mangrove re-plantings to rubbish dump restorations, coral farming to aquaculture, sustainable agriculture to organic farming, archaeological restoration to renewable energy projects, and much more.
Opportunities may exist for more and more Samoans to share these rare opportunities to engage with local environmental and cultural restorative projects, offering a greater sense of civic pride in the nearby communities and hopefully strengthening the eroding Samoan culture.
SERVICES OFFERED
A whole range of environmental and cultural services are now being offered in Samoa by a wide array of professionals ranging from from lectures, film nights, environmental discussions, introductions to guest speakers, fieldtrips, overnight treks, sporting and adventure activities, even new experiences like yoga and meditation, community project development and much more.
SAMPLE LIST OF LOCATIONS AND ACTIVITIES
1. A trek to Lake Lanotoo (day trip or overnight) through ancient fortresses
2. Discovering more ancient fortresses, left abandoned and hopefully forgotten
3. Searching for rare and possibly extinct birds deep in the rainforest
4. Fossil fuel-less Manono Island with boat tour to Apolima Island
5. Exploring Aleipata Islands and their rare seabird nesting colonies
6. An overnight on Nuutele Island, Samoa’s most remote national park
7. Walking the Tiavea Coastline to Amaile (and 100 other ‘walks’ available)
8. Exploring the legendary sites in Magiagi Village, including the Home of the Giant Octopus
9. Overnight on Nuusafe’e Island to catch coral worms – a real delicacy
10. Trip to forested blacksand Aganoa Beach and surrounds
11. Exploring the underground river in the National Park
12. Exploring the archaeological sites on Mt. Vaea Scenic Reserve
13. Locating a newly discovered fortress near the Bahai Temple
14. Exploring the Vaisigano Rivers and all its tributaries
15. Overnighting in Uafato Conservation Area amidst legendary sites
16. Exploring the mangrove lake systems of Saanapu
17. Exploring a lavatube cave and underground system too complex to describe, and
18. Visiting Savaii Island’s craters, remote beaches, wetlands, legendary sites and much more.
The fact now remains to be seen as to exactly what it will take to reverse these ecological and cultural trends being observed in Samoa today, and whether Samoans themselves can assist in a truly traditional way, preferably relying on those traditional values that once upheld their culture so proudly.
Societies' carbon footprinting today, causing global warming impacts on these small island developing states (SIDS) like Samoa, is bringing about social injustices of a magnitude never perceived by mankind in the past.
Steve is asking all citizens to please reconsider the impacts of their actions. If you a no longer part of the solution, then you are still part of the cause.
The Samoan Islands are abundant with opportunities, offering, for some, the best of the best. Take for example a blissful carefree life, surrounded by tropical fruits and vegetables, all organically grown. You can eat safely to your heart’s content. The soils are rich, the rainfall guaranteed at 3-5 metres per annum.
And if you are a vegetarian, then you can even live more sustainably, especially if you are prepared to grow your own foods, walk and paddle your own canoe without burning fossil fuels.
These traditional systems still abound in Samoa, this empathy for nature is immersed in the very substance of this Samoan culture, proudly equipped with ancient values that put Samoa’s communities ‘streets ahead’ of modern societies.
But how can Samoa hang-on to these livelihood skills, all too precious to lose, especially in today’s rapidly declining ecosystems?
The following is one man’s exposure to such a traditional culture, recognizing that these traditional Samoan technologies are today being poorly broadcast to the world, and even, possibly, poorly understood by Samoans themselves, or even ignored locally at the expense of retaining our vulnerable and fragile tropical island ecosystems in an intact state.
SOME AMAZING ISLANDS AND EXPERIENCES TO BE EXPLORED
For nearly 20 years, Dr. Steve Brown has explored these mountain tops, deep valleys, even climbed inside volcanic craters and descended down lavatube caves, reaching some amazing locations, many still yet to be photographed. To have explored these islands with ethnobotanists, ornithologists, historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, epistemologists and even theologians has been an immensely personal journey. To personally witness these somewhat grave consequences has commenced yet another journey for Steve, a fulfilling experience ensuring that we adults leave something of note for our children to inherit.
INFORMAL OUTDOOR EDUCATION ABOUNDS IN SAMOA
To be accompanied by enthusiastic colleagues of all disciplines, all willing to share their professional skills in this abundant beauty has provided some significant personal experiences, and to revel in this personal education that these experiences can bring to one’s life, is still a joy remaining unexplored to its limits. Feelings often too difficult to describe, feelings too elusive at the start, all soon begin to overwhelm the more open-minded, the more receptive, the more adventurous. Samoa is an outdoor classroom, the teachers are the custodians of this knowledge, this traditional way of life. The Chiefly system, the fa’amatai, must be preserved at all cost. One day, the world will buy this technology, proven technology, from Samoan Chiefs.
BUILDING A SAMOAN SENSE OF COMMUNITY
Gaining one’s outdoor confidence comes easy for some, more difficult for others. But setting a goal, just reaching a family living in isolation along the forested clifftops, arriving with nothing, but offered everything in return, means a lot to most Samoans living on-island today: the gratitude, the hospitality, the friendship, that sense of community still abounds. You soon learn to rely on these remote Samoan ‘guides’, the hospitality of their families, and access to their natural resources. For that, Steve is so grateful, especially in today’s world where ecosystems are under constant threat, even here in Oceania, South Seas, the Pacific Ocean. A Report on the Status of the Pacific Ocean, 2020, will soon deliver some rude awakenings, even for Pacific Islanders who still remain oblivious to these happenings on their doorsteps.
This sense of community has to transgress all national boundaries: we need a sense of community for the entire Oceania region. After all, we are losing our 3000 languages and hence 3000 cultures, faster than any other region in the world.
A WHOLE RANGE OF SAMOAN LIFE EXPERIENCES WAITING TO BE RE-DISCOVERED
To return to such splendid locations on a different day, at a different time, with different colleagues adds even more weight to the range of life experiences that only Samoa can offer, from meeting villagers going about their daily lives to sharing close encounters with Samoan marinelife and seabirds and verdant rainforests.
A whole range of different habitats remain to be explored, but for how long?
To fully understand this wide array of delicate and vulnerable tropical ecosystems, from mangrove forest lakes to coral lagoons to remote island beaches, is a growing nightmare as the list of Rare Plants and Animals increases almost daily, often without us even knowing.
Meeting some of Samoa’s most intrepid traditional modern-day explorers, skilled enough to survive at sea for days, sleeping in freezing temperatures at 6000 feet, hunting pigs in high altitude (overnight) and uncovering ancient villages which have been deliberately forgotten, some of Samoa’s lost archaeological sites from the days when we supposedly were worshipping the 'devil' (mind you, we realize now that these were our true Ancestors), all takes determination of a differing kind.
Just listen to these legends, these stories, these experiences and compare these with our own life experiences abroad: no where in Samoan traditional oratory are there references to the modern-day threats that face these highly vulnerable small islands today. Climate change, ozone depletion, atmospheres poisoned with radiation, today raining down on these lost Pacific cultures, Pacific cultures losing their stronghold on humanity.
SHARING THESE SAMOAN EXPERIENCES WITH OTHERS
Having walked around Upolu in 5 days, cycled Savaii Island in 14 days (1990) and again in 2008 (3 days), kayaked to all 10 Samoan islands, over-nighted in over 100 villages (330 in total to choose from), climbed to the top of all 15 islands in the Samoan archipelago except Upolu and Apolima Islands, slept overnight at 6000 feet on Mt. Silisili, walked underground for 2 hours in the Aopo Lavatube Cave, and having walked and cycled and kayaked and scuba’d much more, leaves Steve with only a yearning to write about these experiences and the experiences of those that he has been so fortunate to share these beautiful sites with. Steve sends a sharp warning signal to all that dare venture to these remote corners of the globe: doing so will leave a ‘carbon footprint’ too big to wipe clean.
GROWING THAT SAMOAN SPLENDOUR
Therefore, having explored these pristine islands with so many friends and family, and even overseas visitors, it still brings Steve great pleasure to show-off the beauty and splendour of these islands, sometimes showing-off their hidden beauty, hidden deep in the oceans, deep inside lavatube tunnels, deep inside the lush rainforest, deep inside his innermost thoughts.
Steve now recommends sharing these experiences on the Internet, no longer able to consciously do this in person. We have all very sadly left ourselves with very few alternatives. We are all still leaving carbon foortprints today, too deep to mention. Or can we mention their depth, and the depth of dispair that is already being felt by Samoa's youth, here in Samoa and abroad?
SHARING THE SAMOAN SECRETS
Few realize today just how many sustainable livelihood skills it takes to survive on this Samoan archipelago of 15 islands, all volcanic, formed over 3 million years of eruptions. Samoans, unassisted by outsiders, are still living sustainably in absolute harmony with nature, but the global pressure is being felt locally. Samoans still have these skills today, but they still need to be identified and recorded, preferably practiced wholeheartedly by all on-island. However, this reliance on overseas support is now almost life-threatening, literally and figuratively.
Few other places on this planet can boast such abundance of natural resources, so little pollution, warm climate and a traditional indigenous society with an intact and intense sense of community that has been practiced for over 3000 years on this archipelago alone. Learn more of the fa’aSamoa and help put it into practice, worldwide.
ENGAGING IN COMMUNITY PROJECTS IN SAMOA
A whole range of activities and experiences (see below) are available today including participation in village projects. Steve is personally involved in over 20 environmental restoration projects valued at in excess of $SAT30-40 Million, ranging from mangrove re-plantings to rubbish dump restorations, coral farming to aquaculture, sustainable agriculture to organic farming, archaeological restoration to renewable energy projects, and much more.
Opportunities may exist for more and more Samoans to share these rare opportunities to engage with local environmental and cultural restorative projects, offering a greater sense of civic pride in the nearby communities and hopefully strengthening the eroding Samoan culture.
SERVICES OFFERED
A whole range of environmental and cultural services are now being offered in Samoa by a wide array of professionals ranging from from lectures, film nights, environmental discussions, introductions to guest speakers, fieldtrips, overnight treks, sporting and adventure activities, even new experiences like yoga and meditation, community project development and much more.
SAMPLE LIST OF LOCATIONS AND ACTIVITIES
1. A trek to Lake Lanotoo (day trip or overnight) through ancient fortresses
2. Discovering more ancient fortresses, left abandoned and hopefully forgotten
3. Searching for rare and possibly extinct birds deep in the rainforest
4. Fossil fuel-less Manono Island with boat tour to Apolima Island
5. Exploring Aleipata Islands and their rare seabird nesting colonies
6. An overnight on Nuutele Island, Samoa’s most remote national park
7. Walking the Tiavea Coastline to Amaile (and 100 other ‘walks’ available)
8. Exploring the legendary sites in Magiagi Village, including the Home of the Giant Octopus
9. Overnight on Nuusafe’e Island to catch coral worms – a real delicacy
10. Trip to forested blacksand Aganoa Beach and surrounds
11. Exploring the underground river in the National Park
12. Exploring the archaeological sites on Mt. Vaea Scenic Reserve
13. Locating a newly discovered fortress near the Bahai Temple
14. Exploring the Vaisigano Rivers and all its tributaries
15. Overnighting in Uafato Conservation Area amidst legendary sites
16. Exploring the mangrove lake systems of Saanapu
17. Exploring a lavatube cave and underground system too complex to describe, and
18. Visiting Savaii Island’s craters, remote beaches, wetlands, legendary sites and much more.
The fact now remains to be seen as to exactly what it will take to reverse these ecological and cultural trends being observed in Samoa today, and whether Samoans themselves can assist in a truly traditional way, preferably relying on those traditional values that once upheld their culture so proudly.
Societies' carbon footprinting today, causing global warming impacts on these small island developing states (SIDS) like Samoa, is bringing about social injustices of a magnitude never perceived by mankind in the past.
Steve is asking all citizens to please reconsider the impacts of their actions. If you a no longer part of the solution, then you are still part of the cause.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
PLANET PANIC PACKAGE
N.B. We are taught that the divine relationship with our Creators’ creations is (or at least was once) paramount. Sadly today, our Paramount Chiefs no longer recognize this paramount importance of respecting and revering our surroundings, Gods’ creations. Our islands are being degraded internally as well as from external foreign sources and impacts and imports.
Should we panic? Before we all panic too much, just try our simple proven ‘4 Point Survival Packages’ below. Our Ancestors followed these rules and they worked, at least in Samoa, for over the past 3000 years. Our Ancestors left no ‘carbon footprints’.
We Kids just need to find out if Samoa can really become a ‘carbon-free’ society like some other villages elsewhere in the world today.
Please excuse us Kids, but we’re just trying to think with our brains (and not our pockets). But having just seen the DVD “NOBELITY” last night (where 10 Nobel Prize Winners raised some grave concerns for Kids trying to live on this Planet for the next few years), we Kids now fear for the rest of the children in the world. We saw on this DVD so many beautiful Kids in Africa and India living in absolute squalor. If only our parents had taken us to these countries on our last school holidays? This would have meant more to us than going to Disneyland amidst all the glamour and disrespect for these same children who are losing their own traditional ‘Disneylands’.
Excuse us Kids if we do sound a little ungrateful and even panicky, because we are. Whilst our grandparents all kindly handed-down their traditional and sustainable livelihood skills, they did not once forewarn us of what may lay ahead. Although, they did have a saying “Look-out, the foreigner or palagi will get you” as if he was a demon or someone for us Kids to be scared of. Reality today is that our grandparents in Samoa are now equally scared of the palagi as we were as little Kids, and rightfully so.
So, whilst you may be led to think that we Kids are in a little bit of a panic, we Kids in Samoa at least (see the rest of our blog) have decided to take a 'class action suit' against all adults in the world, charging them all with 'adult-ery' for what they have already done to the Planet, and, surprisingly, are continuing to do to the Planet, despite all our little ‘panic attacks’.
Makes good sense, don’t you think?
And with another additional 1 million species thought to become extinct by the Year 2050, mainly because of the negative impacts of global warming, then we Kids would like to register here our grave concern, hoping that the whole Planet panics with us. 1 million beautiful creations globally all going to the grave. And our parents are the cause of this? Can’t be true?
So what can we Kids really do to get this message across to our parents, in fact every parent in the whole world?
We Kids have tried to articulate our concerns in this blog whilst living on this small island developing state in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean (called SAMOA, 10 islands we still own as indigenous Samoan landowners, the other 5 Samoan islands were ‘taken off us’ by the Americans - this recent change in geography was never part of our traditional Master Plan, but American Samoa may have more political pull than we indigenous Samoans here in Independent Samoa have, especially when it comes to US politics on climate change). We Kids need to get our messages to the Whitehouse, letting the President of the USA know that we are unhappy with these outcomes and impacts on us Kids.
But, regardless of our different geography on this beautiful archipelago, we Samoan Kids are so far away from the rest of the world, so far away from the Whitehouse, and we are so far away from the real causes of global warming. Or are we? Or is there something we can do here right at home? You bet there is.
Let’s admit it: we Samoan Kids alone are increasing our annual consumption of fossil fuel-generated electricity by a whopping 10% every year - a rate that we may soon be unable to afford, even unable to generate on-island. We Samoans are now searching for more energy sources, and hydro-power is our environmentally-friendly solution (we already generate 40% of our energy needs in Samoa from hydro-power – we have so many rivers as you can imagine with a rainfall of about 3-5 metres or 10-16 feet). And a figure of 80% has been targeted, leaving 20% of our energy from fossil fuels and/or, wait for it, bio-fuels – YES, we grow our own energy crops, and the markets are here on-island – no need to export these crops long distances overseas.
Yep, we small Kids are looking for some micro-hydro power stations, we want to generate our own electricity, pumping it back into the grid and earning money as Independent Power Producers or IPPs. Wow, we may even then be able to afford to leave all our remaining forests intact. We may even be able to afford to plant a few extra trees in our greenbelts, even planting-out a few more bio-fuel species like breadfruit, palm oil, candlenut, etc.
WOW, things are starting to happen, and we Kids in Samoa need to make it happen even faster. We have to contact our newspapers, our TV stations, even hop onto the Internet and get the world rolling nicely again. Even our own Samoan ‘SAVALI’ newspaper needs to change its name, because SAVALI means to ‘walk’, and we Kids need to hasten the speed a little. Anyway, that’s the least of our problems.
As part of our Planet Panic Package, we're deciding to send our proven traditional technologies from the 'South’ to the ‘North' as they say, surprised that with all our epistemological studies now completed here in the South Seas over the past 45,000 years, we have never been consulted by the real carbon-polluters in this rapidly modernizing world up there in the Northern Hemisphere.
Are you all ready for our very simple advice, handed-down from our Ancestors, and from their Ancestors’ Ancestors going right back to their origins in Asia?
It is real simple, only 4 steps to follow, and, if you live on our islands, it may be even easier to adopt such measures than if you were living in Sydney or New York or London or some African desert: firstly,
1. Grow all your own foods, hunt and gather all this beautiful marinelife (no more wasted diesel for our cargo ships, and no more of those expensive imported foods that are now costing us in excess of 40% of our health bills due to all our cousins getting these new lifestyle diseases – diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, cardiovascular disease, gout, etc.). Within 100 years, we may all be afflicted with such non-communicable diseases, let alone being affected by the direct impacts of global warming! So what are we waiting for? Secondly,
2. Eat only healthy foods, all organically-grown, no pesticides and no imported fertilizers polluting our foods and soils and waterways and coral reefs, preferably eating only native meats/proteins, and even eating vegetarian-like diets (very different from our carnivorous cousins abroad who rely today on more and more cattle invading their last forested areas and being fed cattle fodder which was just grown where beautiful forests once grew). Starting to all make sense? And thirdly,
3. Walk or paddle your canoe to ‘work’, saves a lot on fossil fuel consumption. Yes, we all need to do our small bit. It is now time to pour our coconut oil or our candlenut oil straight into our ‘diesel’ engines. And YES, it works. Samoa may soon no longer need all those polluting carbon-rich fossil fuels. And we just need to stop Australia exporting all their carbon-rich coals to China to help power-up these new coal-fired power stations. God help us! Are we now having to turn to God because we are panicking or because we really know and understand his teachings, especially when it comes to living in balance with His and Her creations? Finally,
4. Love our forests and reefs, and cherish our traditions which have been proven over millennia. We Samoans have many traditional conservation techniques, taboos on fishing and hunting grounds, even legends and stories and proverbs all guiding our daily behaviours and traditional protocols. We Samoans have a certain spiritual relationship with our siosiomaga, our surroundings: we are taught that this divine relationship with our Creators’ creations is (or was once) truly paramount to all in Samoa. Sadly today, our Paramount Chiefs, as they still like to be called, can no longer recognize this paramount importance to protect the future of us Kids. Whatever happened to va tapuia, that spiritual relationship with ones siblings? Yes, it seems that our Fa’aSamoa, or Samoan culture, is eroding fast. Don’t they love us Kids anymore? May be we should all re-read Divine Nature by Michael Cremo who points-out very clearly the 4 most logical steps that need to be taken by all villages.
Well, how soon can we Kids all put these 4 trade secrets back into practice as part of the whole package to save the whole world, Samoan-led? In fact, led by Samoan Kids.
We Kids may need to export these traditional technologies to all other countries, as soon as possible. But, before we do, we need to do a few little experiments here at home first before we get all 4 truly sustainable livelihood skills functioning simultaneously again.
Another 4 Point Planet Panic Package needs to be designed, this time targeting our Paramount Chiefs:
1. We need to be able to convince our Paramount Chiefs of this crisis that we Kids are panicking about.
2. We need to be able to convince our Paramount Chiefs of the urgency of which we are expecting some response from them.
3. We need to be able to convince our Paramount Chiefs that they actually have the answers, all proven traditionally and all traditionally proven. And
4. We need to be able to convince our Paramount Chiefs that they have the skills to transfer this proven traditional technology to the developed countries (like USA, Australia, Europe), or to those countries that are also the heaviest global polluters (like Australia, China, USA and India), or to those countries that are the main exporters of carbon products such as coal and oil (like Australia and the Middle Eastern countries).
Now, how do we put all this into action?
Last week, Monday 14th April, 2008, 20,000 Samoans marched on Parliament protesting at the switching of the side of the road we drive on, switching it from the right side to the left side. The People Against Switching Sides (PASS) never once argued from a Kids’ perspective: and that is, excuse us, we Kids are more interested in Saving Our Siosiomaga than we are interested in saving a few dollars in our pockets (which was the bulk of the senseless arguments being presented against this recently proposed piece of legislation).
We Kids just sat back and laughed all day at the silliness of these protesters. What does it matter to us what side of the car we hop into or what side of the road we drive on? What really matters to us most is “Will we still be driving our diesel cars on this polluted Planet in 50 years time?” Next we’ll have our teachers all telling us we need to write with the other hand!
And if this is really the level of conscienciousness of our Elders, then no wonder the Planet is in trouble, and no wonder we Kids are having to panic, and justifiably so by the looks of it.
To conclude, we Kids will give all our Paramount Chiefs one last opportunity to avoid any further legal action (remember the class action suit we are preparing for you)?
We need to organize another PASS March to help foster some Pacific Alofa for Samoa’s Siosiomaga (PASS) – yes, some Pacific love (Alofa) for Samoa’s environment (Siosiomaga). We Kids need you all marching on Parliament House, and it’s better we all do this on a day that Parliament is not sitting because we want all the Parliamentarians marching with us and all of them on our side this time. And we are expecting a turn-out of about 180,000 people, in person and/or in spirit. Yes, we Kids need the entire nation focused this time on a real issue, a real serious issue, an issue that is important to who?
And you guessed it.
Us Kids.
So, please, don’t PASS-up this opportunity because we are planning another PASS Protest March, this time a Pacific Alliance of Sustainability for Samoa (PASS) all funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Yes, the GEF has recently formed the Pacific Alliance of Sustainability (GEF-PAS) by contributing $USD100Million to saving the Pacific delicate and vulnerable and threatened environments, but this time we are calling on all Pacific Islanders to help Samoa attain true sustainable livelihood skills like our Ancestors once practiced.
We want all Pacific Island Countries to aim for fossil fuel-free economies by 2020. And we Pacific Islanders have the technology to do it. And more importantly, we need to send the same message to those palagi as well, and that is “Look-out, the palagi will get you too”.
Samoa, and the whole South Pacific, needs to demonstrate by example that we are all truly capable of meeting our own energy needs here in the Pacific without relying on imported carbon-rich fuels, without relying on disease-causing imported foods, and, most importantly, without relying on imported doctrines that are not yet proven.
Our Ancestors had got it right, had practiced it like the Professors of South Seas Sustainability. The least we can do is give our Ancestral Paramount Chiefs the credit they so rightly deserve.
Faafetai tele lava
Malo galue
Should we panic? Before we all panic too much, just try our simple proven ‘4 Point Survival Packages’ below. Our Ancestors followed these rules and they worked, at least in Samoa, for over the past 3000 years. Our Ancestors left no ‘carbon footprints’.
We Kids just need to find out if Samoa can really become a ‘carbon-free’ society like some other villages elsewhere in the world today.
Please excuse us Kids, but we’re just trying to think with our brains (and not our pockets). But having just seen the DVD “NOBELITY” last night (where 10 Nobel Prize Winners raised some grave concerns for Kids trying to live on this Planet for the next few years), we Kids now fear for the rest of the children in the world. We saw on this DVD so many beautiful Kids in Africa and India living in absolute squalor. If only our parents had taken us to these countries on our last school holidays? This would have meant more to us than going to Disneyland amidst all the glamour and disrespect for these same children who are losing their own traditional ‘Disneylands’.
Excuse us Kids if we do sound a little ungrateful and even panicky, because we are. Whilst our grandparents all kindly handed-down their traditional and sustainable livelihood skills, they did not once forewarn us of what may lay ahead. Although, they did have a saying “Look-out, the foreigner or palagi will get you” as if he was a demon or someone for us Kids to be scared of. Reality today is that our grandparents in Samoa are now equally scared of the palagi as we were as little Kids, and rightfully so.
So, whilst you may be led to think that we Kids are in a little bit of a panic, we Kids in Samoa at least (see the rest of our blog) have decided to take a 'class action suit' against all adults in the world, charging them all with 'adult-ery' for what they have already done to the Planet, and, surprisingly, are continuing to do to the Planet, despite all our little ‘panic attacks’.
Makes good sense, don’t you think?
And with another additional 1 million species thought to become extinct by the Year 2050, mainly because of the negative impacts of global warming, then we Kids would like to register here our grave concern, hoping that the whole Planet panics with us. 1 million beautiful creations globally all going to the grave. And our parents are the cause of this? Can’t be true?
So what can we Kids really do to get this message across to our parents, in fact every parent in the whole world?
We Kids have tried to articulate our concerns in this blog whilst living on this small island developing state in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean (called SAMOA, 10 islands we still own as indigenous Samoan landowners, the other 5 Samoan islands were ‘taken off us’ by the Americans - this recent change in geography was never part of our traditional Master Plan, but American Samoa may have more political pull than we indigenous Samoans here in Independent Samoa have, especially when it comes to US politics on climate change). We Kids need to get our messages to the Whitehouse, letting the President of the USA know that we are unhappy with these outcomes and impacts on us Kids.
But, regardless of our different geography on this beautiful archipelago, we Samoan Kids are so far away from the rest of the world, so far away from the Whitehouse, and we are so far away from the real causes of global warming. Or are we? Or is there something we can do here right at home? You bet there is.
Let’s admit it: we Samoan Kids alone are increasing our annual consumption of fossil fuel-generated electricity by a whopping 10% every year - a rate that we may soon be unable to afford, even unable to generate on-island. We Samoans are now searching for more energy sources, and hydro-power is our environmentally-friendly solution (we already generate 40% of our energy needs in Samoa from hydro-power – we have so many rivers as you can imagine with a rainfall of about 3-5 metres or 10-16 feet). And a figure of 80% has been targeted, leaving 20% of our energy from fossil fuels and/or, wait for it, bio-fuels – YES, we grow our own energy crops, and the markets are here on-island – no need to export these crops long distances overseas.
Yep, we small Kids are looking for some micro-hydro power stations, we want to generate our own electricity, pumping it back into the grid and earning money as Independent Power Producers or IPPs. Wow, we may even then be able to afford to leave all our remaining forests intact. We may even be able to afford to plant a few extra trees in our greenbelts, even planting-out a few more bio-fuel species like breadfruit, palm oil, candlenut, etc.
WOW, things are starting to happen, and we Kids in Samoa need to make it happen even faster. We have to contact our newspapers, our TV stations, even hop onto the Internet and get the world rolling nicely again. Even our own Samoan ‘SAVALI’ newspaper needs to change its name, because SAVALI means to ‘walk’, and we Kids need to hasten the speed a little. Anyway, that’s the least of our problems.
As part of our Planet Panic Package, we're deciding to send our proven traditional technologies from the 'South’ to the ‘North' as they say, surprised that with all our epistemological studies now completed here in the South Seas over the past 45,000 years, we have never been consulted by the real carbon-polluters in this rapidly modernizing world up there in the Northern Hemisphere.
Are you all ready for our very simple advice, handed-down from our Ancestors, and from their Ancestors’ Ancestors going right back to their origins in Asia?
It is real simple, only 4 steps to follow, and, if you live on our islands, it may be even easier to adopt such measures than if you were living in Sydney or New York or London or some African desert: firstly,
1. Grow all your own foods, hunt and gather all this beautiful marinelife (no more wasted diesel for our cargo ships, and no more of those expensive imported foods that are now costing us in excess of 40% of our health bills due to all our cousins getting these new lifestyle diseases – diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, cardiovascular disease, gout, etc.). Within 100 years, we may all be afflicted with such non-communicable diseases, let alone being affected by the direct impacts of global warming! So what are we waiting for? Secondly,
2. Eat only healthy foods, all organically-grown, no pesticides and no imported fertilizers polluting our foods and soils and waterways and coral reefs, preferably eating only native meats/proteins, and even eating vegetarian-like diets (very different from our carnivorous cousins abroad who rely today on more and more cattle invading their last forested areas and being fed cattle fodder which was just grown where beautiful forests once grew). Starting to all make sense? And thirdly,
3. Walk or paddle your canoe to ‘work’, saves a lot on fossil fuel consumption. Yes, we all need to do our small bit. It is now time to pour our coconut oil or our candlenut oil straight into our ‘diesel’ engines. And YES, it works. Samoa may soon no longer need all those polluting carbon-rich fossil fuels. And we just need to stop Australia exporting all their carbon-rich coals to China to help power-up these new coal-fired power stations. God help us! Are we now having to turn to God because we are panicking or because we really know and understand his teachings, especially when it comes to living in balance with His and Her creations? Finally,
4. Love our forests and reefs, and cherish our traditions which have been proven over millennia. We Samoans have many traditional conservation techniques, taboos on fishing and hunting grounds, even legends and stories and proverbs all guiding our daily behaviours and traditional protocols. We Samoans have a certain spiritual relationship with our siosiomaga, our surroundings: we are taught that this divine relationship with our Creators’ creations is (or was once) truly paramount to all in Samoa. Sadly today, our Paramount Chiefs, as they still like to be called, can no longer recognize this paramount importance to protect the future of us Kids. Whatever happened to va tapuia, that spiritual relationship with ones siblings? Yes, it seems that our Fa’aSamoa, or Samoan culture, is eroding fast. Don’t they love us Kids anymore? May be we should all re-read Divine Nature by Michael Cremo who points-out very clearly the 4 most logical steps that need to be taken by all villages.
Well, how soon can we Kids all put these 4 trade secrets back into practice as part of the whole package to save the whole world, Samoan-led? In fact, led by Samoan Kids.
We Kids may need to export these traditional technologies to all other countries, as soon as possible. But, before we do, we need to do a few little experiments here at home first before we get all 4 truly sustainable livelihood skills functioning simultaneously again.
Another 4 Point Planet Panic Package needs to be designed, this time targeting our Paramount Chiefs:
1. We need to be able to convince our Paramount Chiefs of this crisis that we Kids are panicking about.
2. We need to be able to convince our Paramount Chiefs of the urgency of which we are expecting some response from them.
3. We need to be able to convince our Paramount Chiefs that they actually have the answers, all proven traditionally and all traditionally proven. And
4. We need to be able to convince our Paramount Chiefs that they have the skills to transfer this proven traditional technology to the developed countries (like USA, Australia, Europe), or to those countries that are also the heaviest global polluters (like Australia, China, USA and India), or to those countries that are the main exporters of carbon products such as coal and oil (like Australia and the Middle Eastern countries).
Now, how do we put all this into action?
Last week, Monday 14th April, 2008, 20,000 Samoans marched on Parliament protesting at the switching of the side of the road we drive on, switching it from the right side to the left side. The People Against Switching Sides (PASS) never once argued from a Kids’ perspective: and that is, excuse us, we Kids are more interested in Saving Our Siosiomaga than we are interested in saving a few dollars in our pockets (which was the bulk of the senseless arguments being presented against this recently proposed piece of legislation).
We Kids just sat back and laughed all day at the silliness of these protesters. What does it matter to us what side of the car we hop into or what side of the road we drive on? What really matters to us most is “Will we still be driving our diesel cars on this polluted Planet in 50 years time?” Next we’ll have our teachers all telling us we need to write with the other hand!
And if this is really the level of conscienciousness of our Elders, then no wonder the Planet is in trouble, and no wonder we Kids are having to panic, and justifiably so by the looks of it.
To conclude, we Kids will give all our Paramount Chiefs one last opportunity to avoid any further legal action (remember the class action suit we are preparing for you)?
We need to organize another PASS March to help foster some Pacific Alofa for Samoa’s Siosiomaga (PASS) – yes, some Pacific love (Alofa) for Samoa’s environment (Siosiomaga). We Kids need you all marching on Parliament House, and it’s better we all do this on a day that Parliament is not sitting because we want all the Parliamentarians marching with us and all of them on our side this time. And we are expecting a turn-out of about 180,000 people, in person and/or in spirit. Yes, we Kids need the entire nation focused this time on a real issue, a real serious issue, an issue that is important to who?
And you guessed it.
Us Kids.
So, please, don’t PASS-up this opportunity because we are planning another PASS Protest March, this time a Pacific Alliance of Sustainability for Samoa (PASS) all funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Yes, the GEF has recently formed the Pacific Alliance of Sustainability (GEF-PAS) by contributing $USD100Million to saving the Pacific delicate and vulnerable and threatened environments, but this time we are calling on all Pacific Islanders to help Samoa attain true sustainable livelihood skills like our Ancestors once practiced.
We want all Pacific Island Countries to aim for fossil fuel-free economies by 2020. And we Pacific Islanders have the technology to do it. And more importantly, we need to send the same message to those palagi as well, and that is “Look-out, the palagi will get you too”.
Samoa, and the whole South Pacific, needs to demonstrate by example that we are all truly capable of meeting our own energy needs here in the Pacific without relying on imported carbon-rich fuels, without relying on disease-causing imported foods, and, most importantly, without relying on imported doctrines that are not yet proven.
Our Ancestors had got it right, had practiced it like the Professors of South Seas Sustainability. The least we can do is give our Ancestral Paramount Chiefs the credit they so rightly deserve.
Faafetai tele lava
Malo galue
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