People may be too embarrassed to openly talk about it, but everyone does it, toilet or not. World Toilet Day helps people celebrate the importance of sanitation and raise awareness for the 2.5 billion people who don't have access to toilets and proper sanitation. This video by the nonprofit WaterAid highlights the luxury of having a toilet.

Celebrating your can may seem silly, but not having one can not only lead to embarrassment, lack of dignity and safety issues, but also preventable diseases and even death. When people don't have toilets, they're forced to relieve themselves in open streets, fields, or back alleys. The result? The contamination of drinking water and food sources, which leads to a slew of health risks. Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection and kills 1.8 million people, mostly children, a year. Even countries with abundant toilets have to deal with problems ranging from unhygienic public toilets to waterway-destroying sewage disposal.

Vanilla, blogging on Let's Look At It This Way from Singapore, says that people should care about toilets:

“I know this is a crappy topic to most people. It is unfortunate that it is a ‘taboo' topic to talk about openly and many people remain ignorant about the scale of the problem. I fail to understand how this can be an unimportant topic when, on an average, we visit the toilet 2500 times a year, or 6-8 times a day. In our life time, we would have spent 3 years in the toilet.”

Organized by the nonprofit The World Toilet Organization, World Toilet Day is being celebrated globally with various events. To further increase awareness, WaterAid announced the launch of its new ToiletFinder UK App for iPhone users this week. The free app helps Brits find the nearest public toilet while reminding them how lucky they are to have clean and safe toilets. The largest event today, called The Big Squat, asks people to stop and squat for one minute in a public place to raise awareness. These photos show people squatting globally, including this one of preschoolers in Singapore:

A blog from Brunei, the world according to panyaluru …, also shows appreciation for the toilet by putting it into perspective:

“Imagine if we are walking along in the row of shops in Kiulap or Gadong. Suddenly the tummy grumbles, just like the worst ribut you can think off. No rest bite. Grumble and grumble. Rumblings. The light is on amber and ready to turn green. But no toilets in sight. Not a single public toilet in the rows of shops…Add to that no water, no tissue, nothing! That could be the worst day of your life, your worst nightmare, ever worse than the nightmares those kids have in the Nightmare on Elm Street Movies. On this day, let’s show our appreciation to our toilets.”

Despite its serious side, many people have used humor to celebrate World Toilet Day. In the U.K., the blog London City Drains features a 10-question toilet quiz, while in this video high school teacher Matt Cheplic sings about the day.

Some bloggers point out that toilets alone may not be the answer. Sandhya, blogging on Maradhi Manni in India, says many men don't use available toilets:

“In a city like Chennai, where the climate is hot nearly 10 months of the year, I see men urinating on the roadside all the time. When women can control and go home and relieve themselves, why can't men do so, I don't know. So, first of all people should be fined heavily for doing this crime (yes, it is crime) on the spot. I have seen them doing this on the wall of the public toilets! In Srirangam, I saw them urinating on the compound wall of the temple even though every street surrounding the temple had toilets, which were clean, but pay toilets!”

While lack of sanitation impacts everyone, the taboo around toilets can disproportionately affect women. In some countries, modesty forces women do their business in fields before sunrise or to hold it until after the sun sets, leading to health and safety concerns. Joanne Sprague, blogging on Overturning Boulders in India, observes that women are absent from the morning toilet run in Chennai, while in Ethiopia the blog AN ADVENTURE IN ADDIS notices a similar situation:

“I’ve heard so often about the lack of toilet facilities for women or lack of toilets in general; that teenage girls in the countryside get up at 4 am to go out in the dark to do their business so they don’t get bullied by the boys at school or stop going to school altogether. Men just pee anywhere, cigarette in hand and there’s an assumption that women don’t need to, if they are thought about at all….I want to see a huge billboard in Amharic saying ‘Girls go too’ with a picture of Barbie sitting on a toilet.”

To celebrate World Toilet Day, blogger Jonathan Stray, takes readers on an international tour of toilets he's visited, from Thailand and the U.K. to West Africa and Oman, concluding:

“We in the west with our flush toilets and toilet paper and sparkling shower stalls are the exception; the rest of the world thinks a bathroom is a wet, smelly place, when they have a bathroom at all. A good toilet means you probably have a very good quality of life, so enjoy yours. Happy World Toilet Day!”

Photo of Tiled Toilet by nedrichards on Flickr, Creative Commons.

The reasoning behind the forced precipitation was because Beijing had been experiencing a drought. The night before the snow, the government had fired silver iodide into the skies. The resulting effect increased the amount of snow by 16 million tons.

“We won’t miss any opportunity of artificial precipitation since Beijing is suffering from the lingering drought,” said Zhang Qiang, the head of the weather modification office, to the state media.

China has a history of artificially inducing rain, usually in cases to stop drought. At other times, the weather modification office has reduced the rain to ensure clear skies, such as during the National Day parade in October or the Beijing Olympic Games.

Netizens have been divided in their opinions about this past weekend’s man-made snow. Some wrote gleefully about its beauty, like blogger, 鱼干儿.

北京的天气，总是这么让人匪夷所思。毫无预兆的就下了场雪，而且还一发不可收拾。听说是人工催下来的，管他呢，我们就爱这样的天气。

Some, however, have been more annoyed. Wrote 小米：

回来才听说这是场人工降雪，是谁这么主观的断定这是下雪的好时机呢？？到处都是措手不及的冷，电力、交通、供暖等都遇到很棘手的问题。

On an Internet forum, one user complained that the government should have warned people ahead of time, adding that many of the flights at the airport were delayed.

要我说，这种人定胜天的精神是好的，虽然北 京人都“被冬天”了，如果真能解除北方旱情也算是功德一桩。就是没通知大家的气象局太不地道。

A few posts made on the Internet have also expressed worry over what kind of effects the unnatural snow might have on the environment. One blogger, 天边的云, wondered if anyone has the right to alter the weather.

但是，在我们还不能完全掌握天气变化的规律时，就盲目改变局部的天气，是否会对 整个环境造成更大的不利影响呢？比如，这次因为北京缺水，就让原本要下到山东（假设而已）的雪在北京下了，会不会造成山东更缺水呢？

Alex Pasternack, a blogger and journalist in Beijing, wrote a post on Tree Hugger elaborating on what kind of effects the man-made precipitation might have.

The drought has affected 800,000 hectares of farmland by the end of October, official sources estimated, and the snow storm was said to be a much-needed boon to local farmers.

But not all farmers in the region benefited. One possible side effect of weather modification is that it diverts precipitation from other regions that need it too, for the sake of creating stronger storms in a focused area.

Other netizens have poked fun at the snow. Elizabeth Kain wrote on her blog:

Yesterday's snow was the earliest in ten years. I am sure my mother, who sat in the Beijing Airport for 7 hours as all flights in and out of the city were disrupted or cancelled, would be happy to know her inconvenience was state induced.

Another comment about the snow also made an astute observation:

Martin M. November 2, 2009 3:30 pm

Everything is made in China, even snow.

In a series of posts, we shall trace and examine the increasing role and impact of ICTs in the area of disaster management.

Nobel Laureate R.K. Pachauri, while addressing the 5^th convocation of the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT) in January 2009, highlighted the need for ICTs in dealing with natural disasters and other weather-related events that pose a threat to human life and property.

[…] Climate science has advanced at a phenomenal rate largely because powerful computers can now run very complex models that simulate climatic conditions on land as well as the oceans. Our assessment of future changes in the climate as a result both of natural as well as human factors is dependent largely on the power of models that are being used today and our ability to assess the impacts of climate change in different parts of the world. In response to future projections of these events, governments, civil society and even business organizations can take effective measures to adapt to changes that would occur.

Citing an example from 2003, Dr. Pachauri said:

“I would like to give the example of a major heat wave that took place in parts of Andhra Pradesh in 2003, as a result of which almost 4000 people lost their lives according to official records. […]

“When studying this major problem, it became apparent that ICT infrastructure could have saved perhaps all the lives that were lost if it had been put in place properly and utilized effectively. There was, for instance, no early warning provided to the victims of the heat wave. Nor was there any follow up in terms of providing medical advice to those who suffered from heat stress, such as the need for oral rehydration therapy and simple healthcare for those who were affected. Even television channels could have been used to spread proper awareness and information to protect the lives of those who were affected were not used.

“There are several examples of coastal disasters where people affected can be warned on a timely basis and evacuated before the disaster itself takes place. When a hurricane hits the coast of Florida, the infrastructure available is used to provide adequate warning and notice to those likely to be affected, and entire townships are evacuated. When a cyclone of even lower intensity hits the coasts of Bangladesh or Orissa, major damage takes place, because not only is there lack of shelters and infrastructure to house those who are affected, but there are inadequate systems for early warning and guidance.

“Today even mobile telephones could be used as an effective medium to provide early warning and thus save lives and property”.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking at the Telecom World 2009 in Geneva, also highlighted the role of ICTs in addressing key issues, including natural disaster reduction.

“Through good climate science and information sharing, ICTs can help reduce the risk and impact of natural disasters… when an earthquake hits, a coordinated ICT system can monitor developments, send out emergency messages and help people to cope.”

The UN Secretary-General’s statement echoes the paradigm shift in Disaster Management mentioned in the 2005 presentation by Sujit Mohanty, namely:

• From relief and recovery to Risk & Vulnerability management
• Introducing culture of preparedness at all levels
• Strengthen decentralized response capacity in the country
• Empowerment of vulnerable groups and ensuring livelihoods
• Learning from past disasters.

In the aftermaths of large-scale natural calamities such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the world was forced to wake up to the need for coordinated and collaborative harnessing of the power of ICT systems in managing natural disasters.

Paul Currion in humanitarian.info stated that:

“In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, there has been an astonishing amount of activity in web-based initiatives responding to the consequences of the disaster. Examining the characteristics of the response of the technology community to Hurricane Katrina tells us much about the way the web has shaped social responses to disaster, raises some interesting issues about the impact of ICT in disaster response, and points towards what might happen in future.[…]

“It was clear following the Indian Ocean tsunami that the information revolution was in the process of changing the way in which we respond to disasters. This was demonstrated by the rise of web-based fund-raising; Christian Aid raised over $700,000 online in nine days, amounting to nearly four times as much as it raised through donations over the phone. The spread of broadband, improvements in satellite telecommunications and the availability of imagery has made possible GIS and cartographic projects that would not have been possible five years ago. The rise of the open source movement has led to initiatives such as the Sahana project, an attempt to develop a suite of web-enabled applications for disaster response organisations.

Currion goes on to talk about the “first responders of the wired world”, netizens who spring to action to fill in information gaps that the governments of the respective countries and even the traditional media often struggle to fill. However, given the high influx of information post-Katrina, it was soon apparent that multiple data streams would be more effective if they were collated, consolidated and served from a more centralized platform. Thus we saw initiatives such as the Katrina PeopleFinder Project and the Katrina Help Wiki come into play.

In this context, it would not be unfair to say that the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami (SEA-EAT) blog, set up during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, was a trendsetter of sorts–the first project of its kind that demonstrated the power of engaging ordinary people effectively to channel information in order to bridge the gap between those who needed help and those who had help to offer. According to Dina Mehta, one of the key people behind the SEA-EAT blog,

“I think what we managed to do was demonstrate perhaps the largest ‘people's' coordinated effort on the web during disasters, that it was possible and that too without any formal organizational structure. There’s also something in the ability for these efforts to bring in ordinary citizens from all walks of life - people who aren’t necessarily dedicated or working in this space - most of us have different professions and regular jobs too - but just a human need to help.”

While the SEA-EAT blog focused on “keeping the information flowing”, the Sahana FOSS Disaster Management System in Sri Lanka functioned as a more structured, holistic system that helped manage the large scale of the disaster of 2004. The project was deployed by the Sri Lankan government's Center of National Operations (CNO) which included the Center of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA). Generalized later for global use, Sahana has now grown to become a globally recognized project with deployments in many other disasters such as the South Asian earthquake in Pakistan (2005), Southern Leyte Mudslide Disaster in Phillipines (2006), the Jogjarkata Earthquake in Indonesia (2006), the Peru Earthquake (2007), the Myanmar Cyclone (2008), etc.

In 2005, Michael Gurstein of the New Jersey Institute of Technology wrote his reflections on the web-based initiatives and what he perceived as the need gaps in these situations:

“Scanning the Net for information and for stories I was struck by a couple of things concerning the role (and lack of role) of the Net in these events. The Net appeared to be playing a very significant part in responding to the needs of those at a distance–the on-lookers for information, stories, ways of contributing and so on; families and friends of those possibly impacted with attempts at creating listings of the found and the lost and for those on the ground to manage the concerns and queries of those farther away; and one expects that behind the scenes much of the co-ordination and planning that is being done by aid organizations is being done in ways that are pushing the boundaries of Computer Mediated Communication and managing at a distance.

“But I guess I'm a bit surprised that the Net wasn't able (yet?) to bridge the information divides between those who had some idea about what might be coming (the scientists and those immediately impacted) and those who might have been able to make some use of that information in the places where the impact took appreciable time to be realized.

“The problem here was not, I think a “the Digital Divide” that is, it wasn’t because of a lack of “access” to information, although apparently that too was a problem overall; rather, it seemed to me to be another example of what I've referred to elsewhere as the gap between “access” and “effective use”…From what I can gather many if not most of the communities impacted had Internet “access” in one form or another. What they (and here I would include those with the knowledge who couldn't use it as well as those without knowledge) lacked rather, was the social infrastructure which could have turned Internet access into an “effectively usable” early warning system.

“Some had the information—the scientists who detected the earthquake and could understand how that could result in a Tsunami and those who felt the early impact either of the earthquake or the Tsunami—but couldn't use it. Others needed the information—the coastal villages around the Indian Ocean—but couldn't or weren’t able to “get it” at least in a timely and usable form. The “degrees of separation” imposed by nationality, language and perhaps most important, domains of knowledge and profession (and the related lack of social linkages, network based trust relationships, communication pathways and so on) impeded the communication between the two groups and one wonders whether this was simply a matter of it still being early days in our Internetted world or something more profound and permanent. (Michael Gurstein, The Journal of Community Informatics, (2005) Vol. 1, Issue 2, pp. 14-17)”

Observing the loss of lives in typhoon Ketsana that hit Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia in October 2009, Paul Conneally posted the following on his blog Head Down, Eyes Open:

“In many poverty stricken areas there is no access to TV or radio (or Internet for that matter) to help communicate warning messages. Aid agencies must work with communities to find out which methods of communication work for them at the time of an emergency and run simulation exercises to put this into practice. Often mobile phone text messages or even sending people out into the streets with megaphones, as was the case in these emergencies, prove to be most successful.

“[…]Early warning, early action in high disaster risk countries needs to be seen as a mindset, not a mechanism or technology, and works best when it spans timescales, anticipating disaster by days, hours, months, years and even decades. It must also be firmly linked to early action by decision-makers, and must cover ‘the last mile' -linking early warning mechanisms not just to the most ‘at risk' communities, but to the most vulnerable people within those communities.

“Strengthening community capacity to prevent and/or cope with the impact of disasters and crises is a concrete way to save lives and better protect livelihoods, and prevent such shocks from crippling development within the poorest countries. Early warning and early action is also more cost effective than traditional disaster response and saves more lives per pound spent: public money buys four times as much humanitarian ‘impact' if spent on preparation and risk reduction, rather than on relief items.”

In India, the 2004 tsunami was a clarion call for the government, NGOs and the civil society to effect a paradigm shift and realise that preparedness was the key to minimising the impact of natural disasters.

To enable better planning and preparedness, the India Disaster Resource Network [idrn.gov.in] was set up as a National initiative under the Govt. of India-UNDP DRM programme in collaboration with National Informatics Center, Government of India. The task of this Network was to create an online database for capturing the countrywide inventory of equipment and skilled human resources available for emergency response. The role of this ambitious, yet comprehensive database would be to help minimize emergency response time through effective decision-making on mobilization of human & material resources. The project was to ensure systematic data collection & collation from government line departments, public sector units, the corporate sector, etc at the district level. Other initiatives launched were:

• The Disaster Inventory Database (implemented in Orissa) that would allow vulnerability analysis through longitudinal study of geo-referenced inventories of local level data of past disasters (small, medium and large-scale).
• Community Contingency plans based on GIS technology that enable the visual presentation of critical data by location that can be used for coordination and implementation of relief efforts
• Development of communications infrastructure to ensure 100% coverage of disaster prone areas through satellite and ISDN linkages
• Community based ICT systems and
• Disaster/ incident surveillance system that will allow for quick, smooth, seamless data capturing and disseminating facilities.

Here is an example of implementation of this strategy/philosophy of preparedness by an NGO in Tamil Nadu following the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004:

In the next post in the series, we shall explore disaster warning systems and the various ICT-based tools and applications that have been, are being, and can be put to use as an early warning system to help reduce and or mitigate the severe damage to life and property in the wake of natural disasters across the globe.

In the field

Tracking climate change impacts generally starts in the field. James Balog, a photographer, has been to Alaska, USA, to record time-lapse ice cap melting. You can see the stunning results of his photography in this video:

If you don't have expensive cameras and spare-time to journey to Alaska, another approach would be to read the experiences of people on the frontline.

On the Frontline of the Climate Change is a project cataloging first-hand stories on the impacts of climate change, in indigenous communities, on small islands, and other vulnerable communities. The forums contains numerous recent contributions by email, mostly from South Asia and Africa. One contributor and consultant for African development, George Katunguka, writes from Uganda:

The impact of climate change has not received much prominence in my country Uganda but such changes and its effects are painfully being felt. In 2025, Uganda is likely to experience water stress according to recent report on water resources. People are dying of starvation and hunger like the recent case in Teso Region, Eastern Uganda; there are changes in water ecosystems like the dwindling levels of Lake Victoria; unpredictable seasons, loss of soil fertility and loss of agricultural output and hence increased household poverty and its implications. What are we doing to avert this looming catastrophe?

From outer space to Google Earth

Observation from the field can be double-checked from high ground. Space is the lookout from which to observe and analyze earth as a whole. It's difficult to get a seat on a spaceship, but fortunately, it's easy to find online satellite images from above.

Besides space agencies and companies offering their services to NGOs, scientists and common people, the United Nations Environment Programme created an online atlas indexing the changes occurring in different parts of the world through decades. All the satellite pictures can be viewed on Google Earth's virtual globe, as their official blog reports:

In collaboration with the Danish government and others, we are launching a series of Google Earth layers and tours to allow you to explore the potential impacts of climate change on our planet and the solutions for managing it.

Many more resources can be found on blogs and websites of international organisations. Readers, feel free to add your own sources in the comment section.

Science for decision makers

Observation is a core issue for decision makers. Governments initiate surveys to understand the phenomenon and how to mitigate the impacts.

The European Commission and European Space Agency initiated a space program in 1998, called the Global Monitoring Environmental Security (GMES), to sketch real-time changes from multi-source data. The project is due to report back in 2014, with an annexed security segment.

Developing countries impacted most directly by climate change, have taken a similar steps like the recent satellites launch by India to study climate change. Such information can help countries plan for new environmental and economic policies.

In South Africa, a new economy-oriented tool has been created for exactly this purpose. AllAfrica reports :

Now, an analytical tool based on a study, Mapping South African Farming Sector Vulnerability to Climate Change and Variability, has been developed to help policy-planners identify the communities most vulnerable to climate change and help them prepare for radically different farming conditions.

András Földes of Képgyár blog ('Image Factory', HUN) reported:

It could be known about the luminous igloo mounted at Blaha Lujza Square that it was the work of young artists and architects, and it cleans the smoggy air by biological means. Which is a noble goal, polluted air is bad after all, clean air is very healthy on the other hand. But still, the euphoria around the futuristic construction was surprising at first. […]

According to the website of Placcc festival:

Although the group includes future architects, they felt it was important to approach space from other aspects, not only and exclusively an architectural point of view, therefore they explore the relationship of man and space through art in public space. The starting point of the work they are making for PLACCC Festival is the belief that we are not mere observers of (public) space, but can actively shape it and participate in its transformation.

This photo, taken by Rozmy, shows the inside of the plastic igloo where the algae filtration was taking place:

András Földes asked the leader of Téreltérítés Munkacsoport about the functioning of the so-called 'smog reducer':

[…] The leader of the project and [university] professor, Antal Lakner, explained ardently the functioning principles of the algae filtration bio-catalyzer, adding after each of his sentence that this thing really worked, that it wasn't just an object of art.

“Here an artist, an architect, a biologist and a technician worked together to resolve an existing problem,” said Lakner, a Hungarian Algae working helmet on his head. “A detecting car came here, and demonstrated that the plantation produced a significant amount of oxygen,” he said as he looked lovingly over the glass bubble occupied with silent oxygen production.

Register your blog to add your voice!

This is the Global Voices entry.

Over the next couple of months Global Voices is going to be following environmental and climate change issues extra closely. We're hoping to amplify unheard voices in the debate around the United Nations meetings in Copenhagen in December (COP15).

In November, on Conversations for a Better World, a blog sponsored by the UNFPA, two of our authors, Eduardo and Belen, are going to be cross-posting stories about population dynamics and climate change. I know they'll be looking towards Latin America.

Throughout October, Global Voices bloggers have been mentoring 31 young men and women from Africa and Denmark who are organizing an online campaign under the auspices of MS ActionAid in Copenhagen, Denmark. They've asked us to relay stories about ‘what developing countries need to help correct damage from climate change'. So we'll try to do that too.

Some mentor entries

For Blog Action Day, Jillian encouraged her readers to visit the blog of her mentee Edith, while Ali says his mentee Peter turned the tables on him and inspired him to write a post on climate change.

Another mentor, Gayle, has written a longer post highlighting the situations of farmers in Ghana, Australia (her own countries) and Zimbabwe (her mentee John's country).

Gayle used Twitter to put the call out for farmers in Australia. To her surprise, she was re-tweeted by ABC Radio in Australia, and came directly in touch with several farmers by email. She read interviews with Ghanaian farmers online, and even spoke to one directly.

And among dozens of links and interesting sources, Gayle found information on how local communities use traditional knowledge in rural Ghana to cope with climate change.

Gayle did something that bloggers on Global Voices do all the time. She went looking for voices you rarely hear speaking for themselves in international mainstream media.

In the past week on Global Voices

Bhumika Ghimire wrote a post today about the future of bio-gas in Nepal, including a video by a Japanese university research team that shows how bio-gas is used in rural Nepal.

A landslide caused by Typhoon Ketsana in a village in Pampanga province. Photo by Flickr user susancorpuz90

Earlier this week, Mong Palatino wrote about how Filipino bloggers are drawing connections between climate change and the devastating floods in Manila that killed more than 500 people.

Saffah Farooq wrote about how citizens of the low-lying Indian Ocean island state of the Maldives, feel their fate may be decided by the success of treaties like the Kyoto Protocol.

Wildlife blogger Samuel Maina in Kenya, wrote about how Kenyans are so desperate for rain they are awaiting El Niño rains that may displace thousands with mixed feelings.

There is a constant flow of stories on Global Voices' environment topic feed by bloggers all around the world.

Looking ahead

On this Blog Action Day, where we celebrate the collective power of bloggers to push for change, we'd like to encourage everyone not only to write about climate change but also to read what other people are saying.

Over the next many weeks, we're going to be overwhelmed by news stories by journalists quoting politicians, activists, and many others - but when the UN meetings are over and the cameras are off, the people who face the consequences of climate change immediately, will still be telling their stories on the internet in hopes of reaching people who care.

As we say at Global Voices, ‘The world is talking. Are you listening?'

For those far removed from the front lines of climate change, listening and linking is one the few ways we can succeed to make the problem feel real and in need of solutions today.

Related posts

• Blog Action Day 2009: Rising Voices Projects Discuss Climate Change
• Posts in Portuguese on Blog Action Day ‘09
• Greek Posts on Blog Action Day ‘09
• Africa discusses climate change
• Caribbean: Blogging About Climate Change
• Israel: Blog Action Day for the Environment
• Morocco: Blogoma participates in Blog Action Day
• Ghana: Blog Action Day ‘09
• Global Health: Can Condoms Combat Climate Change?

Southern Metropolis Daily journalist Liu Tianzhao has been paying the issue attention recently on Twitter after her work was harmonized [zh] pre-publication, noting that regulations passed last year require new incineration plants built over the next three years [zh] to maintain a buffer safety zone of no less than 300 meters and, in one Bullogger post, quotes [zh] two Chinese specialists on the risks and specific challenges faced in seeking to reduce the release of dioxins while incinerating Chinese trash.

She also notes [zh] that 20 trash-to-energy incinerators will be built in coastal Fujian province alone over the next three years, each with a capacity to reduce harmful emissions to that of 70% of international standards.

This tweet she directed at social critic and active Twitter user Lian Yue, who lives in Fujian. He in turn notes that various departments offer incentives to encourage the building of trash incinerator plants—a sign, Lian Yue morbidly points out, that bodies such as the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Environmental Protection aren't just incapable of curbing pollution, but in fact benefit from the failure to do so.

Earlier this year, the government in Panyu district in southern China's Guangzhou announced the planned construction of a trash incineration plant which has given rise to much local controversy. As Yangcheng Evening News blogger Mo Ke writes, the plant will likely already be up and operating by this time next year:

城市垃圾的处理是一个世界性的难题，我们也不例外。据番禺区市政园林局长周剑辉称，两年内番禺或遭遇“垃圾围城”，垃及形势刻不容缓，故希望国庆后就开工建设，且越快越好。同时，有关部门信誓旦旦地表示，该垃圾焚烧项目的技术、工艺先进成熟，垃圾焚烧释放的二恶英含量非常少，不致造成环境污染，而且该项目的选址也已是“最优选择”，希望居民不必视垃圾焚烧厂为“洪水猛兽”。据悉，该项目正在进行环评。但已经征了地，并完成了部分补偿工作。未敲钟先入饭堂矣。

有关部门也声称，“不可能上一个污染项目”，但即使如此，这并不足以缓解和打消周边数十万居民对该工程项目可能造成的环境污染，及其对人们生命健康构成威胁的极度忧虑。

实际上，周边居民对垃圾焚烧厂的担忧并不多余。二噁英是国际公认的一级污染物，是毒性最大的化合物之一，其毒性是氰化物的130倍、砒霜的 900倍，国际癌症研究中心已将其列为人类一级致癌物。即使是微量的二噁英也对人体有害。而就目前技术而言，垃圾焚烧项目事实上也并非如官方所说的那样环保、安全，即使在学术研究层面上，也存在巨大争议乃至截然相反的观点和结论。美国环境健康基金全球化学安全项目总监约瑟夫·迪冈认为，垃圾焚烧炉是产生二噁英的重要途径之一。而目前国际上对二噁英的实时监测尚是难题。英国伯明翰大学环境化学高级讲师斯图尔特·哈瑞说，对二噁英的实时监测，虽有很多研究，但他认为到现在还是不可能的，“现在最快的监测速度只能做到12个小时，且非常难做到。”

With the Panyu incinerator located just a few kilometers from several of the largest residential communities in Guangzhou, as NetEase reports, tens of thousands of homeowners in the area now oppose the plant's imminent launch; comments on that report included:

1
解决垃圾不是问题
关键是程序
为什么公众永远被蒙在鼓里？
2
一个骗子骗人1000次以后宣布从此要讲实话
谁敢相信他？

处理这类问题很简单。
我们都听说过：就餐时，客人发现饭菜里有只苍蝇，喊来老板，老板立马吃掉，以示无碍。
反正都住番禺，利益相关人都安置在周围楼盘，既可解决员工福利问题，又可拉动房地产市场，还可以照顾人心….一石多鸟。

叫张广宁妈妈住到那个厂区去

其实是业主怕的是他的房子以后没有升值空间。

番禺区市政园林局局长周剑辉希望尽快动工
你们猜垃圾场是谁的

我觉得这又是政府无知、无能、短视的又一个例子！
番禺拥有广泛的未开发地方，真需要在已经发展成熟的华南板块中心，搞一个垃圾焚烧厂？在此搞的唯一理由只是运输成本低！
从地图可以看到：附近是住宅、是新火车站、是番禺的商务旅游区，八年左右就会发展为类似现在天河体育中心一样的区域！
试想在繁华的北京路旁边有一个垃圾焚烧厂，合适吗？
使用五年再搬？
这不是浪费纳税人的钱吗？

[listing all the large residential communities in the vicinity] 真不知是番禺的那些专家选的地址.环保所的局长一定不在附近居住.既然最先选择了开发这一地区(广州新客站)为什么又要去破坏这一地方呢(垃圾焚烧厂)…………..请各位领导再仔细考虑考虑.既生俞,何生亮呀!

群众不理解可以等等.没有地方放垃圾就堆起来,等到群众有要求了在建嘛.

建可以，但也不能拿老百姓的健康开玩笑啊，那么多空地不选，选一个居民集中区！！！不仅仅是番禺的垃圾，还要承担广州市的垃圾！呵呵，人们从亚洲第一大火车站出来以后，一定会感叹：哇，广州的“烟筒”如此壮观！！欢迎大家到亚洲第一大火车站接受“二噁英”的洗礼！！！

我是环保行业从业人员，从事环保治理工程8年，参与过废气处理项目数项，也了解了一些国内外同类项目，没做过，也没见过那个环保治理工程效率能达到100%，而只能减轻污染，我们的专家良心在哪？还没建就敢说“无污染”？我只能说，狗屁专家为钱说话，为垃圾发电的国家补贴说话。另外在权力支持下的国有企业没几个认真做环保的，因为他们和上级部门一家的。强烈抵制。

在亚运会场附近、在即将建成的新火车站新省客运站附近、在密集的居民生活区附近、在广州未来的新天河城里建垃圾焚烧场，这种自毁广州的做法，是广州市领导的决策吗？你们是在建政绩还是毁自己的政绩呢？太愚蠢了！

“What shall we do with the garbage?” asks China Dialogue author Huo Weiya in a piece on Beijing's own trash troubles. “Burning them is not the end of the story.”

The results of the largest-ever HIV vaccine trial, which was conducted in Thailand, were announced last week in a press release. Known as RV144, the study tested a combination of two older HIV vaccines on more than 16,000 Thai volunteers. The regimen was not only found to be safe, it was also 31 percent effective in preventing HIV infections. The trial was performed by the Thai Ministry of Public Health and sponsored by the U.S. Army Surgeon General.

Almost 5,500 people die due to AIDS every day and an estimated 32 million people have died from the disease since it surfaced in the early 1980s. The trial's results have been called modestly effective and a small step towards finding a safe and highly effective vaccine to help fight the disease. A post on the Asia Health Care Blog elaborates on this cautious optimism.

“Many public health experts, even ones with close links to the project, have been cautious about getting too excited about these results, particularly experts in countries where HIV/AIDS has become a pandemic, like in India. Some have called it a base hit as opposed to a home run, and everyone is saying that just because this trial may have had some success, a ‘cure’ is still many years away. In fact, experts do not even know how the vaccine mechanism works.”

Still, organizations such as UNAIDS are hailing the findings, saying it has instilled new hope in the 20-plus year search for a vaccine, which so far has seen few successes. Many bloggers, such as Brandon Lacy Campos, were also optimistic, despite recognizing the study's limitations. Blogging on My Feet Only Walk Forward, he says:

“Let the joyous news be spread the Red Ribbon Witch May One Day Be Dead!

Even though the study found that the vaccine only reduces the risk by 31% (which is way fucking better than 0%).
Even though the study was only done in Thailand with the strain of HIV most prevalent in Asia.
Even though the U.S. Army was the main funder of the vaccine trial.

I am still tickled red by this news.

Never before has any HIV vaccine been proven to be effective in preventing the spread of the infection. But some brilliant doctor in Thailand combined two previously ineffective vaccines and came up with a vaccine that, in fact, prevented, completely, HIV infection in a number of patients… So do not begrudge me my joy. I understand the limitations and boundaries of that joy, but hope breeds faith, and faith has been known to change the world if we let it.”

Beachlover, commenting on a post on Sawatdee Gay Thailand, is also not giving up hope that a vaccine may be found. He says:

“A vaccine is likely a long way off. But it may happen eventually… they've only been going for 20 years and there's plenty of vaccines, which have taken decades to research.”

Other bloggers remain less optimistic, pointing out the study's potential flaws and questioning whether the results are actually statistically significant. The vaccine was tested on HIV-negative adult men and women, half of who received the vaccine while the rest were given inactive placebo shots. Over the course of three years, 74 of 8,198 people who received placebo shots became infected with HIV compared with 51 of the 8,197 who got the vaccine. The difference was found to be statistically significant, but PinoyPoz, blogging on Back In The Closet from the Philippines, expresses skepticism over the results. He says:

“I apologize, but really, I was skeptical to begin with. I’d never read about any even minute developments towards a vaccine against HIV. It was just too out of the blue and too sudden to be a success, I thought. I know, my pessimism got ahead of me. I just needed to read all about it myself….

… With the “vaccine”, approximately 6 in every 1,000 people got infected. But even without the “vaccine”, the chances of getting infected were still small. Just 9 in every 1,000 people. The difference? For me, minute.”

Martin, blogging in the U.K. on The Lay Scientist, also expresses much skepticism. He says:

“We have a result that is barely statistically significant, using a vaccine comprised of two components previously shown not to work, a methodology heavily criticised by a galaxy of experts in a joint letter to Science, and quirks in the results which would be consistent with the vaccine not working.

I'm not going to stick my neck out and call this trial a failure, but no self-respecting skeptic can look at this results and declare them to be anything other than tenuous.”

Some bloggers speculate that regardless of whether or not the trial results are a reason to celebrate, people may use it as an excuse to stop practicing safer sex. Jimbo, blogging from Malaysia on In My Father's Footsteps, says:

“We cannot deny the possibility of a ‘rebound’ effect, in which people are lured into a false sense of security and let down their guard, like in the early days of HIV/AIDS where gay men returned to unsafe sex when AZT, the first anti-HIV medicine produced and marketed, was made available. They thought a cure for HIV has been found! In fact, Jimbo would think that it would be foolhardy to think that such a rebound effect would not occur.”

Other bloggers hope that more questions about the trial and the vaccine's true potential will be answered when the research paper is presented at the AIDS Vaccine Conference 2009. The conference will take place from October 19 to 22 in Paris, France.

Photo of Solo Needle by stevendepolo on Flickr, Creative Commons.