UN: Pollution Huge Threat to Asia

Brown clouds of pollution a huge threat to Asia: UN
BEIJING (AFP) – Enormous brown clouds of pollution hanging over Asia are killing hundreds of thousands of people, melting glaciers, changing weather patterns and damaging crops, the United Nations said Thursday.

Car traffic, factory emissions and indoor cooking are among the culprits for the "Atmospheric Brown Clouds", which are up to three kilometres (1.8 miles) thick, according the UN's Environment Programme (UNEP).

Releasing a landmark report on the phenomenon, the UNEP said getting rid of the clouds could help ease many environmental problems in Asia.

"The Atmospheric Brown Cloud is both complex and in need of a great deal more attention," UNEP executive director Achim Steiner told reporters.

Unlike greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, which take decades or longer to disperse, the clouds would disappear in a matter of weeks if the sources of the problem ceased to pollute, the report said.

Five Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC) hotspots have been detected around the world, three of which are in Asia.

Asia's dense population and heady development of recent decades are two of the main reasons for the clouds, with one vast expanse of soot hovering across the Arabian Peninsula through to China and the western Pacific Ocean.

The clouds are so prevalent that black soot has been detected at Mount Everest base camp at levels normally expected in urban areas, according to the report.

The soot that has fallen on the glaciers of the Himalayas and other mountainous regions of Asia have amplified the effects of climate change, because the black particles absorb more heat.

However the clouds can both magnify and mask climate change, because the pollutants also block sunlight.

But the report said many of the consequences of the clouds were indisputable, such as accelerating the melting of glaciers, which in turn has a long-term negative impact on water resources and crop yields across Asia.

The pollutants have also contributed to decreases in the Indian summer monsoons and a north-south shift in rainfall patterns in China.

"The human fatalities from indoor and outdoor exposures to ABC-relevant pollutants have also become a source of grave concern," the report said.

The UNEP estimated that as many as 340,000 people died each year in China and India alone from cardiovascular, respiratory and other diseases linked to exposure to the pollutants.

From: Yahoo News!

The Best Adobo

My sister is one of the best cooks I know, and I figured I'd share her recipe for Adobo on here.

Adobo is one of the best known Filipino dishes - you can make almost anything into adobo. Sitaw (pole beans), potato, sweet potato, taro, fried bread, tofu, bread fruit, meat, and even rice- whatever else you can think of, can be made into adobo. It's also basically the easiest thing to make.

All you need is equal parts of soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar, then, depending on how much you're cooking, - usually just a teaspoon of garlic (semi crushed or cut real small), and a whole onion. Leeks will do too. Then saute the garlic, and onions till the onions get nice and caramelized. After that, throw in the s ugar and soy sauce (it'll fizzle and sizzle), throw in whatever you'd like to make into adobo- be it fried tofu or whatever it is - mix it around, then add the vinegar. You can actually add the vinegar in early, but if it's vegetables that you're turning into adobo, it usually takes a lot longer for the veggies to cook when there's vinegar in the pot, so generally speaking, if it's a vegetable, put the vinegar last. But if it's more on the carbs side of things, then there's no problem adding all 3 ingredients in at the same time.

Let things simmer, you can even cover the pot, put it in semi low heat - and let the ingredients suck in all the sauce. After you can garnish with toasted sesame seeds and fresh chives or leeks, and fresh tomatoes! It's especially good and pretty with the tomatoes. Even lettuce goes with it.



Enjoy!

My side of it

Sam just posted his first post, I'm not sure if he actually read the first one I put up, or the little "about us" post I sneaked in. He suggested I write about us tho- being.. well, in the situation that we are- engaged- but far, far apart.

To make the background short, I didn't think I'd ever get married but well, Sam came along and now I'm engaged. On some occasions I wonder what in the world got into me- or perhaps, what I've gotten myself into. Here's someone from a totally different culture and country, haven't known for very long - but well, hey- my parents and family really like him and so do I. We've got similar views on a lot of things and ... well basically I think it'll work out really well. (I'm hoping that anyway.)

We don't plan to marry anytime soon. We're both basically working students now and there's so much more to do before actually settling down and marrying - or at least that's how I feel- but despite all that- I'm happy and feel lucky to have him.

It's not exactly easy to be so far apart, but it's also not easy to be all too close while we're not yet married. I'm a bit more on the conservative side of things, so in a sense us being far apart will be much easier for certain things. It's been almost a month(!) since I last saw him. I've got at least a few more years to go before I actually see him again. Thank God for technology!

Anyway, that's all I'm willing to say now.

In relation to that first post I made, I had an odd dream last night about my pregnant German Shepherd. I dreampt that she gave birth already and there were like 13 puppies but 3 of them died. It was a pretty weird dream. She gave birth for the first time last year on December 22, unfortunately, the 3 puppies she gave birth to all died before or on December 25th. I never saw a more broken hearted dog. I couldn't believe how well she would pick up on my mood/feelings as well. The day one of her puppies died I quickly brought its little body out of the room she was in so that she wouldn't see it. But she kept looking and looking. And she kept looking at me like, "So, ok, cut the crap, where'd you put him?" The worst was on Christmas morning tho, when the last puppy died. I folded up all the blankets and put aside her whelping bed, and started crying when I was fixing up. She started crying in her dog way too. It only just made me sadder. For at least a couple months after that she kept on looking at me and doing her doggy cry- still asking where her pups went. Anyway, I'm praying we have better luck this time.