Third Wave Warning for Johor and Reflections on the Environment

Thursday 25January2007, The STAR Headlines: 'Third wave' warning for Johor:

What a cruel joke, I thought to myself, but on the other hand this is plausible and therefore only reasonable and proper for the Meteorological Services Department to warn us of impending disasters when the root cause of the problem remains untackled.

I am not pertaining to the impact of climate change, nor of distractive cloud seeding but what we have neglected to our own peril: drainage maintenance.

Through years of neglect and abuse of the environment from human activities like logging, construction, manufacturing, agriculture etc that exposed the top soil to erosion that silted the rivers, we have literally turn the lower lying areas (where rivers in their natural life cycle flows slower) into premature flood plains.

Really, the solution is simple, either we spend lots of money and other resources in tackling the root problem by preventing and getting rid of the silt through dredging etc or alternatively, we just adapt and hope to survive.

So long as the rivers and drains remained silted and clogged, floods recur and something we just have to live with, unless we are prepared to pay more taxes or have less of other services, so as to pay for the clean up of the rivers because governments all over the world face the common identical problem: balancing the budget of expenditure with income through taxation and money creation.

With hind sight, we may realize how wise our forefathers who live by the riverine areas were.

Where flash floods are not uncommon at the riverine areas that provided them with the needed transport network, they simply adapt and thrive.

They are prepared and ready anytime for flash floods: building houses on high stilts and a boat they used for daily transport, ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice.

They adapted well and the testimony to that is the survival of their descendants to this day.

As Man builds, Man destroys as well and unless we are prepared to amend our ways to show some due respect to the conservation and protection of the environment, the environment will soon have none of us.

Think for a moment, we need the environment more than the environment needs us.

Should we all perish from the planet Earth in one instance and provided the Sun still shines, life of other form will continue to flourish and thrive: the plants will continue to live and provide sustenance to the other flora and fauna that depended on them.

Let's stop treating the Earth like dirt and whilst it may be too late to reverse some of the effects of human caused climatic change, we still have the opportunities to do something constructive for the environment, by first doing no harm.

Also, we can adapt to survive; perhaps stilted buildings will soon be a common sight in places like flood prone Kota Tinggi?

Why not? Buildings on stilts have character and reflect the tenacity and the humble wisdom of the human spirit to survive through adaptation.

The Key to Survival: Adapting, Flowing Along

In December 2006 and January 2007, many parts of Johor, the southern most state of Malaysia received a record of more than 100mm of rainfall over a period of 3days continuous rain.

Many towns and even the capital city of Johor Bahru, hitherto unaccustomed to such floods caught many a unprepared crowd, not once, but twice in an interval of less than 3 weeks.

Many theories were put forward by experts, laypersons and politicians trying to explain and even exonerate responsibilities and many found the perfect scapegoat: "Mother Nature" and "Acts of God". Poor Mother and Poor God, what blaspheme and what scandalous convenience!

Whilst it is true that the rain that fell was exceptionally high in deluge, not all areas where the deluge of rain fell was inundated and this begs the question why?

The cause of floods is simple.

When the desired level of water in a targeted area is above the desired threshold, the relevant place is considered undesirable flooded.

Flooding therefore occurs when the net inflow is more than the outflow of water in a given area.

It is now almost conclusive that the recent flooding whilst primarily caused by a lethal combination of heavy rainfall and high tides, badly maintained drainage system is also to be blamed.

Many of the major rivers: Kota Tinggi, Segamat, Kluang and Muar where heavily silted through years of neglect and it was a disaster waiting to happen.

There is now a warning out there to expect a possible "Third Wave" of flooding and the unease could be felt everywhere and every time when rain is a little heavy and longer than usual

But heavier and longer rainfall as a result of green house effect climate change will be it and not the exception from now onwards.

What then are the options available for us to ensure that flooding does not adversely affect us?

From cloud seeding to adopting sustainable development strategies and dredging the rivers to get rid of the silt, none is more cost effective and viable than to flow with Nature: ADAPTIVE SURVIVAL.

It is as is now that these places that flood are now becoming "flood plains" and this be so, adapt to the changes by adopting appropriate flood plain systems and processes.

The Stilted Malay House, once a feature for houses located at or near rivers to accommodate the seasonal floods need to be revived as our adaptive response to the change in the behaviour of the climate brought about by our wanton heartless treatment of the environment through our selfish gratification consumption behavior.

If we fail to adapt, by Darwin's Law, we will be overwhelmed by outside forces and perish to the pages of history as species that failed.

At the end of the day, it is the Survival of the Fittest, like it or not and the fittest survives primarily by their witty adaptation.

Adapt and Flow Along until something better comes along.

Washing Ones Dirty Sins in the Publicly Dirtier Holy Rivers

Karl Marx said, "Religion is the Opium of the People".

If one were to ponder wide and deep into the meaning of this statement against the most atrocious, illogical and even lunatical deeds done in the name of religion, it is not difficult to see why religion is indeed a drug that sedates, hallucinates and causes mankind to stray into unreality and trapped in addiction.

Human sacrifice, superstition, suicide bombing to attain a piece of paradise in the sky, spending one's lifetime savings on a single pilgrimage, penance, bathing is dirty holy rivers to rid one's multi past life sins, feng shui, bazi etc are the outrageous things people will do in the name of religion.

Take for example the forgiveness of past life(s) and present life sins by dipping in polluted so called holy rivers, to what logic is this?

Millions went ga-ga to dip into the Ganges and Ramuna in the belief that there past and present sins will somehow be "washed" away by the holy waters because at his special auspicious moments when the cosmos align once in half a decade or so, the "nectar" of the gods poured into the waters of these rivers will perform these sin erasing miracles.

Hey, wait a minute, what about the many other millions Hindus in India and elsewhere who are laden with sins but have not the means to travel to this place? Will they die only to be recycled back to an even lower caste through the "law" of karma tic reincarnation?

A God or gods who stipulate that only by going to a certain place to perform a certain ritual before his or her sins are forgiven, to me, deserve not the reverence nor respect of man.

The Jews worship in Jerusalem, yet the Samaritans worship in the mountains, but Jesus Christ said more than two thousand years ago that it will come a time, when time and place is of no relevance when the worship of God is concerned. For, it will come a time when we shall worship God in spirit and in truth, because God after all is Spirit.

If God is Spirit, He is not confined to time and space and further, the Kingdom of God is within man and no where else.

If we cannot revere God in our daily living in our home town, but found it necessary to burn away good money in making a long journey to some place to wash away our sins, this seems ostensibly silly to me.

If we could just be more conscious and committed to walk our talk in our daily life, religion would no longer be addictive opiate but medicine to heal a world burdened with sin and death.

Let's take this first step of faith in this long journey of life of walking our talking, for indeed there ought to be less talk and more walk for walking is visible even from afar, whereas talking is audible only within a small radius.

Of Physics and Metaphysics

Lately I have been wondering about the claims of many a Feng Sui, BaZi and Tao Masters that their practise is "scientific" and "logical" as opposed to quackery.

Whilst I can accept that not everything factual can be experienced and verified by our five senses, it also does not make sense that we can claim something to be scientific just because we could chart out its paradigm.

Take for example gravity, magnetism and electricity. Before these we discovered, its proponents were ridiculed. Yet till today, while we accept gravity exist although we cannot touch, taste, see, feel or smell it, the same cannot be claimed for something like Feng Sui. Gravity may not be verifiable by our senses, but it can be scientifically proven to exist by repeatable experiments that yield predictable and consistent results.

The same cannot be said about Feng Sui and the likes.

Feng Sui is not scientific because its outcome is never consistent nor predictable.

The Feng Sui Master will always take the easy escape route when his recommendations fail to yield result: "Lack of Faith".

If Science relies on faith, that it is no science for Faith is not required in a sure thing as Fact.

If the outcome of an event depends on faith, "If you believe it will come true, if you don't it will not" kind of premise, you can safely chuck it out as unscientific.

When was the last time your physician told you to have faith in him and/or the medicine he is prescribing you as the prerequisite to your healing? This only comes from a "witch doctor" not a qualified physician who knows that diseases is primarily caused by germs; not charms.

I make no apology, let the charlatans have their own clientele, but please do not insult the intelligence of people who understands what Science and being scientific is.

A Science that does not have predictable Cause and Effect Results is no Science and people who practise something that had to depend on faith to achieve the desired result and not on the law of Cause and Effect alone, please at least be honest and admit that theirs is no Science.

There is no shame to be honest, even when people wants to follow you in spite of knowing that you are a fraud and what you have to offer is a lie.

If people wish to feed their superstition appetite, so be it, you don't have to dishonestly mislead them, be honest about your dishonesty, this is the least you can be.

Honest dishonest Chinese Meta-Physics Masters, any takers?

Solar Thermal Primer

Depending on where you are, Planet Earth's surface generally receives from 1 to 4.5kWh per m2 of Solar energy per day.

This amount of energy is sufficient to give you sunburn with sufficient exposure time, but not enough to cook.

Since critical temperature is required for cooking, if we can concentrate the amount of solar energy to a small point, the concentrated solar thermal energy could be raised to a temperature that is sufficient to do meaningful cooking. Imagine using a magnifying glass to concentrate sunlight to a point strong enough to burn a hole on a sheet of paper.

Another way of converting sunlight into cooking fuel is through trapping and accumulation like that of a glass house. Trapped solar thermal heat if accumulated and prevent from being lost to the ambient can raise to a critical temperature that is sufficient for cooking.

The key to mining free energy from the Sun as fuel is therefore in concentrating sunlight to reach a critical cooking temperature point of at least 65degrees Celsius through the process of concentration and/or accumulation.

Parabolic and Fresnel type cookers concentrate sunlight to a smaller point to reach temperatures that cook and Box Cookers and Solar Kettles using solar vacuum tubes technology accumulate trapped solar heat and prevent its lost to the ambient by insulation. Panel Cookers are hybrid Solar Cookers employing a combination of concentration and accumulation.

Thinking Outside the Box

A buzz phrase, a jargon, widely mentioned but unfortunately least understood fully.

Thinking outside the box presupposes the ability to think in the first place.

If one is not even capable of thinking, than really thinking within the box is not very possible, let alone outside.

Why is thinking so difficult, one may think.

Thinking is a learned ability as much as it an innate one.

Thinking and language is also intricately linked since we all must reason in our mind or even aloud verbalised or written in script through a reasoning media: a language.

However, empirically, whilst language and thinking are intricately linked, it does not necessarily mean that people with language disabilities is in any way concomitantly disabled in thinking abilities.

Deaf, mute, blind and illiterate people who had no acquired language abilities are known to be able to think reasonably and creatively.

The Swiss behaviorist Piaget hypothesised that thinking is an innate ability because babies even before acquiring the ability to verbalise speech are able to reason and solve problems. It is as if we were all born with an innate language free reasoning ability before we take up a learned language to function as the reasoning language media.

It is also apparent that since language influences reasoning, and since all languages are culture bias, the language a person uses to reason do limit or box a person's reasoning ability.

For a ideas to flow, there must not be any limits but total freedom.

Anyone who aspires to greatness must be given the total freedom to fly like an Eagle and not be boxed and bound on the ground like a Turkey.

Sometimes we box ourselves by our fear and sometimes by our ignorance.

We could be living in a totally free country and yet our thinking could be boxed in by our culture and religion, we fear to think beyond what we think our religion allows.

To me, a religion or culture that imposes on how we ought to think is despotic.

God is not a despot because he made us no robots. On the contrary, he made us humans with a free will to choose and integral to free choice is free will and to free will the freedom to think.

When we are fearful even to think the seemingly forbidden things, we deny the greatness of the Almighty in making us humans with a free will.

Similarly, let no man or angels, fallen or otherwise dissuade us from the basic right God has given us and most enlightened governments that followed in tandem to support: the Freedom to Think.

Thinking Outside the Box presupposes the ability to think and to think freely without any inhibitions or limits as a 'Box' symbolises: constraints.

It is easy for leaders, political or otherwise to urge the people to think outside the box, the irony is who created the box when none is supposed to be there in the first place and do they impose on others what they themselves are incapable of doing.

Let it not be like a father crab commanding its children to walk straight, let him the leader learn or even undergo therapy to walk straight first!

Asking his people to think outside the box when they are still imprisoned in the box is one big joke leaders can command their people to be.

Do I hear a familiar voice from the distant past in the land of the despotic Pharaoh?

Just as Moses told Pharaoh, the message from the Great I AM reverberated through the ages:

Let My People Go and Let My People Grow!

The Way of the Cycle

The Way of the Cosmos is the Way of the Cycle, with built-in Renew-ability and Sustainability, where there is no place for waste, as one organism's waste is another organism's food, where death sustains life and where nothing is new; only fresh.

Carbon Cycle, Nitrogen Cycle, Hydrological Cycle and yet we humans are notorious for breaking and disrupting Cycles and reaping the dire effects from a broken cycle of renew-ability and sustainability.

We used to waste not and therefore want not.

We put back to the ground, what we took from it.

We eat the produce of the land and gave back our excreted waste to the land as food for the flora and fauna as they fed on the nitrogen and carbon that produce the food we need, thus completing the Cycle.

But see what we do now.

We deposit our waste in a septic tank and buy expensive mined minerals to fertilize our land to produce food.

Not only did we break the Cycle of Sustainability and Renew-ability; we destroy as we create: mining lands to extract minerals, destroying more when we ought just to return our waste to the land.

Look at the glass of water you will be drinking today.

Where did it come from? From the tap linked to some reservoir which takes its source from a river or some other body of water.

There is no new water, every drop is recycled, reused from the Jurassic Age.

Your drink is used and passed out as urine and in due course, it will return as drinking water again as it goes through the Hydrological Cycle Process where the Sun heating the sea and the land caused water evaporation and return the precipitation.

Yet again, we break the Cycle, by polluting the water through our greed and dimming the Earth through our excessive burning of fossil fuel to fuel our economic pursuit.

We have only one Earth and yet we are killing ourselves by breaking all the Cycles that sustain us.

When will we realise the value of flowing with the Cycle of the Cosmos by keeping the Way of the Cycle.

What fools we are, knowing the cost of breaking the Cycles, yet ignoring the value of preserving them.