Shocking new research from the US predicts that the Arctic could be ice-free in summer as early as 2013, almost 30 years earlier than previously estimated.
The study, conducted by Professor Wieslaw Maslowski from the US Naval Postgraduate School in California, does not even incorporate data from the two worst summers for Arctic ice coverage, 2005 and this year, leaving Maslowski to believe that even this prediction may be conservative.
The professor told the BBC that he believes other previous climate models have underestimated the speed at which warm water is moving into the Arctic basin and that positive feedback mechanisms are contributing to faster levels of ice melt than previously thought.
More troubling than this, however, is the possibility that predictions on the Greenland Ice Sheet melting could be equally conservative and therefore inaccurate.
Current predictions say it won't melt until around 2100, but bring that forward a few decades and the apocalyptic scenes from the movie The Day After Tomorrow may not be too fanciful.
Scientists around the world agree that the disappearance of the 3km-thick Greenland Ice Sheet would cause about a 7m rise in global sea levels -- enough to inundate several major cities including London, New York, Bombay and Tokyo. Large parts of the Netherlands, Bangladesh and Florida would also disappear.
Such a rise in sea levels would also threaten low-lying areas of Taiwan, most notably the western plains where most of the population lives.
This startling news came as 190 countries from around the world gathered in Bali to try to thrash out a road map to a successor to the Kyoto Protocol that would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to levels that will hopefully minimize the effects of serious climate change.
But negotiations have stalled as the US has rejected a proposal that requires industrial nations to cut emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent by 2020. The prospects of a deal that would set cuts anywhere near what are needed seem gloomy, to say the least.
But despite the US government's intransigence, people and governments around the world are now becoming fully aware of the severity of the threat posed by climate change, and not just by rising sea levels -- everyone except Taiwan, that is. As the rest of the world tries desperately to work out solutions to this challenging problem, Taiwan remains locked in its own little "climate bubble."
Being excluded from the UN and other international bodies that deal with environmental issues like climate change severely hampers the green movement and means that Taiwan comes under no pressure whatsoever to reduce its shocking emissions levels. All we get from time to time is bluster about how we should "voluntarily" meet our "obligations." That didn't work too well with Kyoto, because the nation's emissions have doubled since 1990 -- the baseline year in the agreement.
In other countries, protecting the environment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions are hot topics and appear high -- if not at the very top -- of the agenda during election campaigns. The recent Australian elections are a good example.
Not so here. With legislative and presidential elections just round the corner and the UN talkfest in Bali in full swing, we have heard precious little about the environment from anyone, bar a surprising pledge yesterday by Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung cities -- again voluntary -- to cut emissions.
But even that will be an empty gesture as long as politicians of all stripes continue to put the business interests of the few over the future lives of the many.
The Paris Olympics are over and the five-ringed views of the Louvre, Invalides, Eiffel and Versailles just memories. As a diplomatic historian, my thoughts naturally turn to France! The Olympian of world affairs, the creators of “diplomacy,” Cardinal Richelieu and Prince Talleyrand. But sixty years ago, at the 1964 diplomatic games, Team China bested Team France in a battle of wits in “free-style negotiations” over Taiwan. Paris never recovered. To be fair, in Europe of 1963-1964, France was besieged. She had been ousted from her Asian dominions. She had begun her first nuclear weapons tests just as the United States and
Having the title doctor or the letters PhD after your name carries the connotation of having broad knowledge. In reality, while people with doctoral degrees often possess highly specialized expertise and might be held in high esteem among their peers, they are likely virtually unknown to the general public. In Taiwan, people with doctorates are common, while probably fewer than one out of 100 of them could truly make a name for themselves. Of course, there are exceptions. Those who gain media exposure can easily become well-known, especially if they are involved in politics. However, many fail to live up to
For the past few weeks, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and its Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) have been embroiled in a series of scandals related to irregularities in their presidential campaign financial reporting. These scandals continue to expand as more evidence surfaces, raising more questions about the party’s financial propriety and competency. These irregularities include unusually high spending, allegedly accepting donations from abroad, reporting 97.3 percent of personal donations as “cash,” making large payments to marketing firms with close ties to the party and accounting errors. When the financial irregularities were first reported, the party blamed it on “arbitrary misconduct” by
Over the past few years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a visible change in the EU’s approach to Taiwan. I call this phenomenon European hype about Taiwan. The change is noticeable at both the EU and member-state levels, with parliaments and Central Europe leading the way. The best example is the fact that Taiwan is finally mentioned in various EU documents (a real novelty compared with the past 30 years), in addition to statements by European politicians, an increase in bilateral contacts, a growing awareness of Taiwan’s importance and its contribution not only to European prosperity, but