Monthly Archives: June 2014

“Dog Beer” from Belgium

Leave a comment Posted by on June 8, 2014

Yes, I am not making it up. This is what I saw in the window of a local pet store. I guess if owners can swill it, so can pooches. I have not tried the brew myself, but you might want to pick up a six-pack next weekend for the pack.

 

Beer for Dogs? You tell me.

Beer for Dogs? You tell me.

Essays

Lotteria introduces the “Lady Burger”

Leave a comment Posted by on June 8, 2014

Yes, you must admit there is a certain special hamburger for that discerning woman.

The Lady Burger

The Lady Burger

Essays

Asia Institute releases white paper on the Fukushima crisis

Leave a comment Posted by on June 7, 2014
“Open-Source Reasoning and Open Mindedness as a Strategy for Responding to the Fukushima Crisis”
White Paper of the Asia Institute
June 7, 2014

Introduction

This paper is an expansion of some of the central ideas that were articulated by Emanuel Pastreich and Layne Hartsell in an article published in Foreign Policy in Focus in September, 2013 concerning the response to the meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The article, titled “The Century-Long Challenge to Respond to Fukushima,”called for an international collaborative response to the ecological, social and economic crisis left to the world after the disaster of March, 2011.

The article briefly outlined the potential role of wide scale collaboration across the globe between stakeholders and Institutions (public and private) across diverse disciplines to formulate and implement solutions to this on-going Fukushima nuclear disaster, radiation leakage from which has found its way into the food chain and even into products that sourced from Japan.

 

For more information on the initiative and a download of the white paper in PDF format:

 

link 

Report

不可思议！ 美国国会禁止国防部投入资金来应对气候变化问题

Leave a comment Posted by on June 4, 2014

最近美国国会做出决议，禁止国防部投入资金来应对气候变化问题，这一决定深刻地反映出了我们当前面临的危机的严重程度——不仅是美国，也关乎全世界。毕竟，没人会天真地认为美国的制度性衰朽不能影响世界其他地区。如果美国实施自杀性的政策，它很容易拖累他国。并且，我们不能假定：由于事实是如此明显，那么事实本身就能够阻止这些盲目的人追求极为狭隘、短视的目标。

就在全球都针对气候变化问题产生更多共识的时候，美国众议院却通过了一项《国防授权法案》（National Defense Authorization Act）的修正案，其中明确禁止五角大楼动用其经费去解决气候变化问题。[1]

成功推动这项修正案的议员戴维·麦金利（David McKinley）认为，“对气候变化杞人忧天的人宣称人类活动排放的CO2是造成气候变化的根源，这完全是危言耸听。大部分人没有意识到96%的CO2排放是自然性的。”

他的说法是彻头彻尾的误导，言外之意是气候变化事出无因。事实上，在2013年3月，美国太平洋司令海军上将塞缪尔·洛克利尔（Samuel J. Locklear III）还谈到“气候变化是我们这个时代最大的安全威胁”，并且“这是最有可能发生的事情，其将严重破坏安全环境，或许比其他我们经常谈到的问题更具可能性”[2]。对于这位上将而言，议员的话根本就是在打脸。

然而，很明显，在这个被叫做“华盛顿”的粪坑中，头面人士们在执行着一项“神圣的使命”——确保每一个美国人拥有复活节岛原住民的命运。正如一位匿名内部人士坦言，“对国家安全的真正威胁就是砍掉我的预算。”

具体而言，修正案禁止国防经费被用于以下领域：

“经过授权批准或经本法案通过的资金不能被应用于美国全球变化研究项目-国家气候评估；气候变化第五次评估报告-政府间小组；联合国第21项议程-可持续发展计划；以及2013年5月行政命令下的有关碳排放社会成本的监管影响分析的技术更新（Technical Update of the Social Cost of Carbon for Regulatory Impact Analysis Under Executive Order）。”

 

[1]  “House Bans Pentagon From Using Climate Change as Nat Security Threat,” http://nsnbc.me/2014/05/25/house-bans-pentagon-using-climate-change-nat-security-threat/

[2]  “U.S. Pacific Commander: Climate Change Greatest Threat In Region,” http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/03/11/1698091/paccom-commander-climate-change/

中文

“일회용의 대한민국” (중앙일보 2014년 6월 3일)

Leave a comment Posted by on June 3, 2014

중앙일보

“일회용의 대한민국”

2014년  6월   3일

 

임마누엘 페스트라이쉬

 

 링크

 

나는 커피를 참 좋아한다. 그런데 카페에서 커피를 주문하는 것은 곤혹스럽다. 커피 자체는 역시 맛있다. 그런데 이 커피가 종이컵 옷에 플라스틱 모자를 쓰고, 때로는 종이벨트까지 매고 나타난다. 여기에 5~10장의 냅킨, 설탕과 크림을 휘저을 스틱을 동반한다. 이따금 물휴지와 홍보용 전단까지 따라온다.

　자원 고갈의 이 시대에 한국에서 엄청난 물질의 낭비를 보는 것은 고통스럽다. 특히 안타까운 점은 대부분의 한국인이 그러한 습관이 잘못됐다는 것을 인식조차 하지 못한다는 것이다. 직원 역시 고객에게 이만큼 많은 일회용품이 필요한지 묻지 않으며, 매장 내에서 음료를 마시는 고객에게도 종이컵 대신 머그컵을 사용할지 묻지 않는다. 애초에 컵을 씻을 공간을 없애 돈을 절약하는 가게도 많다. Read more of this post

Uncategorized

“Promoting the Seonbi Spirit” Korea Magazine, June, 2014

Leave a comment Posted by on June 1, 2014

KOREA MAGAZINE

JUNE 1, 2014

 

“Promoting the Seonbi Spirit”

 

INTERVIEW WITH EMANUEL PASTREICH OF THE ASIA INSTITUTE

 

There is a tremendous tradition in Korea of the intellectual as an organic and responsible part of society, a tradition that produced many great scholars who were willing to sacrifice themselves in the interest ofcountry and to make their learning into something for everyone,” explains Emanuel Pastreich.

This is the seonbi spirit, he says. Pastreich is well versed in the subject, given that he is an expert on comparative Asian studies, is a professor at Kyung Hee University’s College of International Studies and serves as a director at the pan- Asian think tank, the Asia Institute. As he explains, “Whether Yi Sun-sin and the armies of righteousness that rose up when the king had fled after the Hideyoshi invasions, or Dasan Jeong Yak-yong and his attempts at agrarian reform under King Jeongjo, Korea has a remarkable tradition of intellectuals dedicated to political causes.” It is for this reason, he says, that Korea is so democratic. Read more of this post

Articles

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