Showing 1 - 10 of 14
Adapting to a hotter world
Oped, Editorial, Published on 08/05/2024
» The arrival of rains this week might have cooled off what has been an unusually hot season, which saw temperatures reaching 45C.
It's getting too hot to vote in India
News, David Fickling, Published on 24/04/2024
» How do you run a democracy when the mercury rises above 40 degrees Celsius? That's the problem faced by voters in India. A swath of the country's east is sweltering under a heatwave. The city centre of Kolkata has emptied out, schools have cancelled classes, and one TV presenter collapsed on air with heat stroke.
Taking a dip in Hua Hin a long time ago
Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/04/2024
» It is not often I can remember what I was doing five days ago let alone 55 years, but a moth-eaten diary confirms that on April 14, 1969 I was in the Thai resort town of Hua Hin. A brief explanation is necessary.
In search of some extreme heat relief
News, Editorial, Published on 23/04/2023
» Earlier this month, spirits were high as the nation celebrated its first full-fledged Songkran in four years. No fears of Covid-19 or the sweltering heat were going to scare people out of enjoying one of the country's most-cherished holidays.
Theatre of the absurd
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 28/11/2022
» Last week, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and Tourism Authority Thailand announced that 8,745 people from Surin province succeeded in setting a new record of "the highest number of people folding fabric animals simultaneously" in the Guinness World Record. This event was part of the Elephant Festival, an annual event in Surin. Organised by the Surin provincial administration and TAT, the event of folding fabric into elephant dolls aimed to boost tourism since numbers had dropped due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Organisers also hoped the event would promote Surin fabric, which is a signature product of the province.
It seemed a good idea at the time
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/11/2022
» The annual elephant festival in Surin attracted more than the usual attention last week after featuring an attempt to enter the hallowed Guinness Book of Records. Alas, the only record achieved was that hundreds of student "volunteers" roasted in the sun, exposed for hours to high temperatures reaching 39C.
The varieties of climate-driven medical risk
Oped, Published on 04/08/2022
» When natural disasters force people to pack a bag and flee to safety, important items are often forgotten. Following California's 2007 wildfire season, estimates were that for every household at least one person left behind prescription medication during evacuation. Likewise, when Hurricane Harvey threatened to flood my own mother's Texas home in 2017, she forgot to grab her medication in her rush to escape the storm's path -- even though she was normally meticulous when packing for a trip.
The global methane imperative
News, Published on 29/04/2022
» One of the most important achievements of last year's United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow was the Global Methane Pledge, a commitment by more than 100 countries to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030. Reducing methane emissions is not only among the quickest and most effective ways to stem climate change; it would also go a long way towards improving public health.
Let's literally make our cities green
News, Published on 03/02/2022
» Who doesn't love a little shade on the street? A cool parking spot for the car? A bit of garden? But is disrupting traffic, inconveniencing businesses and shoppers, spending millions of baht to create a "green city" actually worth the disruption, inconvenience and cost?
Serious road safety measures needed
News, Editorial, Published on 17/04/2016
» Many of us grumble about the workplace when we know it's going to be an especially busy period, but the employees at a Pathum Thani coffin factory have more reason to dread extra work than most. At this time of year, according to Suriya Coffins owner Saritwat Suriyasenee, the factory's monthly orders quadruple from 100 to 400 caskets. Small in scale, the factory workers must feel a certain amount of anguish when they send so many extra coffins to temples and hospitals in neighbouring provinces.