Showing 1 - 10 of 22
Structures that last
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 05/12/2016
» Beauty of design is also in the eye of the beholder. Take Baan Huay Sarn Yaw Wittaya School in Chiang Rai province, for instance. For some, the shape of the place conjures the image of woven carp fish, usually made from leaves. For others, the design brings to mind the image of khanom tien, a traditional triangular-shaped Thai dessert wrapped in banana leaf.
Roiling on the river
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 11/10/2016
» Yossapon Somboon is staring out at the Chao Phraya. He's standing at Phra Sumen Fort on Phra Athit Road, with its green park that offers one of the best spots to look at the river. There is a giant cork tree. There are slopes and well designed terraces where visitors come in the evening to rest, picnic or just look at the water. Nearby is the ancient fort, a traditional community -- a tranquil scene, a pocket of peace in the bustling capital.
From salt to solar
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 14/09/2016
» If this year's severe drought returns next dry season, Uncle Wai Rodtayoy and other salt farmers in tambon Koek Kharm of Samut Sakhon, known as the country's largest sea-salt-farming area, will see mounting debts.
Seizing energy
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 29/06/2016
» 'What if we can capture the sun and put it in a box?" Park Jaeyoung, an astrophysicist who once worked at the nuclear research centre Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US, told students and guests at Khon Kaen University, his eyes reflecting his enthusiasm as passion lit up the room.
Photographic preservation
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 22/06/2016
» Underwater photography is all about otherworldly charm; the deep-blue opacity and aquatic animals can transport us into another realm. But those exquisite images are not the style preferred by Sirachai "Shin" Arunrugstichai, a 28-year-old marine conservationist and photographer whose work is not just about beauty but about man's obligations toward the ocean.
Unconventional conservationist
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 02/03/2016
» By look and temperament, Sasiprapa Raisanguan, a 22-year-old staff member at the Centre for Protection & Revival of Local Community Rights (CPCR), doesn't fit the stereotype of a Thai conservationist. She is no starry-eyed tree-hugger clad in natural-dye cotton, nor does she have a hemp rucksack or ride a bicycle to reduce her carbon footprint. At our interview in Chiang Mai, Sasiprapa arrives on her motorcycle, which she calls "a practical choice" to getting around the northern city where her office is.
Drought, fishing scandals and winding roads
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 23/12/2015
» In the past year, environmental disasters once again proved how much of an impact they have on everyone's lives: the air we breathe (the haze in the South, blown over from Indonesia); the water we use (the contentious Chao Phraya roads); the lights we see (the coal-fired power plants); the ground beneath our feet (the gold mining scandals); the food we eat (the fishery disputes). In all of this, local communities and the rural poor feel the heat and the fire more than Bangkok's urbanites and they're the people who keep showing public resistance against environmental problems and the depletion of natural resources, despite the grip of military rule.
Sustaining environmental activism
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 21/10/2015
» The demography of environmental activists in Thailand has shifted. The pioneering generation, those inspired by the life and death of the late Sueb Nakhasathien, the forest official who committed suicide in what is believed to be a protest against bureaucratic hopelessness, have started retiring, or feel too tired and have moved into other fields.
Waiting to exhale
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 24/07/2015
» The work schedule was gruelling: he had three days to take portraits of 200 villagers. For photographer Roengrit Kongmuang, the task was compounded by the simple act of breathing.
Encroaching on villagers' rights
Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 07/01/2015
» As a New Year's gift, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has promised to return happiness to the people by giving 53,000 rai of state land to landless villagers. On paper, it looks like a generous present.