Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Be wary of the TikTokalypse on the radar
Oped, Todd G Buchholz, Published on 31/01/2025
» When the United States president, Congress and Supreme Court are all in a tizzy at the same time, the topic under discussion is usually a global meltdown or, at the very least, income taxes. Today, the concern is dancing cat videos. In his first day back in the White House, Donald Trump launched a strike against the Court and Congress by signing an executive order to pause the ban on TikTok, earning applause from the Chinese-owned company. TikTok's online content creators are relieved, too, for many warn that a ban (or a forced sale to a US company) would devastate them. I call it the TikTokalypse.
Time isn't on Guyana's side for oil income
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 21/09/2023
» Guyana is not a "hellhole country" of the sort Donald Trump complained about when he said he wanted immigrants to come to the US from white places like Norway instead, but it did used to be poor, tropical and largely populated by people of colour.
Phuket oil spill fiasco
Oped, Editorial, Published on 11/08/2023
» Viral images of villagers and tourists in Phuket cleaning sea turtles covered in oil have been a shock and cast the island province in a negative light.
Oil shenanigans
Oped, Postbag, Published on 10/08/2023
» Re: "Race is on to clean up large oil spill", (BP, Aug 9).
Firetraps need fixing
Oped, Editorial, Published on 01/11/2022
» Saturday's tragedy in South Korea's Itaewon district has raised concerns about the management of crowded entertainment areas in many cities around the world.
Lessons from the Mountain B fire
Oped, Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, Published on 24/08/2022
» Fire breaks out when heat, fuel, and oxygen meet. Without intervention, a fire will only come to an end under two conditions: when the fuel has run out, or when the oxygen supply is exhausted. In an enclosed space, when a fire can deplete most oxygen, the flames will die down while the fuel continues to burn in a smouldering state under pyrolysis. Pyrolysis does not require oxygen, so it can take place without fire at or above 500C and turn organic compounds into charcoal, tar, or non-condensable gases. These gases have extremely high thermal values ready to burst into fireballs as soon as fresh oxygen re-emerges from any new opening. This is called "backdraft", and is what happened in the Mountain B Pub fire.
Slick clean-up sorely absent
Oped, Editorial, Published on 26/02/2022
» One month after a series of leaks from an undersea delivery pipeline, the oil spill in the waters off Rayong still ranks as a pressing concern.
Prepare for a fossil fuel fire sale
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 26/11/2021
» An article with the innocuous title "Reframing Incentives for Climate Policy Action" slipped out in the scientific journal Nature Energy three weeks ago and got very little attention, presumably because of the hopeless title. But it's not innocuous at all. It's explosive.
Shipping is worse than aviation
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 30/03/2021
» 'We're waiting on food goods like coconut milk and syrups, some spare parts for motors, we've got some fork lift trucks, some Amazon goods on there, all sorts," said Steve Parks of Seaport Freight Services in England, who is awaiting twenty of the 18,300 containers aboard the Ever Given. Which of those things cannot be sourced from somewhere closer than Asia?
Cashing in on Sino-US 'green' race
Oped, Pornphrom Vikitsreth, Published on 17/02/2021
» After taking office as the president of the United States last month, Joe Biden has been translating his campaign promises on climate change into action, with the support from the young, progressive wing in the Democrat party. Among the highlights in his proposals include pledges for net-zero emissions and a 100% clean energy economy by 2050 -- a clear reversal from Donald Trump, a climate change denier who had a cosy relationship with the fossil fuel industry.