More carmakers caught in headlights of VW engine-rigging scandal

More carmakers caught in headlights of VW engine-rigging scandal
Volkswagen has admitted it installed illegal software into 11 million 2.0 liter and 3.0 liter diesel engines worldwide (AFP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Volkswagen emissions scandal

Iran's 'catastrophic mistake': Speculation, pressure, then admission

Iran's 'catastrophic mistake': Speculation, pressure, then admission
Analsyts say it is irresponsible to link the crash of a Ukraine International Airline Boeing 737-800 to the 737 MAX accidents (AFP Photo/INA FASSBENDER)

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 commercial jet.

QZ8501 (AirAsia)

Leaders see horror of French Alps crash as probe gathers pace

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Action Needed Now to Avoid ‘Catastrophe’ in Jakarta


The Jakarta Globe, Emmy Fitri

Motorists stuck in traffic in Central Jakarta. (Photo: Jurnasyanto Sukarno., JG)

Inextricable traffic jams, even on toll roads, barely breathable air, heavily contaminated water and dwindling open spaces — problems suffered daily by Jakarta residents — may seem intolerable now, but experts warn that it will only become worse unless concerted efforts are made to fix the mess that is Indonesia’s capital.

Urban planning expert Darundono sums up the current path Jakarta is on today in one word — “catastrophic.”

Each day, almost 10 million commuters spend hours on Jakarta’s roads. But transportation analyst Budi Santosa, from Trisakti University, says it has long been predicted, in several studies, that by 2014, traffic jams in the capital are likely to reach total gridlock as a result of the exponential increase in the number of vehicles plying an insufficient road network.

“A viable solution is to design a mass rapid transportation system to reduce the vehicle population. We cannot afford to build another inner-city toll road or more streets because we have run out of land for such massive construction,” Budi said, adding that so far there appear to be no breakthroughs visible on the horizon.

Jakarta, however, is not only running out of land for more roads. The capital is choking from the unfettered conversion of open spaces into concrete.

Darundono says that when he designed the Jakarta Spatial Plan for 1965-1985, the designated green areas accounted for between 26 percent and 28 percent of the city’s surface, but today they make up only about 10 percent.

“The government has been inconsistent in its implementation of its own plans. Parks, green spaces and public cemeteries are being turned into shopping malls and government offices,” he says.

The combined effect of the sheer number of vehicles out on the road each day and the lack of green open spaces that could offset their fumes has severely degraded the quality of the city’s environment.

According to the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), transportation causes 70 percent of Jakarta’s air pollution, and the city produces 13,000 tons of carbon dioxide daily.

As a result, on most days of the year — 347 out of 365 in 2006, to be exact — Jakartans are breathing in polluted air.

It is no wonder then, that a third of the capital’s residents suffer from some form of respiratory tract infection each month.

In fact, a World Resources Institute paper says respiratory tract infections account for 12.6 percent of mortality in Jakarta — more than twice the national average.

Admitting that the capital, home to as many as 12 million people, is mired in environmental problems, the acting head of the Jakarta Environment Management Board (BPLHD), Ridwan Panjaitan, says programs to address each and every issue are up and running, including the enforcement of emission tests and the smoking ban.

“But we cannot work by ourselves because some programs are closely related to other agencies like the health agency and the traffic police. That becomes our challenge, to synergize the programs with other agencies because unless we have a common understanding then we cannot work together,” he says.

Returning home at the end of the day, more than five million Jakartans will scarcely find rest and solace in their small, cramped houses in the capital’s rapidly expanding slum areas, where basic services such as water supply and sanitation are minimal, if they exist at all.

The government’s efforts to build thousands of low-cost apartments for the poor have so far been criticized as only adding to the problems, instead of being a solution.

“There will be massive groundwater use,” Darundono said.

Excessive groundwater extraction has long been flagged as a major problem in Jakarta, causing the land to sink by an average of 5 to 10 centimeters a year, according to a study by the World Bank.

The capital’s water supply operators have been unable to connect hundreds of thousands of households, particularly those in slum areas — where the thousands who migrate to Jakarta each year in search of work live.

With the confluence of these urban woes threatening the future of Indonesia’s capital, real solutions must be found soon.

On Nov. 10-12, international experts will converge on Jakarta to map out a sustainable path for the capital.

These solutions are urgently needed to avoid the catastrophe that Darundono says we are currently headed toward.


Related Articles:

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Jakarta Predicted to be Underwater By 2012


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this post. Jakarta is a bustling town, you can find shopping centres and luxury hotels. Most of the people are involved in plantation, they mostly use motorbike taxis and three wheelers for this purpose. Majority of people work in metal shops, small scale factories and vending food. For more details refer Jakarta Indonesia