bangrak coffee notes

notes over coffee today - not very coherent & I notice I contradict my own argument/plot.. oh well. will try (perhaps) to make it easier to read later / think more on it. stream of consciousness notes between sips of coffee. fix / adjust later

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04/06/2011 bangrak, bangkok
With the articles in the international herald tribune this week about China’s plans to divert one of their rivers to meet the water supply demands of its people, and then today’s article about the race to find food that can be grown in droughts – rice growing experiments – it’s just like living in the opening page of a science fiction, futuristic novel.

Character: a global nomad – the prices of food have risen too high so she is forced to travel the world working in other places, living in hotels, because her employer is paying for her food and accommodation.
Places like India where there was a grain shortage and there was risk that the poor people would not be able to afford to buy rice.
The other news article (a couple of days ago) where countries are buying or leasing land in Africa – and there’s risk that the water from the Nile river might be also at risk
This article today, about the rise in affluence of people in Asia, which has allowed more people to eat meat. Look this up for Thailand – traditionally Buddhist – but this doesn’t mean vegetarian? Check in the Siam Museum book. So more people eating beef, more grain required to feed the cows, more bread baked. ]

The scientists had got it wrong. The effects on climate change and the warming of the planet had caused excess amounts of carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere. Experiments had been run – in greenhouses – on the effects of extra CO2 on the production of crops, and forecasts made from these results, but the experiments were flawed. Once scientists started realizing and running the experiments in natural conditions, rather than the artificial environments of the greenhouse, they saw that the CO2 was not a benefit for the crops in large amounts, and pests and heat were detrimental factors also. By this time it was too late.
The world had changed, nations were being run by committees voted in at a global level. Countries such as India – where corruption had been rife for decades, with no sign of it lessening – even by the protests of her own people, were now governed by international groups which had checks and balances to keep everything in line. It was almost back to the times of colonial rule. Prior to these changes, there’d been a series of national protests by the people – lead by Swami Ramdev, a popular guru and yoga advocate and practicioner. He’d become more popular after the death of Baba xx, and had organized a national yoga weekend of protests, meditation and hunger strikes – well he’d spoken of them, the people had listened and passed on the messages via word of mouth, mobile phone calls an SMS messages and via the young social media systems of the day. What began as a single weekend of protests, went on to become a three year series of protests by 70% of the population – both the poor and affluent ranks of people joined in. there was no other choice but for the government to be overthrown, but even the local people couldn’t decide on who could be trusted to rule the nation without corruption, so an external international body had taken over. What started in India, continued in many other countries. It spread to the middle east – where the people had been protesting for their freedom and increased democratic rights for at least a year prior to the Indian protests.

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based on great articles in Intl Herald Tribune today - and remembered articles from other trips (eg to India, China) & articles during this visit to Thailand

articles on: yoga guru's yoga sit-in & fast to protest corruption in Indian politics http://nyti.ms/lJKlxq

growing drought proof grain/food http://bit.ly/mFSSOJ & 'boring' ""slow moving" movies - Warhol's 8hr "Empire" mentioned

inspired me to write part of a story, (char+world) though character doesn't do anything yet. maybe this can be from the "slow" article

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02/06/2011

"North China is dying." http://nyti.ms/jCypdG (what an opening line! sad. ambitious plan. I have images of Dune from article though - worms). that's front page of the International Herald Tribune today - with the photo of the boy looking back (apt. look back to look forwards). I wonder what Aus will do when we break all the aquifers with coal seam gas mining.where will we pump the water from &make artificial rivers. "The project’s human cost is staggering — along the middle route, which starts here in Hubei Province at a gigantic reservoir and snakes..." "800 miles to Beijing, about 350,000 villagers are being relocated to make way for the canal" "150,000 people had been resettled by spring" "The rapid growth of megacities has drained underground aquifers that took millenniums to fill." (22mill beijing, 12mill tianjin + more)

time to buy shares in water farms I think.. & plant more trees to attract the rain. tree & water farms are the future. saving up to buy some land. to grow trees & a lake. & not let the csg mining companies on the land. somewhere in mid/nth qld -> lots of rain.

& also "When the Nile Runs Dry" (op ed) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/opinion/02Brown.html

other countries are buying land in Africa to use for farming to send food back to their own people. wonder if they'll do that in Aus too. or leasing. it's like farmworld in reality? or whatever that game is.

wouldn't this be lovely http://www.realestate.com.au/property-residential+land-qld-bowen-2847155 I just need $200K. umm...