Hi everyone,
Did you all miss me?? ;-)
It's been a few months since I last wrote a blog entry here. Work has been keeping me busy. I've not been able to write more, like I had originally wanted to. In any case, I'm determined to make up for lost time by including more entries this month and next month.
RIght off the top of my head, the one thought that is topmost in my mind these days is one big question, "What is happening to the world these days??"
Have you noticed that there seem to be more earthquakes these days? More crazy things happening in nature and in the environment? The volcanic eruption in Iceland, resulting in glacial ice melting and flash floods and ash emissions that are causing serious disruptions to air travel and air freight alike. Earthquakes in various parts of the world, some resulting in tsunami warnings being issued. Why does it seem to me like maybe nature is fighting back?
Last year, my family started observing Earth Hour... we switched off all our lights at home for Earth Hour last year... we did the same thing again this year... it seems like the Earth Hour movement is really catching on all over the world... and yet, what's being done by our governments about the environment? The people seem to be trying to make their voices heard, but it's not so simple, is it? At the international level and between countries, things just aren't so simple.
I enjoy watching documentaries, so needless to say some of my favourite cable channels include Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic, and Animal Planet.
Recently, I watched a documentary about how the dinosaurs went extinct, it was called the "First Apocalypse"... basically, it explored various theories about how it ended for the dinosaurs. One of the theories involved a quick mass extinction due to a huge comet/meteor smashing into the earth... another theory involved sickness and disease... yet another theory says that perhaps mass extinction of species is part of the earth's life cycle, and that it happens gradually, so gradually that maybe we hardly notice it until it is too late... the frightening question is, "Is it already too late?" and "Has this gradual process of mass extinction already started?".
Are we all like the proverbial frog in the pot of gradually boiling water? Not realising that we are gradually being boiled alive till it is too late? Scary thought.
Maybe I've been watching too many documentaries lately that somehow all deal with some kind of "end of the world" scenario... be it an environmental disaster of sorts, or something cosmic and more sudden.
In any case, it has gotten me thinking about how environmental events or natural disasters impact us today. In the days of the dinosaurs, when such things happened, dinosaurs didn't have to worry about their work schedules, their travel schedules, their event schedules, their missed business meetings and family gatherings, all of which seem to be of great importance to people living in the world today.
Take this volcano that has erupted in Iceland... it all started on Wednesday, one report says that there was a minor earthquake measuring just 3.5 on the Richter scale that somehow started this volcano up. The volcano lies beneath glacial ice, so when it started erupting, two things happened... firstly, the glacial ice started to melt rapidly, resulting in flash floods, endangering the lives of people and animals in the area... secondly, because the magma emerges and is cooled quickly, and is more viscuous, this results is more violent eruptions and grit being thrown up into the air... 20,000 feet up into the air to be more precise, hence causing severe disruptions to flights, as plane engines face the danger of being clogged up with ash and grit, if they fly... this is dangerous, engines could fail in such conditions, resulting in plane crashes and possible loss of lives... so to observe safety regulations, flights get delayed or cancelled altogether till further notice.
Here in Singapore, Changi Airport has had more than 120 flights cancelled between Singapore and Europe since Thursday, with thousands of people stranded, not being able to return home or to get to meetings and so on... some passengers were luckier than others... all of Singapore Airlines' passengers managed to get accommodations while they wait upon this volcanic ash cloud to disperse enough for planes to start flying again... others have had to "camp out" in Changi Airport instead... my sister who is a Tour Guide says that one of the families on her tour on Wednesday was supposed to have left Singapore on Thursday, but then this happened and yesterday, she bumped into them at their hotel lobby, and they told her quite candidly, "We're still here!"
Just read a newspaper article that said a 20 year-old traveller was stuck in Changi Airport with only 20 British pounds and 5 Singapore dollars in his pocket, wondering how on earth he's going to feed himself if this ash cloud doesn't clear for the next few days?!?? Sing for his supper perhaps?
The timing of this volcanic eruption was also not good, because it happened a few days before Singapore was about to host one of the year's big conventions, Food & Hotel Asia 2010... as a result, there was a shortage of hotel rooms to begin with, as hotels had been booked in advance for this big convention... adding to this, passengers who were already here and who had their flights delayed or cancelled had to extend their stay and not go to the airport... those who were at the airport were coming back out and needed to find hotel accommodations after checking out already, and with the peak period coming up due to the big convention, they were probably faced with the prospect of paying peak period rates to stay on in Singapore.
And if you think it's just people traffic that was affected... the transport of goods was affected too... of particular concern are perishable goods like food items, flowers, human organs, medical supplies... supermarkets may face a shortage of certain goods, if the disruption in air transport continues... imported flowers may wilt while waiting for the volcanic ash cloud to clear... human organs can now only be given to those who are within close distance, as they can no longer be quickly transported by air to those further away... medical supplies cannot be delivered in time to those who need it... I guess we take for granted the modern convenience of air freight, and it takes something like this to happen to really highlight how interconnected and dependent we are on our modern day technological conveniences.
People who are used to travelling by air and reaching faraway destinations within a few hours are now forced to take a much longer time travelling the "old-fashioned way"... by ground transport and by sea... ferries and trains are seeing brisk business, more so than usual... taxi companies are getting rather unusual requests, a journey of a thousand kilometres begins with a phone call to a taxi company... my sis and I were just talking about it yesterday... parodying a certain local telecommunications company's ad campaign, we pictured in our heads, operators from taxi companies getting calls like this:
Operator: Bonjour Monsieur, how may I help you?
Caller: I'd like to book a taxi to Rome.
Operator: Excuse moi, Rome? Is that a suburb?... Another country?!??
Of course, in this instance, it would be hard to laugh about it... journeys that used to take a few hours by air, now may have to take a few days instead? We seem to have gone back to the old days, before the invention of the aeroplane... with transatlantic flights halted, we are back to the days of transatlantic cruise liners like the Queen Mary 2... with domestic flights coming to a full stop, continental rail travel and channels crossings by ferry come back to the forefront... even as I sit in a cafe enjoying a lovely weekend coffee, I seem to notice a lot more tourists also enjoying a morning cuppa along with me... have the good old days of tourism in Singapore come back again?? Erm nope... it's just the recent disruption in air travel in and out of Europe that is happening right now.
Overheard in the cafe, a conversation between 3 apparent strangers:
[Person 2 and 3 are sitting at the same table, and Person 2 has his laptop out in front of him, checking for the latest news on the air travel disruption in Europe]
1st Person (to Person 2 and 3): So have you heard the latest news on what's happening? I hear we could be here for another 2 days. The airline is advising that we travel through Ukrainian airspace, but who knows whether the plane engines are really OK to travel. They may check them and all, but who knows if there might still be minute damage done by smaller particles that have managed to get inside of the engines?
2nd Person (jokingly): Yeah, we may end up going to Frankfurt instead, and staying there for 2 years!
1st Person (to the 3rd Person): Yeah, then you can show us around Czech Republic... there'll be lots of time to travel!
3rd Person: Yeah, so hey, it's all positive!
All 3: LOL!!!
While it is rather uplifting to see the 3 people trying to stay positive in what is a pretty bad situation, it really doesn't make things any better than they really are.
In New Zealand, some locals have opened their hearts and their homes to stranded travellers unable to make their way back home.
Of course, this is the more heartwarming, more human side to what is going on right now.
We're so used to everything happening on time, and according to plan these days, that Mother Nature seems to be forcing us to stop and take a look around us, 'cos really, it's not all about us!
Of course, everyone is concerned, because this disruption is estimated to cost airlines losses of $200 million a day... possibly more... who knows when the financial haemorrhaging will stop? WIth the industry already being hard hit by a tough recession year in 2009, disuptions due to snowfall, and now this volcanic cloud... how much more can airlines take before they start coming apart?
And with air travel facilitating the operations of various other industries, the impact could be tremendous! Much more widespread that initially thought of.
Sportsmen have to make alternative arrangements to travel to matches, race car drivers are stuck in Shanghai not able to travel back home, musicians and singers have to send their apologies for cancelled or postponed shows, weddings have to carry on without the physical presence of the bride and groom... just to mention some of the actual goings-on as a result of this disruption.
I could go on and on, but I'll stop here... I'd like to know what you think of all the natural disasters that seem to be plaguing us more often these days? Is Mother Nature fighting back? Or is it just better reporting?
And what do you think of the air tranport disruption that's going on now? It could last for days, maybe a week, maybe longer, who knows? Apparently, the last time this volcano erupted back in the 1800s, it lasted for a whole year! Can we afford to shutdown European airspace for a whole year? As it is, this is the worst airspace shutdown since World War II and September 11, 2001. Tell me what you think.
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