In its latest assessment report, released in Stockholm this week, the global scientific body says the main cause is human actions that emit planet warming (greenhouse) gases into the atmosphere.
The authoritative report, distilling the work of hundreds of climate researchers, projects global temperatures to rise by between 0.3 and 4.8 degrees Celsius by late this century. (The low end can only be maintained if governments sharply cut emissions.)
As temperatures rise, polar ice and glaciers melt. Due to this and the thermal expansion of water in warmer climes, world sea levels could rise by between 26 and 82 cm (10 to 32 inches) by or before 2100.
Meanwhile, the world’s oceans have acidified rapidly in recent…
This week, my Ravaya Sunday column (in Sinhala) carries the third and concluding part of my long exchange with the late Dr Ray Wijewardene, agro-engineer turned farmer and a leading practitioner in conservation farming in the humid tropics. Today, we discuss soil conservation in Sri Lanka’s hill country, restoring shifting (chena) cultivation to its original method, and how small farmers can become more resilient to market forces.
Nalaka Gunawardene speaks at Annual Scientific Sessions of College of Community Physicians Sri Lanka, 24 Sep 2013 Colombo – Photo by Janaka Sri Jayalath
Speaking to an audience of medical practitioners, researchers and academics focusing on community medicine, I explored how public perceptions influence private choices and, ultimately, public health trends and progress.
I was part of a plenary session titled ‘Multi-sectoral approaches for universal health access’, co-chaired by the Director General of Health Services (Dr Palitha Maheepala) and WHO Country Representative in Sri Lanka (Dr F R Mehta).
Achieving universal health access and a robust public healthcare system requires not only medical and para-medical systems but also paying attention to sociological, anthropological and psychological aspects of wellness and illness in the Lankan context, I argued.
Nalaka Gunawardene speaking at Annual Scientific Sessions of College of Community Physicians Sri Lanka, 24 Sep 2013 Colombo – Photo by Janaka Sri Jayalath
I have long been interested in the nexus between public perceptions and environmental conservation. The same principles apply in public health: it’s not just facts, figures and technocratic analysis but people’s impressions, apprehensions, suspicions and fears that shape the public mind. These, in turn, influence public policies (which in democracies try to respond to public opinion — for better or worse!).
Investing LKR billions of public funds in the health sector is necessary, but not sufficient. Such public funds are at risk of being undermined if the public mind is occupied by assorted demons old and new. The new demons come dressed in the clothes of pseudo-science!
The media can either amplify ill-founded public perceptions, or help clarify matters. For the latter, medical professionals need to collaborate with sympathetic media editors and practitioners. This is a long-haul task.
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 22 September 2013
A dozen years ago, a leading tele-drama director and I had a friendly debate live on national TV Rupavahini’s breakfast show. He argued that our island was being visited by alien beings who, he said, were making contact with ‘chosen individuals’ in certain remote locations.
I had argued many times with other peddlers of UFO myths, but wasn’t prepared for our artiste’s next argument. “Alien visitations are not my imagination. There’s plenty…
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday broadsheet newspaper on 15 September 2013
What makes real cities?
Beyond urban infrastructure and administrative designations, what turns an urban area into a city proper? Is it bohemian lifestyle, bustling nightlife, a certain defiance of authority, secularism or something else? How are these qualities nurtured, and by whom – the elite, merchant class, artistes or intellectuals?
I posed these harmless questions in a column last April, arguing: “A city, at its most basic, is a collective state of mind. And by that philosophical definition, we cannot find a single city in today’s Sri Lanka!”
I also asked: what made Anuradhapura a great (and proper) city of the ancient world? And how come subsequent seats of government all failed to match that high standard?
I received some predictable reactions. What’s wrong with villages, I was asked. (Nothing —…
My latest book is dedicated to Asanga Abeysundara who was my zoology teacher 30 years ago, as well as my earliest editor-publisher. For several years in the 1980s, he edited and published (in properly printed form) a progressive science magazine in Sinhala named Maanawa (meaning ‘human’).
This non-profit publication, started in 1978 as a wall newspaper at the University of Colombo by its founder when he was an undergraduate there, evolved into a printed magazine in 1984 with a small circulation and loyal readership.
Maanawa Sinhala science magazine first print issue, Aug 1984
It was a platform for aspiring young writers – many of them in school or university at the time – to write about science, technology and their impact on society. As part of the editorial team, I remember we covered big issues like the origins of life, cost-benefits of space exploration, HIV/AIDS and human evolution.
Maanawa was entirely a labour of love: everybody, including the editor, worked for free. But printers and distributors charged for their services, which the limited sales couldn’t recover. So, despite passion and voluntary editorial inputs, the magazine stopped printing after sometime.
Yet, showing resilience and innovation, Maanawa became the first Sinhala publication to produce an Internet edition in 1996 — the year after commercial connectivity was introduced in Sri Lanka. The web edition, which played a pioneering role, is no longer online.
I have written this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala) about Maanawa.
Cover of Sivu Mansala Kolu Getaya Book 2 by Nalaka Gunawardene, pub Sep 2013
PROMO NOTE FOR MY LATEST BOOK:
Science writer Nalaka Gunawardene’s latest Sinhala book, Wada Kaha Sudiye Sita Loka Winashaya Dakwa, will be released at the Colombo International Book Fair that starts on 14 September 2013.
Through 54 columns, the book offers personalised insights and non-technical analysis related many current issues and topics in science, technology, sustainable development and information society in the Lankan context. It is written in an easy, conversational Sinhala style rich in metaphor and analogy.
In particular, this collection probes how and why Lankan society is increasingly prone to peddling conspiracy theories without critical examination or rational discussion. From astrological hype linked to end of the world in 2012 to claims of mass poisoning via agrochemicals, Nalaka seeks to separate facts from hype, conjecture and myth.
The book defies easy categorisation, as it covers topics as diverse as alternative histories, agrochemical misuse, disaster management, Internet censorship, Antarctic exploration, asteroid impacts, cricket history and road safety.
“I seem to have outgrown the neat label of science writer,” says Nalaka. “Indeed, the very title of my column suggests how I sit at the intersection (or confluence) of science, development, mass media and information society. From that point, I explore tensions between modernity and tradition — and ask more questions than I can easily answer!”
In his quest for clarity and reason, Nalaka talks to researchers, activists and officials. He also draws on his many experiences and global travels as a journalist, TV producer and development communicator.
The 340-page book is priced at Rs. 550. It will be available from leading bookstores, and at special discounts from the Ravaya booth during the Colombo Book Fair.
Open Minds! (formerly: Moving Images blog) 