I don’t particularly like the word ‘nature.’ I prefer the word creation. It’s all about my convictions. But, that’s not the point of this post. The point is when things get out of whack on our home planet, they can really get out of kilter. And, there is not a whole lot we can do about it.

A flood in southern China triggered cave-ins, landslides, and mudslides. The result was some 147 geological disasters and 1,980 people having their safety threatened. People died, transport, power and communications were disrupted.

Torrential rains hit 11 prefectures in cities throughout the area over the past few days causing landslides, more flooding and mud-rock flow. $108 million in damages.

There is not a whole lot we can do about it … except, we can take care of what we have. We don’t know when the Earth, nature, creation (choose your word) will fight back. In the meantime, let’s be good stewards of what we have been entrusted in.

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A giant and dangerous snail from Africa has turned up in a street in Fuzhou China. Ecologists haven’t a clue how the slow moving critter made its way to the Middle Kingdom but they are reckoning it took a very long time. The spotted snail consumes fruits and veggies in large amounts and can single-handedly destroy a local agricultural industry…well, maybe not.

The snail does, however, host a pathogenic bacteria and parasites that will cause those who eat fruits or veggies that the not so little fellow have touched, can become infected with tuberculosis and meningitis. Meaning, if he doesn’t eat your veggies, he’ll splatter it with infestation that’ll get you. It is suspected that he came over on an import shipment accidentally.

“All I wanna do is go back home,” he said, “And I hope they don’t make me walk.”

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The good news is that China is not likely to abuse its privilege of importing ivory from African elephants which are covered by the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which made the decision at a meeting in Geneva. NOT! What in the world?! China joins Japan as the only two countries that are permitted to import the ivory from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

China had to prove to CITES they had put in place adequate measures to manage regulated sales and tackle any illegal domestic ivory trade. And the number one thief of all IPR and everything else that can be copied is being trusted to keep that promise because of why?

In the future, China and Japan have to bid in a one-off auction of ivory stock piles from those four countries. And the elephants get to express their opinion when? And how? Correct me if I am wrong, but in this case wouldn’t endangered me, don’t break the tusks off the animals?

What’s going on here?

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Obesity levels in China are rising fast or at least that’s what a recent study published in the July/August issue of the journal Health Affairs, said. More than a quarter of the adult population started eating more and more meat and dairy products which lead to serious health problems.

“What’s happening in China should be seen as a marker for what is going to hit the rest of the developing world if we fail to act,” said study author Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina.

“We need to find the right investments and regulations to encourage people to adopt a healthy lifestyle, or we risk facing higher rates of death, disease, and disability and the related costs,” he added.

Because people’s diets have changed over the last few years and they’re no longer rich in vegetables and carbohydrates and the Chinese no longer engage in physical activities they’re doomed to get fat and to die of cancer and coronary heart disease.

Among developing countries, Mexico is the only one to have more fat people than China. Can you imagine a fat world? That’d really be a disaster.

I still have a question though. Why is Buddha fat?

Well, the G-8 has a vision, but do they have a plan?

Japan’s PM Fukuda was able to save face - “The G8 nations came to a mutual recognition that this target — cutting global emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 — should be a global target.”

The United States got heard. Emerging economies, India, China, Brazil are included - “It has always been the case that a long-term goal is one that must be shared. So the G-8 has offered today is a G-8 view of what that goal could be and should be but that can only occur with the agreement of all the other parties.”

Environmentalists criticized the statement - “So little progress after a whole year of Minister meetings and negotiations is not only a wasted opportunity, it falls dangerously short of what is needed to protect people and nature from climate change.”

The EU thinks - “new, shared vision by the major economies” that would support the UN-led effort on a new global warming accord. This is a strong signal to citizens around the world.”

In the end, it will be up to individual countries, says Fukuda, “The G8 will implement aggressive midterm total emission reduction targets on a country by country basis.”

My bet, a lot of money was wasted at the G-8 Summit if anybody thought the purpose was to come away with a workable and enforceable plan to get the world to be better stewards of our home.

We do love it when a plan comes together, when the world gets along. Here’s a guy who has people all over the world dancing together. On a different level, 31 provinces in China have received $4 million from Norway, the European Union and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to draft programs to fight climate change over the next two years.

The project is called  Provincial Programs for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in China (PPCCMAC). Try and say that three times real fast. At first, 14 pilot provinces will take a shot. Qinghai will address its retreating glaciers, for example.

Norway says, “The finalization of such plans for all provinces of China will be a remarkable achievement, which I think will meet broad international recognition and be an inspiration and model for many other countries.”

Sichuan is one of the pilot provinces. The area experienced an 8-magnitude quake in May. Good luck stopping those. Shanxi is a coal-rich province looking for alternatives. For good or for bad, IMHO, it’s always a good thing seeing the world work together to solve problems.  What do you think?

Ask a Chinese person and they will tell you China had it first. China has the oldest. China has the most. It was invented first in the Middle Kingdom. It is everything. So, why not ‘living fossils’ too? There are at least two living fossils in China. The Chinese sturgeon and Chinese alligator.

China sent five pre-historic Chinese sturgeons to Hong Kong’s Ocean Park. The never-t0-be sashimi dish is called “living fossil of fish” or “Giant Panda in the water.” Hong Kong’s visitors are home to the only human-bred Chinese sturgeons living in sea water. Why five? To coincide with the Beijing Olympics. What pre-historic fish have to do with the modern Olympics is beyond me. The sturgeon species supposedly dates back to the Cretaceous period when dinosaurs still roamed the land. It seems to me that most fish were here from the beginning. Even the Flood of Noah’s time couldn’t snuff them out.

Meanwhile -

fishermen (alligatorermen?) have found a wild Chinese alligator that is also being referred to as a living fossil. The alligator was guessed to be about 40-years old. (Why didn’t they just ask?). It was the first sighting of an alligator in the district of Wuhu in more than 30 years. This alligator species was supposedly very plentiful some 230 million years ago (if you believe the Earth is that old), but now there are only about 150 in the wild. The Yangtze alligator as it is also known is one of the world’s most endangered creatures. Gosh, what would Marco Polo say if he saw this fellow?  Since 1979, the Chinese Alligator Breeding Research Center in Anhui has seen the number of alligators at the center rise from about 200 to more than 10,000.

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What good about high gas prices? I can think of a lot of things, but here’s one. Japan and China, historical enemies, are cooperating in the East China Sea as they explore for more natural gas. It’s the first time the two countries have agreed to explore undersea resources together.

The exploration is overtly an attempt at improving the relations of the two countries. Chinese hate what Japan did and rightfully so. Many Chinese start off hating Japanese as a rule and go from there. Japanese think about Chinese, “Huh? Is there something wrong?”

High gas prices are causing people everywhere to take extreme action and if that means people getting along who don’t normally, in my book, that’s a good thing.

I am not that naive, however. The two countries will sign treaties and agreements out the gazoo “to protect each other’s legal positions till a demarcation line is set.” Yeah, everybody wants to make sure they get what’s coming to them.

In any event, “It is a welcome development in Japan-China relations and a specific achievement in our strategic relations.”

Why can’t we all just get along?

Beijing has a national ban on the use of ultra-thin plastic bags as part of its “habit revolution.” The until now free super-thin plastic bags have been replaced by thick plastic bags that must be bought for about ¥10 ($1.50). Or, shoppers can bring their snazzy green tote bags. Because it is so hard to determine the thickness of a bag with the naked eye, China’s Ministry of Commerce has instigated the use of “checkers” (not the game) to determine a bag’s thickness.

We wonder, can they really measure the thinness of a bag? In any event, this is a big step in not being wasteful. Especially when there are tens of millions of people not using umpteen plastic bags a day. Add to Beijing southwest China’s Yunnan province will also ban plastic bags beginning January 1, 2009. Good job, China!

“Hey you! You with that plastic bag. Bring it over here so I can use my handy dandy plastic bag thickness checking micrometer.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Yo, dude. This bag is too thick. You get a verbal warning. Next time, it’s the lethal injection van for you.”

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To be sure, it is not always we foolish humans that drive animals out of their natural habitats, Mother Nature can do it, too. A May 12th earthquake in the mountains of Sichuan Province devastated some of the natural habitats of the wolves in that same region. Only about 10 wolves have been sighted since and the government has dispatched observation teams.

I mean, if they don’t find enough wolves, who’s going to star in the Chinese remake of Little Red Riding Hood?

“The wild animals live in the remote and deep mountainous area, and are scared after the earthquake, so they go out of the deep mountains,” according to Yang Feiyu, head of one animal protection station.

If we take the big picture in the whole balance of nature scenario, this could be considered a good thing overall. Don’t you think?

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