World Autism Awareness Day

One in every 150 child is diagnosed with autism and every 20 minutes there is a child diagnosed with autism. At the moment Autism is on the top 3 of the 10 developmental disorders.

On December 18, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 62/139, tabled by the State of Qatar, which declares April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) in perpetuity. Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, Consort of His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar, supported the campaign for a World Autism Awareness Day through the current 62nd UN General Assembly Session, garnering consensus support from all United Nations Member States.

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the UN World Autism Awareness Day last year. Mr.Ban ki-moon said: 'As we advance the universal human rights of children with disabilities, let us focus on building enabling environments for them to prosper as future members of their communities, citizens of their countries and as fully-fledged members of the global community. Let us pay tribute to the courage of children with autism and their families, as they strive every day to confront the disability with a powerful combination of determination, creativity and hope. Let us empower them and respond to their needs today, so as to make our societies more accessible, enabling and empowering for all our children tomorrow. 

This UN resolution is one of only three official disease-specific United Nations Days and will bring the world's attention to autism, a pervasive disorder that affects tens of millions. The World Autism Awareness Day resolution encourages all Member States to take measures to raise awareness about autism throughout society and to encourage early diagnosis and early intervention. It further expresses deep concern at the prevalence and high rate of autism in children in all regions of the world and the consequent developmental challenges.

World Autism Awareness Day shines a bright light on autism as a growing global health crisis. WAAD activities help to increase and develop world knowledge of the autism epidemic and impart information regarding the importance of early diagnosis and early intervention. Additionally, WAAD celebrates the unique talents and skills of persons with autism and is a day when individuals with autism are warmly welcomed and embraced in community events around the globe.

Earth Waiting Your Act

1 billion people worldwide will turn off their lights for one hour, from 20.00-21.00, for Earth Hour 2009.

On 28 March 2009 the movement is hoping that a total of 1 billion people worldwide will turn off their lights for one hour, from 20.00 to 21.00 (SA time), for Earth Hour 2009, a global event using mass action to campaign against global warming and climate change.

Earth Hour is not about saving electricity. According to the official website,
“it’s much broader than that – it is a symbolic action to show governments that the people of the world want an effective global climate deal at the end of 2009.”

Earth Hour is an annual international event created by the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund), held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It was pioneered by WWF Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007, and achieved worldwide participation in 2008.

With 35 countries around the world participating as official flagship cities and over 400 cities also supporting, Earth Hour 2008 was a major success, celebrated on all seven continents. Iconic landmarks all around the world turned off their non-essential lighting for Earth Hour which included the Empire State Building (New York City), Sears Tower (Chicago), Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco), Bank of America Plaza (Atlanta), Sydney Opera House (Sydney, Australia), Wat Arun Buddhist Temple (Bangkok, Thailand), the Colosseum (Rome, Italy), Royal Castle (Stockholm, Sweden), London's City Hall (England), Space Needle (Seattle), the CN Tower (Toronto, Canada) and SM Mall of Asia & The Giant Globe (Manila, Philippines).

The result of Earth Hour 2008 for energy saved are:

• According to WWF Thailand, Bangkok decreased electricity usage by 73.34 megawatts, which, over one hour, is equivalent to 41.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The Bangkok Post gave different figures of 165 megawatt-hours and 102 tonnes of carbon dioxide. This was noted to be significantly less than a similar campaign initiated by Bangkok's City Hall the previous year in May where 530 megawatt-hours were saved and 143 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission was cut.
• Toronto saved 900 megawatt-hours of electricity. 8.7% was saved if measured against a typical March Saturday night.
• Ireland, as a whole, had a reduction in electricity use of about 1.5% for the evening. In the three-hour period between 18:30 and 21:30, there was a reduction of 50 megawatts, saving 150 megawatt-hours, or approximately 6 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
  
• In Dubai, where external lighting on several major city landmarks was turned off and street lighting in selected areas was dimmed by 50%, the Electricity and Water Authority reported savings of 100 megawatt-hours of electricity. This represented a 2.4% reduction in demand compared to before the hour began.
• The best result was from Christchurch, New Zealand. The city reported a drop of 13% in electricity demand. However, Transpower reported that New Zealand's power consumption during Earth Hour was 335 megawatts, higher than the 328 megawatt average of the previous two Saturdays. (Salute for Town of Christchurch!)
• Melbourne, Australia saved 10.1% of electricity. Sydney, being the city that participated both 2007 and 2008 Earth Hour, cut 8.4% electricity consumption. This is less than last year's 10.2%, however Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley made the claim that after factoring margin of error, the participation in this city is the same as last year.
• The worst result was from Calgary, Canada. The city's power consumption actually went up 3.6% at the hour's peak electricity demand. In Calgary, however, where weather plays a large role in power consumption, the city experienced weather 12°C colder than the previous Saturday's recorded temperature. (Keep try save your Earth, Calgary's people!)
• Earth Hour has also received free publicity from the Google corporation. From 12:00 a.m. on March 29, 2008 until the end of Earth Hour, the Google homepage in the United States, Colombia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland and the UK was turned to a black background. Their tagline is, "We've turned the lights out. Now it's your turn - Earth Hour."
  

In 2050, Renewable Will Be The Major Energy Supply

US would generate 100% of its electricity from renewable sources within the next 10 years. A more sober projection was made at the Copenhagen Climate Congress by Professor Peter Lund of the Helsinki University of Technology. In his presentation "Global market penetration of new renewable energy technologies: assessing future growth rates and energy impacts", Lund said with the proper financial and political support, by 2050 renewable energy could supply 40% of the world's electricity supply. Of that 15% would be from solar power and 25% from wind power (20% of that from offshore wind farms).

To get there though, "by 2030...renewables need to be the mainstream technologies. About 80% of (new) electricity has to come from new renewables." However, with proper support in the shorter term, renewable energy technology could be marginalized and amount to as little as 15% of the global electricity supply.

For support the plan of future energy plan, Greenpeace is calling for an Energy (R)evolution. Put together in collaboration with the European Renewable Energy Council , the report outlines a way in which carbon emissions will peak by 2015 and decline thereafter, with emissions being 50% below 1990 levels by 2050, thereby keeping global temperature rise below 2°C. These are the steps that would need to be taken:

1. Phase out all subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear energy
   The phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies is sure to sit well with anyone with even a tinge of green in their thinking. Nuclear energy though has more supporters, but Greenpeace explains their nuclear energy position like this:
   Although nuclear power produces little carbon dioxide, there are multiple threats to people and the environment from its operations. These include the risks and environmental damage from uranium mining, processing and transport, the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation, the unsolved problem of nuclear waste and the potential hazard of serious accident. The solution to our future energy needs lies instead in greater use of renewable energy sources for both heat and power.
2. Internalize the external (social and environmental) costs of energy production through ‘cap and trade’ emissions trading
   Though we may quibble about whether cap and trade or a carbon tax would be the better thing to do—and we’ll side with Jeffrey Sachs in saying that a carbon tax is probably the better route, though the two options aren’t mutually exclusive—this is something that should be applied to far more than simply energy production. The environmental externalities of all economic activity need to be internalized if we are to get any sort of handle on the conjoined problems of energy use increasing, global warming, population growth and natural resource depletion.
   
3. Mandate strict efficiency standards for all energy consuming appliances, buildings and vehicles
   Are the only people not advocating higher fuel efficiency standards car manufacturers themselves?
4. Establish legally binding targets for renewable energy and combined heat and power generation
   How these would be enforced should be carefully considered—if penalties are levied that decrease the ability of a utility to invest in renewable energy, when they’ve already failed to meet targets that might be counterproductive—but this is crucial.
   
5. Reform the electricity markets by guaranteeing priority access to the grid for renewable power generation
   Very important, but also important is ensuring that the transmission capacity exists to move electricity from areas where it is most easily generated to where it is most needed.
6. Provide defined and stable returns for investors, for example by feed-in tariff programs
   We should have a national feed-in tariff program in the United States. Forget piecemeal net metering, feed-in tariff and other programs. It’s been shown on numerous occasions that feed-in tariffs are less expensive to administer and provide greater levels of market stability than do other renewable energy promotion schemes. In Germany its been shown that an effective feed-in tariff program spurs renewable energy deployment, with the costs being minimal on the consumer (in the range of $3 more per month for an average family).
7. Implement better labeling and disclosure mechanisms to provide more environmental product information
   While most of the time we think of product labeling and consumer goods, it could also be applied to energy use. How about your electric bill containing a chart that shows exactly what source was used to generate your electricity and what sort of carbon emissions that created. Something easy to read, graphic. Cigarettes have warning labels, perhaps your electricity bill should as well.
8. Increase research and development budgets for renewable energy and energy efficiency
   In times of economic hardship this may be easier said than done, but it must be done nonetheless. The costs of not doing so are too high. Remember that Nicolas Stern said back in 2006 that failing to act on climate change could cause economic hardship not seen since the Great Depression, with reductions in GDP in the range of 5-20%. You think the current round of financial turmoil is bad? Just wait until unchecked climate change and peak oil come at us.

For detail document about that plan, the files could be download in Energy [R]evoltution. They're already have plan to change the world, and what's your act? Stick your eyes and mind at KAMPOENG for next plan.

World Water Day 2009

International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.

The UN invited its member nations to devote this day to implementing UN recommendations and promoting concrete activities within their countries. Each year, one of various UN agencies involved in water issues takes the lead in promoting and coordinating international activities for World Day for Water.

With the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs coordinating, World Day for Water 2005 also marked the start of the second 'UN International Decade for Action for Water', also referred to as the Water for Life Decade 2005-2015.

In 2006, World Day for Water was coordinated by UNESCO with the theme: 'Water and Culture'.

In 2007, the theme is 'Coping with Water Scarcity', coordinated by FAO.

In addition to the UN member states, a number of NGOs promoting clean water and sustainable aquatic habitats have used World Day for Water as a time to focus public attention on the critical water issues of our era.

Every three years since 1997, for instance, the World Water Council has drawn thousands to participate in its World Water Forum during the week of World Day for Water. Participating agencies and NGOs have highlighted issues such as a billion people being without access to safe water for drinking and the role of gender in family access to safe water.

In 2009, the theme for World Water Day is "Shared Water - Shared Opportunities". Special focus will be placed on transboundary waters. Nurturing the opportunities for cooperation in transboundary water management can help build mutual respect, understanding and trust among countries and promote peace, security and sustainable economic growth. 

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) leads the activities of the World Water Day 2009 with the support of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The Exotic of Fort Rotterdam of Makassar

The main gate opens into the Benteng harbor facing the Strait of Makassar

A second interior door of the gate of the fort

In pre-colonial Dutch East India period, Benteng Ujung Pandang or the Fortress of Ujung Pandang, was a showcase of the great Gowa kingdom of South Sulawesi whose success and prosperity was borne from the famous as seafaring Bugis tribes. It was built by the King of Gowa in 1545 and was just one of about 17 defensive fortresses along the coastline of Makassar. First made of clay, it was later completed in stone in the 1600s.

A becak sits under the shadow of a solid arch inside Fort Rotterdam, Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

The fort was no match though to the gunships of the Dutch and it fell to the hands of the invaders. While all the other 16 fortresses were destroyed, Benteng UPandang was taken over and reconstructed after the treaty of Bungaya in 1667. Serving as a safe gateway to Maluku (Moluccas), the fabled spice islands, the Benteng was built in the shape of a turtle going down to sea, hence the local term panyua. The five-meter walls of the fort were of natural black stone and were designed to repulse attack.

Preserved remnant of the original Gowa stone walls

A window and door of a building inside the fort

During the 17th and 18th century, the fort was a walled city, with numerous buildings that serve the military, political, economic and even religious functions. There was the governor’s residence, the military officers’ quarters, government offices, the armory, the library, the warehouses, the garrison and at the center, a Protestant church. The fort has five bastions in every corner of the wall.

The Protestant Chapel in the middle of the fort courtyard

Colonial Dutch architecture is basically simple, almost severe. Exterior walls, though thick, are unadorned. Windows, sparsely distributed around the buildings, are few. Most buildings have louvre windows with open slats that can admit air – obviously a concession to the hot climate of the island- but some are also solidly constructed vertical panels fit for a garrison.

The former military officers’s quarters

The colonial-era Dutch buildings inside are remarkably well-preserved. Some are given new life as a public museum and as a center for culture and arts. On occasion, spaces can be used for music and theatre performance rehearsals. From a distance, the buildings inside the fort look quite robust and solid, transporting you to a different place in time. Despite the modern usage and the refurbishments, the fort remains a solid remembrance of an aggressive military past.

The View Of Indonesia in 2009

ENJOY INDONESIA

THE WONDERLAND OF ASIA

It's Time To Visit Indonesia !!![Again]

2009. Once again, another year will be a chance to people of world, to visit Indonesia. I know if anyone of you never go to Indonesia, or I realize that there are people who know Bali better than Indonesia itself. So VISIT INDONESIA 2009, the tourism campaign from Ministry of Tourism and Culture, launched in the end of 2008, to extend VISIT INDONESIA 2008. If you didn't travel in Indonesia in 2008, don't worry -- 2009 will also be the year to visit, with the government planning to extend the "successful" Visit Indonesia program.

Why must extend the program? Because in 2008, total international tourists who came to Indonesia increase 12,73% or 4,07 million people (Januari-August 2008). That's fantastic number, but the program didn't reach target of VISIT INDONESIA 2008, which the number is 7 million tourist. "At first many doubted the program's success, yet we have set a new record in our tourism history," Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik said Wednesday.

If you plan your vacation to go to Malaysia, I ask you, why you don't accros the sea and step your foot at Indonesia's soil. Maybe Malaysia can provide more facilities and the quality maybe better than Indonesia. But Indonesia offer tourist the adventure, the nature, and the culture, which not provided by Malaysia. Go to Indonesia with cheap price, you can feel the same experience at Malaysia. With current exchange of currency, tourist are have more benefit, beacuse 1 US$=Rp 12.000,- is our point of consumption and production. So come to Indonesia, and feel the experience of Emerald of Equator.

The fit place to holiday? Named it at line, from Bali, Lombok, Jogjakarta, Jakarta, Medan, Makassar, Borneo, and many islands. Yes, you can get your holiday at small islands with high facility resort because Indonesia have 17.ooo islands. Relax at the white sand beach of Bali, safari at virgin jungle of Borneo, taste the extraordinary culinary of Jogjakarta, shopping at Jakarta, The Town of Thousands Entertainment, and feel the harmony of religious life at Medan. With 200 million people full of smile, Indonesia wait and greet each of tourist, especially YOU, to come to Indonesia. Because your coming is our happiness!!

Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival 2009

Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival is an event once a year which sponsored and promotored by 16th Gayam Community. It followed by local andinternational musicians. Some of musicians who join Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival this time are: To Wana, Humour Gamelan from America, Singapore, Italy, Central Celebes, Primary School's students from Yogyakarta, and still more. Talking about glamour and the atmosfer, there is no doubt about that because at every event, Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival always provides unique, qualified, and interesting show. The combination between Gamelan and Modern Music will be the major element of that show.

Beside concert, there are other side shows like exhibition, workshop, Remboeg Budaya (Culture Forum), and DDr (Dance Dance Revolution). DDR is some game machine which challenge people to dance according the music. Now at this event, DDR will challenge people with different and special music, the Gamelan music. So go to yout travel agent and take a reservation for your vacation at Yogyakarta, because Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival waiting you!!!

The Wings of Indonesia

Garuda Indonesia

Local, Regional, & International Service

Batavia Air

Local & Regional Service

Lion Air 

Local, Regional, & International Service

Indonesia Air Asia

Local, Regional, & International Service

Sriwijaya Air

Local & Regional Service

Mandala Airlines

Local & Regional Service

Merpati Nusantara Airlines

Local & Regional Service

I'm Back!!!

Finally my internet connection repaired so I can come back to the world. Now I will release more news and information about Indonesia, tourism, and enviromental issue. So keep click at KAMPOENG!!!!

Sincerely,

Maverick89