Archive for air pollution
what the whale?! [“whales eat carbon, not fish”]
Posted in Kids, Travel, pictures with tags whales, climate change, France Inter, sea, United Nations, air pollution, carbon capture, polluters, carbon tax, CO2, UN Environment on February 21, 2021 by xi'anthe adoration of the golden car
Posted in Kids, pictures, Travel with tags air pollution, cars, gilets jaunes, golden calf, Nicolas Poussin, radars, road kills, speed limit, The Adoration of the Golden Calf, veau d'or on January 26, 2019 by xi'anAs the demonstrations by the “gilets jaunes” become a fixture of French Saturdays, the French government is gradually giving up on the reforms it had started and is in particular catering to the car [and motorbike] lobby that started the protests. The symbol itself comes from the yellow fluorescent jackets found in every car and the first round of demonstrations was about the rise of the gas taxes towards more sustainable transportation. Things have since then metastasized into a winner-takes-it-all litany of complaints, but with gas engine drivers remaining at the forefront. When driving outside Paris during the Xmas break, every speed radar I X’ed had been neutralised or destroyed, leading to a significant increase in speeding and thus eventually in road kills. Following the abandonment of the gas tax a few weeks ago, the most recent abdications of the government on that aspect are returning to the speed limit of 90km/h on secondary roads, from the year-old decrease to 80km/h, tax rebates for changing cars, financial advantages for frequent highway users and more generally heavy drivers. Ride faster, comrade, until you hit the next right curve!
incredible India
Posted in Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel with tags air pollution, Bengali food, cash-free economy, cellphone, child labour, Darjeeling, ghee, India, Kolkata, panipuri, pollution, puri, Ravi Shankar, street food, traffic on January 15, 2017 by xi'an[The following is a long and fairly naïve rant about India and its contradiction, without pretence at anything else than writing down some impressions from my last trip. JATP: Just another tourist post!]
Incredible India (or Incredible !ndia) is the slogan chosen by the Indian Ministry of Tourism to promote India. And it is indeed an incredible country, from its incredibly diverse landscapes [and not only the Himalayas!] and eco-systems, to its incredibly huge range of languages [although I found out during this trip that the differences between Urdu and Hindi are more communitarian and religious than linguistic, as they both derive from Hindustani, although the alphabets completely differ] and religions [a mixed blessing], to its incredibly rich history and
culture, to its incredibly wide offer of local cuisines [as shown by the Bengali sample below, where the mustard seed fish cooked in banana leaves and the fried banana flowers are not visible!] and even wines [like Sula Vineyards, which offers a pretty nice Viognier]. Not to mention incredibly savoury teas from Darjeeling and Assam. Continue reading