Monthly Archives: December 2014

Japan plans to propose a massive cut on catches of young bluefin tuna in the Western and Central Pacific, in an historic shift aimed at safeguarding the at-risk species so it can remain on the plate for longer. The world’s biggest consumer of tuna has been reluctant to reduce catches, despite mounting scientific evidence that stocks are near collapse, but in what it called “an epochal move towards more thorough regulation”, Japan plans to propose that the amount of young fish that can be caught is slashed to half the 2002-2004 average. Japan said it would propose members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) adopt a 10-year recovery plan for Pacific bluefin tuna, beginning in 2015. “We give credit to the Fisheries Agency for finally taking serious action as it had done virtually nothing beforehand,” says Greenpeace Japan.

In what could be a radical breakthrough in the global energy crisis, scientists have invented a spray on substance that can be applied to any window in a home making the window behave like a photovoltaic panel to generate homegrown electricity. A company called New Energy Technologies claims their Solar Window prototypes so far look very promising, and they report that their engineers estimate that a thier trademark Solar-Window installation on a fifty-storey commercial building located in a sunny place like Indonesia could generate enough electricity to power at least 100 homes, while eliminating the equivalent carbon emissions produced by vehicles driving approximately 2,750,000 miles per year. It’s still in the test stages, and is a long way from actual commercial application, but it’s a technology that’s moving us in the right direction, away from fracking for natural gas and continued dependence of coal, oil and other dirty fuels.

The East Lombok government has issued a regulation that requires civil servants to pay Rp 1 million (US$82) if they want to register their marriage to a second wife, but only if he gets a permit from his first wife, treats both wives equally and is financially able to support two families. The second marriage can also be allowed if it turns out the first wife cannot bear a child after ten years of marriage, or if the wife leaves the husband for a period of at least two years without permission. “It’s not meant to support those who have Rp 1 million to practice polygamy, but in fact it is aimed at making it more difficult, to add to the existing tough regulations,” government head Pak Ali says, adding that the money would go to the regional government’s coffers. “I haven’t issued polygamy permits yet because the requirements to be met are not easy,” Ali admits. Unfortunately the regulation has no legal basis and if challenged is likely to be annulled.