The public broadcasting company Yle told us that the United States will reduce its military presence in Africa. More specifically, Americans will reduce especially troops intended to fight against terrorism.
According to Yle the decision was affected by the threats caused by Chinese and Russians, against which Americans are willing to fight somewhere else than in black Africa. And naturally we all remember the promises president Donald Trump gave during his inaugural speech, according to which USA has focused too much on the borders of other countries instead of its own.
The story by Yle included few items, on which I would like my reader to put attention.
The first one stated that Americans are not any more willing to support fruitless operations for peace, and that they have already reduced their contribution to the development aid. My intrerpetation is that president Trump and his regime have got tired of spending their voter´s tax money and even American lives on futile operations in Africa.
Professor Emmanuel Kwesi Aning from Ghana has obviously not understood this connection as he pointed out that islamistic groups Boko Haram, al-Qaida and al-Shabaab are still timely threats. However, from the Trump´s point-of-view they are not threats to America as long as they stay in Africa and therefore neither targets on which American resources should be used.
It is also clear, that Chinese will not tolerate islamistic organizations any more than Americans, and as they have much less problems with their home fronts, they may use brutal actions to get rid of them. The same holds also Russians now settling more deeply in Africa. Therefore Boko Haram, al-Qaida and al-Shabab will only lose if Americans will be replaced by Chinese or Russians.
The other item I would like to discuss here was the comment of Kwesi Aning, who pointed out the real problem of Africal countries: he said that if you look at the ratio of soldiers and growing populations of African countries, the poor countries are not able to invest enough to their defense against safety challenges. I just wonder if also Trump regime would have understood that no number of soldiers or quantity of help will be enough if the African population growth will not be stopped - and therefore made his decision to give up.
Although I do not know whether Trump regime have understood this or not, it is a fact. And it remains to be seen how Chinese of possibly Russians will get on with the African population explosion.
I have understood that the purpose of China is to hit two flies with one hit - to turn Africa into a colony that supports their own economy and in order to get that done stabilize the African communities by creating local business opportunities. It remains, however, to be seen, whether they have means to handle the population explosion. I do doubt that.
What is anyway clear, are the Chinese motives. Even Professor Kwesi Aning noted that he does not consider Russia or China to be friends of Africa as they do not care about democracy or human rights.
Unfortunately, the rhetoric question to asked here is that what good the Western countries - putting a lot of energy on democracy and human rights - have provided to Africa since mid 20th century with their developing aid - except of course that they have launched the population explosion that right now looks like the ultimate barrier preventing all development in Africa.
The original though in Finnish:
Trump on poistumassa afrikkalaiselta areenalta
28 December 2018
22 December 2018
Finnish parties agreed on actions against the climatic change
The political parties agreed on the goals of the Finnish climate policy. Only True Finns were not included, as according to their view the price would be too high to ordinary people and there would be a risk of losing the workplaces in the Finnish industry.
According to the agreement, Finland aims to have greenhouse gases of EU to be reduced even more than planned thus far. In order to do so, Finland tries to get EU to cut its emissions by at least 55% from the level of 1990 until year 2030. The current target is 40%.
In addition, the parties are willing to make Finland a forerunner of the Union. According to minister Kai Mykkänen (Conservative party) Finnish forests and soils should absorb more carbon than the country releases so, that we will become not only carbon neutral, but even negative. The plan is to start a widescale forestation, reduce peatland emissions and develop carbon absorption in agricultural lands.
The forestation question is interesting - especially the word widescale - taken the fact that Finland already is the most forested country in Europe. There is also a danger that our preserved forests would be extensively attacked by insects - as has happened in British Columbia - and turn to vast carbon sources instead of being sinks as today.
Otherwise the targets seem reasonable or even sensible. Except that a while ago I noticed an article in the Nature Climatic Change stating that the global means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would increase huger risks of the developing world considerably more than the climatic change alone. But of course, that does not hold for Finland - at least not right now.
In the current position - when the guidelines of the Finnish climate policy have been decided for the next few decades - there are good reasons to hope that the True Finns are nor right on the Finnish industry´s prerequisites for operation, but also all other EU countries will follow - and not only them, but also other countries throughout the globe. And that the opportunities of cleantech will provide new jobs to people released from the old industry, which will inevitably disappear if the planned actions are actualized.
If not, Finland will face an unforeseen reduction in economy and standard of living. That would be a pity, because - after all - our actions to prevent the climatic warming will have only a minimal global effect provided that our share of global greenhouse gas emission is only slightly above 0.1 percent.
The original though in Finnish:
Suomalaispuolueet päättivät ilmastonmuutoksen torjuntakeinoista
According to the agreement, Finland aims to have greenhouse gases of EU to be reduced even more than planned thus far. In order to do so, Finland tries to get EU to cut its emissions by at least 55% from the level of 1990 until year 2030. The current target is 40%.
In addition, the parties are willing to make Finland a forerunner of the Union. According to minister Kai Mykkänen (Conservative party) Finnish forests and soils should absorb more carbon than the country releases so, that we will become not only carbon neutral, but even negative. The plan is to start a widescale forestation, reduce peatland emissions and develop carbon absorption in agricultural lands.
The forestation question is interesting - especially the word widescale - taken the fact that Finland already is the most forested country in Europe. There is also a danger that our preserved forests would be extensively attacked by insects - as has happened in British Columbia - and turn to vast carbon sources instead of being sinks as today.
Otherwise the targets seem reasonable or even sensible. Except that a while ago I noticed an article in the Nature Climatic Change stating that the global means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would increase huger risks of the developing world considerably more than the climatic change alone. But of course, that does not hold for Finland - at least not right now.
In the current position - when the guidelines of the Finnish climate policy have been decided for the next few decades - there are good reasons to hope that the True Finns are nor right on the Finnish industry´s prerequisites for operation, but also all other EU countries will follow - and not only them, but also other countries throughout the globe. And that the opportunities of cleantech will provide new jobs to people released from the old industry, which will inevitably disappear if the planned actions are actualized.
If not, Finland will face an unforeseen reduction in economy and standard of living. That would be a pity, because - after all - our actions to prevent the climatic warming will have only a minimal global effect provided that our share of global greenhouse gas emission is only slightly above 0.1 percent.
The original though in Finnish:
Suomalaispuolueet päättivät ilmastonmuutoksen torjuntakeinoista
15 December 2018
Wishes to hell by novelist Itkonen
A novelist Juha Itkonen told to a Finnish afternoon-newspaper that he yielded to passing Nazi-demonstrators that they should go to Hell. Thereafter his seven-year old child got frightened and started to cry. The story describes that the reason was his fathers behavior and not the Nazis themselves, but the title was designed so that a reader understood otherwise. Clickbait jounalism, what else?
There was, however, an interesting point in the article. That is because the novelist was wondering that "what should I have done? Stand there calm and correct just like there would not have been anything special ongoing? At least the boys saw, that you do not need - or you are not even allowed - to accept everything."
I do not know Itkonen´s political views, but his attitude is typical to many Finnish cultural figures and other urban elitists - like a left-wing novelist and writer Pirkko Saisio had to learn, when she brought up her own sober thoughts about the stuffy thoughts of feminists. I mean that - using the wording of novelist Itkonen - it is a problem if you do not need or you are not even allowed - to accept everything. "Everything" meaning here all those who have views differing from your own.
It is true that neo-Nazis are disgusting creatures. Wretches who are fantasizing that something good would grow out from an ideology, that led to pogroms and to the second world war with tens of millions losses of human life. So, something similar to communists, whose ideology also led to wide pogroms and self-created famine.
In Finland the total number of neo-Nazis are between 60 and 70, which in my opinion is 60 to 70 too many. On the other hand, we have two communist parties, that together got 8 659 votes in the last elections. That is 8 659 votes too much.
Despite what I wrote above, I am strongly supporting the freedom of speech. And that is why I do not loudly wish journeys to Hell for neo-Nazi nor communist demonstrators. Instead I give them a right to walk in peace and embarrass themselves with the absurdity of their ideology.
They deserve the right for that by the general tolerance and freedom of speach, and also because of the constitutional law of Finland. In section 12 it says that "everyone has the freedom of expression. Freedom of expression entails the right to express, disseminate and receive
information, opinions and other communications without prior prevention by anyone."
Of course the same constitutional law assures the right of the novelist Itkonen to swear and wish journeys to hell to those passing by. And at the same time scare his little child. The job for us others is then to evaluate why the intolerant behavior of the novelist ended in newspaper pages, and what should we think about that?
I want to end this thought by sharing a comment by a 97-year old veteran of the second world war. According to him the demonstrators during the Independence day of Finland are living proofs for the usefulness of their sufferings in the front. That is because in the Soviet Union organizing that kind of demonstrations would have been considerably more difficult. It would be great if also novelist Itkonen would have noticed this statement - and learned its deep message.
The original Professor´s thought in Finnish:
Kirjailijan helvettiin-toivotukset päätyivät lehden sivuille
There was, however, an interesting point in the article. That is because the novelist was wondering that "what should I have done? Stand there calm and correct just like there would not have been anything special ongoing? At least the boys saw, that you do not need - or you are not even allowed - to accept everything."
I do not know Itkonen´s political views, but his attitude is typical to many Finnish cultural figures and other urban elitists - like a left-wing novelist and writer Pirkko Saisio had to learn, when she brought up her own sober thoughts about the stuffy thoughts of feminists. I mean that - using the wording of novelist Itkonen - it is a problem if you do not need or you are not even allowed - to accept everything. "Everything" meaning here all those who have views differing from your own.
It is true that neo-Nazis are disgusting creatures. Wretches who are fantasizing that something good would grow out from an ideology, that led to pogroms and to the second world war with tens of millions losses of human life. So, something similar to communists, whose ideology also led to wide pogroms and self-created famine.
In Finland the total number of neo-Nazis are between 60 and 70, which in my opinion is 60 to 70 too many. On the other hand, we have two communist parties, that together got 8 659 votes in the last elections. That is 8 659 votes too much.
Despite what I wrote above, I am strongly supporting the freedom of speech. And that is why I do not loudly wish journeys to Hell for neo-Nazi nor communist demonstrators. Instead I give them a right to walk in peace and embarrass themselves with the absurdity of their ideology.
They deserve the right for that by the general tolerance and freedom of speach, and also because of the constitutional law of Finland. In section 12 it says that "everyone has the freedom of expression. Freedom of expression entails the right to express, disseminate and receive
information, opinions and other communications without prior prevention by anyone."
Of course the same constitutional law assures the right of the novelist Itkonen to swear and wish journeys to hell to those passing by. And at the same time scare his little child. The job for us others is then to evaluate why the intolerant behavior of the novelist ended in newspaper pages, and what should we think about that?
I want to end this thought by sharing a comment by a 97-year old veteran of the second world war. According to him the demonstrators during the Independence day of Finland are living proofs for the usefulness of their sufferings in the front. That is because in the Soviet Union organizing that kind of demonstrations would have been considerably more difficult. It would be great if also novelist Itkonen would have noticed this statement - and learned its deep message.
The original Professor´s thought in Finnish:
Kirjailijan helvettiin-toivotukset päätyivät lehden sivuille
9 December 2018
World Resources Institute had an arrogant demand
World Resources Institute -organization demanded me and other people in western countries to reduce our consumption of meat. The demand was based on a claim that in future there will not be enough food to everyone, because the global number of people grows rapidly and the size of agricultural fields cannot be increased as that would reduce forest area and therefore accelerate the climatic change.
In other words, the organization asks me to change my eating habits in order to allow people in developing countries to continue their uncontrolled reproduction behavior. The logical reasoning here is interesting. Or actually similar to the one in the following two examples.
One. Imagine an economic adviser from a bank with a male customer, who has lost his control over playing net poker, and therefore loses all family income to internet players. The adviser proposes that the wife of the playing husband should stop having once-a-month restaurant evenings with her friends, and save the money that goes to good food and wine. And also proposes that children should give up their expensive hobbies. So the man could afford his poker playing.
Two. Imagine a policeman coming to an apartment, because a violent man with gonorrhea demands a right to spend a night with the family wife - with all the rights. In order to fix the problem without violence, the police proposes that the wife should agree with the gonorrhea-man. The husband, therefore, should spend his night in the sofa of the living room, and reserve to his wife an audience for a medical doctor to get antibiotics to cure the possible gonorrhea infection. With these arrangements there is no need for the gonorrhea-man to give up his desire.
For some reason I do not believe that any of my readers - not even possible vegans or polygamous people - would accept the solutions of the economic adviser or the police in these imaginary situations, but understand that such solutions would be intellectually dishonest and therefore unjustified. It is weird, however, that the fully analogical demands by the World Research Institute seems to receive full support among many journalists and politicians.
In a poll by a Finnish afternoon magazine, 57% of respondents considered wide civil rights as an important feature of the Finnish nationalism. During the independence day of my country (December 6th) I enjoyed this freedom by having delicious food including mushroom soup and a large beef steak with excellent wine. And thereafter a bilberry pie with a sweet dessert wine.
Thus, I have no intention to change my eating habits to enable people in developing countries to continue their irresponsible behavior, because such a demand does not make any sense (reasons are explained here). Instead, I send here a free advise to the World Resources Institute: they should focus on real problems instead of sending arrogant demands to me. The first topic to be addressed - if the goal is to feed all people in the world - should be to stop the self-indulgent population growth in developing countries.
The original though in Finnish:
Järjestö esitti järjettömän vaatimuksen
In other words, the organization asks me to change my eating habits in order to allow people in developing countries to continue their uncontrolled reproduction behavior. The logical reasoning here is interesting. Or actually similar to the one in the following two examples.
One. Imagine an economic adviser from a bank with a male customer, who has lost his control over playing net poker, and therefore loses all family income to internet players. The adviser proposes that the wife of the playing husband should stop having once-a-month restaurant evenings with her friends, and save the money that goes to good food and wine. And also proposes that children should give up their expensive hobbies. So the man could afford his poker playing.
Two. Imagine a policeman coming to an apartment, because a violent man with gonorrhea demands a right to spend a night with the family wife - with all the rights. In order to fix the problem without violence, the police proposes that the wife should agree with the gonorrhea-man. The husband, therefore, should spend his night in the sofa of the living room, and reserve to his wife an audience for a medical doctor to get antibiotics to cure the possible gonorrhea infection. With these arrangements there is no need for the gonorrhea-man to give up his desire.
For some reason I do not believe that any of my readers - not even possible vegans or polygamous people - would accept the solutions of the economic adviser or the police in these imaginary situations, but understand that such solutions would be intellectually dishonest and therefore unjustified. It is weird, however, that the fully analogical demands by the World Research Institute seems to receive full support among many journalists and politicians.
In a poll by a Finnish afternoon magazine, 57% of respondents considered wide civil rights as an important feature of the Finnish nationalism. During the independence day of my country (December 6th) I enjoyed this freedom by having delicious food including mushroom soup and a large beef steak with excellent wine. And thereafter a bilberry pie with a sweet dessert wine.
Thus, I have no intention to change my eating habits to enable people in developing countries to continue their irresponsible behavior, because such a demand does not make any sense (reasons are explained here). Instead, I send here a free advise to the World Resources Institute: they should focus on real problems instead of sending arrogant demands to me. The first topic to be addressed - if the goal is to feed all people in the world - should be to stop the self-indulgent population growth in developing countries.
The original though in Finnish:
Järjestö esitti järjettömän vaatimuksen
2 December 2018
Seeing sex developed novel cultures
In Sweden the local culture is breaking down as the number of immigrants from other cultures increases, but in Finland even a main media journalist Annamari Sipilä has noticed that all cultures may not be equally good. That turned clear to her, when a rapist recently asked the court to reduce his punishment by pleading to his cultural legacy.
I have also noted other cultural oddities - at least to us westerns - during the last years. Women were forced to sex work by threatening with their cultural specialties including voodoo. In Iran 4200 girls under 14 years of age got married in year 2010, 716 of them under 10 years of age. And in India eight men raped a pregant goat.
Thus, there are differences between the cultures. And that is why the scientific and technological revolution that changed the world took place in Europe instead of e.g. China, Near East or Africa.
But how did the cultures appear? Are they typical only to people and perhaps most intelligent animals? Or could cultures develop even among insects?
This question was addressed in the research conducted by Etienne Danchin and colleagues. They analysed the effects of seeing sex on the common fruit flies´ sexual behavior and their offspring. In their report, Danchin et al. define cultures as a traditions, which have their roots in earlier generations and are inherited via social learning.
The research was also based on the knowledge that we tend to conform our behavior to that surrounding us. One extreme of this are children, who say that black is white when several robots claim that. Fortunately we adults are more clever, and only conform our behavior according to real people surrounding us.
But then to the research report itself.
In their first experiment Danchin and colleagues gave three days old virgin flies to watch a young female selecting a partner between two males colored either pink or green. After seeing the copulation, the virgin fly was allowed itself to make a choice between a pink and a green fruit fly. As a result, their selection was the same color as what they had just seen being selected by another female. In control, where the virgin had not seen any copulation, the colors did not make a difference.
In the second experiment the researchers made a similar experiment, but now the virgin was allowed to follow an elder female to select between pink and green colored males. And the result was the same as in the first experiment. That it, they selected a male with the same color as they had just seen being selected by the elder female. So the virgins learned equally well from elder flies and their peers.
In the third experiment the virgin flies followed five times a selection of the same colored fly, and were again allowed to make their own selection, but only after 24 hours. That is, after about three per cent of their lifetime. The same rule worked again, so the flies remembered what they had once seen.
In the fourth experiment, mutant flies - normally avoided in pairings - were offered to virgins as painted according to their favorite color. And the males were again selected according to the color instead of genetically determined outlook.
In the fifth experiment the researchers manipulated the ratio of colors shown to be selected by other virgin flies in their sphere of vision. Again when there was only one color selected in front of their eyes, they tended to make the same selection themselves. However, it was a big surprise that this rule held all the way to a frequency of 60 vs. 40 percent.
And finally, the researchers made an experiment to determine whether the mode of behavior - that flies had learned as virgins - was also transmitted to their offspring. The answer was yes, and even over several generations. Therefore fruit flies developed a learned tradition somehow taught over several generations, and can thus be added to the list of animals with cultural behavior, where populations learn habits from previous generations.
Taken together, the study by Danchin and others showed that as simple animals as fruit flies may have cultures that differ from each other. Therefore, also the roots of our own cultural behavior probably extends to our evolutionary prehistory; perhaps even to the time we had not yet climbed from ancient seas to the dry land.
Because this blog is considered a political one, it is also important to think what the above described research contributes to the question of equal value of all human cultures. However, as the purpose of this blog is not to provide prefabricated views, but to provoke its readers to think themselves, I am not going to give answers myself, but leave the question to be figured out by all my highly valued readers.
The original thought published in Finnish:
Seksin katsominen synnytti uuden kulttuurin
I have also noted other cultural oddities - at least to us westerns - during the last years. Women were forced to sex work by threatening with their cultural specialties including voodoo. In Iran 4200 girls under 14 years of age got married in year 2010, 716 of them under 10 years of age. And in India eight men raped a pregant goat.
Thus, there are differences between the cultures. And that is why the scientific and technological revolution that changed the world took place in Europe instead of e.g. China, Near East or Africa.
But how did the cultures appear? Are they typical only to people and perhaps most intelligent animals? Or could cultures develop even among insects?
This question was addressed in the research conducted by Etienne Danchin and colleagues. They analysed the effects of seeing sex on the common fruit flies´ sexual behavior and their offspring. In their report, Danchin et al. define cultures as a traditions, which have their roots in earlier generations and are inherited via social learning.
The research was also based on the knowledge that we tend to conform our behavior to that surrounding us. One extreme of this are children, who say that black is white when several robots claim that. Fortunately we adults are more clever, and only conform our behavior according to real people surrounding us.
But then to the research report itself.
In their first experiment Danchin and colleagues gave three days old virgin flies to watch a young female selecting a partner between two males colored either pink or green. After seeing the copulation, the virgin fly was allowed itself to make a choice between a pink and a green fruit fly. As a result, their selection was the same color as what they had just seen being selected by another female. In control, where the virgin had not seen any copulation, the colors did not make a difference.
In the second experiment the researchers made a similar experiment, but now the virgin was allowed to follow an elder female to select between pink and green colored males. And the result was the same as in the first experiment. That it, they selected a male with the same color as they had just seen being selected by the elder female. So the virgins learned equally well from elder flies and their peers.
In the third experiment the virgin flies followed five times a selection of the same colored fly, and were again allowed to make their own selection, but only after 24 hours. That is, after about three per cent of their lifetime. The same rule worked again, so the flies remembered what they had once seen.
In the fourth experiment, mutant flies - normally avoided in pairings - were offered to virgins as painted according to their favorite color. And the males were again selected according to the color instead of genetically determined outlook.
In the fifth experiment the researchers manipulated the ratio of colors shown to be selected by other virgin flies in their sphere of vision. Again when there was only one color selected in front of their eyes, they tended to make the same selection themselves. However, it was a big surprise that this rule held all the way to a frequency of 60 vs. 40 percent.
And finally, the researchers made an experiment to determine whether the mode of behavior - that flies had learned as virgins - was also transmitted to their offspring. The answer was yes, and even over several generations. Therefore fruit flies developed a learned tradition somehow taught over several generations, and can thus be added to the list of animals with cultural behavior, where populations learn habits from previous generations.
Taken together, the study by Danchin and others showed that as simple animals as fruit flies may have cultures that differ from each other. Therefore, also the roots of our own cultural behavior probably extends to our evolutionary prehistory; perhaps even to the time we had not yet climbed from ancient seas to the dry land.
Because this blog is considered a political one, it is also important to think what the above described research contributes to the question of equal value of all human cultures. However, as the purpose of this blog is not to provide prefabricated views, but to provoke its readers to think themselves, I am not going to give answers myself, but leave the question to be figured out by all my highly valued readers.
The original thought published in Finnish:
Seksin katsominen synnytti uuden kulttuurin
1 December 2018
The Danish government proposed reforms for immigration policy
The government of Denmark proposed two reforms for their immigration policy. According to the first one, the asylum seekers with criminal behavior should be placed in a dormitory to be built in a small island of Lindholm until they leave the country.
What en excellent proposal!
And therefore it is not surprising that I have also proposed a similar refuge for my country (unfortunately the text can only be read in Finnish or translated by Google translator, which is not doing very well with Finnish). However, in my proposal I suggested that also those, who are not in a need for asylum could be placed there - even if they have not been guilty for any crime.
The second proposal by the Danish government is even better. It states that refugees - who have a true need for asylum - would be asked to sign an agreement to leave the country immediately after the problems in their home has calmed down.
This should actually be self evident, as humanitarian refugees are not migrants seeking for job, but people who are escaping problems in their homes. However, it is clear that those of them, who have integrated to their new home so well that they are able to sustain their own life by working, should have a possibility to apply for a residence permit based on that.
Although the proposals by the Danish government are excellent, there is one big problem associated with it. That is the lack of a parliament and government in Finland, that would execute similar policy as proposed for Denmark. The unfortunate fact is that there is only one political movement in Finland - the True Finns with about ten percent support among voters - which is along the same lines as the government of Denmark.
The original Professor´s thought in Finnish:
Tanskan hallitus esittää maahanmuuttoon uudistuksia
What en excellent proposal!
And therefore it is not surprising that I have also proposed a similar refuge for my country (unfortunately the text can only be read in Finnish or translated by Google translator, which is not doing very well with Finnish). However, in my proposal I suggested that also those, who are not in a need for asylum could be placed there - even if they have not been guilty for any crime.
The second proposal by the Danish government is even better. It states that refugees - who have a true need for asylum - would be asked to sign an agreement to leave the country immediately after the problems in their home has calmed down.
This should actually be self evident, as humanitarian refugees are not migrants seeking for job, but people who are escaping problems in their homes. However, it is clear that those of them, who have integrated to their new home so well that they are able to sustain their own life by working, should have a possibility to apply for a residence permit based on that.
Although the proposals by the Danish government are excellent, there is one big problem associated with it. That is the lack of a parliament and government in Finland, that would execute similar policy as proposed for Denmark. The unfortunate fact is that there is only one political movement in Finland - the True Finns with about ten percent support among voters - which is along the same lines as the government of Denmark.
The original Professor´s thought in Finnish:
Tanskan hallitus esittää maahanmuuttoon uudistuksia
29 November 2018
A scoop to be kept out of daylight
The arctic sea ice extent was 10.422 million square kilometers in November 23rd, 2018. This information probably does not open to my reader, and therefore I decided to present the following table. There I have collected the extents of the arctic ice in November 23rds during the last ten years.
2018 10.422 million km2
The important point - which might even be considered a scoop in the light of recent media information about the climatic change - is that six days ago the extent of the arctic ice was the largest (of date) during the last ten years (right now it is the second largest after year 2014).
The table above tells us - at least - that the melting rate of the arctic ice is not especially rapid. It should, however, be noted that the extent was biggest in early dates of the statistics: 11.897 million km2 in both years 1983 and 1992, and the extent was 10,700 million km2 in year 2008 when it was for the last time larger than this year.
It remains to be seen if Jari Haapala, Research Professor of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, was right couple of years ago, when he predicted that it will take only few years before we can sail to arctic pole through an open sea and that the arctic sea ice will completely melt away during the 2030´s or 2040´s. That is, during the next 12 or 22 years.
Therefore it is also good to take a look on the extent of the arctic sea ice, when it was smallest in this year: 4.594 million km2. Also this figure needs a comparison table, before it can be interpreted.
2018 4.594 million km2
As can be seen from the table, this year is in position six in this statistics. The extent of the arctic sea ice was smallest in year 2012 and largest in the first year of the table. Therefore we can conclude that Research Professor Haapala´s view about the ongoing rapid melting of the arctic sea ice is not supported by this table. Or more exactly: this table does not show any trend.
Despite the two tables above, I have no idea whether the arctic sea ice is melting or not in a long run. And certainly I do not want to guess whether we are in the middle of climate warming caused by human actions.
Instead, I am willing to bring this piece of information about the extend of the arctic sea ice to public discussion, because I suspect that it will not be reported by main media and will therefore not reach the ordinary people in Finland and elsewhere.
I wrote this article in Finnish six days ago, but there has been no news about the extent of the arctic sea ice. The reasons may be imagined, but I am not willing to open my own thoughts. Instead, I want to point out that the instructions of Finnish journalists say the following. "A journalist has a responsibility towards her readers, listeners and watchers: they do have a right to know, what is happening in the society."
The original thought in Finnish:
Skuuppi, joka jäänee mediapimentoon
2018 10.422 million km2
The important point - which might even be considered a scoop in the light of recent media information about the climatic change - is that six days ago the extent of the arctic ice was the largest (of date) during the last ten years (right now it is the second largest after year 2014).
The table above tells us - at least - that the melting rate of the arctic ice is not especially rapid. It should, however, be noted that the extent was biggest in early dates of the statistics: 11.897 million km2 in both years 1983 and 1992, and the extent was 10,700 million km2 in year 2008 when it was for the last time larger than this year.
It remains to be seen if Jari Haapala, Research Professor of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, was right couple of years ago, when he predicted that it will take only few years before we can sail to arctic pole through an open sea and that the arctic sea ice will completely melt away during the 2030´s or 2040´s. That is, during the next 12 or 22 years.
Therefore it is also good to take a look on the extent of the arctic sea ice, when it was smallest in this year: 4.594 million km2. Also this figure needs a comparison table, before it can be interpreted.
2018 4.594 million km2
As can be seen from the table, this year is in position six in this statistics. The extent of the arctic sea ice was smallest in year 2012 and largest in the first year of the table. Therefore we can conclude that Research Professor Haapala´s view about the ongoing rapid melting of the arctic sea ice is not supported by this table. Or more exactly: this table does not show any trend.
Despite the two tables above, I have no idea whether the arctic sea ice is melting or not in a long run. And certainly I do not want to guess whether we are in the middle of climate warming caused by human actions.
Instead, I am willing to bring this piece of information about the extend of the arctic sea ice to public discussion, because I suspect that it will not be reported by main media and will therefore not reach the ordinary people in Finland and elsewhere.
I wrote this article in Finnish six days ago, but there has been no news about the extent of the arctic sea ice. The reasons may be imagined, but I am not willing to open my own thoughts. Instead, I want to point out that the instructions of Finnish journalists say the following. "A journalist has a responsibility towards her readers, listeners and watchers: they do have a right to know, what is happening in the society."
The original thought in Finnish:
Skuuppi, joka jäänee mediapimentoon
24 November 2018
Lessons from Italian politics
After the last elections of parliament has Italy obtained a so called populist government led by PM Giuseppe Conte. Looking from here in Finland, that seems to have two consequences.
The first one - and highly appreciated here under the North star - is the reduction of people´s migration over the Mediterranean sea. And the second one - largely irritating Finns - is the loose budget policy of PM Conte, criticized even by the EU leaders and possibly leading to the flow of Finnish taxpayers money to operations intended to save Italian banking system.
In practice, the Italian government is pumping borrowed money into the Italian economy with two wishes. The first one is to keep people in a good mood - in other words keeping their voters happy with the government for at least few years to stay in power. The second one is to use borrowed money for pushing the Italian economy towards growth after many years of cessation. My hope is, that the second aim would be successful - simply because the alternative would be a serious pan-European economic crisis.
A simple analysis of Italian development says that the massive flow of people from developing countries led to a dissatisfaction of Italian citizens, which led them to vote so called populists to political leadership and therefore to form a regime behaving fully irresponsibly in its economic policy. Or finding a solution to Italian stagnation - although no one considers it possible.
A simple lesson to be learned from Italian development is that any wise government - including the political leaders of the EU - should carefully listen to peoples expectations and views. That was not done by the previous Italian government nor by the PM Juha Sipilä´s regime in Finland, and neither have most of the regimes in our continent understood the importance of refraining from irritating voters. I mean: most regimes in EU have not been blessed with clear understanding of their duty as political leaders in a democracy to serve their citizens instead of a crowd of third world people seeking for a better standard of living in Europe.
It remains to be seen what happens in Finland in the next elections of the parliament in April 2019. It is, however, clear that a fall of Italian economy to the arms of the EU as well as a new acceleration of migration from developing countries might have unpredictable consequences.
Because there is nothing unclear in this issue, it is surprising how sloppy the immigration policy of PM Sipilä´s government has been. That is because a new wave of humanitarian immigration would result in a colossal price to be paid by both the regime and people of Finland. The latter consequence could, of course, be fixed or worsened - depending on the people´s votes - in the next elections four year ahead.
Thus, the situation in Finland is right now in many ways similar to that in Italy. The difference, however, is that the Finnish party most probably collecting votes from failed immigration, the True Finns, has not shown any signs of irresponsible economic policy like the regime of Italy. Actually, their message has rather been vice versa.
Very interestingly: we learned today that Hillary Clinton of USA advised us Europeans to avoid further humanitarian immigration, because that irrigates people and might therefore favor populist politicians. I think we should listen her advise this time, although there are plenty of things I disagree with the former first lady of her country.
The original professor´s thought in Finnish:
Italian talous- ja muut opit
The first one - and highly appreciated here under the North star - is the reduction of people´s migration over the Mediterranean sea. And the second one - largely irritating Finns - is the loose budget policy of PM Conte, criticized even by the EU leaders and possibly leading to the flow of Finnish taxpayers money to operations intended to save Italian banking system.
In practice, the Italian government is pumping borrowed money into the Italian economy with two wishes. The first one is to keep people in a good mood - in other words keeping their voters happy with the government for at least few years to stay in power. The second one is to use borrowed money for pushing the Italian economy towards growth after many years of cessation. My hope is, that the second aim would be successful - simply because the alternative would be a serious pan-European economic crisis.
A simple analysis of Italian development says that the massive flow of people from developing countries led to a dissatisfaction of Italian citizens, which led them to vote so called populists to political leadership and therefore to form a regime behaving fully irresponsibly in its economic policy. Or finding a solution to Italian stagnation - although no one considers it possible.
A simple lesson to be learned from Italian development is that any wise government - including the political leaders of the EU - should carefully listen to peoples expectations and views. That was not done by the previous Italian government nor by the PM Juha Sipilä´s regime in Finland, and neither have most of the regimes in our continent understood the importance of refraining from irritating voters. I mean: most regimes in EU have not been blessed with clear understanding of their duty as political leaders in a democracy to serve their citizens instead of a crowd of third world people seeking for a better standard of living in Europe.
It remains to be seen what happens in Finland in the next elections of the parliament in April 2019. It is, however, clear that a fall of Italian economy to the arms of the EU as well as a new acceleration of migration from developing countries might have unpredictable consequences.
Because there is nothing unclear in this issue, it is surprising how sloppy the immigration policy of PM Sipilä´s government has been. That is because a new wave of humanitarian immigration would result in a colossal price to be paid by both the regime and people of Finland. The latter consequence could, of course, be fixed or worsened - depending on the people´s votes - in the next elections four year ahead.
Thus, the situation in Finland is right now in many ways similar to that in Italy. The difference, however, is that the Finnish party most probably collecting votes from failed immigration, the True Finns, has not shown any signs of irresponsible economic policy like the regime of Italy. Actually, their message has rather been vice versa.
Very interestingly: we learned today that Hillary Clinton of USA advised us Europeans to avoid further humanitarian immigration, because that irrigates people and might therefore favor populist politicians. I think we should listen her advise this time, although there are plenty of things I disagree with the former first lady of her country.
The original professor´s thought in Finnish:
Italian talous- ja muut opit
18 November 2018
Rape statistics in Finland and Sweden are breaking prejudices
In Finland only one out of four sex crimes are reported to the police, and it is highly probable that the announced cases are preferentially made by unknown people or are more serious than the ones quietened. Therefore true rapes are taken to investigations more often than other cases of sexual assaults. And rapes made in streets by strangers even more often.
Although rapes are serious crimes, every second victim of sexual assaults considers them private. This holds especially among young people, who are not informed about their rights and who do not fully understand the difference between legal sexual intercourse and harassment.
A serious lack of knowledge is probably common also in many immigrant groups. There sex crimes withing families made by husbands are only extremely rarely reported to officials, whereas sex crimes towards unknown victims may be practically always announced.
Despite above, the situation in Finland is considerably better than in Sweden. There only 5-10% (i.e. less than half of the figure in Finland) of sexual crimes are reported to police. Despite that, Sweden has one of the highest official rape records in the globe, only South Africa being clearly ahead.
It is often incorrectly claimed that the high rating of sex crime statistics in Sweden would be due to high and ever increasing frequency of reporting. Instead, it is getting more and more clear that both the shocking statistics and peoples reluctance to report on sex crimes are due to the growth of certain immigration groups.
Also in Finland both the number of immigrants and sex crime are increasing. In year 2014 police was informed of more than 1000 rapes whereas ten years before the number was on average "only" 800. In 2017 the number was already 1272.
According to a report by the Finnish Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy, 23% of solved cases of rape were conducted by a foreigner in 2013. Considering the share of foreigners at the same time - 3,8% - the causality between immigration and rapes becomes evident.
This causality described above combined with the share of immigrants in Sweden as an order of higher than in Finland explains why the country is one of the leading raping centers of the world.
The lower reporting frequency of rapes in Sweden has also another conclusion. By combining that information to an order-of-magnitude higher share of immigrants in Sweden logically confirms that sex crimes among them are only rarely reported to officials. In other words, it falsifies the frequent claim that assaults made by immigrants would be reported more often that those by the original population - it is vice versa. The explanation lies in the immigrants patriarchal culture, where a rape by a husband is probably not even considered as a crime, no matter how much it hurts the victim.
The original story in Finnish:
Suomen ja Ruotsin raiskaustilastot rikkovat ennakkoluuloja
Although rapes are serious crimes, every second victim of sexual assaults considers them private. This holds especially among young people, who are not informed about their rights and who do not fully understand the difference between legal sexual intercourse and harassment.
A serious lack of knowledge is probably common also in many immigrant groups. There sex crimes withing families made by husbands are only extremely rarely reported to officials, whereas sex crimes towards unknown victims may be practically always announced.
Despite above, the situation in Finland is considerably better than in Sweden. There only 5-10% (i.e. less than half of the figure in Finland) of sexual crimes are reported to police. Despite that, Sweden has one of the highest official rape records in the globe, only South Africa being clearly ahead.
It is often incorrectly claimed that the high rating of sex crime statistics in Sweden would be due to high and ever increasing frequency of reporting. Instead, it is getting more and more clear that both the shocking statistics and peoples reluctance to report on sex crimes are due to the growth of certain immigration groups.
Also in Finland both the number of immigrants and sex crime are increasing. In year 2014 police was informed of more than 1000 rapes whereas ten years before the number was on average "only" 800. In 2017 the number was already 1272.
According to a report by the Finnish Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy, 23% of solved cases of rape were conducted by a foreigner in 2013. Considering the share of foreigners at the same time - 3,8% - the causality between immigration and rapes becomes evident.
This causality described above combined with the share of immigrants in Sweden as an order of higher than in Finland explains why the country is one of the leading raping centers of the world.
The lower reporting frequency of rapes in Sweden has also another conclusion. By combining that information to an order-of-magnitude higher share of immigrants in Sweden logically confirms that sex crimes among them are only rarely reported to officials. In other words, it falsifies the frequent claim that assaults made by immigrants would be reported more often that those by the original population - it is vice versa. The explanation lies in the immigrants patriarchal culture, where a rape by a husband is probably not even considered as a crime, no matter how much it hurts the victim.
The original story in Finnish:
Suomen ja Ruotsin raiskaustilastot rikkovat ennakkoluuloja
17 November 2018
When will they ever learn?
One again a young Finnish woman had to pay for her naivety. That is because she started a relationship with a man named Abdullatif in internet, and thereafter became cruelly raped by several humanitarian immigrants.
The first question arising is that when will young western women - and their parents - learn - and warn - about abdullatifs. Or will they ever learn?
The second question to be considered is when our decision makers will understand the connection between immigration policy and sexual crime. Namely, the high raping risk associated with immigrants, demonstrated by Abdullatif with his colleagues and supported by statistics. And ruining the lives of young western women. Will the ever learn?
And not two without a third. When do voters in western countries understand that the actions of abdullatifs in democratic countries is possible only if parliaments are filled with politicians who have no understanding on the share of criminals like Abdullatif among asylum seekers. I wonder if they ever learn.
The original story in Finnish:
Abdullatifin opetukset
The first question arising is that when will young western women - and their parents - learn - and warn - about abdullatifs. Or will they ever learn?
The second question to be considered is when our decision makers will understand the connection between immigration policy and sexual crime. Namely, the high raping risk associated with immigrants, demonstrated by Abdullatif with his colleagues and supported by statistics. And ruining the lives of young western women. Will the ever learn?
And not two without a third. When do voters in western countries understand that the actions of abdullatifs in democratic countries is possible only if parliaments are filled with politicians who have no understanding on the share of criminals like Abdullatif among asylum seekers. I wonder if they ever learn.
The original story in Finnish:
Abdullatifin opetukset
11 November 2018
An ignorant mediahouse failed again in historical facts
World War I ended exactly a century ago. The war was started by Germany, and it resulted in a collapse of European emperors of Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary and freedom of many nations previously governed by them.
The world entered in a new time, dominated by competition between western democracies and versions of socialism, both national and international. That time ended only in 1991 and thereafter, when Soviet Union and its socialistic satellite governments in East Europe collapsed.
During that time the world had to face the World War II, seeded in the Treaty of Versailles, the peace agreement, by stringently sanctioning Germany. But not so stringently, that it could not have recovered to challenge the world after 20 years, and lose again with even more stringent peace agreement.
This all was celebrated by the main Newspaper in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, which published an article with a picture on border changes in Europe between 1914-1919. Surprisingly, in those pictures Finland was drawn as independent of Russia already in 1914, although we received our independence only in 1917.
It is not long since I was amazed on the ignorance of the same media house on the number of Stalin´ s victims. In spite of that I would not have imagined that any journalist in this country might have been so unaware of his own history, that such a mistake could have happened even accidentally.
Under the map published was a text "Jukka Himanen/HS". That is the name of the artist and the acronym of the journal. Right now I cannot resist recommending to him and other employees of the newspaper a short history course.
That might help in avoiding such embarrassing mistakes as the one today. And perhaps the general level of Finnish journalism would increase, as the articles which I had interpreted to be agenda journalism may actually have been based only on pure ignorance and lack of civilization.
PS (10:18 CET): very interestingly the picture with the false information has now been removed from the newspaper netpage.
The original story in Finnish:
HS: Suomi oli itsenäinen jo vuonna 1914
The world entered in a new time, dominated by competition between western democracies and versions of socialism, both national and international. That time ended only in 1991 and thereafter, when Soviet Union and its socialistic satellite governments in East Europe collapsed.
During that time the world had to face the World War II, seeded in the Treaty of Versailles, the peace agreement, by stringently sanctioning Germany. But not so stringently, that it could not have recovered to challenge the world after 20 years, and lose again with even more stringent peace agreement.
This all was celebrated by the main Newspaper in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, which published an article with a picture on border changes in Europe between 1914-1919. Surprisingly, in those pictures Finland was drawn as independent of Russia already in 1914, although we received our independence only in 1917.
It is not long since I was amazed on the ignorance of the same media house on the number of Stalin´ s victims. In spite of that I would not have imagined that any journalist in this country might have been so unaware of his own history, that such a mistake could have happened even accidentally.
Under the map published was a text "Jukka Himanen/HS". That is the name of the artist and the acronym of the journal. Right now I cannot resist recommending to him and other employees of the newspaper a short history course.
That might help in avoiding such embarrassing mistakes as the one today. And perhaps the general level of Finnish journalism would increase, as the articles which I had interpreted to be agenda journalism may actually have been based only on pure ignorance and lack of civilization.
PS (10:18 CET): very interestingly the picture with the false information has now been removed from the newspaper netpage.
The original story in Finnish:
HS: Suomi oli itsenäinen jo vuonna 1914
10 November 2018
Vikings and the technological cutting edge
A recent study showed that about thousand years ago Vikings based their success in trade, crime, expedition and warship on a technical revolution allowing mass production of tar. The result should not have been a surprise as the use of wooden ships without a protectant against decay was not - and neither is today - possible.
It should be noticed that the study demonstrated once more that big changes in the history of mankind have always derived from technological innovations. It was already so when agriculture was invented in Middle East, which fed an unforeseen population growth and resulted in migration of people to Europe, where previous hunter-gatherers were either displaced or assimilated to the new tribes.
Technological revolution was also the cause of development of towns and cities via industrialization and replacement of agriculture from its position as the heart of the society. Thereafter the economic and military power has been in the hands of those nations, which have had the most educated and skillful people. Thus, it should today be understood that the welfare depends essentially on the ability of people to gain education and technological skills.
I also noticed an opinion article, where a researcher working with loose money claimed on her poor and insecure position in the society, and threatened her readers with the aim to leave research by moving to other working environment. Considering this threat, the society should rather celebrate than be sorry, as the aim of researcher education is not only to raise people for universities, but also to provide first class workforce to private sector.
Therefore I am encouraging the person to make her first step as a top expert towards her new career; and to proudly show this in her application process for the new position. This opinion is based on the fact, that scientific education is essentially designed to make people more objective: to be able to see a difference between the facts and their hopes or ideologies. If and when this has been successful, these people can offer things, that are rarely available. And that should be useful in all fields of the labor market.
Therefore also the private sector should take advantage of people with scientific education. By doing so, they would gain an edge ahead their most serious competitors in local and global scale. That should be understood by all company directors from high tech enterprises to those making business on marketing or human resources.
Aiempia ajatuksia samasta aihepiiristä:
Viikinkien retket perustuivat teknis-taloudelliseen vallankumoukseen
It should be noticed that the study demonstrated once more that big changes in the history of mankind have always derived from technological innovations. It was already so when agriculture was invented in Middle East, which fed an unforeseen population growth and resulted in migration of people to Europe, where previous hunter-gatherers were either displaced or assimilated to the new tribes.
Technological revolution was also the cause of development of towns and cities via industrialization and replacement of agriculture from its position as the heart of the society. Thereafter the economic and military power has been in the hands of those nations, which have had the most educated and skillful people. Thus, it should today be understood that the welfare depends essentially on the ability of people to gain education and technological skills.
I also noticed an opinion article, where a researcher working with loose money claimed on her poor and insecure position in the society, and threatened her readers with the aim to leave research by moving to other working environment. Considering this threat, the society should rather celebrate than be sorry, as the aim of researcher education is not only to raise people for universities, but also to provide first class workforce to private sector.
Therefore I am encouraging the person to make her first step as a top expert towards her new career; and to proudly show this in her application process for the new position. This opinion is based on the fact, that scientific education is essentially designed to make people more objective: to be able to see a difference between the facts and their hopes or ideologies. If and when this has been successful, these people can offer things, that are rarely available. And that should be useful in all fields of the labor market.
Therefore also the private sector should take advantage of people with scientific education. By doing so, they would gain an edge ahead their most serious competitors in local and global scale. That should be understood by all company directors from high tech enterprises to those making business on marketing or human resources.
Aiempia ajatuksia samasta aihepiiristä:
Viikinkien retket perustuivat teknis-taloudelliseen vallankumoukseen
4 November 2018
Why a journalist was unaware on the number of Stalin´s victims?
The main newspaper in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, published a correction by telling that "in Tuesday, October 30 on page A24, it was claimed that ca. one million people died during Stalin´s progroms in 1930´s. This number refers to those executed. The total number of dead people due to Stalings pogroms was tens of millions."
To me it was extremely surprising that a journalist of the main newspaper in the country had made such a mistake. This is because one might have imagined that Stalin´s achievements are generally known here in Russia´s neighborhood - or at least their order of magnitude.
I wrote this short note, because I suspect that the mistake was not made by chance, but due to the willingness of our media to hide the magnitude of destruction and human suffering due to the big socialist experiment during the last century. This becomes understandable by thinking, whether such an order-of-magnitude mistake could even be imagined to be made in the number of Jewish victims of the Hitler´s regime.
Therefore I consider it possible, that it is exactly this reason - hiding the bloody footsteps of sosialism - why we have not demonized the use of hammer and sickle in clothes or demonstrations in a similar way as the use of swastika. And noticeably, we have even in our parliament a political party that cherishes the legacy of this ideology.
The original story in Finnish:
Miksei toimittaja tiennyt Stalinin kymmenien miljoonien uhrien määrää?
To me it was extremely surprising that a journalist of the main newspaper in the country had made such a mistake. This is because one might have imagined that Stalin´s achievements are generally known here in Russia´s neighborhood - or at least their order of magnitude.
I wrote this short note, because I suspect that the mistake was not made by chance, but due to the willingness of our media to hide the magnitude of destruction and human suffering due to the big socialist experiment during the last century. This becomes understandable by thinking, whether such an order-of-magnitude mistake could even be imagined to be made in the number of Jewish victims of the Hitler´s regime.
Therefore I consider it possible, that it is exactly this reason - hiding the bloody footsteps of sosialism - why we have not demonized the use of hammer and sickle in clothes or demonstrations in a similar way as the use of swastika. And noticeably, we have even in our parliament a political party that cherishes the legacy of this ideology.
The original story in Finnish:
Miksei toimittaja tiennyt Stalinin kymmenien miljoonien uhrien määrää?
28 October 2018
Climate change raises dishonesty in the Finnish media
I am amazed because of the dishonesty linked to the climatic change. And this time I do not think here the changes in temperature databases but discussion related to the prevention of climatic warming.
Last week we received a model example on this dishonesty from a professional journalist Minttu Mikkonen in the biggest newspaper of this country, Helsingin Sanomat, who had interviewed Finnish researchers in the field.
In the middle of her story Mikkonen cited a previous story published in the same newspaper and wrote that "all researchers unanimously agree that forest cuttings and increasing harvesting reduces carbon sink and carbon stock of the Finnish forests. Despite that, many Finnish politicians still say that cuttings could be increased".
Thereafter the journalist cited Mari Pantsar, the Director of the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, by allowing the reader to understand that she had commented the claim above by saying "if you need to confront scientific and political world on carbon sinks I - as a docent - do believe in science".
The problem is that the earlier story the journalist had cited did not say that all researchers agree on the claim that increasing cuttings and harvesting would reduce the carbon stock of the Finnish forests. Or it said, but continued as follows: "...for decades forward, if we compare to a situation when they are not increased".
In other words, all Finnish scientists agreed on the fact, that the carbon stock in Finnish forests is not reduced by cuttings and harvesting, but only its growth is reduced for the next few decades. One might imagine that understanding this would not be too difficult even to a journalist, so it is obvious that we have here a case of conscious dishonesty, although I do not understand why. Actually, it is even worse, because the story of the journalist points out Docent Mari Pantsar as the source of the incorrectness.
In this context I would like to inform my respected reader that Nature published recently an article, which shows that forest management in Europe cannot be used efficiently to solve the problem of climatic change, and therefore they should rather be managed for resilience in future climate. This was not mentioned by Mikkonen, although it had been pointed out by Professor Atte Korhola recently in the same newspaper, and therefore it must have been known also by its journalists writing on the same topic.
The story reminded also that "an average Finn produces annually more than ten tons of emissions. In year 2030 each resident of the globe could not produce more than three tons on average".
This is also intellectually dishonest, although the facts would be correct (which I believe, and did not check). This can be understood by putting this to an areal perspective. Based on the figures given by Mikkonen we can calculate - based on our population size and land area - that in Finland we are producing 163 tons of emissions/km2, whereas in the whole world the corresponding sustainable figure would be 155 tons/km2.
So Finland is not far from sustainability despite the fact that much of our emissions are due to our cold winters, which make warming of houses obligatory, and therefore forces Finns to use more energy than people in south.
The calculation above shows also how important issue, in regard to avoiding climatic change, is the rapid population growth. That was not, however, mentioned by journalist Mikkonen, but she wrote only about circulation, vegetarism, carbon pricing, German solar energy, Danish wind power, energetic efficacy of Mexican buildings and stopping the loss of Brasilian forests (the last one of which - unlike the European forest management - does have an effect on global warming as pointed out by the Nature paper cited above).
The dishonest of journalist Mikkonen is not unique in the Finnish press. In contrast, it is extremely common on almost all discussions related to the climatic change. Unfortunately I do not understand why.
That is because I have understood that the threat due to climatic warming is so severe, that we should be honest and find functionally working ways to stop it. Misleading the political discussion - as sen in the story of journalist Mikkonen - only hampers attempts to find working solutions. I cannot believe that would be the aim of media, politician or any of the researchers.
The original story in Finnish:
HS:n Minttu Mikkonen tajosi malliesimerkin epärehellisyydestä
Last week we received a model example on this dishonesty from a professional journalist Minttu Mikkonen in the biggest newspaper of this country, Helsingin Sanomat, who had interviewed Finnish researchers in the field.
In the middle of her story Mikkonen cited a previous story published in the same newspaper and wrote that "all researchers unanimously agree that forest cuttings and increasing harvesting reduces carbon sink and carbon stock of the Finnish forests. Despite that, many Finnish politicians still say that cuttings could be increased".
Thereafter the journalist cited Mari Pantsar, the Director of the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, by allowing the reader to understand that she had commented the claim above by saying "if you need to confront scientific and political world on carbon sinks I - as a docent - do believe in science".
The problem is that the earlier story the journalist had cited did not say that all researchers agree on the claim that increasing cuttings and harvesting would reduce the carbon stock of the Finnish forests. Or it said, but continued as follows: "...for decades forward, if we compare to a situation when they are not increased".
In other words, all Finnish scientists agreed on the fact, that the carbon stock in Finnish forests is not reduced by cuttings and harvesting, but only its growth is reduced for the next few decades. One might imagine that understanding this would not be too difficult even to a journalist, so it is obvious that we have here a case of conscious dishonesty, although I do not understand why. Actually, it is even worse, because the story of the journalist points out Docent Mari Pantsar as the source of the incorrectness.
In this context I would like to inform my respected reader that Nature published recently an article, which shows that forest management in Europe cannot be used efficiently to solve the problem of climatic change, and therefore they should rather be managed for resilience in future climate. This was not mentioned by Mikkonen, although it had been pointed out by Professor Atte Korhola recently in the same newspaper, and therefore it must have been known also by its journalists writing on the same topic.
The story reminded also that "an average Finn produces annually more than ten tons of emissions. In year 2030 each resident of the globe could not produce more than three tons on average".
This is also intellectually dishonest, although the facts would be correct (which I believe, and did not check). This can be understood by putting this to an areal perspective. Based on the figures given by Mikkonen we can calculate - based on our population size and land area - that in Finland we are producing 163 tons of emissions/km2, whereas in the whole world the corresponding sustainable figure would be 155 tons/km2.
So Finland is not far from sustainability despite the fact that much of our emissions are due to our cold winters, which make warming of houses obligatory, and therefore forces Finns to use more energy than people in south.
The calculation above shows also how important issue, in regard to avoiding climatic change, is the rapid population growth. That was not, however, mentioned by journalist Mikkonen, but she wrote only about circulation, vegetarism, carbon pricing, German solar energy, Danish wind power, energetic efficacy of Mexican buildings and stopping the loss of Brasilian forests (the last one of which - unlike the European forest management - does have an effect on global warming as pointed out by the Nature paper cited above).
The dishonest of journalist Mikkonen is not unique in the Finnish press. In contrast, it is extremely common on almost all discussions related to the climatic change. Unfortunately I do not understand why.
That is because I have understood that the threat due to climatic warming is so severe, that we should be honest and find functionally working ways to stop it. Misleading the political discussion - as sen in the story of journalist Mikkonen - only hampers attempts to find working solutions. I cannot believe that would be the aim of media, politician or any of the researchers.
The original story in Finnish:
HS:n Minttu Mikkonen tajosi malliesimerkin epärehellisyydestä
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