The Burma Beat….

Interview by: Andrew Parker, Program Associate, PISA

Edited by: Suzanne Kelly-Lyall, Deputy Director, PISA

Dr. Christina Fink (second from left) with PISA/ECODEV team

This week PisaSpeak brings you another snap shot of the political and economic reforms underway in Burma.  Dr. Christina Fink  (pictured second from right), Professor of Development and International Affairs, George Washington Univeristy, is the author of Living Silence Burma Surviving Military – as a colleague in Yangon recently commented; Dr. Fink is the “go to” source if you want to understand the complex political landscape in Burma.”

The Great Green Fleet….

People outside of military circles are often surprised to learn to that US Military is “greener than many other sectors.  In fact, in terms of being both pragmatic and progressive about the benefits of going green, the US Navy shows true leadership:  http://www.voanews.com/content/us-navy-presses-forward-with-biofuels/1365301.html

“Both Sides Now…Burma Today”

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Interview by: Andrew Parker, PISA Research Fellow/Program Assistant

Edited By: Suzanne Kelly-Lyall, Deputy Director, PISA

Team PISA recently traveled to Burma/Myanmar to conduct a needs assessment.  We want to share with you a few of Linda Yarr’s  impressions.  We have also included links to additional reading on the rapid changes underway in Burma today.  Have you been to Burma lately?  If so, tell us about it….

First Day in Parliament for Myanmar Opposition Leader – NYTimes … thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/…/first-day-in-parliament-for-myanmar- …

First Day in Parliament for Myanmar Opposition Leader – NYTimes … thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/…/first-day-in-parliament-for-myanmar- …

Interview by: Andrew Parker, PISA Research Fellow/Program Assistant

Edited by: Suzanne Kelly-Lyall, Deputy Director, PISA

Last month, the PISA team traveled to Burma together with Dr. Christina Fink of George Washington University.  We went as part of a needs assessment for PISA’s Climate Leadership Initiative.  Over the course of a week, we met with many Burmese officials, held a group dialogue with twenty civil society activists, and learned from our NGO partner, ECODEV.  We want to share what we learned with you!  The interview with Linda Yarr, PISA’s Director, encapsulates both the fragility of the current reforms in Burma and the sense of optimism about the country’s future.

And the Bard ponders…Why, oh why doest thou deny?

And the Bard ponders…Why, oh why doest thou deny?

By: Suzanne Kelly-Lyall

Friends,

Here is a fresh take on why many smart folks still find themselves in the climate change denial camp:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-ropeik/fear-of-climate-change-ma_b_1665019.html?utm_hp_ref=climate-change

Do you agree with this perspective?

Finally, the NYT gets it right on climate change and extreme weather events around the world…

“Globally, the new research makes clear that some of the recent weather damage resulted not from an increased likelihood of extremes, but from changes in human exposure and vulnerability. The 2011 floods in Thailand are a prime example.

An analysis by Dutch and British scientists found that the amount of rain falling in Thailand last year, while heavy, was not particularly unusual by historical standards, and that “climate change cannot be shown to have played any role in this event.”

Only The Sound of Silence after Stormy Weather….

By: Suzanne Kelly-Lyall

When the immortal Billy Holliday sang; Stormy Weather in 1953, she couldn’t have known that the record June temperatures of June 1933, the year Harold Arlen and Ted Koheler wrote that hit, would not be seen again until 2012.  Blistering temperatures across the lower 48 states of the US captured daily headlines with power outages in the nation’s capital and scorching temperatures that threatened US crops across the mid-west, yet you’d be hard pressed to hear the phrase climate change uttered, even in whispers.

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Climate Adaptation?