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News about this website and the importance of trees: Click Refresh (on your browser) for the most recent version, then scroll down. 21 Feb 2007 This site will cease to exist soon. Computer problems have made email and web access difficult for several months and it is time to pull the plug. Thank-you to all the readers and to all the authors, too. I wish you every success with your writing. Niall Carson. 19 Oct 2006 Author Number 13 from St Clair, USA with a poem about having a positive attitude. 10 July 2006 Author Number 12 from Ohio, USA with a poem about how things are changing in his life. 28 June 2006 Author Number 11 from Washington, USA sends a poem written when depressed. 27 February 2006 Author Number 10 from Doncaster, England sends a poem about new love and new hope. 20 February 2006 "US Marines Join Landslide Rescue Effort: "US marines and Malaysian rescue experts yesterday joined hundreds of Philippine troops, officials and volunteers searching for survivors of the landslide that buried a village on Leyte island, but the teams recovered only mud-caked corpses. "Officials were quoted by local media as saying that 410 of the 1,875 residents of Guinsaugon were not in the village when the wall of mud swallowed their homes, and that the number of missing is now 1,371. "The Philippine president, Gloria Arroyo, said yesterday 'All the efforts of our government will not stop while there is hope to find survivors.' But hopes of finding anyone alive from Friday's disaster have all but disappeared. 'We're not finding anything other than corpses' said an exhausted-sounding Red Cross official, Edwin Pamonnag. "Eleven nearby villages remain evacuated, as much of the central and southern Philippeans remain on high landslide alert. Decades of illegal logging which ended in the mid-1990s are being cited as a large contributing factor to the disaster. "Van Hernandez, a campaign director with the environmental group Greenpeace, said the government had received plenty of warnings that a landslide on such a scale was likely. 'The scale and frequency of similar tragedies in the past should have long [ago?] provoked the government into action to address the seemingly perennial problems of floods and landslides at the source' he said." By John Aglionby, South east Asia correspondent, published in The Guardian, 20 Feb 2006. 30 December 2005 Author Number 9 from Tennessee, USA sends a poem about the view from her window. 26 November 2006 Google is now finding the new site - and also some pages of the old site (which no longer exist). I have asked them to Refresh their information, so hopefully they will delete the old pages soon... 31 October 2005 The web hosts have finally sorted out their problems and I am now able to edit this site again - AND my email is working, at last. It appears that the hosts 'lost' some vital web pointing data in the transfer, but this has now been resolved. Apologies for the hiatus. To make up for the delay, the First 18 poems or stories will now be free. 19 June 2005 "Clean-up Operation Damages Crucial Defences" "Clean-up and recovery after the tsunami is weakening vital defences against future disasters, top international experts warn. Rubble from smashed buildings is being dumped at sea, where it damages coral reefs. Mangrove forests are being felled for reconstruction, says the leading international conservation body, the World Conservation Union (IUCN). "The United Nations, which at the time was reluctant to endorse it, last week issued two reports establishing that the [tsunami] damage was greatest in areas where mangroves had been removed. Dr Klaus Topfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said... 'We learned in graphic and historic detail that the ecosystems - such as coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses - are not a luxury. They are lifesavers capable of defending our homes, loved ones and livelihoods from some of nature's more aggressive acts.' " By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor, in Independent on Sunday, 19 June 2005. 15 June 2005 Many search engines still struggle to find this site on its current host, so it will soon be moved to yet another host. Always click 'Refresh' on your browser, which will force your computer to go and search for the new host. Thanks for your patience! 11 May 2005 Author Number 8 from Jordan sends a poem about his anger with the whole world after his break up. 23 Feb 2005 Author Number 7 from the Netherlands has sent a poem she wrote about not letting people see our 'real' selves. 18 Feb 2005 One major search engine seems to have cached the redundant site and hasn't yet discovered this current site. Silly Billy! Please remember to always click 'Refresh' on your browser to make the search engines go and look for the most recently updated version of this site. 28 Jan 2005 This poetry website has finally been 'found' by some major search engines! The delay was due to the original trial site being left 'live' (but redundant), after the current site was moved to a new host last month. 16 Jan 2005 The death toll from the Asian Tsunami on Boxing Day has now been raised from c150,000 to 250,000+. 06 Jan 2005 Asian Tsunami: How the mangrove shield was lost: "Powerful business interests left Asian coastal protection in tatters before the tsunami, reports John Vidal. "As the clear-up from the Asian tsunami starts and the full damage is assessed, there is growing consensus among scientists, environmentalists and Asian fishing communities that the impact was considerably worsened by tourist, shrimp farm and other industrial developments which have destroyed or degraded mangrove forests and other natural sea defences. Reports this week from India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Malaysia suggest the worst damage has been in places with no natural protection from the sea and that communities living behind intact mangrove forests in particular were spared. According to Professor MS Swaminathan, India's leading agricultural scientist who is chairing a government inquiry into coastal developments, the mangrove forests... ...of Tamil Nadu acted like a shield and bore the brunt of the tsunami. 'But in other areas, like Alappuzha and Kollam where the forests have been cut down and there is sand mining and developments, the devastation has been more widespread. The dense mangrove forests stood like a wall to save coastal communities living behind them', said Prof Swaminathan. 'The impact was mitigated and the lives and property of the communities inhabiting the region were saved. It is now found that wherever the mangroves have been regenerated, the damage due to the tsunami is minimal,' he says. While most Asian countries have strong environmental protection laws governing coastal developments and protecting coastal forests, these are widely ignored by the powerful tourist and aquaculture industries, which have rapidly encroached onto beaches and cleared the inter-tidal areas to provide better views, wider beaches or the brackish water environment in which shrimps and prawns thrive. 'The full fury and wrath of the waves were felt in areas where nature's green belts of coral reefs and mangroves no longer exist...' says a spokesman for Walhi, Indonesia's leading environmental group in Jakarta. 'It is only through having such natural defences that coastal communities can be protected in the long run from a repeat attack...' 'In areas where there were 'green belts' the damage was less or none at all' says Hemantha Withanage, of the Centre for Environmental justice in Sri Lanka. 'In many parts of the [tsunami] affected areas where dense mangroves and coral reefs once acted as natural buffers between sea and coast, other developments have taken place - from hotels, shrimp farms, coastal highways and commercial developments.' But, says the US-based Mangrove Action Plan (MAP), mangrove forests may be disappearing faster than rainforests. 'Vast tracts have been cleared in the past 20 years in India, Thailand, Bangladesh and Indonesia' says a MAP spokesman. According to MAP, mangroves once covered up to 70% of the coastlines of tropical and sub-tropical countries. Today, less than 50% remain, and of this remaining forest, more than half is degraded. In less than 20 years between 1975 - 1993, Thailand's mangrove area was almost halved... while India may have destroyed as much as half of its mangroves between 1963 and 1977." By John Vidal, published in 'The Guardian' newspaper, London, on 06 Jan 2005 NB: The Asian Tsunami (or 'Asian Earthquake') of 26 Dec 2004 killed more than 150,000 people and made an estimated 5 million others homeless from Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives to East Africa.
05 Dec 2004 Filipinos fear cholera as storms subside: "Filipinos returned to their washed-out homes yesterday after four deadly storms in two weeks left more than 1,000 people dead or missing. Emergency supplies have been running low and there are fears of disease. 'I am appealing for more medicine, ready-to-eat food and bottled water' Corazon Soliman, the Social Welfare Minister, said after she and the President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, surveyed collapsed hillsides, flooded fields and ruined buildings. President Arroyo called for tougher laws against illegal logging, which has been blamed for making a natural disaster even worse. Typhoon Nanmadol and three tropical storms since last month have displaced thousands [c100,000] in northern and eastern provinces. Many trudged home through the mud to Real and other towns, carrying the few possessions they had salvaged. 'You cannot buy anything, even if you have money,' said Hernando Avellaneda, the Mayor of the nearby town of General Nakar in Quezon provence. 'Stores here were buried [by the mud].' Cholera, hepatitis and other diseases are potential threats [as] the stench of corpses hung in the air. Low-lying regions like the town of Bulacan, north of Manila, remained underwater.' By Roli Ng and Erik De Castro, published in the 'Independent on Sunday' newspaper, London, on 05 Dec 2004. 04 Dec 2004 Author Number 6 has contributed a short story about her experience as a puppy walker for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. 10 Nov 2004 This site has finally been 'found' by Google and the other major search engines. Hallelujah! 04 Nov 2004 The first unsolicited work (by an author in Arkansas, USA) was received and published here today. 20 October 2004 Wangari Maathai becomes the first African woman to win Nobel Peace Prize: "Your environment shapes you, even as you shape that environment. Your country is a very important aspect of who you are." Wangari Maathai. 'Professor Wangari Maathai - a tree planter turned politician - is as famous in Kenya as rock stars are in the UK. Since founding the Green Belt Movement (a woman's organisation) in 1977 she has helped to protect people's access to forests and natural resources and foil attempts to privatise public companies. More than 20 million trees have been planted on women's farms, in schools and church grounds. The Green Belt Movement now has 250,000 participants and has been copied in Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. "Culture is a very important aspect of conservation" says Wangari, who was also the very first woman in central east Africa to gain a doctorate (in biological sciences). "The more industrialised societies become, the more detached from their natural environment and the more they eliminate species. In Kenya one reason why less industrial peoples haven't yet destroyed their plants and wildlife is that the natural way of life is closely entwined in their lives - and that's their culture. And it's knowledge and wisdom that can be passed to the next generation." By Nicola Baird, published in Friends of the Earth's 'Earth Matters', Autumn 2004. 27 September 2004 BBC Radio 4: The 'Today' programme reports that 1500 people are dead and tens of thousands are homeless in Haiti as this once tree-covered island suffers yet again. '...this was no Act of God, because this deforestation was an Act of Man...' they reported, as flash floods and mudslides exacerbate the structural damage from Hurricane Jeanne. See May 2004, below. 04 September 2004 The 4th work, 'My Death' by Jemima Allan, was added today. 18 August 2004 'Terms and Conditions' have been confirmed today by the legal advisors and are now live. 27 July 2004 The Discussion Boards for the various authors are now live, so please send your comments for publication on this website. 21 July 2004 Phase One of this website goes 'live' today, with 3 poems from friends and relations as examples. Phase Two will follow just as soon as the background legal and financial work is complete. 19 July 2004 PUBLISHmyPOEMonLINE.com was today incorporated as a Private Limited Company (Company Number 5183170) by the UK Registrar of Companies for England and Wales. May 2004 2000+ die and 75,000 affected in Haiti floods and mudslides: 'Haiti's once thick forests have been felled and the heavy rains rush off the bare hillsides, carrying precious topsoil with them. As crop yields fall and farming becomes impossible, the impoverished people flood into city slums. Levels of hunger and infant mortality are among the highest in the world; life expectancy and access to clean drinking water and sanitation among the lowest. It was not always like this. In the 18th century Haiti was one of the richest colonies in the French empire, producing 40% of all the sugar and 60% of all the coffee consumed throughout Europe. Now the forests and the wealth are a distant memory. Environmental destruction has made Haiti the poorest country in the western hemisphere: 99% of Haiti's tree cover has been felled and two-thirds of its farmland has been destroyed, while its population has quadrupled. The soil fills up riverbeds, making them prone to flood, while some 400 small rivers and streams have silted up altogether over the past 20 years. Floods and landslides have become commonplace. At the same time, the country's once abundant water supplies have dried up, as rainwater races off the land with no trees to help it seep into the ground. Most tellingly, life expectancy is lower than in Sudan, deaths in childbirth 1,400 times higher than in nearby Grenada.' By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor of The Independent on Sunday newspaper [London] published on 30 May 2004. 11 March 2004 The domain name PUBLISHmyPOEMonLINE.com was registered and work began on building the site and its webshop. Much more work continues behind the scenes to create the business entity which is required to run this website in a proper legal and commercial manner. |
