OPINION

It's known as extinction

Re: "Wild monkey assault sparks debate", (BP, March 9).

Someone is not very good at math. Your story says, "Authorities have already initiated a plan to sterilise all wild monkeys to cut their numbers".

If you sterilise all wild monkeys, you are not "cutting their numbers". You are condemning them to extinction.

What a 'bright' question

Re: "Fair coverage for all", (PostBag, March 9).

ML Saksiri Kridakorn is correct. The Western media is extremely biased. Let me put this in perspective. Does anyone doubt that the Western media would cry bloody murder if the Palestians were Jewish and the Israelis Muslims?

Some interesting science

Re: "Going green on catalytic capital", (Opinion, Feb 28).

Some 56 million years ago the earth underwent an extreme climate change event. A surge of carbon dioxide levels sent already warm global temperatures soaring. In a geologic blink of the eye, life was forever changed.

The earth was hot and ice free at the end of the Paleocene epoch. The geologically brief 1 million year-long transition from the Paleocene era to the Eocene was brought about by an unbreakable pairing of two humble species which still serve us in remarkable ways today.

That 1 million years began with the Eocene thermal maximum. With sea levels 220 feet higher than now and temperatures 5-9 degrees warmer than during the peak greenhouse (Paleocene) period, a freshwater sea formed around the north pole.

It was there that our saviours thrived. Azolla, a tiny freshwater floating fern and its constant companion, the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Anabaena (which lives in protected spaces in the fern's leaves), soon covered the surface of the sea.

This fast-growing incredible duo managed to fix teratons of CO2 from the atmosphere and, in a short span of time, put an end to the tropical climate in the Arctic and thereby usher in what climate scientists refer to as the present icehouse age on Earth.

The nitrogen-fixing capability of Azolla and its symbiont Anabaena has led to its widespread use as a fertiliser, especially in parts of Southeast Asia. The plant has bolstered agricultural productivity in China for over 1,000 years and helps Thai farmers improve their rice production today. Thai farmers in the North and Northeast include Azolla in their diet, consuming it fresh in salads and as an ingredient in many cooked dishes.

Science is inherently interesting, not alarming. Welcome to the icehouse age, not brought to you by man or science. Let's leave it that way.

Working on a better image

Re: "Immigration rethink", (PostBag, March 8).

One has to laud Khun Burin Kantabutra for his contributions to our society, though his persistent cries hardly change official attitudes.

But the latest and rare news of a former police chief and former officer of the public prosecution plus many others being accused by the current public prosecution for manipulation of evidence in the hit-and-run case of Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya, heir of Red Bull energy drink empire, should have given Khun Burin's great satisfaction.

He has highlighted this injustice for almost a decade. Through manipulation of evidence, the case was dropped in 2020.

Now Khun Burin has brought out the word "outsourcing" for services like the Immigration Office to private sector with overall control by a state official.

That is great advice when the services could have been less authoritarian and more efficient.

One does wish many repetitive clerical services bygovernment departments could have been outsourced to the private sector for the sake of greater simplicity and ensuring a better image for our country.

Don't be the new Ukraine

Re: "FM blasts suppression by US, defends Russia", (World, March 8).

The article refers to "Taiwan, which China claims as its territory". That is to say, everyone accepts that there is but one China, though not all agree as to which bit is in charge.

China and Taiwan have lived with this arrangement since the end of the civil war in 1945 and can continue to do so.

The only thing that would lead to an invasion from the mainland would be a declaration of independence by Taiwan -- but why would Taiwan choose to become the new Ukraine?