Clive Best

On Monday I went back to the dentist to fit my new crown on the tooth that had given me hell when I arrived (see earlier post). The crown came in a small box with Chinese writing on it and as promised it was ready within 4 weeks. It has now been fitted and feels perfect - it protects the sensitive core of the tooth which had cracked previously and I can even eat cold things again. All in all the dentist did a great job. He did a much better job than my dentist in Italy who had aggravated the problem in the first place.

So then I paid the bill !

In all I have had the first visit which lasted 1.5 hours. Then I went back 2 more times to adjust the temporary crown, and finally I had the visit to fit the crown of 30 minutes. Then I had to pay for the crown itself which is top quality ceramic and hand-made .

In Italy this would cost a minimum of 2000 euros. I paid 170 euros for everything !! I think you would pay that for a check-up and a clean in Italy.

So I recommend anyone needing complex and expensive treatment to fly to Ethiopia for a week’s holiday and still save several hundred euros.

This is my last weekend before Christmas so I went with Carlos (the Spanish EU/AU exchange) and Kabael to Lake Ziway in the Rift Valley. It is about 160 km away and the road is a nightmare, so we left early. The road varies between 2 lanes and 3 lanes with ancient lorries and buses chugging along emitting black smoke. It is Ethiopia’s main route to Djiboiti and the sea. Then there are cars overtaking 4×4’s while goats, children and dogs walk down the side of the road and vendors try to sell honey, biscuits or anything. Every so often a cow or a herd of cows or goats decides apparently randomly to cross the road. Lorries and cars brake and swerve round them and the occasional pothole.

The road leaves Mojo and heads off south first reaching Koka reservoir/lake which provides most of Addis’s water supply. It was surprisingly full considering that since I arrived here there has been no rain and everything is parched. We stopped to take photos or termite hills and children seem to appear from nowhere. Another 50 kilometers and we reach the ancient Lake Ziway.

We reached the lakeside down a rough track and immediately noticed some large pelicans sitting in trees . The lakeside was full of pelicans, ducks and other water fowl. Herders were bringing down their cattle and donkeys to drink from the lake. Local fishermen had thrown dead fish back into the water probably attracting the pelicans. The outlook was beautiful and natural, with lilies and grasses growing on the banks. We were convinced to embark on a homemade rickety boat which was leaking to a small island. Here there was a panoramic view across the lake with mountains in the background. The lake is about 40 sq km and completely natural. There are hippos in the lake but they had moved onto another part where the water was shallower. You cannot swim here as there are all sorts or nasties you can get !

I needed a strong beer to face the drive back !

When I was a boy growing up in London during the 1960’s, there was an overiding fear which affected everyone - the fear of Nuclear War. Young people were especially depressed about this subject and some even felt it a waste of time to bring babies into such a dark world. My parents had joined the Civil Defense force which meant they had access to the gory details of just what damage a 1 Megaton H-bomb dropped on central London would cause. Millions would die and those that survived would face a bleak future with no infrastructure and the risk of radiation poisoning. This was a very real fear because scientists knew and could measure exactly the effect of a single nuclear explosion. As the nuclear arms race between the West and the Soviet Union continued the world moved through an extremely dangerous period. To understand the times , one should read Neville Shute’s book - “On the Beach”. Eventually, all out nuclear war was supposedly deterred by the MAD strategy - Mutually Assured Destruction. However, the world stopped during the Cuba missile crisis which was probably the closest the world has been to a mass extinction. Since the Cold War ended people’s fears about nuclear weapons have evaporated, and today no-one worries excessively about Doomsday. Instead a fear is growing on the same scale about so-called “Climate Change” as a result of increased CO2 concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere. Is this fear genuinely of the same scale ? I would argue no it isn’t for the following reasons:

1. Nuclear War is an immediate man-made disaster of inconceivable consequences. All-out war could also provoke a nuclear winter by creating dust clouds in the upper atmosphere to block the sun’s energy. Just such an effect happens with a massive volcanic eruption such as Mount Pinatubu - 1% cooling and earlier Tombora eruptions cooled the earth for 2 years.

2. Climate Change is a symptom, but it is not a cause. Its effects are anyway only noticeable over periods of a century. There are many other symptoms of man’s impact: species extinction, land change, air pollution, overfishing etc. The world’s surface is already incomparably changed due to man’s activity. The root cause of all these symptoms is over- population of humanity on the earth. The rest of nature suffers far more from land change, farming, and fishing than from the current increase in CO2. You only need to look at the countryside anywhere in the world from a plane - even in Ethiopia or in Burma.

Man has dramatically changed the natural environment on the majority of the earth’s surface. Human activity also changes the climate through changes to the land environment, through deforestation, and through actual heating (cities, transport etc.) Human energy production is currently about 0.01% of total radiant energy from the sun. This may not sound much, but at night and in cities the effect is easily measurable. So why is Climate Change the only issue that clouds world fears ? Is it perhaps that various interest groups and indeed we ourselves seek and therefore find simplistic slogans and one track solutions. Let’s consider Carbon. All the carbon that is now being released by burning fossil fuels was once in the atmosphere. The oil and coal was buried during an intense explosion of plants and forests during the carboniferous period. Chalk and limestone are the result of buried sea organisms and river erosion over millions of years. This does not mean that burning it is a good thing - but it does imply that the climate has always changed. Man is definitely accelerating this trend, but the impact on the rest of nature and on other species of man’s activity is far more rapid and destructive than climate change. It is naive to think that reducing carbon emissions per capita by half will solve the problem, when the population will anyway double by the end of the century. This whole issue has become political and the science debate has degenerated turning towards absolutism.

Let’s consider ice ages: It was not too long ago that the big scare was that man would trigger a new Ice Age. Over the last 100,0000 year the natural climatic state of the earth has been Ice Ages. That means that Northern Europe and North America were encased in ice. Interglacial periods were rare warm times. What causes Ice Ages? The most likely causes are astronomical variations in details of the earth’s orbit round the sun. Every 100,000 years the eliptical orbit elongates. Every 40,000 years there is a wobble of the axis of the earth with respect to the sun. This causes a reduction in radiant energy from the sun which is then thought to trigger Ice Ages in the Northern Hemisphere. Most land mass is located in the Northern Hemisphere and the oceans have a less stabilising effect on temperature. For the last million years the earth has been dominated by Ice Ages. They normally last about 100,000 years with a briefer interglacial period of around 15,000 years. It seems that humans moved out of Africa during the last Ice Age to populate the rest of the Earth. Probably the Sahara desert was grassland and evidence of humans living in the Sahara has been found. Sea levels were much lower than at present because so much water was stored in ice on the Northern continents. This enabled humans to walk across much smaller water barriers, including North America. The current warm period began about 15,000 years ago, but it is really only the last 10,000 years that temperatures have been as warm as today. This also seems to correspond to the development of farming and early civilisations. The next Ice Age should begin sometime within the next 10,000 years triggered for astronomical reasons. However, whether Man’s impact on land usage and/or CO2 emission will have any effect on this is debateable - I suspect not. Although I haven’t seen Al Gore’s film, I believe he uses ice core derived graphs of temperature change during recent ice ages correlated with falls and rises in CO2 as proof that CO2 drives the climate. I think it is actually completely the other way round - the climate (and life) drives the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Why ? - because during an Ice Age the oceans absorb much more CO2 due to blooms in plankton over larger areas (that’s why whales feed in the Antarctic/Arctic). In fact the CO2 graph he used lags behind the temperature graph in time implying it is an effect and not a cause. This doesn’t mean that man-induced CO2 increases won’t affect the future climate - it will, it really just means that Al Gore took the argument too far. Perhaps the English judge who banned its showing in schools was right.

This week the UN Conference on climate change took place in Bali. A thousand delegates flew in from all corners of the earth and spent 2 solid weeks in Bali seemingly only to draft a resolution to agree to continue talks for a new treaty in 2009. During the “heated” process EU delegates “threatened” to boycott the US sponsored conference in Hawaii! Luckily for them a last minute compromise was met so that these important talks may continue in other exotic places.

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Last Friday I also also went to an Egyptian dancing show held at the Italian Cultural Centre. We were preceded by several ambassadors’ Mercedes, resplendent with flags, which parked next to the theatre. We parked outside and after a security check took our places. The dancers were from Aswan and seemed a mix of Africa and Middle Eastern Egypt. Eventually I became mesmerized by the beat and dancing. Perhaps this video gives some impression. There were many Egytptians in front if us who understood everything and whooping at times, while I was most of the  time completeley  lost. Luckily we managed to avoid being dragged up at the end to join in the dancing, however some dignatories were not so lucky ! I guess such sacrifices are needed to improve diplomatic and cultural relations

On Sunday I revisited the National Museum. Modern humans - Homo Sapiens evolved in Ethiopia. The two oldest fossils of modern man with the same size brain and similar skull structure were found in the Rift Valley in Ethiopia. Homo Sapiens-Itacus was discovered in the Aras region in the north. An even older skull of modern man is dated at 200,000 years ago from the lower Omo valley. All other fossils found anywhere else in the world of modern man date from the earliest 40-50,000 years ago. This means that man migrated from Ethiopia to the rest of the world. Even other sites in Africa are younger than these dates - 80,000 years in South Africa.

Lucy is not the same species but a much older hominid who walked upright and is more similar to hominids than apes. She lived nearly 5 million years ago in Ethiopia. For some reason the Rift valley and “Climate Change” - the change from forest to savanna -  drove the evolution of hominids in this area.

The National Museum also has a great display of local art and a survey of ethnic clothes and customs. Having lived here now for a month I found this revisit very interesting. There was also a display of modern artists for sale. I particularly liked the pictures of what clearly were Muslim women which had intricate patterns and occasional human forms ( though banned in Islam). I would have bought one of these pictures if I could have carried it back - price was not cheap - but not exaggerated - 300 euro or so.

Afterwards I went to the Zoo Park. The park was full - being a Sunday- and consisted mainly of a central cage area for Ethiopian lions. I think there were at least 12 adult pairs - 24 total, in cages way too small for them. They managed to maintain a majesty despite the conditions and the gawping crowds. They have managed to breed baby lions and we saw two young lions kept apart. Taking photos was banned unless you paid 20 Birt. I managed to take just one with my mobile before being told off by the official photographer. All in all I ended up feeling very sorry for these majestic animals caged up in this way. The lions are beautiful - the males with a black mane. I think they are different to the normal African lions.

This Saturday I visited the famous Mercato of Addis. This is Africa’s largest market and consists of about 1 sq kilometre of alleys and streets lined with every possible stall, selling everything and anything. There is an area selling shoes, another selling spare car parts, another selling wood or tools or animals or whatever. What seems like chaos is actually a functioning market and a means for traders and local farmers to sell produce. One part of the market is dedicated to scrap. Here there is the continuous sound of hammers as car parts and metal are taken apart for re-use. Another area sells used tyres for making shoes.

The Ethnological Museum is actually in the grounds of Addis Adaba University. The university was built by Haile Selasie and is very pleasant. The ethnological museum is interesting. It contains relics from the different ethnic areas of Ethiopia, has displays of traditional dress, musical instruments, tools and ancient relics from all over Ethiopia. There are some very old hand written books and texts as well as an art display including religious icons from up to 500 years ago.

Today we went 100 km north of Addis to a spectacular canyon where 4oo years ago the Portuguese built a stone bridge. The drive north out of Addis is fascinating. You rise up first through an extensive forest area, where donkeys and locals carry firewood down to Addis for sale. There is a panoramic view over Addis from this wooded hilly area. Next you pass  into rolling hills and grasslands on an immense scale. There are clumps of traditional Ethiopian houses with cattle, goats and horses grazing. Small boys herd 30 cattle down the road into oncoming traffic. Occasionally there is a small market town and locals walk their two goats to market. The roads are full of people and animals and not so much traffic. I would say it is much more attractive than the south road which is choked with trucks and is more developed. The northern country is higher at about 3000 metres and you definitely feel it when walking uphill.
Eventually we arrived at a sharp escarpment, and a canyon on a scale of the Grand Canyon opened up. I believe this was the Blue Nile Gorge, and at the bottom was a river which was clearly massive in the wet season, but now in the dry season was meandering in the much larger river bed. We drove on until we came to the Portuguese Bridge. We walked down through some fields to arrive at a stream and rock pools where women were washing clothes. This stream then dived down into the canyon 100 meters below. There stood an ancient bridge joining the two valley sides. We walked over and stood on the edge of the Gorge. I declined the offer of standing on a cliff edge overhanging the valley. On the way back we visited the monastery of Debre Libanos. Debre means Saint and the Saint Libanos was one of the first monks to spread Christianity in the Highlands of Ethiopia in the 13th Century. There has been a church here since then although it was destroyed in wars between Muslims and Christians. The current church was built by Haile Selasie in 1961. The Lion above was taken from the wonderful stained glass illuminated by the bright sunlight. This was a spectacular trip and reachable within 90 minutes of Addis.

Carlos, the other detached staff to the AU, from the EC arrived on Monday. We were both invited to the EU delegation on Friday for a small party as the Head of Delegation was leaving that day. The building is off the Bolle road and used to be the East German embassy. The security is very tight and must have cost a fortune to install. However, inside there is a separate house which must have been the East German ambassador’s house. Here there is a lovely garden which is where the party was held. It was very interesting to meet the people there who were, I guess, one third local, one third officials and one third young experts. The Young expert category is a great opportunity to work in a delegation in Africa for 3 years and manage aid and development projects.
The delegation is changing, as next year there will be a separate EU delegation (Council, Commission, Member States) to the AU. I believe eventually there will be a new building called Europe House where both delegations will be based, but that must be 3 years off. We stayed there until about 14-00 and then returned to the AU. Many at the delegation have Friday afternoon off, working longer hours on the other 4 days.