EU to impose aviation CO2 emission tax and some links

The EU will impose air passenger CO2 emission tax starting 2012, I suppose it will include small private jets often used by multimillionaires as long as they use "regular" airports for landing, but what if their pilots have expertise to land on a "makeshift" runway to avoid paying tax? I guess they will end up in police custody or in a hospital.  How about those diplomats, head of state, UN workers, parliamentarians who often use jets as transportation means more often than us, make sure they are not exempt, they should pay as well as tourists.  How about the poor expatriates like me who need to visit relatives back home from time to time?  I will just have to pay more for airline tickets...

Aviation CO2 emission has increased in EU, with statistics by airlines, airports, and countries here.

My Romanian friend told me that some 15 - 20 years ago, the poor migration workers used to walk from their villages in Romania to reach Greece by foot carrying with them a spare pair of running shoes, they walked until the original shoes were torn and they replaced it with the spare one.  These migration workers walked and did not contribute to global warming, so as a rule of thumb, the citizens of richer countries are likely to contribute more to global warming, it is fine to tax CO2 aviation emission tax as long as it is applied fairly across the board, but I think no matter how expensive the tax is to be added to air ticket, multimillionaires can afford to pay, and I doubt their air travel will be reduced.

So the aviation emission debate will continue...

Some links:

Check some of these sites for the performance analysis on antivirus programs.

The world's 2nd largest ICT show just finished in Taipei.

Happy XXX day! and getting around Athens city by taxi

Happy Canada Day! across the Atlantic Ocean.

Happy No-Smoking-in-Public-Place Day starts today in Greece.

See my previous post about how Greeks disobey existing laws, and how the government does not enforce existing laws.

See you in court, European court if necessary:

In September, I am going to take to court any school bus drivers that smoke while on duty, so the school had better enforce its employer’s authority when signing contracts with the school bus drivers.

As a result of the new no smoking in public place law, some people hope that one factor of the possible causes for the forest fires in Greece is removed. Sometimes the fire starts from the un-extinguished cigarette end. But I hope (but doubt) it will help.

Getting around Athens by taxi

And some old but informative news from early May this year about the current taxi-fares in Athens

Taxi fare charges are now 48 cents (from 36 cents) per kilometer. The next increase will be in November, when the rate will rise to 60 cents, and the final hike is due in May 2010, when it will reach 72 cents. The minimum charge for a cab ride, 3.80 euros.

But don’t complain because Athens taxi is among the cheapest I have seen in many cities in the world. And when I do take a taxi in Athens, I always pay the taxi driver 1 Euro more than they ask (a small tips) because they are usually up from very early in the morning like 5 am, it’s a hard job for them and the city’s streets are among the most complicated in the world, the traffic and the air quality are all among the worst in the world. So, I don't want to be stingy.

Occasionally I have to go downtown to get things done, so I have to either take the public transit or take the taxi because if I drive, where am I going to park?

If you call taxi to come to your hotel or come to pick you up at a certain location, the charge is more expensive though. But sometimes you do need to call in advance and pay extra because if you wait until the time you are travelling to call for a taxi, you may find no taxi in your area, and they will tell you to call in the next 10 minutes to check again if there is any taxi available. You willl end up on the phone every 10 to 15 minutes trying to find a taxi, a waste of time and telephone charges!

You can read all about the taxi-related info (once you are on the site, choose topic on the left and click it) but the list of fares are not up to date.

Also nice to know is that a government initiative that also came into effect in May offers half-price tickets on the metro, bus, trolley bus and tram for under-18s and over-65s as well as foreign students visiting from abroad.So your passports should be able to prove your age.

Global warming awareness campaign by Athens students

Tomorrow’s decision makers are beginning to realize the importance of making known to their communities and politicians their concerns on the issue of environmental catastrophe that looms in the very near future if people don’t act soon.

After my previous post on Earth Hour and another post on disappearing beaches, I have decided to emphasize again the importance of awareness campaigns on our changing environment.

Being a resident of Athens, I would like to encourage people to participate and sponsor an initiative from a St. Catherine’s student, Anna Trepekli, called “IT’S GETTING HOT! SO WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?”

The campaign aims at inviting students from all over the nation to participate on a competition by submitting their ideas by forms of essays, photos, poems, arts, songs, video clips, etc. and the winner in each category will win a bicycle.  Currently, they are still looking for sponsors for donations of bicycles among other forms of sponsorship.

I remember reading a news report not long ago about that Athens will have too many cars in the near future that we will not be able to move around even if we have cars, so by encouraging local authorities to think about bicycles as a way of alternative transportation and better public transportation planning, we will reduce traffic jams and carbon dioxide emissions.

Speaking of better public transportation planning, the current public transportation bus routes are quite inefficient in Athens.  Currently, nearly all the buses in Athens pass through downtowns unnecessarily.  But, there is no express bus service that can take passengers from south eastern suburbs to Mesogeion St. or the Katexaki Metro Station, which can reduce a lot of car owners from driving on the over-crowded Katexaki motorway.

If the city transportation planners take a look at other cities around the world, other cities have arranged their bus routes so efficiently that some buses run only on the north-south direction routes while other buses run only on the east-west direction routes.  Since the streets in Athens are not so straight, north-south or east-west routes may not be applicable, however, each bus route can still be rearranged to run only in a certain smaller region, and a person can travel from point A to point B by a simple transferring from one bus route to another without having to pass through the downtown area unnecessarily.

This bike route http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/BYRONAS-ETHNIKI-AMYNA was discovered accidentally by me on the internet, it is said to be steep, and so you will need to be physically fit to do it.  If you always eat too much souvlakis, maybe it’s time to get fit and help the environment.

Earth Hour: Lights off on Saturday March 28th between 8:30 and 9:30 pm

If the weather allowed, cuddling up with your loved ones and admiring the stars in the night sky. http://www.earthhour.org/news/

Greece leads Earth Hour Race http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100010_19/03/2009_105642

Note for tourists: On Saturday, March 28, between 8.30 and 9.30 p.m., the lights will go out on the Parthenon in Athens, Thessaloniki’s White Tower and several other prominent landmarks as thousands of citizens and businesses join in, flicking off light switches in their homes and stores.

Read 5 really educative stories in the world about how global warming is affecting our environment and our daily lives http://www.earthhour.org/supporters/

Whether it's for business or pleasure, once you reach your destination there are lots of things you can do to reduce the impact of your trip:

Rather than hiring a car at the airport choose other ways to get around like public transportation, or hotel minibus airport pick-up service.

Limit energy use, including your use of air-conditioning and hot water. Turn off all lights and taps when you leave hotel rooms.

Conserve water and take showers rather than baths.

Use your hotel towels and bed linen the same way you do at home to minimize washing.

Recycle newspapers, magazines, paper waste, and your beverage containers (many can be returned for refunds), leading hotels should provide recycling depot for their guests to deposit their recyclable waste.

A great option for sightseeing is by biking, or hiking, this avoids emissions and yet let you discover things that you may otherwise just drive-by.

Useful Greek info for hiking:
Walking the Greek islands (serious walkers reference) http://www.islandwalking.com/
Greek Backpacking info http://www.greekbackpack.com/general.shtml

Hiking info http://www.greecetravel.com/hiking/index.htm

http://gogreece.about.com/od/hikingbackpacking/Hiking_and_Backpacking_in_Greece.htm

Useful Taiwan info for hiking and biking:
http://hikingtaiwan.blogspot.com/

http://crooksteven.blogspot.com/2009/01/adventure-abounds-on-world-class-hiking.html
http://bikingintaiwan.theforgetful.com/
http://neilwade.wordpress.com/category/hiking/
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/12/16/2003431284

I think by turning lights off for an hour is not enough to campaign for our environment, we should educate our children to always switch off lights, or TVs etc. as soon as they walk away and are not planning to come back immediately.

Engage ourselves in more weekend outdoor activities with our children, so our children will learn to appreciate the nature more than the video games.

And as far as transportation is concerned, I had a chance to visit Amsterdam a couple of years ago, and was very impressed with the Dutch people’s enthusiasm on bicycling to carry out their daily activities.

Amsterdam, the capital city of bicycling in Europe, a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk6YxhKH590 and a text to read http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009450.html and for any city planning committee’s reference to reduce bike-related accidents, a bike box space like this here.

Strike by Ministry of Culture employees keeps Acropolis closed

Although the strike was scheduled to end last Saturday, apparently, the dispute had not been resolved between the ministry and its employees, and a Greek friend called and said he heard from the radio that the strike at Acropolis is continuing. Also there are some tourists enquiring about alternative places to go, so check out the guides below for some ideas.

Acroplois Archaeological site Tel.: +30 210 3214172, 3210219, 9238724 Fax: +30 210 9239023

But, in Greece if the public employees are on strike, will the phones be answered by any temporary replacement workers or have a recorded message? I am not sure.

The Ministry of Culture’s cultural website http://odysseus.culture.gr/index_en.html didn’t have any news about the closure from strike. The Ministry of Culture’s administration site, http://www.yppo.gr/0/gindex.jsp does not seem to have an English version, and the links on the right-hand side of its homepage do not have much English info (some of the linked sites seem to be still under construction).

Tourists can use public tour bus line 400 to hop on and off to see attractions of downtown Athens. The ticket is 5 Euro valid for 24 hours but not valid for use on other buses, purchase right on the tour bus, the tour bus starts at Athens Archaeological Museum on Vas. Irakleiou Street. Other publc transportation includes the options of a 24-hour ticket for 3 Euro, and a 7-day ticket for 10 Euro, but you will have to find out the location of each attraction yourself. Airport bus tickets are sold separately at 6 Euro for one-way, and 10 Euro for round-trip.

Benaki Museum 210 3671000 has nice display from modern day’s Georgia called “From the Land of the Golden Fleece: Treasures of Ancient Golchis”.

Shopping at Plaka is another idea. Take the Metro and get off at the Acropolis station, then walk up the hill, you can still get a nice shot of the Acropolis from there. Visit Lykavitos and see the view of the whole city.

You can visit the city's official guide, http://www.breathtakingathens.com/, or aternatively, the Barrett's Athens Survival Guide for ideas where to go.

Airport Express Bus from Ethniki Amyna will stop until further notice

Starting February 14th and for about six months, the airport express bus service linking the Ethniki Amyna station and the airport will be suspended. For details read this article in the Kathimerini.

Too bad for the inconvenience because this is by far the quickest way plus the cheapest way combined for anyone to travel from airport to downtown ( airport express bus to Ethniki Amyna, a station in the Metro blue line, then Metro blue line to Syntagma station will cost just 80 cents more, Syntagma is the parliament station downtown. ) The other airport express buses are not so express because they go through the traffic of Athens' streets, whereas the above mentioned way cuts the traffic delay on streets by travelling on the Metro Subway, and the Metro ticket costs as little as 80 Euro cents. Paying an additional 80 Euro cents for the Metro subway is nothing considering time is money.

Athens Sightseeing Bus Line 雅典觀光巴士

If you are tired of walking, you can see the Athens city by sightseeing public bus Line 400 ( 5 Euro for 24 hours from the time of validation, buy ticket on the vehicle). I wish I knew this earlier, but I just knew this now http://www.oasa.gr/index.asp?pageid=105
逛雅典市、腳酸了、可坐觀光巴士線路400 (5 歐元、24小時內有效、車上買票), 觀光巴士經過20個站，請參考站名below. 今天才發現這個路線400巴士。
The bus Line 400 stops:
NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
OMONIA
PSYRRI
KERAMEIKOS
THISSIO
MONASTIRAKI
MARKET (VARVAKEIOS AGORA)
KLAFTHMONOS SQUARE
SYNTAGMA
BENAKI MUSEUM
NATIONAL GALLERY (ETHNIKI PINAKOTHIKI)
AMPELOKIPI
NATIONAL GALLERY (ETHNIKI PINAKOTHIKI)
PANATHINAIKON STADIUM
PLAKA
AKROPOLI
OLYMPIC ZEUS TEMPLE (NAOS OLYMPIOY DIOS)
GREEK PARLIAMENT (VOULI TON ELLINON)
UNIVERSITY (PANEPISTIMIO)
OMONIA
Other public transportation system 其他雅典市公共運輸系統
TRAMhttp://www.tramsa.gr/html/en/index.php
METROhttp://www.ametro.gr/page/default.asp?id=4&la=2
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS (Port Piraeus to Kifissia) http://www.isap.gr/eng/index.asp
PROASTIAKOS (Airport to Metro Station Plakentias)http://www.proastiakos.gr/index.php這網英文還沒寫好?還是暫時維修中?沒關係、用dictionary字典，本部落格June 22, 2008連結http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en來翻
KTEL(遠程巴士) http://www.ktelattikis.gr/routes.php這網站沒英文,沒關係
希翻英:
Επιλέξτε σημείο εκκίνησης (Choose a starting point)
Επιλέξτε σημείο προορισμού (Choose a destination point)
Ώρα (time or hour), Λεπτά (minutes)
怎麼輸入地點名? 先英翻希再輸入希文地點名
Example 例如用英翻希: 輸入Athens (輸出Αθήνα), 輸入Sounio (輸出Σούνιο)
Greek airports map 那城市有飛機場? http://www.hcaa-eleng.gr/greekair.htm
Ministry of Transportation http://www.yme.gr/index.php?getwhat=1&oid=531&id=&tid=531
Other than public transit:
Taxis 很便宜 http://www.visitgreece.gr/pages.php?pageID=794&langID=2
Attiki Odos 自己開車 http://www.aodos.gr/ 點這網站上方English 後點"Driving on the Attika Tollway"之後點"Interchange Maps"點每個出口(exit)可看詳圖
Sea Travel 海線:
http://www.visitgreece.gr/pages.php?pageID=792&langID=2