Global Warming???

Selama tinggal di Sydney, g suka banget liat berita pagi hari. Mungkin orang-orang bilang apa sih asiknya nonton berita? Tapi, menurut g, berita disini beda banget cara menampilkannya dengan di Indonesia. Berita pagi disini ditampilkan dengan format yang non-formal dan ga monoton, tetapi tetap menjaga kesopanan dan etika penyiaran. Pembawa beritanya kadang lucu dan ketawa-ketawa ngeliat tingkah temannya yang sedang bercanda. Jadinya suasana pagi yang ceria bener-bener terasa. Ups, bukan ini yang mo g ceritain di blog kali ini, ini cuman permulaannya aja. Nah ceritanya nih, beberapa minggu terakhir ini beritanya beda banget. Dari yang berita-berita ceria tentang kehidupan sehari-hari orang disini, akhir-akhir ini digantikan oleh berita tentang bencana alam yang terjadi di Ausi. Yap, nampaknya Ausi sedang berkabung. Bencana alam yang ekstrim terjadi di beberapa tempat di benua ini. Mulai dari banjir di Queensland sampai kebakaran semak di Victoria. Sungguh mengharukan.

Pemanasan global nampaknya memang sedang berlangsung, dan sepertinya itu terjadi lebih cepat dari yang telah diperkirakan oleh para ahli. Bencana yang g liat disini dimulai dengan suhu udara di Melbourne dan sekitarnya yang mencapai 45 derajat bahkan lebih. Kata-katanya sich mencapai 47 derajat. Hampir setengah dari titik didih air. Mungkin buat orang yang tinggal digurun, itu bukan apa-apa, tapi buat orang Ausi, ini adalah suhu terpanas sepanjang masa yang pernah dicapai! Akibatnya langsung terasa, pada hari itu, kota Melbourne lumpuh. Listrik mati (mungkin karena kabelnya meleleh ato sengaja dimatikan), transportasi masal seperti kereta tidak bisa bekerja seperti biasanya karena relnya melengkung. Pemerintah langsung sigap dengan memberi informasi pada warga agar sering minum dan menjaga orang yang tua dan anak-anak. Juga disarankan untuk memakai pelindung badan karena sinar matahari sudah tidak sesehat dulu.

Lain Melbourne, lain pula Ingham. Sementar orang-orang di Melbourne kepanasan dan mencari seteguk air, di kota Ingham dan sekitarnya di negara bagian Queensland, menderita karena air yang meluap dan mejadi banjir. Entah mengapa bisa sampai terjadi banjir, tetapi kabarnya itu adalah banjir terburuk yang pernah terjadi di daerah itu sejak beberapa dekade. Yang paling miris adalah ketika diberitakan seorang anak hilang diculik buaya yang daerah kekuasaannya jadi luas sewaktu banjir terjadi. G ga sempet menyimak lagi kabarnya gimana tuh anak, tapi mudah-mudahan saja dia selamat. Setau g, orang-orang disini sudah cukup tertib terutama dalam menjaga kebersihan. Mereka menghargai dan mencintai sekali alam yang mereka miliki. Klo yang g perhatiin selama di Sydney ini, pantai dan pelabuhan bersih, pemerintah juga tak henti-hentinya mendorong warga untuk berbangga dan menjaga alamnya. So, g ga percaya klo itu banjir karena sungai ato lautnya tersumbat (btw gimana laut bisa tersumbat ya :p) or karena rumah-rumah bedeng ditepi pantai.

Makin kontras lagi klo liat kejadian di negara bagian Victoria. Disitu malah terjadi kebakaran semak belukar yang disini disebut bush fire. Bencana ini juga bencana terbesar selama beberapa dekade. Kabarnya, bencana kali ini karena ada orang yang membakar semak sembarangan dan ditambah udara yang panasnya ga ketulungan, apinya jadi nyebar kemana-mana. Perlu diketahui, semak-semak adalah salah satu kebanggaan alam di Ausi. Biasanya terdapat didaerah pegunungan dan hutan. Banyak orang yang mendirikan rumah disamping semak dibawah pohon-pohon tinggi. Daerah-daerah wisata disini, juga banyak yang menawarkan wisata berjalan di semak (bush walk). Berjalan diantara semak-semak, memang mengasikkan. Kita bisa menikmati wangi semak yang alami dan menyegarkan sambil berjalan menikmati alam. Seperti petualangan!
Sisi negatif dari semak ya itu, kalau kita lalai menjaganya, sekali terbakar, api akan segera menyebar kemana-mana. Kejadian di Victoria ini menyebabkan banyak keluarga kehilangan tempat tinggal dan bahkan anggota keluarganya. Harta benda mereka hangus tak tersisa karena mereka tak sempat menyelamatkan diri. Akibatnya kini mereka harus tinggal di pengungsian dan anak-anak tidak bisa bersekolah seperti biasa.

Klo kita bener-bener perhatikan, beberapa tahun terakhir sering terjadi bencana yang ekstrim. Well, bencana memang akan selalu ada dan terjadi, tapi akhir-akhir ini sangat ekstrim. Para ilmuwan sudah memperingatkan bahwa pemanasan global sedang terjadi. Peningkatan suhu bumi beberapa derajat celcius saja bisa mengubah kondisi permukaan bumi secara radikal. G pernah nonton film dokumentari yang bilang bahwa es di kutub utara sudah mulai berkurang. Mungkin sekarang luasnya hanya tinggal 2/3 dari luas beberapa tahun terakhir. Secara logika, akibatnya saja sudah bisa ditebak: permukaan air laut akan naik. Jika ini terus terjadi, es dikutub lama-lama akan habis. Binatang-binatang yang tinggal dikutub seperti beruang kutub dan penguin akan hilang karena habitatnya sudah tidak ada lagi. Kalo mau menilik dari segi nasionalisme, negara kita justru akan lebih dirugikan. Akan banyak pulau-pulau kecil yang hilang terendam air dan wilayah negara kita yang bisa ditempati tentu akan berkurang. Perubahan suhu yang ekstrim akan menimbulkan hembusan angin yang besar juga. Badai-badai dan tsunami pasti akan sering terjadi. Belum lagi racun dari polusi yang kita buat akan melubangi ozon. Sinar matahari akan masuk tanpa saringan yang membuat Bumi makin panas dan penyakit akan semakin banyak.

Pernah membaca atau mendengar berita tentang ramalan bangsa Maya yang mengatakan akan kiamat pada tahun 2012? G sendiri ga percaya yang namanya ramalan, tapi kalau melihat itu sebagai peringatan, hal itu bisa saja terjadi kalau kita tidak mengambil langkah-langkah mulai dari sekarang untuk menyelamatkan Bumi. Memang tidak mudah untuk menghentikan pemanasan global. Dikatakan dalam suatu film dokumentari yang g tonton, bahwa Bumi yang telah naik suhunya ini, membutuhkan puluhan ribu tahun untuk kembali ke suhu sebelum pemanasan global. Yang sudah terjadi biarlah terjadi, yang bisa kita lakukan adalah berusaha mengerem agar suhu Bumi ini tidak bertambah dengan drastis. Kita bisa mulai dari hal-hal kecil seperti menghemat energi, sumber daya alam dan membuang sampah pada tempatnya agar bisa didaur ulang. Emang hal-hal kecil ini masih terasa sulit untuk dilakukan, g juga mengakui kadang g lupa dan melanggarnya, but at least mari kita buat komitmen buat berusaha menyelamatkan Bumi ini. "Yes, we can!" kata om Bama.

Search for Scientific Adam

Finally, our client extended our staying period in Sydney for another one week. He did it suddenly, without planning, which in result we didn't have any plan for the weekend. We also had to move to a new hotel because we couldn't extend our check out time. It had already been full booked. The new hotel room has no kitchen like the previous one but one thing that make me happy is it has National Geographic channel in it's TV. So I spent my weekend yesterday by watching it. There are many interesting story, from the story about Burj Dubai, the only 7 stars hotel in the world, until the story of Charles Darwin's voyage.

One that make me interested in was about the search for scientific Adam by Geneticist Spencer Wells. As we all know, in Christianity, Islam and Judaism, Adam is known as the father of all human. It means that he is the first mankind that God created. Long before Charles Darwin published his theory, people believed that based on The Book of Genesis, the age of universe might be around ten or twenty thousand years old. But then Darwin, in his Evolution theory, said that based on the blueprints in the fossils, the age of the earth might be million years old. And then he also said that human was not created as they look like now, but they are created as the result of evolution process from apes. It's simply contradictive with the Bible and in result, there are many people who cannot accept it.

Apart from who was right or wrong, this documentary movie try to take a middle way between the two theories. If the bible is right, then all the mankind must have one super ancestor, that is Adam. And if Darwin is right, all the mankind must have come from one creature that successfully survive and rule the world. That creature must be intelligent and can communicate each other, especially it's female, because just like Adam, he can communicate using a language with Eve.

The search was begun, the method was by examining one part of Y chromosome inside man's DNA. It is said that DNA is like a recorder and using it we can go back to the past to trace who our ancestor is. Like tree branches that basically come from one point, anyone of us must be come from one ancestor. To simplify the search, the Wells try to find anyone who has Genghis Khan's Y chromosome in his DNA. Why Genghis Khan? Well, because Genghis Khan is one of the greatest emperor from Mongolian Empire. During his rule, Mongol become one of the greatest empire on earth. He also has many children
that spread to any part of earth and for that reason, it is possible that his Y chromosome is also stay in anyone between us. It was also said that 1 of 12 men might be descendant from him. Then Wells went to San Francisco where there are 3 Mongolian men who claimed that their ancestor is Genghis Khan They also believed that all the Mongolians are Genghis Khan's descendant. So they were tested by taking their saliva and detect it's DNA using computer. The result was two of their claims are right. Because one of the claim is not right, so there must be another man who become the ancestor of the Mongolians beside Genghis Khan. Then the geneticist also tested a man who claimed that his ancestor is former American President. The man could prove his claim but the DNA said more than that. His DNA also said that one of the Jefferson's ancestor came from the land of Canaan. It means that Jefferson has Middle East blood. So Wells then continued his search to find someone who has an ancestor one of the greatest king in the Middle East: King Salomon. He actually found the men who claimed that they are King Salomon's descendant. But too bad, he had difficulty to find the King Salomon's DNA sample. But then, he got another clue: Adam, might be come from some place in Africa which is near to the Middle East.

Then Wells went to an island off the coast of Africa called Pate Island. It is said that the island has the most diversity among population of people. In the island, he tried to find a local tribe and test their DNA. There are also an artist that took a local people's skull and tried to give an idea what Adam's face looks like. Using skull as the base of the face image and then calculate the changes using computer, here is the Adam's face:

Adam's face. Scientist version and Michelangelo version. If you were Eve, which one do you like? :p


Although the conclusion is still hard to be found, they assume that Adam might be a 'modern' human who come from a tribe in Africa. Because he is genius, he used some tools to find foods. He also taught his tribe how to use language to communicate each other. Because of that he became a chief of the tribe and popular among the girls. It's also possible that his descendant become a tribe's chief and brought the tribe to find another place outside Africa. A modern human here it means that the brain has well developed so it's completely different than another animal's especially apes.

Whatever the result is or no matter which is right between science and bible, there is one idea here. Either bible or science tells us that we are all brothers. All the human who live in this earth come from one father. So why there should be a war? Why people try to kill each other? Does the Cain and Abel story still continue? How long until we can live together in harmony? Well, too many questions to ask. But one thing should be remembered, because our ancestors can communicate each other and create a good relationship between them, so that they can conquer the nature and now we live here. That's what another creature can't do.

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images were taken from
http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1055220685821_2003/06/12/home_skull.jpg
http://www.google.com.au/images?q=tbn:KOe4jn06E3X_JM::www.crystalimagesinc.com/tl-michelangelo_sistine_chapel_adam_ca101.jpg

Jenolan Cave

It was our last weekend in Sydney for this time visit, and we went to Jenolan Cave in Blue Mountain area. To go there, we have to go using tour service because there's no other public transport. Because we don't have any vehicle here, so we decided to take a tour service. From Sydney, we went to Katoomba using train, and join a tour service there. We paid for $78 and after not a long time waiting, a guide brought us to the cave.

Jenolan Cave is name of a cave system that consists around 10 magnificent caves. Based on the information that I have, the name of the caves are Chifley Cave (690 m), Imperial Cave (1070 m), Lucas Cave (860 m), Orient Cave (470 m), Temple of Baal (365 m), Imperial Diamond (1270 m), The River Cave (1271 m), Pool of Cerberus (1017 m), Ribbon Cave (590 m), and Jubilee Cave (1575 m). Because we only had a limited time, we just went to one of them: Lucas Cave. We chose this cave because it is the most popular cave at Jenolan. It contains the highest and largest chambers. One of the chamber is known as The Cathedral.

Before entering the cave, our tour guide told us about some rules that have to be agreed by the visitors. One of the rule, we are forbidden to touch the decorations and features in the cave. It is important to protect the cave, because the oil in our skin will do a permanent damage to the minerals in the cave's stone. It took around 1.5 hours to enjoy Lucas Cave. Inside the cave is very amazing. Stalactites and stalagmites were beautifully created. It is said that they were formed by the water since 290 to 354 million years ago. A very beautiful art of our mother nature. Normally, it's very dark inside, but they had add many lamp there, even the sound system! The Lucas cave has many chambers, the largest one is named The Cathedral, because it's really like a cathedral. In that chamber, they let us enjoy the natural moment when there are no light by turning off all the lamp. They also play the music from a concert to let us enjoy the sound inside the cave.

Another interesting scene was when we see a die wombat skeleton inside the cave. I never think wombat would be such huge, from its skeleton, wombat might be as huge as a cat. Quite big for a burrowing plant-eating marsupial. In the end of the cave, they show us the light effect inside the cave. They use multicolor lights to create a beautiful light effect inside the cave.
Outside the cave is also fantastic. There's a river with bush in its side. It seems that the water also flow through the cave. There are also a river in some caves, including Lucas Cave. But when we were inside the cave, we cannot see it from near.

Here are some pictures: