Green Issues
I don’t know about you, but I get very irate about the lies and deception that prevails unchallenged in this modern world. Yes, you’ve spotted it – I am talking about the rubbish that is dumped on us by the corporate marketing machine. In illustrating the extent of the problem, I can’t do better [...]
So that’s it then. The Rio+20 Earth Summit is already a week into our past and, for all the good that has come from it, our glorious world leaders may as well have written a few scrappy pledges on the back of some postage stamps. At least with the 1992 Summit, there was the semblance [...]
In two days time, The 2012 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Jeneiro opens its doors to over one hundred heads of state, ostensibly all there to discuss the future of global environmental action. But, clamouring for their attention, will be an estimated 50,000 representatives from business, NGOs, local governments and others. News reports, filled [...]
I am not part of the mobile phone culture. That’s not to say I don’t have a mobile phone. I do. It’s around ten years old now and laughably old-fashioned. It struggles to do more than make and receive calls. But that’s fine by me – it does the job it was designed to do. [...]
Continue reading about Ethical Living – is there an app for that?
Around five years ago, a new social movement sprang into life. Under the banner of Transition Towns, its stated purpose was to raise awareness that human society currently faces two enormous challenges – peak oil and climate change. Its vision was to create, without delay, resilience at a local level in order to move from [...]
Spare a thought for our hard-pressed independent retailers this Christmas, for they are beleaguered. In an economic climate of tightened purse strings and mothballed credit cards, some of them will be closing their doors for the last time in 2012. But don’t worry – your supermarkets and other retail clonestores will still be there, hoovering [...]
Continue reading about Haunting the High Street – The Ghost of Christmas Past
The date today is the momentous 11/11/11, except in America of course, where they do things differently and, in the case of dates, back-to-front. Over there, it’s 11/11/11. I feel that such a symbol of accord can only be good news. Of late, I have found much to admire across the pond, and the latest [...]
The Breakdown of Nations by Leopold Kohr; The Limits to Growth by Donatella Meadows et al; Small is Beautiful by E F Schumacher – these books, published in 1957, 1972 and 1973 respectively, spelled out for us the fate that would befall our species if we did not develop a strategy for positive change. We [...]
Once again, the issue of going green has come up. We have a number of friends who have a die-hard attitude regarding the challenge of climate change and the need to reduce our carbon footprint. I must agree that climate change is a serious issue, and it is as clear as day that we must [...]
Continue reading about The lush greenery of a fool’s paradise
Spring has certainly been dry this year, but we haven’t suffered as much as some parts of the country. We have been lucky enough to have had a couple of good soakings through this long dry season. Not as much as we would normally expect, perhaps, but enough to keep the countryside around here looking [...]