I just wonder, if we had a True Religious Leader alive today, what their commandments to mankind might be? Perhaps...
1. One Size Does Not Fit All: If everyone tries to use the same solution to a problem, unsatisfactory outcomes result.
2. Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle.
3. Think About Your Every Action: be mindful of what everything you do, does in turn to others.
4. Look at the Trees. They are beautiful, and will solve many of your problems, if allowed to take back much of the land you stole from them.
5. Money is Not Everything. In fact, Money is Not Anything.
6. You Are Not God. Look to nature and simplicity to solve your problems. Completely unnatural things tend to have repercussions, and you are not aware enough to see them all coming...
7. You are Amazing! But not so Amazing that you're worth ruining the Planet for. You are not more important than a whole species, of which perhaps 80 are going extinct per day. (Calculated from here)
8. Efficiency, Common Sense, and Fairness are the Keys. If you must have a car, have a small efficient one, and use it as little as possible. Share what you can afford to; judge what you really need carefully.
Perhaps another two to follow later...! Another 2002 almost certainly not!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Bus-tastic
So what does travel look like if you don't have access to an aeroplane?
To me, over the last couple of days, it has looked like this:
Tuesday, 14:15: Leave Kinsale for the last time, and head to Cork on the bus
16:30: Leave Cork on a bus for London
21:30: Leave Rosslare harbour on a ferry for Fishguard
Wednesday, 01:00: Back on the bus, leave Fishguard. The bus stops at various places on the way to London, but I doze-sleep through most of it.
08:00: Arrive in London. Put my backpack into left luggage, realise I've left my hat on the bus.. arrgh! Pay 20p to use the toilet at Victoria Coach Station
10:00: Go to the Victoria & Albert Museum, which is fascinating
13:30: Check in, back at Victoria Coach Station, for the next part of the journey
14:30: Depart London for Brussels
18:00? Take the eurotunnel under the English Channel. On arrival in France, our German coach driver says: "So, it's raining. Now, we stop for toilet and something to eat." - the drivers were absolutely lovely.
23:00: Arrive in Brussels. Really ugly coach station with lots of warnings about pickpockets! Toilet here is 40 Euro cents (I don't use it, but I was amazed at the cost!)
23:30: Leave Brussels, heading to Copenhagen... sleep...
Thursday, 07:00: Arrive in Hamburg, where we are delayed by an extra hour waiting for another bus to arrive
09:00: Finally leave Hamburg. Wind turbines everywhere!
12:15: Take the ferry from the continent to Zealand, which is the island on which (most of) Copenhagen lies.
13:00: Back on the bus - motoring to Copenhagen. We are late!
15:00: Switch bus in Copenhagen, to the last bus journey - to Malmo.
15:45: Arrive in Malmo, walk up to the train station and have a large hot chocolate (with cream and marshmallows), and a panini with cheese and tomato. They give me a little electronic device that flashes and beeps at me when the panini is ready. Expensive, but good. To use the toilet at Malmo train station is 10 Swedish Kronor - about 85p at the current rate!!!
17:30: Get on a train to Karlskrona. I really enjoy watching a woman playing with her corgi dog.
20:15: Finally arrive! Wow!
So what's that, 54 hours of travelling, to go what would take maybe 3 hours of actual flying. Of course, I got to wander around a museum, read, knit, and play on the PSP a little, too..
I felt pretty good at the journey's end, too - tired, but not cramped. I'd not eaten much on the journey, and had very little caffeine. I'm amazed I could read so much, actually, and not get motion sickness.
What wonderful insights have I attained? Well, it's true that fast travel distorts our perception of distance. And coach, even though nowhere near as fast as plane, is still pretty fast. Compared to, say, walking. I mean, at 20 miles a day, I wouldn't even have reached the end of County Cork, yet!
Unneccessary travel is crazy. Commuting is crazy. That's what I think. This doesn't prove or disprove it, but it certainly strengthens my sense of it.
To me, over the last couple of days, it has looked like this:
Tuesday, 14:15: Leave Kinsale for the last time, and head to Cork on the bus
16:30: Leave Cork on a bus for London
21:30: Leave Rosslare harbour on a ferry for Fishguard
Wednesday, 01:00: Back on the bus, leave Fishguard. The bus stops at various places on the way to London, but I doze-sleep through most of it.
08:00: Arrive in London. Put my backpack into left luggage, realise I've left my hat on the bus.. arrgh! Pay 20p to use the toilet at Victoria Coach Station
10:00: Go to the Victoria & Albert Museum, which is fascinating
13:30: Check in, back at Victoria Coach Station, for the next part of the journey
14:30: Depart London for Brussels
18:00? Take the eurotunnel under the English Channel. On arrival in France, our German coach driver says: "So, it's raining. Now, we stop for toilet and something to eat." - the drivers were absolutely lovely.
23:00: Arrive in Brussels. Really ugly coach station with lots of warnings about pickpockets! Toilet here is 40 Euro cents (I don't use it, but I was amazed at the cost!)
23:30: Leave Brussels, heading to Copenhagen... sleep...
Thursday, 07:00: Arrive in Hamburg, where we are delayed by an extra hour waiting for another bus to arrive
09:00: Finally leave Hamburg. Wind turbines everywhere!
12:15: Take the ferry from the continent to Zealand, which is the island on which (most of) Copenhagen lies.
13:00: Back on the bus - motoring to Copenhagen. We are late!
15:00: Switch bus in Copenhagen, to the last bus journey - to Malmo.
15:45: Arrive in Malmo, walk up to the train station and have a large hot chocolate (with cream and marshmallows), and a panini with cheese and tomato. They give me a little electronic device that flashes and beeps at me when the panini is ready. Expensive, but good. To use the toilet at Malmo train station is 10 Swedish Kronor - about 85p at the current rate!!!
17:30: Get on a train to Karlskrona. I really enjoy watching a woman playing with her corgi dog.
20:15: Finally arrive! Wow!
So what's that, 54 hours of travelling, to go what would take maybe 3 hours of actual flying. Of course, I got to wander around a museum, read, knit, and play on the PSP a little, too..
I felt pretty good at the journey's end, too - tired, but not cramped. I'd not eaten much on the journey, and had very little caffeine. I'm amazed I could read so much, actually, and not get motion sickness.
What wonderful insights have I attained? Well, it's true that fast travel distorts our perception of distance. And coach, even though nowhere near as fast as plane, is still pretty fast. Compared to, say, walking. I mean, at 20 miles a day, I wouldn't even have reached the end of County Cork, yet!
Unneccessary travel is crazy. Commuting is crazy. That's what I think. This doesn't prove or disprove it, but it certainly strengthens my sense of it.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Time for a change
So the Permaculture course here in Kinsale isn't really ticking my boxes. It is "FETAC level 5" which means it's aimed at school leavers (17 years old or so); I thought that wouldn't matter, and it'd still be interesting, hands on, and so on.
Sadly I've now reached the conclusion that it isn't teaching me enough, and I have decided to jump ship, and head to Canada to do a full season of growing there - working on an organic farm, learning through doing. I can do the studying when and wherever, but I've realised that if I can do a full season this year, I can start on my own place next year.
So, after realising it on Tuesday, and deciding it on Wednesday, I'm off - a two day busathon to take me to Sweden for a while, then to Canada for the start of the growing season - sometime in March or April, I think.
It's a shame. The community in Kinsale is great - the other people on my course are lovely, and there is lots going on here. If I was staying in Ireland or the UK, perhaps I'd stay. But... I'm not.
Packing all my stuff back into a cardboard box (to go to Canada immediately), and the two rucksacks I travelled with last year... how exciting. I'm feeling "Warriorish" - ready for action. It feels good having decided - knowing things weren't what I wanted, and making the choice.
Yeah!
Sadly I've now reached the conclusion that it isn't teaching me enough, and I have decided to jump ship, and head to Canada to do a full season of growing there - working on an organic farm, learning through doing. I can do the studying when and wherever, but I've realised that if I can do a full season this year, I can start on my own place next year.
So, after realising it on Tuesday, and deciding it on Wednesday, I'm off - a two day busathon to take me to Sweden for a while, then to Canada for the start of the growing season - sometime in March or April, I think.
It's a shame. The community in Kinsale is great - the other people on my course are lovely, and there is lots going on here. If I was staying in Ireland or the UK, perhaps I'd stay. But... I'm not.
Packing all my stuff back into a cardboard box (to go to Canada immediately), and the two rucksacks I travelled with last year... how exciting. I'm feeling "Warriorish" - ready for action. It feels good having decided - knowing things weren't what I wanted, and making the choice.
Yeah!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tron and Avatar
This may be too large a leap.
But the parallels between Tron and Avatar - accepting 27 years of advancement - is incredible. Or, perhaps I should say that, when watching Tron for the first time last night, I was mostly reminded of Avatar.
Guy transported bodily into alien world that only he can help save from nasty people?
Mm, ok maybe it's a stretch. And Tron is clearly much more lighthearted - cinema is more advanced. Anyone seen a film lately that isn't full of controversy, heartache, and so on? I loved My Neighbor Totoro for just that reason.
At the end of Avatar, I left not knowing what I felt. There are all sorts of messages.
So, if you take Tron, add an enviro message and current thinking on what filmgoers want (ambiguity, complex messages), you get.. Avatar.
Well.. maybe.
But the parallels between Tron and Avatar - accepting 27 years of advancement - is incredible. Or, perhaps I should say that, when watching Tron for the first time last night, I was mostly reminded of Avatar.
Guy transported bodily into alien world that only he can help save from nasty people?
Mm, ok maybe it's a stretch. And Tron is clearly much more lighthearted - cinema is more advanced. Anyone seen a film lately that isn't full of controversy, heartache, and so on? I loved My Neighbor Totoro for just that reason.
At the end of Avatar, I left not knowing what I felt. There are all sorts of messages.
So, if you take Tron, add an enviro message and current thinking on what filmgoers want (ambiguity, complex messages), you get.. Avatar.
Well.. maybe.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
The Age of Stupid, Avatar, is anyone awake?
Last night I went to see Avatar in 3D, and the night before Transition Town Kinsale put on The Age of Stupid.
The thing that got me most about Avatar, apart from the 2D American marine characters, was that... it isn't fiction. Large, monstrous companies are extracting unobtanium by destroying trees that give life and shelter. Right now. And I guess the message is pretty blatant in Avatar - "they" don't care about anything except profit (which, of course, is what company directors are legally obliged to care about).
I wonder how many people will walk out of the cinema and go, oh, ok, I'm consuming too much - I'll grow my own food, and stop flying! The blue people must be allowed to live their lives! Yeah! (Well, the blue people do fly, but on the back of large blue-green dinosaurs.. but that's beside the point!)
So.. it's a good film, albeit with a heavy dose of Hollywood cheese in several places. I hope "normal people" the world over will take the underlying message, or at least what I saw as the underlying message, and move rapidly to low consumption lifestyles...
And what about The Age of Stupid? Set 45 years from now, it tells the stories of a number of people and families from the last few years - focussing, to my mind, on people choosing not to be aware of the emergency that is upon us. From an Indian businessman starting a low-cost airline because the Indian trains were, to his mind, no good (which, as I was in India last year, I find amazing - the cost, distances travelled, and sheer volume of people transported by the Indian rail system is staggeringly impressive) - despite being "aware" of climate change; to two Iraqi refugee children, having lost their father in Iraq, play-shooting and killing each other. From an English woman fighting against wind farm developments, stressing that she is aware of climate change and is doing her bit (probably by putting in energy saving lightbulbs..), to a Nigerian woman whose village has been robbed by corruption of any of the revenue from oil sales declaring that she wants to be famous, and wearing an "I love my credit card" t-shirt.
I know, it is only possible to be impartial if you don't have too many pressing concerns of your own. I am unlikely to be thrown out on the street; I have the luxury of being able to ponder these matters. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.
What is the point of this blog post? I wonder. Same old message I guess - try to fly less, grow more food, convert to a wood burning stove and learn to knit...!
I am going to watch Garbage Warrior soon, about an American man making places to live out of old car tyres - good positive action.
Well, no car tyre houses here... but I have put a couple of pots onto our kitchen windowsill, parsley and mint!
The thing that got me most about Avatar, apart from the 2D American marine characters, was that... it isn't fiction. Large, monstrous companies are extracting unobtanium by destroying trees that give life and shelter. Right now. And I guess the message is pretty blatant in Avatar - "they" don't care about anything except profit (which, of course, is what company directors are legally obliged to care about).
I wonder how many people will walk out of the cinema and go, oh, ok, I'm consuming too much - I'll grow my own food, and stop flying! The blue people must be allowed to live their lives! Yeah! (Well, the blue people do fly, but on the back of large blue-green dinosaurs.. but that's beside the point!)
So.. it's a good film, albeit with a heavy dose of Hollywood cheese in several places. I hope "normal people" the world over will take the underlying message, or at least what I saw as the underlying message, and move rapidly to low consumption lifestyles...
And what about The Age of Stupid? Set 45 years from now, it tells the stories of a number of people and families from the last few years - focussing, to my mind, on people choosing not to be aware of the emergency that is upon us. From an Indian businessman starting a low-cost airline because the Indian trains were, to his mind, no good (which, as I was in India last year, I find amazing - the cost, distances travelled, and sheer volume of people transported by the Indian rail system is staggeringly impressive) - despite being "aware" of climate change; to two Iraqi refugee children, having lost their father in Iraq, play-shooting and killing each other. From an English woman fighting against wind farm developments, stressing that she is aware of climate change and is doing her bit (probably by putting in energy saving lightbulbs..), to a Nigerian woman whose village has been robbed by corruption of any of the revenue from oil sales declaring that she wants to be famous, and wearing an "I love my credit card" t-shirt.
I know, it is only possible to be impartial if you don't have too many pressing concerns of your own. I am unlikely to be thrown out on the street; I have the luxury of being able to ponder these matters. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.
What is the point of this blog post? I wonder. Same old message I guess - try to fly less, grow more food, convert to a wood burning stove and learn to knit...!
I am going to watch Garbage Warrior soon, about an American man making places to live out of old car tyres - good positive action.
Well, no car tyre houses here... but I have put a couple of pots onto our kitchen windowsill, parsley and mint!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Snow...
Snow in Ireland - the south coast of Ireland, no less. Very rare. And... our water is off because the pipes have frozen. Just the 4 houses or so near me, apparently - the ones a little more protected from the cold have no problems.
And school is closed. In fact, *all* schools in Ireland are closed, until Thursday at least. It's supposed to rain tonight, though. I don't quite understand why they've closed it until Thursday when things will, most likely, be fine by tomorrow but.. oh well!
Time to do slow things - knit, make soup, play in the snow (and feed the birds, who are having a rough time of it).
Happy New Year!
And school is closed. In fact, *all* schools in Ireland are closed, until Thursday at least. It's supposed to rain tonight, though. I don't quite understand why they've closed it until Thursday when things will, most likely, be fine by tomorrow but.. oh well!
Time to do slow things - knit, make soup, play in the snow (and feed the birds, who are having a rough time of it).
Happy New Year!
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