I've been wanting to read the Gaia books for a while but not managed to get round to it... hopefully I will when I have the space to acquire a few more books rather than living out of a backpack!
Anyway, the John Humphries did an interview with James Lovelock that was broadcast yesterday here.
I like it. While I believe "we should" be changing our behaviour, and rapidly, I now accept that how humanity has grown is entirely "natural" in terms of energy availability, and that the changes I would like to see are "unnatural" or, perhaps, enlightened.
We need an immediate reason to change, and we don't have one that appeals to our sense of urgency - Tesco's will still be there tomorrow, and petrol isn't going to run out this week, this month, or this year.
I also realise and accept that, even though I feel I am relatively well aware of the issues concerning our planet, I would probably still be doing an office job if not for a number of converging factors - feeling a need for change is a large one, but catalysed by disliking the whole that is office life as someone not quite a programmer not quite anything specific had a large effect, meeting my fiancee had a huge effect... how can I expect other people who don't have as many pushes and pulls to be interested?
Society will, most likely, collapse when a lack of resources becomes acute, and not before. When life can go on as normal, it will probably do so.
Lovelock's 20-30 years (before significant change) is interesting - further into the future than I'd thought, considering most scientists seem to place peak oil at sometime between 2008 and 2016.
Interesting times are a'comin'!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Off we go
This is It. My last day in England. Tomorrow I finally go to Canada.
The last couple of weeks have been great - seeing friends, seeing the country that I'm leaving. I've been to Lincolnshire, Essex, London, and Bristol; in cars, trains, coaches and busses; eaten Indian, Italian and good British roast potatoes; drunk plenty of tea. I've talked a lot - about what I've been up to, where I'm going, and why.
I feel pretty positive - my friends are a good bunch, and while not all eco-warriors, awareness is rising, thoughtfulness is there. And I feel I'm on the right path - growing food is in my family, I like being busy and being outside. So. No regrets. Today is the final chapter of one story, tomorrow the first chapter in another.
The last couple of weeks have been great - seeing friends, seeing the country that I'm leaving. I've been to Lincolnshire, Essex, London, and Bristol; in cars, trains, coaches and busses; eaten Indian, Italian and good British roast potatoes; drunk plenty of tea. I've talked a lot - about what I've been up to, where I'm going, and why.
I feel pretty positive - my friends are a good bunch, and while not all eco-warriors, awareness is rising, thoughtfulness is there. And I feel I'm on the right path - growing food is in my family, I like being busy and being outside. So. No regrets. Today is the final chapter of one story, tomorrow the first chapter in another.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Home?
I spent most of Wednesday travelling: From Karlskrona to Copenhagen on the train, then Copenhagen to London on a plane (my own hypocracy astounds me... 1/3 the price of a coach ticket, and 1.5 hours flying instead of nearly 2 days on the bus notwithstanding), and finally up to my dad's place, nearish to Boston.
My dad is one of a kind, in some ways. His current interest is in Fuchsias - he has, he thinks, 676 or so different varieties in his huge greenhouse (with perhaps 20,000 Fuchsia plants, plus others...). The place is a mess, but that's normal - there are 10-15 cars and vans in various states of disrepair, crates of plant pots, scaffolding planks, a 2,500 litre water tank and a ginormous wood burner that will eventually heat the large greenhouse (for there are other greenhouses, too!).
On Thursday I helped with potting up plugs into pots... a little bit. And today I wielded a mattock, helping my dad's partner put in a path to the greenhouse for when "Lincolnshire Fuchsia World" opens to the public (in a few weeks, I think).
Well, it's good experience for me. The most striking things for me were:
1. How soft my hands are. Moving large concrete paving slabs for the path has left my fingers scraped and scratched. It'll be interesting to see what they are like in 6 months!
2. Mypex is horrible stuff. The strands get everywhere!
3. I must not take on too much at once, or accumulate junk. Neat, tidy, sufficient. No overpromising, no "oh sure if it's free and I'll figure out a use for it later".
4. A hot cup of tea is so much better after some hard work!
My dad is one of a kind, in some ways. His current interest is in Fuchsias - he has, he thinks, 676 or so different varieties in his huge greenhouse (with perhaps 20,000 Fuchsia plants, plus others...). The place is a mess, but that's normal - there are 10-15 cars and vans in various states of disrepair, crates of plant pots, scaffolding planks, a 2,500 litre water tank and a ginormous wood burner that will eventually heat the large greenhouse (for there are other greenhouses, too!).
On Thursday I helped with potting up plugs into pots... a little bit. And today I wielded a mattock, helping my dad's partner put in a path to the greenhouse for when "Lincolnshire Fuchsia World" opens to the public (in a few weeks, I think).
Well, it's good experience for me. The most striking things for me were:
1. How soft my hands are. Moving large concrete paving slabs for the path has left my fingers scraped and scratched. It'll be interesting to see what they are like in 6 months!
2. Mypex is horrible stuff. The strands get everywhere!
3. I must not take on too much at once, or accumulate junk. Neat, tidy, sufficient. No overpromising, no "oh sure if it's free and I'll figure out a use for it later".
4. A hot cup of tea is so much better after some hard work!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
"Waste"
On Tuesday I visited an e-waste preprocessing facility in Brakne-Hoby, near Ronneby, with some MSLS students.
After a talk on the business (Stena being part of the same group as the ferry company), we had a tour of the plant.
I have written a bit of an essay on this, but the summary is this:
Producer responsibility for waste means the waste processing company has a contract with each waste producer (i.e. the original manufacturer), rather than the city/town/council (commun in Swedish, I think).
About half of the stuff going to the recycling centre is working.
The contract the processor has says no salvage: everything must be recycled through melting down and being sold on as raw materials.
The end result: Hundreds of pounds of perfectly good, working computer parts are scrapped. Turned back into copper and gold, rather than being used in second hand computers.
This just further reinforced the idea that, when the paradigm is crazy (money/growth), crazy solutions to problems abound, even when the will is good.
After a talk on the business (Stena being part of the same group as the ferry company), we had a tour of the plant.
I have written a bit of an essay on this, but the summary is this:
Producer responsibility for waste means the waste processing company has a contract with each waste producer (i.e. the original manufacturer), rather than the city/town/council (commun in Swedish, I think).
About half of the stuff going to the recycling centre is working.
The contract the processor has says no salvage: everything must be recycled through melting down and being sold on as raw materials.
The end result: Hundreds of pounds of perfectly good, working computer parts are scrapped. Turned back into copper and gold, rather than being used in second hand computers.
This just further reinforced the idea that, when the paradigm is crazy (money/growth), crazy solutions to problems abound, even when the will is good.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Ventilation in Large Buildings
Today was interesting. I tagged along to a lecture about how large building (offices, schools, universities) air conditioning systems work. They talked about CAV (constant air volume), VAV (variable air volume) and dynamic systems (I forget the acronym) - basically how technology has moved from constantly circulating air, to air circulating based on demand - saving energy by not having to provide fresh, heated air into a room with nobody breathing it.
It's the solution to the problem of how to get many hundreds of people into a large enclosed space, keep them at optimum operating temperature and oxygen levels, all day long, all year round. Of course, that is what the company wants - maximum efficiency of all the parts in the machine.
I don't want to be critical of them - the guys who came in and talked were engaged, clear thinkers in their fields. And, with their systems, you only heat/cool the areas where people are.
I couldn't help wondering.. can't we be outside on the hot days, work less in the winter. Of course, there will always be a need for some large buildings - but perhaps not for business. For learning centres, government-level bureaucracy, but...
Well. It was interesting, anyway. We had a tour of the university's new building, looking specifically at the environmental controls - large heat exchangers (basically large wheels of thin aluminium fins, rotating slowly to gain heat from one flow of air and release it back to another - on a cold day, keeping the warmth already inside the building in, preheating the incoming cold air, and vice versa on hot days), huge pipes, ducts, filters.
I'll think of it when I'm in my tent, and wonder: where would I rather be?
It's the solution to the problem of how to get many hundreds of people into a large enclosed space, keep them at optimum operating temperature and oxygen levels, all day long, all year round. Of course, that is what the company wants - maximum efficiency of all the parts in the machine.
I don't want to be critical of them - the guys who came in and talked were engaged, clear thinkers in their fields. And, with their systems, you only heat/cool the areas where people are.
I couldn't help wondering.. can't we be outside on the hot days, work less in the winter. Of course, there will always be a need for some large buildings - but perhaps not for business. For learning centres, government-level bureaucracy, but...
Well. It was interesting, anyway. We had a tour of the university's new building, looking specifically at the environmental controls - large heat exchangers (basically large wheels of thin aluminium fins, rotating slowly to gain heat from one flow of air and release it back to another - on a cold day, keeping the warmth already inside the building in, preheating the incoming cold air, and vice versa on hot days), huge pipes, ducts, filters.
I'll think of it when I'm in my tent, and wonder: where would I rather be?
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Classic case...
...of curing a symptom not a problem: here.
Problem? Supermarkets reject cauliflowers for being not the perfect size, shape or ripeness.
Solution? Get all the farmers to buy robots.
Err..
Problem? Supermarkets reject cauliflowers for being not the perfect size, shape or ripeness.
Solution? Get all the farmers to buy robots.
Err..
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Entertainment
BBC Radio 4 is currently playing John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men - the first episode still available on the web for another week or so, here. I first read this book maybe 15 years ago, and the story stuck with me... I'll be actively searching for more Steinbeck in secondhand bookshops when I'm in London later in the month!!
And how do you rate this... as well as listening to Henry David Thoreau, reading Steinbeck, and generally having pure thoughts, I have been captivated by... the new(er) Battlestar Galactica. Not the series from before I was born (!), the 2003-current franchise.
It's TV sci-fi. There are "but that's so unrealistic!!!" moments. It's not a truly epic, connected, believable world (that, say, Stephen Donaldson puts together for his books, or Kim Stanley Robinson). But it's entertaining.
Why do I mention it? Part of me thinks I shouldn't be watching "that kind of stuff" but like most things, I suppose, the only problem comes without balance, or a lack of awareness. If I was to watch TV all day every day it'd be a problem. And perhaps everyone having a TV, and the internet - allowing society to be fragmented because you don't have to talk to real people very much... hmm.
I guess the thing is that working in an office puts unnatural strains on a person, in addition to the natural ones of group dynamics. It's tiring - just living in that world is draining. So the whole of our culture is built around the twin foundations of work (for economic growth) and getting away from work (well.. also for economic growth.. because the people at work are working to get people to buy stuff.. and the end of that chain is for the people not working to buy stuff). Insanity? We do x because y, and we do y because x, more and more, more and more.
So Battlestar Galactica is good. The fact it is, ultimately, only made to sell advertising time on TV is bad (the program is good; the system that dictates which programs can be made is bad, because it doesn't care intrinsically about the program, just the effect the program will have on other things).
Today was a beautiful day - warm, and I stood outside and felt the sun on my skin.
And how do you rate this... as well as listening to Henry David Thoreau, reading Steinbeck, and generally having pure thoughts, I have been captivated by... the new(er) Battlestar Galactica. Not the series from before I was born (!), the 2003-current franchise.
It's TV sci-fi. There are "but that's so unrealistic!!!" moments. It's not a truly epic, connected, believable world (that, say, Stephen Donaldson puts together for his books, or Kim Stanley Robinson). But it's entertaining.
Why do I mention it? Part of me thinks I shouldn't be watching "that kind of stuff" but like most things, I suppose, the only problem comes without balance, or a lack of awareness. If I was to watch TV all day every day it'd be a problem. And perhaps everyone having a TV, and the internet - allowing society to be fragmented because you don't have to talk to real people very much... hmm.
I guess the thing is that working in an office puts unnatural strains on a person, in addition to the natural ones of group dynamics. It's tiring - just living in that world is draining. So the whole of our culture is built around the twin foundations of work (for economic growth) and getting away from work (well.. also for economic growth.. because the people at work are working to get people to buy stuff.. and the end of that chain is for the people not working to buy stuff). Insanity? We do x because y, and we do y because x, more and more, more and more.
So Battlestar Galactica is good. The fact it is, ultimately, only made to sell advertising time on TV is bad (the program is good; the system that dictates which programs can be made is bad, because it doesn't care intrinsically about the program, just the effect the program will have on other things).
Today was a beautiful day - warm, and I stood outside and felt the sun on my skin.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Living Without Money, the 100 Thing Challenge
Two things that have made me think a lot are the following websites:
Living Without Money
and
100 Thing Challenge
Now, I'm in a position to sort-of do both. I've been living with many fewer than 100 things for the past year, I'd say, but from April I'll be interning on organic farms in Canada, mostly in Quebec, near the Gatineau Park. In reality I won't be truly living without money, as on the website it talks about not doing things in return for other things - I'll be working on the farm in return for education, as well as bed and board.
Nonetheless, I think it'll be interesting if I set myself the challenge of not spending any money during the internship.
I'll be sleeping in a one of these, sharing cooking facilities with other interns, and generally living the good life - eating food grown on the farm, living close to the land and nature, and all for no financial gain!
This year is going to be incredible!!
Living Without Money
and
100 Thing Challenge
Now, I'm in a position to sort-of do both. I've been living with many fewer than 100 things for the past year, I'd say, but from April I'll be interning on organic farms in Canada, mostly in Quebec, near the Gatineau Park. In reality I won't be truly living without money, as on the website it talks about not doing things in return for other things - I'll be working on the farm in return for education, as well as bed and board.
Nonetheless, I think it'll be interesting if I set myself the challenge of not spending any money during the internship.
I'll be sleeping in a one of these, sharing cooking facilities with other interns, and generally living the good life - eating food grown on the farm, living close to the land and nature, and all for no financial gain!
This year is going to be incredible!!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Mindfulness Monday, Best Laid Plans...
I had a lovely weekend, beginning with dinner at friends on Friday night, a movie on Saturday (Juno - not as great as I'd thought, but ok), and a birthday party on Sunday. Kara and I had great quality time together, and everything felt pretty nice.
This morning I got up, and decided to be mindful, and to try and make all Mondays Mindful - as an excercise, to try and get me to be more mindful and present, generally.
This was going well until - disaster - the computer starts behaving oddly. Now, I am at a loss as to explain why this annoyed me *so much*. But it did.
Fascinating to watch - while trying to be mindful, and seeing myself being thoroughly pissed off with a piece of inanimate plastic/metal/silicon.
Well, there's only one solution to these problems.
Fried eggs on toast with a cup of tea.
Mmmm.
This morning I got up, and decided to be mindful, and to try and make all Mondays Mindful - as an excercise, to try and get me to be more mindful and present, generally.
This was going well until - disaster - the computer starts behaving oddly. Now, I am at a loss as to explain why this annoyed me *so much*. But it did.
Fascinating to watch - while trying to be mindful, and seeing myself being thoroughly pissed off with a piece of inanimate plastic/metal/silicon.
Well, there's only one solution to these problems.
Fried eggs on toast with a cup of tea.
Mmmm.
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