Thursday, February 25, 2010
Banksy at it again...
Graffiti artist Banksy left this one along the banks of Regent's Canal in London
Climate change deniers have gone the gamut now - false information claiming there is no human induced climate change; false information claiming there is a significant debate that there is no human-induced climate change; false information claiming there might be human-induced climate change, but we can't do anything about it... and it's not so bad. And now they are doing anything possible to sow doubt in the public mind, even as the science moves ever further in proving how dire it is.
Good effort climate change deniers! You get an A+ for delaying action, commitment and for seeding confusion. Now if only we can charge you with crimes against humanity and the planet - and put you in prison for a decade or two...
Good effort climate change deniers! You get an A+ for delaying action, commitment and for seeding confusion. Now if only we can charge you with crimes against humanity and the planet - and put you in prison for a decade or two...
I highly recommend a read of Climate Cover-Up by James Hoggan for anyone who thinks I'm over-stating or over-reacting to this. Funded by energy corporations and right wing think tanks - the climate change denial business has been hard at it for about 20 years now.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Being Blind in China
My friend Bill, also from Nelson, has moved to China. He is living there because he wants to experience it and because, as a blind person, he has some interesting projects he is working on. His project site and his blog can be found here. If you feel like having a look, please do. Here's a snippet from an email I received from Bill today:
Happy New Year!
It’s been a while since the last letter. I guess it was the other New
Year, the one after Christmas. The ‘festive season’ felt very
strange. While the supermarkets are full of Kenny G renditions of
carols, and the hotels have huge fake trees covered in lights, the
whole things is a very thin overlay.
And then boom (literally) it’s Spring Festival. The fireworks are
unimaginable. It is a roar like cannon fire, heavy mortar fire,
semi-automatic weaponry, and rifle cracks, and it’s forever. By
midnight New Year’s Eve all you can do is release into it and let the
noise do whatever it’s supposed to do. Interestingly, I think it has
actually done something to me. I feel emptied out. I had a week’s
break, but I don’t think that’s the operative factor. My whole
relationship with noise and sound has been changing as I live in this
intense and complicated soundscape.
Link
Monday, February 15, 2010
This... and that
THIS
I don't know if you watched the Olympic opening ceremonies. I missed most of it and sadly, missed slam poet Shane Koyczan recite his piece "We are more". For those who might like it, here it is (not the Olympic version, but same poem).
THAT
If you watch the Olympics you'll also know that BC is experiencing one of the mildest winters on record. We're usually still shoveling snow to get out of our drive, wearing toques and mittens to go to the store, keeping the heat up and the flannel PJs on. Well, these photos are from this week. Climate change in our micro-region predicts warmer winters, drier summers and within a few decades - avocado growing seasons. We're also going to get more floods, more forest fires and a rapid change of ecology. For now, I'll accept warm weather canoeing in February... (Click to see larger.)
View of the property we live on (little house up the hill, just peeking past the bigger one)
February 2010 - The Frozen North??
