I've always said that my apples should be sent around the world to receive the best
chemical treatment that money can buy.
Since fuel is still very cheap, we can get New Zealand lamb and Fijian bottled water.
Doesn't mean it's right.
checkitout:
AlterNet / By Tara Lohan
Economics of happiness movie
Vision: 8 Reasons Global Capitalism Makes Our Lives Worse -- And How We Can Create a New Kind of Economy
A new film explores how globalization has resulted in crises of the economy, the environment and the human spirit -- and points the way to a new path.
... 3. Globalization wastes natural resources. Consumerism is threatening the planet, natural resources are stretched to the breaking point and yet we have an economic system that encourages us to consume more and more, says Norberg-Hodge. Consumer culture is increasingly urban and when rural people move to the city the food they used to grow themselves is now grown on industrial-sized chemical-intensive farms. Food must be trucked to cities, waste must be trucked out. Large dams are needed to provide water and huge centralized power plants must be fueled by coal and uranium mines.
4. Globalization accelerates climate change. Globalization's "success" is often attributed to efficiencies of scale, but mostly it is fueled by deregulation and hidden subsidies that make food from around the globe cost less than food from down the street. With efficiencies of scale, it's really the opposite, says British MP Zac Goldsmith, "Tuna caught off the east coast of America is flown to Japan, processed and flown back to America to be sold to consumers; English apples are flown to South Africa to be waxed, flown back to England to be sold."
Treaties like NAFTA promote international growth through economic trade, which sounds good on paper, except that you end up with countries importing and exporting nearly identical amounts of the same products -- which means we're needlessly shipping goods across the world that we are already producing at home.
... 7. Globalization is built on handouts to big business. "If there is one thing that political parties from the left to the right seem to agree on today, it is the power and value of the free market," says Goldberg. "But the irony is that the majority of really polluting things that happen today wouldn't exist in a genuinely free market -- nuclear power, for example, wouldn't exist without massive state support ... We're about as far away from a free market as it's possible to be."
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
simplicity is the key to brilliance
this stuff is from CNBC's website:
I like new gadgets especially since they can
change the way we conduct our lives.
The great ones always seem to simple.
There's the fanbrella with the fan installed, to protect against
sun and heat.
however, if you're unavoidably stuck in the heat, strap on an i-pod
and plug it into your bathing suit. Yup. the solar rack.
I say, old boy: "top shelf"
the UFO alarm clock
You gotta chase it around the room, so no easy snooze function for you, no more.
cycles, the grandfathers of the tarmacadam
If it weren't for bikes, cars would have had it tougher.
bikers were organised and seeking smooth roads way before
the car people even started.
the implied message is that cars have to share the road.
They don't own it, although I know some drivers who believe they do.
Here's an interesting Guardian story that sets the record straight.
checkitout:
19th century cyclists paved the way
by Carlton Reed
Wooden hobbyhorses evolved into velocipedes; velocipedes evolved into safety bicycles; safety bicycles evolved into automobiles.
It's well known that the automotive industry grew from seeds planted in the fertile soil that was the late 19th century bicycle market. And to many motorists it's back in the 19th century that bicycles belong. Cars are deemed to be modern; bicycles are Victorian.
Many motorists also assume that roads were built for them. In fact, cars are the johnny-come-latelies of highways.
The hard, flat road surfaces we take for granted are relatively new. Asphalt surfaces weren't widespread until the 1930s. So, are motorists to thank for this smoothness?
No. The improvement of roads was first lobbied for – and paid for – by cycling organisations.
In the UK and the US, cyclists lobbied for better road surfaces for a full 30 years before motoring organisations did the same. Cyclists were ahead of their time.
When railways took off from the 1840s, the coaching trade died, leaving roads almost unused and in poor condition. Cyclists were the first vehicle operators in a generation to go on long journeys, town to town. Cyclists helped save many roads from being grubbed up.
Roads in towns were sometimes well surfaced. Poor areas were cobbled; upmarket areas were covered in granite setts (what many localities call cobbles). Pretty much every other road was left unsurfaced and would be the colour of the local stone. Many 19th century authors waxed lyrical about the varied and beautiful colours of British roads.
Cyclists' organisations, such as Cyclists' Touring Club in the UK and League of American Wheelmen (LAW) in the US, lobbied county surveyors and politicians to build better roads. The US Good Roads movement, set up by LAW, was highly influential. LAW once had the then US president turn up at its annual general meeting.
The CTC individual in charge of the UK version of the Good Roads movement, William Rees Jeffreys, organised asphalt trials before cars became common. He took the reins of the Roads Improvement Association (RIA) in 1890, while working for the CTC.
He later became an arch motorist and the RIA morphed into a motoring organisation. Rees Jeffreys called for motorways in Britain 50 years prior to their introduction. But he never forgot his roots. In a 1949 book, Rees Jeffreys – described by former prime minister David Lloyd George as "the greatest authority on roads in the United Kingdom and one of the greatest in the whole world" – wrote that cyclists paved the way, as it were, for motorists. Without the efforts of cyclists, he said, motorists would not have had as many roads to drive on. Lots of other authors in the early days of motoring said the same but this debt owed to cyclists by motorists is long forgotten.
The CTC created the RIA in 1885 and, in 1886, organised the first ever Roads Conference in Britain. With patronage – and cash – from aristocrats and royals, the CTC published influential pamphlets on road design and how to create better road surfaces. In some areas, county surveyors took this on board (some were CTC members) and started to improve their local roads.
Even though it was started and paid for by cyclists, the RIA stressed from its foundation that it was lobbying for better roads to be used by all, not just cyclists.
However, in 1896 everything changed. Motoring big-wigs lobbied for the Locomotives Amendment Act to be repealed. This act made a driver of a road locomotive drive very, very slowly and the vehicle had to be preceded by a man waving a red flag. When the act was jettisoned, speeds increased, automobilists demanded better road surfaces to go even faster on, and "scorchers" and "road hogs", terms first used against cyclists, took over the roads.
By the early 1900s most British motorists had forgotten about the debt they owed to prehistoric track builders, the Romans, turnpike trusts, John McAdam, Thomas Telford and bicyclists. Before even one road had been built with motorcars in mind (this wasn't to happen until the 1930s), motorists assumed the mantle of overlords of the road.
A satirical verse in Punch magazine of 1907 summed up this attitude from some drivers:
"The roads were made for me; years ago they were made. Wise rulers saw me coming and made roads. Now that I am come they go on making roads – making them up. For I break things. Roads I break and Rules of the Road. Statutory limits were made for me. I break them. I break the dull silence of the country. Sometimes I break down, and thousands flock round me, so that I dislocate the traffic. But I am the Traffic."
At the time, the CTC had little inkling cyclists would soon be usurped. An editorial in the CTC Gazette of July 1896 admitted the "horseless carriage movement will make an irresistible advance" and asked members whether motorists should be admitted to membership. Such a move was declined by members but cyclists were later instrumental in the foundation of the Automobile Association, an organisation created to foil police speed traps.
Motoring and cycling soon developed in very different directions and by the 1950s it was clear the future was to be one of mass ownership of cars. Car mileage increased, roads were now always designed with motors in mind, and, rider by rider, cyclists – once dominant on Britain's roads – started to disappear. In the evolutionary timeline of hobbyhorse-to-velocipide-to-bicycle-to-automobile, the riding of bicycles should have been all but extinguished by the 1970s. Town planners certainly thought that way, and declined to design for anything other than motorcars.
But there's a problem with mass car ownership: there's not enough space to put them all. Gridlock is the unforeseen outcome of planning solely for cars. When a city grinds to a halt, that's money down the drain. Cities are waking up to the fact that unrestrained car use is bad for people, and bad for the local economy. Unrestrained car use leads to ugly cities.
Now, the cities that first woke up to this are the bicycle-friendly cities beloved by cycle campaigners.
Towns and cities that design for people, not machines, will be the most progressive of the next 150 years, the towns and cities where people will most want to live, work and play. Far from being a 19th century anachronism, the bicycle is fast becoming a symbol of urban modernity, and cyclists are again at the vanguard of making cities better places. Cyclists have always been ahead of their time.
• Carlton Reid is executive editor of cycling trade magazine BikeBiz and is writing a book on cyclists' contribution to better roads. He has received writing grants from the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund and the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation
bikers were organised and seeking smooth roads way before
the car people even started.
the implied message is that cars have to share the road.
They don't own it, although I know some drivers who believe they do.
Here's an interesting Guardian story that sets the record straight.
checkitout:
19th century cyclists paved the way
by Carlton Reed
Wooden hobbyhorses evolved into velocipedes; velocipedes evolved into safety bicycles; safety bicycles evolved into automobiles.
It's well known that the automotive industry grew from seeds planted in the fertile soil that was the late 19th century bicycle market. And to many motorists it's back in the 19th century that bicycles belong. Cars are deemed to be modern; bicycles are Victorian.
Many motorists also assume that roads were built for them. In fact, cars are the johnny-come-latelies of highways.
The hard, flat road surfaces we take for granted are relatively new. Asphalt surfaces weren't widespread until the 1930s. So, are motorists to thank for this smoothness?
No. The improvement of roads was first lobbied for – and paid for – by cycling organisations.
In the UK and the US, cyclists lobbied for better road surfaces for a full 30 years before motoring organisations did the same. Cyclists were ahead of their time.
When railways took off from the 1840s, the coaching trade died, leaving roads almost unused and in poor condition. Cyclists were the first vehicle operators in a generation to go on long journeys, town to town. Cyclists helped save many roads from being grubbed up.
Roads in towns were sometimes well surfaced. Poor areas were cobbled; upmarket areas were covered in granite setts (what many localities call cobbles). Pretty much every other road was left unsurfaced and would be the colour of the local stone. Many 19th century authors waxed lyrical about the varied and beautiful colours of British roads.
Cyclists' organisations, such as Cyclists' Touring Club in the UK and League of American Wheelmen (LAW) in the US, lobbied county surveyors and politicians to build better roads. The US Good Roads movement, set up by LAW, was highly influential. LAW once had the then US president turn up at its annual general meeting.
The CTC individual in charge of the UK version of the Good Roads movement, William Rees Jeffreys, organised asphalt trials before cars became common. He took the reins of the Roads Improvement Association (RIA) in 1890, while working for the CTC.
He later became an arch motorist and the RIA morphed into a motoring organisation. Rees Jeffreys called for motorways in Britain 50 years prior to their introduction. But he never forgot his roots. In a 1949 book, Rees Jeffreys – described by former prime minister David Lloyd George as "the greatest authority on roads in the United Kingdom and one of the greatest in the whole world" – wrote that cyclists paved the way, as it were, for motorists. Without the efforts of cyclists, he said, motorists would not have had as many roads to drive on. Lots of other authors in the early days of motoring said the same but this debt owed to cyclists by motorists is long forgotten.
The CTC created the RIA in 1885 and, in 1886, organised the first ever Roads Conference in Britain. With patronage – and cash – from aristocrats and royals, the CTC published influential pamphlets on road design and how to create better road surfaces. In some areas, county surveyors took this on board (some were CTC members) and started to improve their local roads.
Even though it was started and paid for by cyclists, the RIA stressed from its foundation that it was lobbying for better roads to be used by all, not just cyclists.
However, in 1896 everything changed. Motoring big-wigs lobbied for the Locomotives Amendment Act to be repealed. This act made a driver of a road locomotive drive very, very slowly and the vehicle had to be preceded by a man waving a red flag. When the act was jettisoned, speeds increased, automobilists demanded better road surfaces to go even faster on, and "scorchers" and "road hogs", terms first used against cyclists, took over the roads.
By the early 1900s most British motorists had forgotten about the debt they owed to prehistoric track builders, the Romans, turnpike trusts, John McAdam, Thomas Telford and bicyclists. Before even one road had been built with motorcars in mind (this wasn't to happen until the 1930s), motorists assumed the mantle of overlords of the road.
A satirical verse in Punch magazine of 1907 summed up this attitude from some drivers:
"The roads were made for me; years ago they were made. Wise rulers saw me coming and made roads. Now that I am come they go on making roads – making them up. For I break things. Roads I break and Rules of the Road. Statutory limits were made for me. I break them. I break the dull silence of the country. Sometimes I break down, and thousands flock round me, so that I dislocate the traffic. But I am the Traffic."
At the time, the CTC had little inkling cyclists would soon be usurped. An editorial in the CTC Gazette of July 1896 admitted the "horseless carriage movement will make an irresistible advance" and asked members whether motorists should be admitted to membership. Such a move was declined by members but cyclists were later instrumental in the foundation of the Automobile Association, an organisation created to foil police speed traps.
Motoring and cycling soon developed in very different directions and by the 1950s it was clear the future was to be one of mass ownership of cars. Car mileage increased, roads were now always designed with motors in mind, and, rider by rider, cyclists – once dominant on Britain's roads – started to disappear. In the evolutionary timeline of hobbyhorse-to-velocipide-to-bicycle-to-automobile, the riding of bicycles should have been all but extinguished by the 1970s. Town planners certainly thought that way, and declined to design for anything other than motorcars.
But there's a problem with mass car ownership: there's not enough space to put them all. Gridlock is the unforeseen outcome of planning solely for cars. When a city grinds to a halt, that's money down the drain. Cities are waking up to the fact that unrestrained car use is bad for people, and bad for the local economy. Unrestrained car use leads to ugly cities.
Now, the cities that first woke up to this are the bicycle-friendly cities beloved by cycle campaigners.
Towns and cities that design for people, not machines, will be the most progressive of the next 150 years, the towns and cities where people will most want to live, work and play. Far from being a 19th century anachronism, the bicycle is fast becoming a symbol of urban modernity, and cyclists are again at the vanguard of making cities better places. Cyclists have always been ahead of their time.
• Carlton Reid is executive editor of cycling trade magazine BikeBiz and is writing a book on cyclists' contribution to better roads. He has received writing grants from the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund and the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
BP cannot whitewash its image anymore
Praise Jesus, Reverend Billy is in town. London, that is.
He went to the Tate Modern gallery, which is being sponsored by BP,
and he did his big religious show to exorcise the demons of BP.
BP has just left the building.
He went to the Tate Modern gallery, which is being sponsored by BP,
and he did his big religious show to exorcise the demons of BP.
BP has just left the building.
Friday, 17 June 2011
if the third world can build solar homes...
I wonder why things are going so slowly in the West. Perhaps, we haven't gone broke trying to power and heat our homes, yet. YET!
Once it starts to bite, lots more will switch, and follow the lead of
checkitout:
from e360 digest yale .edu
One Million Households Powered by Solar Energy in Bangladesh
16 Jun 2011:
The number of households powered by solar energy in Bangladesh has passed the one million mark — the fastest expansion of solar power in the world, according to Bangladeshi officials. Aided by non-governmental organizations that provide low-cost loans to install solar panels, Bangladesh’s rural households — most of which are off the electricity grid — have driven a dizzying expansion of solar power in recent years. In 2002, only 7,000 households were using solar panels. The country reached the 1 million-household milestone 18 months ahead of schedule, and by 2014 Bangladeshi officials are aiming to power 2.5 million homes with solar energy. “It’s the fastest expansion of solar energy anywhere in the world,” said Nazmul Haq, of Bangladesh’s Infrastructure Development Company. An estimated 60 percent of Bangladesh’s 150 million people have no access to reliable electricity, and a World Bank report last month said that solar panels had “changed the face of the remote, rural areas of Bangladesh.”
Once it starts to bite, lots more will switch, and follow the lead of
Bangladesh!
checkitout:
from e360 digest yale .edu
One Million Households Powered by Solar Energy in Bangladesh
16 Jun 2011:
The number of households powered by solar energy in Bangladesh has passed the one million mark — the fastest expansion of solar power in the world, according to Bangladeshi officials. Aided by non-governmental organizations that provide low-cost loans to install solar panels, Bangladesh’s rural households — most of which are off the electricity grid — have driven a dizzying expansion of solar power in recent years. In 2002, only 7,000 households were using solar panels. The country reached the 1 million-household milestone 18 months ahead of schedule, and by 2014 Bangladeshi officials are aiming to power 2.5 million homes with solar energy. “It’s the fastest expansion of solar energy anywhere in the world,” said Nazmul Haq, of Bangladesh’s Infrastructure Development Company. An estimated 60 percent of Bangladesh’s 150 million people have no access to reliable electricity, and a World Bank report last month said that solar panels had “changed the face of the remote, rural areas of Bangladesh.”
the Cavaliere decides to dump Nukes
As much as I like his taste in women, I think that Berlusconi will be
remembered in history as the guy who at least tried to get Italy
to stop cooking Nukes, for electricity generation.
He probably figured that since the Japanese are an advanced nation,
and they made a 'bruta figura' at Fukushima, then
[Berlusconi's channel is channelling some other ideas] The RAI weather girls he dated.
RAI Miss Italia
[RAI's Striscia la Notizia- guys talk, gals dance]
checkitout:
1 wikileaksnews.net
The fresh list of glamorous women linked to the billionaire Italian prime minister by prosecutors included 25-year-old Manuela and Marianna Ferrera, brunette twins who present the weather on Italian TV in skimpy clothing.
Others named were Maylin Aguirre, 28, who was nominated as Italy’s candidate for Miss World, and 18-year-old beauty queen Ambra Battilana.
Berlusconi is accused of paying for sexual relations with a girl under the legal age limit for prostitution in Italy, which is 18, and abusing his position as prime minister to have the girl, a Moroccan-born belly dancer known as Ruby Heartstealer, released from custody for theft last May.
His trial is scheduled to start next month, and if found guilty he faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail.
2 nukes
Italy nuclear power probably dead after referendum-PM
ROME, June 13 (Reuters) - Prospects for nuclear power in Italy appear to have disappeared due to the probable result of a referendum, meaning the country must focus on developing renewable energy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said.
Speaking to reporters on Monday as Italians continued to vote in four referendums on various issues, Berlusconi said the result of the vote proposing to abandon plans to invest in nuclear energy appeared clear.
"Following the decision the Italian people are taking at this moment, we must probably say goodbye to the possibility of nuclear power stations and we must strongly commit ourselves to renewable energy," Berlusconi said. (Writing by Gavin Jones in Rome)
remembered in history as the guy who at least tried to get Italy
to stop cooking Nukes, for electricity generation.
He probably figured that since the Japanese are an advanced nation,
and they made a 'bruta figura' at Fukushima, then
what hope does Italy have?
Italians (guys at least) are more than a little distracted
by Berlusconi's handiwork:
Italians (guys at least) are more than a little distracted
by Berlusconi's handiwork:
[Berlusconi's channel is channelling some other ideas] The RAI weather girls he dated.
RAI Miss Italia
[RAI's Striscia la Notizia- guys talk, gals dance]checkitout:
1 wikileaksnews.net
The fresh list of glamorous women linked to the billionaire Italian prime minister by prosecutors included 25-year-old Manuela and Marianna Ferrera, brunette twins who present the weather on Italian TV in skimpy clothing.
Others named were Maylin Aguirre, 28, who was nominated as Italy’s candidate for Miss World, and 18-year-old beauty queen Ambra Battilana.
Berlusconi is accused of paying for sexual relations with a girl under the legal age limit for prostitution in Italy, which is 18, and abusing his position as prime minister to have the girl, a Moroccan-born belly dancer known as Ruby Heartstealer, released from custody for theft last May.
His trial is scheduled to start next month, and if found guilty he faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail.
2 nukes
Italy nuclear power probably dead after referendum-PM
ROME, June 13 (Reuters) - Prospects for nuclear power in Italy appear to have disappeared due to the probable result of a referendum, meaning the country must focus on developing renewable energy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said.
Speaking to reporters on Monday as Italians continued to vote in four referendums on various issues, Berlusconi said the result of the vote proposing to abandon plans to invest in nuclear energy appeared clear.
"Following the decision the Italian people are taking at this moment, we must probably say goodbye to the possibility of nuclear power stations and we must strongly commit ourselves to renewable energy," Berlusconi said. (Writing by Gavin Jones in Rome)
Friday, 27 May 2011
the latest electo-refit
Make mine a Ferrari refit.
As people smell the post Peak Oil money, they are making
some electric hay.
more later
As people smell the post Peak Oil money, they are making
some electric hay.
more later
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