These are the days of miracle and wonder

Wired News: Mighty Mice Regrow Organs:

Genetically altered mice discovered accidentally at the Wistar Institute in Pennsylvania have the seemingly miraculous ability to regenerate like a salamander, and even regrow vital organs.

Technorati tags: science, medicine, mice, regeneration

Geothermal Heat Pump

More info on how heat pumps work and a truly amazing vision of how much heat they can collect in winter and take away in summer. Gotta have one!Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium, Inc.

National Downshifting Week

"National Downshifting Week comes from the UK and will be 1 year old next April (the second edition is from April 22nd to 28th, 2006,...). It's gaining ground all over the world with its simple concept: People are basically asked to live more simply, take time for themselves, act to protect the environment, turn off the TV and reconnect with loved ones, etc."
I somehow managed to miss it last year; can't believe it. I've put it in my diary for next year. It's particularly topical for me since I'm looking into the idea of launching a down-shifting consultancy/coaching strand to my business. Just got to get a handle on promo...

Treehugger: National Downshifting Week:

Sequestration Revisited

At first I was a bit dismissive about this but I've come to agree with this point: "Although some may hope to use carbon sequestration as an excuse to delay or ignore a move towards non-carbon-emitting technologies, the reality is that the planet is close enough now to a potential climate tipping point that we should not rule out any effort that might help us forestall disaster."

However it is no magic bullet:

"Under best case scenarios, carbon capture and storage wouldn't make a significant difference in CO2 levels until the mid-point of this century"



WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: Sequestration Revisited:

A Vision of a World of Hemp

"The only thing keeping us from achieving the dawn of a new tomorrow is our monopoly cotton and paper industries, and a government which seems to be supporting those industries by restricting and limiting hemp production permits and also by unleashing the DEA on would-be hemp producers (despite the fact that it has NEVER been illegal to grow hemp in America)."

Treehugger: A Vision of a World of Hemp:

A Solar Air Conditioner

I suggested a few months back that this was surely a win-win design. Someone else thought so and put their money where my mouth was. Actually, I imagine they did so before I even thought it.

Treehugger: SolCool: A Solar Air Conditioner

The Manchester Bobber

A new design for a wave power device which gets over the problem of access to the works for maintainance.

WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: The Manchester Bobber

Biblical curse generator

As the owner of a set of fridge magnets of Shakespearean insults, this had to be something that got my attention. These are mostly actually not insults from scripture as such but based on scripture. Still they are amusing and Monty-Pythonesque. I liked this one;
Behold, thou shalt be thrown into a den of hyperactive lions, O thou wayward winebibber!
Ship of Fools: Biblical curse generator

Can Infidels be Innocents?

Over the summer I reported that there had been fatwas against the bombers. It turns out that these were not fatwas. And it also turns out that we need to ask decidedly pointed questions of muslims who condemn acts of terror commited by those of Muslim background; "Muslim statements condemning the killing of 'innocents' cannot be taken at face value but must be probed to find out who exactly are considered innocent and who not. In brief, Can infidels be innocents?". We hear 'innocents' and think 'passers-by' etc. At least some of the Jihadists and who knows who else tend to exclude 'kuffar' -that is non-Muslims from the category of 'innocent' ... The evasiveness of Omar Bakri Mohammed needs to be seen to be believed on this point.
Can Infidels be Innocents? [Weblog] - Daniel Pipes:

green roofs again

Cityhippy on green roofing, for reference.

City Hippy: The diary of our struggle to live a green and fair life.

IRA disarmament to be announced

I have to say that the unionists seem to be throwing their toys out of the cot with regard to the IRA decommissioning. "Unionists remain sceptical about the claims, putting back the likely date of any further negotiations on power-sharing in Northern Ireland between Sinn F�in and Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist party."
It really does look from here like they are having trouble adjusting to not having a 'proper' enemy any longer; a sulk using the pretext of details as justification. Thin justification though; come on; are they really saying that the international and bi-community observers are lying? Just because the IRA did this in a way that didn't didn't symbolically humiliate them the unionists get all pouty. Let's hope that they can grow up enough to see that peace and security for all Northern Irish is more important and that they will look like the bad guys if they don't engage more constructively. They are not doing their case any good, especially after the recent riots.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | IRA disarmament to be announced:

[Footprint] The Lives Behind Sustainable Business

Like many I have taken a keen interest in what I consume. Whether I buy goods that have been sustainably or unsustainably, justly or unjustly produced. Over time I've realised that this also means that I have a responsibility in what I produce, not simply what I consume. If my production is unsustainable or supports unsustainability then I need to think twice about what I am doing.

As a self employed person I have numerous customers in various types of business. Being under contract to these companies means that I am supporting their businesses. The big question is 'should I pick and choose what businesses I work for'? The answer has to be yes.

So how do I promote myself to the type of business that I wish to support?

Well, personally speaking I desire to be a customer of sustainable businesses, and if I also feel that the owners and employees who end up with my money in their pockets live in an ecologically sensitive way too then I'm happier to do business with them. If it is merely the business that is sustainable and the owner(s) and employees just blow their income on plane rides and Nescafé then I'm not so keen. So, conversely, perhaps I could promote my business on my own lifestyle?

Would potential customer's be drawn to contract out to a person who is living by a similar set of values as themselves? Well, I'm not sure that awareness of this consideration is high. Whilst people are aware of the eco-credentials/justice credentials of various businesses I'm not sure that they go as far as considering the lifestyles of those employed by the business. However, surely the impact of the workers is just as great as the impact of the business itself?

Is it possible to succintly promote the concept of not only a sustainable and just business, but a sustainable and just personal lifestyle behind the business?

How To Do Decentralized Energy

"In a decentralised energy (DE) system, electricity would be generated close to or at the point of use. Buildings, instead of being passive consumers of energy, would become power stations, constituent parts of local energy networks." In other words, how does the possibility of subsidising your holiday or your away-from-home job by selling your unused wind or solar generated power sound?

WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: How To Do Decentralized Energy:

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Microgrids as peer-to-peer energy

Peer to peer power could be the name of the game in years to come. "Microgrids are designed for a smallish community - a typical UK housing estate for example. They deal much more efficiently with fluctuating power demands which the national grid is not flexible enough to cope with."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Microgrids as peer-to-peer energy:

Blair is accused of Kyoto U-turn

At first sight a bad thing, but actually not too bad really. The thing to be recalled is that Kyoto is date limited and we need to be looking beyond it anyhow.... "A spokesman from Number 10 Downing Street denied, however, that the Prime Minister's comments signalled the end of Kyoto. 'The point he was making is we can't get into a position of 'it's either targets or science and technology'; we need to start from a position where we incorporate both those points of view,' he said."

The moot point is still about how we move towards lower fossil carbon economies, we should always beware of fetishising partial and temporary steps like Kyoto. Though the symbolic importance should not be underestimated either.

The Observer | Politics | Blair is accused of Kyoto U-turn:

British imams to tackle radicals in mosques

Some people, both Muslim and not, have been working towards this for a number of years, it looks like it might finally be paying off. Of course the element of compulsion is not going to be welcome, but actually it is of a piece with the citizenship approach being taken to immigration where English speaking and broad support of British institutions is being sought, if I've understood correctly. A bit of a shock to those of us who reflexively work by the principle that we can't interfere in a faith community's internal polity unless we are insiders, but after years of consultation and a good measure of support from British Muslims, I guess this is warrented.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | British imams to tackle radicals in mosques

Green Roofs: A primer

I've always thought [ie since I was little] that a green roof seemed like a better use of roof space than tiles. So insulating and good for wildlife. Well here's a start to thinking about the principles.

Treehugger: Green Roofs: A primer

IMF drops poor countries' debt.

I think that this means that there has been real progress. Thank God. "The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to wipe out the debt of 18 of the world's poorest nations after rich countries bridged differences that had threatened a pact first signed in July."
IMF drops poor countries' debt. 25/09/2005. ABC News Online:

Flu Wiki - Main - FluWiki

I've been getting a little twitchy on the inside about this bird 'flu thing, it feeds off the awareness that we're overdue for a big pandemic, and as I now longer have that feeling I had as a younger man that I am robust enough to survive ...
So this site about 'flu has at least some info which can help sort out the facts from the fears and even a few tips.
Flu Wiki - Main - FluWiki

And the little one said

Well the Bowsher family now has 2 bloggers as my daughter has a blog for her rants [her word]. And I was proud to see how articulate and passionate she is ...
Revolutionise

minipreneurs

As I read this, I realised that I seem to be evolving into one...
TRENDWATCHING.COM Newsletter | Global Consumer and Marketing Trends | September 2005

Vatican Ban on gay priests

Apparently, the Vatican has just recommended the banning of gay men from being ordained. It seems a bit rich to me: about the only channel that the Vatican system allowed gay men was the celibate priesthood and now they seem to have gone down the route of scapegoating them for the recent abuse scandals. I was not aware that there is any evidence that gays are more likely to be into paedophilia than heteros. In fact I agree with this sentiment; "Several priests challenged that argument and noted that heterosexual priests face their own temptations: The overwhelming majority of lay ministers who work side by side with clergy are women, yet no one has suggested banning heterosexuals from the priesthood"
Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Expected Vatican Ban Roils American Church:

This sounds a worthwhile investment of creative talent. Nuclear proliferation seems to be about to become an even more concerning problem than it already is.
"We want to create optimistic communications to encourage the creation of Nuclear Weapons Free Zones around the world. So, your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to create a slogan, logo or visual representation about the above. "
the Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community:

Technology Special Report

BusinessWeek Online: does what it says on the packet; articles on the technology of cost reduction in an era of dearer oil. Includes an article on 'the house that costs nothing to run'.

BusinessWeek Online: Technology Special Report

Earthship Biotecture

Mark [the guest bloggist on this blog] put me onto thil rather good looking site on earthships. Since I'm thinking about it as a housing option at some point ... I thought I'd bag it and blog it!

Earthship Biotecture

Can O`Worms

This seems to be a 'knit your own plant-food' kit. As far as I can tell, you put the veggie waste in the top tray and when it's full move it down a place and replace it with the bottom one and so on. In the meantime, I gather the active ingredient [worms] and the lime help make a liquid plant food. It's a bit pricey for me just now, but maybe that'll change ...

Can O`Worms

Amazon.co.uk -zShops: Praying the Pattern: The Lord's Prayer as Framework for Prayer and Life...

I've realised that if I offer my book out of my own stock on Amazon UK I undercut Amazon because they add a finders fee, whereas I only add postage and packing. Further value is that I sign the copies ordered from my stock. So if you want a signed copy, order from this bit of Amazon ... US and Canada folks may want to check the post and packing of ordering direct from the printers as I am told that the p&p is particularly favourable just now.
Amazon.co.uk -zShops: Praying the Pattern: The Lord's Prayer as Framework for Prayer and Life...

Praying the Pattern: The Lord's Prayer as Framework for Prayer and Life...

I've realised that if I offer my book out of my own stock on Amazon UK I undercut Amazon because they add a finders fee, whereas I only add postage and packing. Further value is that I sign the copies ordered from my stock. So if you want a signed copy, order from thil bit of Amazon ...

warning over aircraft pollution

"'If the UK government does not curb aviation growth, all other sectors of the economy will eventually be forced to become carbon neutral,'"
But there is an indication that the government is looking at carbon trading to do the work, "the environment minister Elliot Morley today said
"I actually think there are other ways of doing it. The most effective one is to include aviation within carbon trading schemes, so there is an absolute limit on the amount of emissions from the aviation sector."
I am trying to work out whether this would address George Monbiot's concerns. Any thoughts welcome.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Report sounds warning over aircraft pollution:

The human factor

"You cannot reach justice until you humanise each other."
Resonates with Christ's teaching on forgiveness. Other quotes;
"Pain equalises you, and you start to listen - and that is when you start to understand,"
"How can you build trust unless there is dialogue?"
"With the current disengagement of settlers from Gaza, most Israelis are just glad we are getting the hell out of there; most Palestinians are glad we are going. Deep in their hearts, many settlers are glad to be going and getting away from the dangers of day-to-day living. No one wants to see their children go to school in an armoured car."
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | The human factor:

Waists and index of social change

I ltarted to read this article because I am interested in nutrician and health and I was interested to see that the catwalks might be reflecting real women rather than 'stick insects'. What I go was a fascinating treatise that shows how waist size changes are about more than our eating habits and tie into various social changes. For example;
"abdominal fat develops when a person is under long-term stress, thanks to the release of a hormone called cortisol. "
So a more stessed society changes the shape of its citizens. It is also affecting life expectancy. It may be that living to well over 80 is something that our less well nourished grandparents can expect but perhaps not us. The actuarial calculations in the pensuions debate may need to be revised after all.
And that's even before we get to thinking about what is the significance of the return of the waist in couture; apparently it's about femininity, allure and empowerment ....
or is it about elites who can afford the diets, time and lifestyles that make old-time waists possible, showing off their status in their bodies? Harking back to that pramal prejudice that studies show are still with us; the cult of beauty. To the physically attractive, the status.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Where did our waists go?:

food is a tax-deductable expense?

In about 1998 I enquired of the Inland revenue whether my internet account had a tax deductible component since I used it in the course of my ministry. At that time the answer was no. I gather that this has now changed. So it seems to me that a clergybeing, say, who cycles round the parish can claim already I think for an appropriate proportion of their cycle's maintainance costs, should be able to claim something for 'fuel', just as they would if it were a car they were using. "If you ride a bike in the course of doing business and consume extra calories to do so, then the food you eat should be a legitimate business expense."
I can see the arguments over what constitutes a reasonable price [so as to exclude those Savoy prices!] but they will come to an acceptable compromise like over heating and lighting for homeworkers and so forth...
Treehugger: Ride a bike? Maybe your food is a tax-deductable expense.:

working models for eco business

This looks like a model that I reckon is viable. I'd be interested in my pension funds supporting this kind of venture. "One small company, Sun Edison, has set up an intriguing scheme where it places solar systems on the flat roof of a supermarket or big-box retailer, then sells the power back to them. ... Sun Edison's payoff comes years from now as it gradually buys back the equity and associated income in the equipment"

Treehugger: Here Comes the Sun:

corporate responsibility

"At a conference organised by the Building Research Establishment, I witnessed an extraordinary thing: companies demanding tougher regulations, and the government refusing to grant them. Environmental managers from BT and John Lewis (which owns Waitrose) complained that without tighter standards that everyone has to conform to, their companies put themselves at a disadvantage if they try to go green. “All that counts”, the man from John Lewis said, “is cost, cost and cost.” If he’s buying eco-friendly lighting and his competitors aren’t, he loses. As a result, he said, “I welcome the EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, as it will force retailers to take these issues seriously.”(6) Yes, I heard the cry of the unicorn: a corporate executive, welcoming a European directive."



And what's more there are examples of inventiveness that are just waiting for the right [regulatory] environment to be turned into resource-saving reality [including 'a virtually silent wind turbine, which hangs, like a clothes hoist, from a vertical axis. It can be installed in the middle of a city without upsetting anyone']. As one of the protagonists says, “none of this is going to happen if the market is left to itself.”. In fact we should recall markets are rarely 'left to themselves' there is always a regulatory structure; weights and measures, trades descriptions, contract, legal redress, and that's before we get onto the various subsidies and tax regimes virtual or actual that try to ensure just and humane working of the system. The old names for deregulation were banditry, piracy, theft, fraud, slavery etc.



The issue is not to regulate, it is how to regulate. The point of the historic regulatory frameworks which we so take for granted that we forget they are there and necessary, is to make trade work fairly and to protect the lives, health and wellbeing of consumers, workers, bystanders and producers. It seems to me that this kind of regulation is about all of that.

This is not an issue that we want new Labour machismo about.

George Monbiot � A World Turned Upside Down:

Environmental martyrs

"It would be a remarkable success story for grassroots activism were it not also so painful. 'They murdered my boys. That isn't an easy thing to bear,' leading activist Albertano Peñalosa said as he recalled the May night when gunmen opened fire on his home."

Puts turning off appliances and leaving the car at home in perspective doesn't it?

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Root and branch reform:

A list of global concern

"international movement for democratic control of financial markets and their institutions" ATTAC INTERNATIONAL
Tobin tax And the Wikipedia article on it.
Redefining Progress (RP) works with a broad array of partners to shift the economy and public policy towards sustainability. RP does this in three ways:
RP measures the real state of our economy, our environment, and social justice with tools like the Genuine Progress Indicator and the Ecological Footprint.
We design policies—like environmental tax reform—to shift behavior in these three domains (economy, environment, and equity) towards sustainability.
We promote and create new frameworks—like common assets—to replace the ones that are taking us away from long-term social, economic, and environmental health.
True Cost Economics a fight to revolutionize economics before our planet is destroyed. We need a new economic paradigm - one that is open, holistic, and human scale. The economic revolution begins with jamming Economics departments. It ends with an entirely new way to measure progress.
Ecological economics pioneer Robert Costanza likens conventional economics to a bucket full of water that's ready to tip. All it needs is one sharp jolt. So, let's kick it over.
Mediacarta Our minds have become a virtual dumping ground of pollutants -- manipulative ads, distorted news, untold violence, spin and hype. We can cope with the media onslaught to a degree. But all signs suggest that the cumulative effects of this toxic culture -- on our stress levels, our moods, our relationships, our worldviews, even our mental health -- could become one the most pressing issues of our generation. ... We consider Media Democracy, Media Justice and especially Mental Environmentalism to be groundbreaking narratives that could gel our activism into a full-fledged movement -- a movement on par with feminism, civil rights and environmentalism.
Corporate crackdown "...we'll launch a Corporate Crackdown. With a focused strategy of direct action and meme warfare let's prove no one's above the will of the people."

Indian budget airlines revolution

India is seeing the beginnings of a cheap flight growth with worrying implications for global warming. Although the scale would not compare to the USA, it is still a bad precedent. There's an interesting reflection at the end of the Guardian article.

"'Really we should be modernising our railways so that the time taken by rail is comparable to airlines, especially on these shorter trips,' said Dr Pachauri. 'But there is no one ministry that deals with transport. So nobody weighs up the pros and cons between transport modes. No one is building a Japanese bullet train in India. Instead, our railways are fading away, rather like what happened in America in the 30s. I am afraid that we will end up looking like America where planes shuttle people between cities, rather than France or Japan where people take the train."

It's the qwerty effect: happenstance at crucial junctures embedding structures that are then very difficult to change and may not be for the best.

Guardian Unlimited Travel | News | Indian airspace buzzes with first-time flyers as budget airlines stage a revolution:

national pensions debate?

Under current rules I am approximately half way through my working lifetime. As some readers will be aware I'm at present undertaking a not entirely voluntary career break which will soon begin to have implications for my retirement. I'm also looking at a situation where I may have 10-20 good years of retirement in relative good health. That's if the potential heart problem is kept at bay by my efforts to keep adaquately exercised and properly 'dieted'. Actually, as I view that prospect along with knowing myself through this period of not working for money very often, I think that I welcome 'removing the barriers to flexible retirement and the way pensions are paid'
And I think that I this makes for interesting reflection.
"studies showing that, while men retiring at 65 and women at 60 currently receive a basic state pension of £82, deferring to 70 could allow payments to rise to £130.."
That is assuming that climate change hasn't caused so much disruption that 'all bets are off'. And it feels like it is a bet. I'm starting to wonder whether I'd be better off learning things like plumbing, house repair and building, basic agriculture and so on ....
Guardian Unlimited Money | News_ | Brown calls for national pensions debate:

Women managers promoted faster but salaries still fall short of male counterparts

I'm really outraged that women don't appear to be paid equally with men. There is really no excuse for paying differently for the same work. I was however a bit more cautious about this: "'Talk of the glass ceiling has given way to a skylight effect. Increasing numbers of women are finding there is an opening and they are clambering through to get to the next stage. But many still feel they are blocked by the old boys' network and have to work twice as hard as the men to get around this obstacle.'"
Mainly because it looks to me as a man from outside of the old boy networks as if this isn't just a problem for women. More galling sometimes when women from certain social backgrounds seem preferred because of that social background. Sometimes class counts for more than gender.
Guardian Unlimited Money | Work | Women managers promoted faster but salaries still fall short of male counterparts, says survey:

The Resonate Pool

Those loverly peops at Resonate have made loads of pix available for worship usage in a Flickr pool. Enjoy!
Flickr: The Resonate Pool

Praying the pattern review

I'm delighted to report that I have found the first review of Praying the Pattern. And that, on the whole it was very positive: "This book has impacted me like no other book on prayer has. It has made me look deeper into the way I pray and the way I live in a way which is helpful to me. It emphasises different ways of praying because everybody is unique. That is what makes this book so powerful; there will be something in there for you to. I recommend this book with an urgency."
There is some more negative comment and in the interests of fairness I quote that also; "Andii offers some explanations, reflections and points of teaching on each [individual clauses, for example, ‘Give us today our daily bread’]. These are very helpful and insightful notes, but I found that the slightly messy and confusing structure made it sometimes difficult to follow. I couldn’t help but get frustrated to see so many original and inspirational thoughts on the Lord’s Prayer muddled into the historic and theological backgrounds I was promised wouldn’t be the focus. I wanted more of the ‘good stuff’!"
Probably true though in defence, I know that some of my likely readers get twitchy if there isn't reference to the theoligical and historical stuff and in a number of cases the insights have grown out of or in dialogue with that stuff. So it may be that some readers won't find it confusing but perhaps want more of it.

In fact Simone, the reviewer, doesn't include an interesting comment in the review which she made to me in a personal email: "it seemed a bit rushed and crushed in places. As if you were able to expland and say so much more but didn't have the time? That almost feels like a shame because the material is so good and so fresh."
Which was probably true in some sections but also a factor was that I wanted to leave it incomplete in some ways so as to encourage readers to think that it really is a work in progress that can include them via the website. So some things are in there in a deliberately sketchy form to provoke further thought and interaction.

Still if there is ever a second edition, these are things that will be addressed.
Praying the pattern:

taking the p***

"we have designed a disposable battery on a chip, which is activated by biofluids such as urine"

Actually got a lot of potential for things like MP3 players etc....

Urine Battery Turns Pee Into Power:

maggi dawn: Fifteen minutes of fame?

maggi dawn: "I'm working on a research project at the moment which may well become the basis of a TV programme. I'm looking at the emergence of new forms of Church - the kind of thing that has variously been called New Forms, Alternative, Emerging, Fresh Expressions, etc...
Are you in a group like that, anywhere in the UK? If so, would you like to take part in the project, either by being a commenter, being interviewed, or having your Emerging group featured....?
If so, please e-mail me at this address:
emergingprojectATgmail.com
and I'll send you a questionnaire. All information given to me on the questionnaire will be treated as confidential, and will not be reproduced without your permission."
maggi dawn: Fifteen minutes of fame?:

Corporate Censors

"So instead of democracy, we get Baywatch. They are not the same thing. Aspirational TV might stimulate an appetite for more money, or more plastic surgery, and this in turn might encourage people to look, for better or worse, to the political systems that deliver them, but it is just as likely to be counter-democratic. As a result of pressure from both ratings and advertisers, for example, between 1993 and 2003 environmental programmes were cleared from the schedules of BBC TV, ITV and Channel 4. Though three or four documentaries have slipped out since then, the ban has not yet been wholly lifted. To those of us who have been banging our heads against this wall, it feels like censorship."
George Monbiot � The Net Censors[:culturejamming:]:

freedom's weakest link

Writing to my MP a few days back about why I thought she should not support the ID card legislation, I pointed out that any system is only as strong as its weakest link. And there are some remarkably weak links in the systems. In fact freedom is only as strong as its weakest link and this tells us how "A study earlier this year by a group of scholars called the OpenNet Initiative revealed what no one had thought possible: that the Chinese government is succeeding in censoring the net(8). Its most powerful tool is its control of the routers — the devices through which data is moved from one place to another. With the right filtering systems, these routers can block messages containing forbidden words. Human-rights groups allege that western corporations — in particular Cisco Systems — have provided the technology and the expertise"
It's a reminder of why eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
George Monbiot � The Net Censors:

"Sustainable" Label Offered As Alternative to "Organic"

Never can be sure that this isn't just a corporate 'spoiling' tactic to introduce confusion and a divide-and-rule dynamic. But I'm pretty sure we'll see it in Britain too"The system sets standards for water quality, soil management, and wildlife protection, but, in a notable departure from organic farming, it allows use of synthetic pesticides"

Treehugger: "Sustainable" Label Offered As Alternative to "Organic":

Holy Spirit in stained glass

I love the green outline; vibrant and a symbol of life. Window in the church my wife hopes to serve her curacy...

Methane for hydrogen storage?

Not sure if this is a goer but worth noting to keep in mind for further development.

SwanDerings: Praying

I've just discovered someone has been blogging about reading "Praying the Pattern". What's really exciting for me is that they are really engaging with the issues raised and it. Doubly so as the bit that is being quoted is a bit that was really one of those sections that, as I wrote it, seemed important and like one of the things that I felt really should be read/heard; I'd almost go as far as saying that it seemed one of the parts closest to God's purpose in my writing it.
So thank you Simone for sharing and I hope that God blesses your reflections richly.
SwanDerings: Praying

Young People With Old Ears

"'So what if you gave them out at the door at the concert? Would people wear them more?' Driscoll asks. 'I think some would.'" I would; rather, I do, kind of. The last several times I have gone to loud music venues, I have stuffed tissue in my ears. It still sounded great but I went home without that ringing in my ears which, according to this article, is the harbinger of hearing loss. I hate not hearing properly, so ...
Wired News: Young People With Old Ears:

Faith does breed charity

Roy Hattersley [a retired Labour politician and a devout atheist ;-)] writes a very interesting article about how the presence of religious (actually, looking at the examples, Christian) faith seems to motivate more good-doing than humanism.
"It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian or, better still, to take Christianity �la carte. The Bible is so full of contradictions that we can accept or reject its moral advice according to taste. Yet men and women who, like me, cannot accept the mysteries and the miracles do not go out with the Salvation Army at night.
The only possible conclusion is that faith comes with a packet of moral imperatives that, while they do not condition the attitude of all believers, influence enough of them to make them morally superior to atheists like me. The truth may make us free. But it has not made us as admirable as the average captain in the Salvation Army."
I seem to recall seeing some research a handful of years ago that showed that the proportion of people in the caring professions who were 'religious' was two -or was it three?- times higher proportionally to the population in Britain. Makes you think, eh?
Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Faith does breed charity:

memorialisation by GPS

There's a part of me that really likes this idea: "You choose the spot where you want to be buried, or a location that is close to your heart, be it a cliff top or a bar stool. People visit the spot with a mobile phone and only then does it activate a stream of information about the deceased person. “This may be in the form of words, pictures or even songs that commemorate the life of the individual. It is a kind of digital obituary."
It would mean that my preference for a woodland burial could be combined with a virtual memorial that isn't carved into the tree! The downside is that if there is a tech issue, then the memorial is gone. So if the systems are upgraded and become incompatible with the 'old' tech that the memorial is stored on ... There again stone erodes too.
[object HTMLFormElement]:

Carbon Trading for Individuals?

"The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) recently recommended that the Government should seriously consider the possibility of extending ‘cap and trade’ schemes for carbon dioxide (CO2) across the whole economy, to cover individuals, as well as business and the public sector. This would enable us to achieve guaranteed, annual cuts in our national ‘carbon budget’, and eventually reduce our emissions by at least 60% by 2050 – meeting the Government’s long term target."

This article gets us to think about the idea a bit more....

Sustainable Development Commission UK (SDC): Media Stories : Carbon Trading for Individuals?:

FIFA World Cup to go Carbon Neutral

"the most interesting part of this is the way in which the emissions are being offset. Typically, climate neutrality is achieved through the planting of trees (the G8 Summit and Coldplay’s Little Big Man album were both rendered c-neutral through tree planting), but the World Cup has devised a system that will initiate clean energy programs in a region of India hit hard by the recent Tsunami. Special “Family Clean Energy Packages,” devised specially for the Green Goal initiative, will set up rural villagers with biogas digesters that will generate cooking gas from cow manure. This is intended to replace the use of kerosene and wood as the primary fuels, methods that contribute to climate change, deforestation, and respiratory disease. In a press release, the Organizing Committee described their goal as to “provide eco-friendly, safe and guaranteed energy supplies… thus simultaneously protecting the local and global climate, and improving the villagers' quality of life.”"

Treehugger: FIFA World Cup to go Carbon Neutral:

Fair Trade coffee -it's the least you can do

Amongst this really helpful article telling us just how coffee gets from Ethiopia to us, there is an interesting comment on fairtrade. "'Fairtrade, even if all multinationals agreed to it, doesn't put much pressure on their profits in the larger scheme of things,' says Tadesse Meskele, general manager of the Oromiya cooperative. By his calculations, one kilogram of coffee provides a western coffee shop with between 80 and 100 cups of coffee, each costing around £1. 'So even if multinationals buy Fairtrade, they get at least £80 for a kilogram of coffee that they buy for £1.55. Is that fair trade? It's a complete misnomer, giving the impression that the farmer is getting a fair piece of the profit pie, and can live a decent life. But in reality, it's just one of the means to help the farmers struggle for a slightly better deal.'"
In other words, there is really little excuse for our fairtrade coffee to be significantly more expensive than the other stuff. That will help me as I consider writing to Caffe Nero to get them to put FT on their menu (they are the only chain coffee shop in Durham who don't). It's also a good point to argue with other suppliers. As to the rest of us; the article may be a little disparaging about the effect of FT on growers, but it does give an idea of how much a relatively good and stable price can mean for growers. We really should only consider drinking FT.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Coffee trail:[:fairtrade:]

Season of Creation |

"For four Sundays in September we celebrate A Season of Creation with Christ."
I very much support this, I have vague recollections of blogging about it before. When I was running a university chaplaincy, I informally calendared in what I had in my head as a creation season in the early Autumn when we would deal with issues of creation care and planetary stewardship. I would like to push them further and think about having the Creation Season last to the end of October - wherupon Kingdomtide begins; I think I would want to explore this a bit more as an option given that Harvest festivals in the UK tend to be around the start of October or at least the end of September and that would be a good starting point for a Creation season here. I note that the origination for this proposal is in Australia, where it would be a Spring-time festival and coinciding with Harvest festivals not an issue. However the ECEN have endorsed the framework and so I thirk we are looking at a done deal. The aim of this calendar reform is to lead up to St Francis of Assisi Day. At Bradford University, I tended to start the season in early October, having used the last few weeks of September on 'welcome' themes.
The site gives a helpfully brief outline of a theology for the season and one bit summed up where I am up to with it:
"We recognise a deep incarnation, God becoming flesh and in so doing joining the biological web of life. Jesus Christ, this God incarnate, not only suffers with creation but also rises as the cosmic Christ to reconcile, renew and fill all things in creation."
Season of Creation |:

Are you prepared?

A nice piece of design for a site that caters to all of us who looked at the New Orleans disaster and thought; "how do you deal with that?" There's tips and a comprehensive list here of how to prepare for the worst. Courtesy of the San Francisco Office of Emergency Services.
Are you prepared?

The muscular liberals are marching into a dead end

In yesterday's Guardian, Madeleine Bunting takes a few shots at what she calls "Muscular liberals". If I read her aright, she means those who have in other fora been called "fascist liberals", those whose liberalism is ideologically rigid and based on an almost fundamentalistic adherance to Enlightenment values and have a hard time acknowledging that there are other viewpoints that may have reason even if not framing it in post-Enlightenment scaffolding. Her last couple of paragraphs particularly grabbed me.
"Here is a quick list of some of the Enlightenment legacy that we need to keep working on: the relationship of reason to emotion and faith (of all kinds, not just religious, most particularly our faith in humanity); a broader account of human nature beyond the bankrupted belief in the perfectibility of man; more meanings of freedom than the freedom to shop; a much better understanding of what individuality is (rather than the sham version we see lauded today) and its relationship to the collective. From such work, new understandings of progress could emerge.
For the muscular liberals so loudly and so emptily proclaiming their own superiority, it is anathema to suggest that the insights of Islam might have a bearing on many of these issues and could even contribute to a renaissance in western thought. But it's worth reminding them that it's done just that before."
A lot there for Christians to agree with and engage with. Interesting that Islam gets the plaudits but, just maybe in God's providence, Islam could be the way back for western societies to re-engage religious matters on an equal footing with 'secular' thought and for western Christians to re-engage with the emerging western culture in a globalised world?
Guardian Unlimited | Columnists | The muscular liberals are marching into a dead end:

Tax avoidance 'keeps developing world poor'

For our prayer and action. It looks likely to me that this will be a focus of campaigning by aid agencies. Please note the last sentence of the quote.
"tax regimes must be put in place in order to help achieve the MDG aim of cutting poverty by half by 2015.
'Tax is the forgotten issue in the debate about how to tackle poverty, and must be added to trade, debt and aid if the world is serious about meeting the MDGs,' Mr Pendleton said.
'For decades, poor countries such as Kenya and Bolivia have been haemorrhaging money to which they are properly entitled. If these leaks could be plugged, it would mean that poor countries would not have to be so reliant on handouts that so often come with damaging strings attached.'
Mr Pendleton said the GBP 272bn the multinational corporations and rich individuals avoided each year dwarfed the annual amount of annual overseas aid."
SocietyGuardian.co.uk | Society | Tax avoidance 'keeps developing world poor':

The New Monasticism

Christianity Today Magazine has an article on it which looks to be the kind of thing to be able to refer back to, so I'm noting it here so I can and so can you!
The New Monasticism - Christianity Today Magazine

Open Rights Group

This is an organisation that I will be keeping an eye on as they seem to have concerns that I think I share.
Open Rights Group
Not at the stage of being able to sign the pledge though.

Sky News' Freudian slip?

A sign of things to come?

I've written before about my concerns with regard to ID cards. Well look at this article and ask yourself how far we should trust our authorities with such a tool of control. "'It is shocking that we could not have a peaceful protest in a peaceful country but this is what these ministers want.'"
Here's a response from some No2ID campaigners
"Home Secretary Charles Clarke has been quoted as saying that civil liberties should not stand in the way of his plans. At the same time six civil liberties campaigners were arrested en route to a demonstration outside a meeting of EU ministers in Newcastle which he was addressing.
The NO2ID Six were stopped on their way to the summit where they intended to parade a 12 feet by 12 feet ID card while wearing orange boiler suits with barcodes stamped on their foreheads. After stopping them on suspicion of conspiring to cause a breach of the peace, the police charged them with conspiracy to cause criminal damage. At four o'clock the next morning they were bailed on condition that they do not go near the area of the summit until 3PM on Sunday.
Clearly the police are attempting to stifle peaceful protest that might be embarrassing for the government in front of fellow European ministers. This was a similar tactic to that used the Metropolitan Police to hide human rights protesters from the sight of the Chinese President when he visited London a few years ago.
The introduction of ID cards and a National Identity Register would make it even easier for the authorities to stifle legitimate political action. For instance, people might not be so eager to march against unpopular wars in future if they knew that their ID cards and/or biometrics could easily be checked by police if they attend demonstrations and that an entry would automatically be recorded in the National Identity Register audit trail. A government database of protesters would make it very easy to harass citizens who try to exercise their right to freedom of speech.
Benjamin Franklin said that those who would sacrifice essential liberties for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. To give up our civil liberties for the illusion of security would be very foolish indeed."

BBC NEWS | England | Tyne | Six campaigners held at EU summit:

Paternoster prayerbeads

I've just finished work [for the time being at any rate] on a rosary-style devotional aid using the Lord's prayer as the structuring and meditational principle. It works well, I've been using it as a way to pray and found it very helpful as a form of reflective praying. It came out of a Church of the Apostles 'rosary' in terms of the shape of the string of beads. Thanks to Karen Ward at Greenbelt who gave me a set of their beads in exchange for a copy of my book.
abbeynous.schtuff.com - prayerbeads

The changing of the Guardian

I thought this from an article on the Guardian's immanent change to a new format was really interesting."The website has been a great success, but 80 per cent of the awards it has received have been inspired by the print version. It enhances our reputation around the world. We are liberal, English language, not American and trustworthy; there is not much of that around. But it is still premature to say definitively how it will work out. The Google road is search-based advertising, and if that's the case, we'd rather have 11 million readers a month than 100,000 subscribers"
Lots of food for cultural comment there?
MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | The changing of the Guardian:

Alternative Energy Investment

"The past few months have seen record levels of investment in alternative energy amid fears that high oil prices are here to stay."

I probably don't really need to say much except that government policy makers really ought to be paying attention.

"Currently, only around $20bn a year is invested worldwide in renewable energy capacity; mainly wind and solar, with some in biomass and biofuels. A further $5bn is spent on research each year, particularly into hydrogen and fuel cells. But that figure is bound to grow. New Energy Finance expects the figure to increase to over $100bn within a decade - a sustained compound annual growth rate of 15-20%."

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY BLOG - Solar-Energy-Wind-Power.com: Alternative Energy Investment:

Oil Prices Push Conservation

"As the International Herald Tribune described last week, a study of Germany and Belgium's gasoline consumption during the first half of this year showed that higher prices caused consumption to drop by 10%. This represents a huge amount of behavior change by ordinary consumers."

For sheer scalability, we need to have things happen that embed eco-ways into everyday living. Fuel prices, sustained at higher levels over a period of time, is one of them. We didn't get to where we are now overnight [urban sprawl, loss of local, car culture etc] and it will take time to change again. I hope that the price protests don't succeed: we need this price mechanism to force us to do the right thing collectively.

WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: Oil Prices Push Conservation:

The Trouble with Virgins

"imagine a world in which multinational conglomerates own the exclusive rights to common, everyday words like red, fanatic, guide, funky, or stuff. "
Outrageous? But possible.
Adbusters : The Trouble with Virgins:

A conversion to Christ seen from a Wiccan perspective

An part of my ongoing mission to see us as others see us, here's a surprisingly sympathetic account of becoming a Christian through the eyes of her Wiccan sister.
Witchvox Article

Do Christmas differently

Last Christmas I got 6 chickens which are making someone's life richer in Africa. This idea is worth thinking about now before the panic sets in.
World Vision - Home

DIY Generative music online

I think that this is generative music on a webpage and you can do it yourself without much more than the right browser plug in. What's more you can download to your mobile.
WolframTones: Generate a Composition

Fashionably persecuted Christians

When I was a 'recently-converted' Christian, there was a lot of concern in the evangelical circles I was in touch with about the persecution of Christians in Communist states. Fair enough. What I now realise is that the knds of things that these articles are drawing to our attention were also going on and more; Coptic Christians in Egypt, difficulties for Christians in Turkey, Algeria, Sudan, etc. But these countries were our allies ... see where I'm going? That's not to say that we should not be challenging Muslim majority societies to be true to their own claims of tolerance (okay, let's not be too picky about dhimmi status for the time being), but let's not do so mainly because those societies are in the line of sight of public opinion.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/09/wmid09.xml

ultimate power?

This recent comment by Mark Porthouse is worth giving a tip of the hat to. "Let’s not be fooled by the myths and legends of our culture, which present the idea that violence is the ultimate arbiter. Let’s accept Christ’s example on the cross and incorporate his message fully into our lives as we are changed by his love for us."
It arises in reflection on the Star Wars mythology and is making a point that I think it is important to affirm. The choice we face in the end is whether we think that love or violence is the more ultimate reality. It puts me in mind of something I found myself saying recently in a discussion with one of my sons; in the end we see acts of what we label 'evil' being justified by reference to things that we recognise as good. What does this tell us about the nature of ultimate reality? That we cannot conceive of a universe in which evil has a lasting ultimacy...
SUNDAY PAPERS:

Hockerton Housing Project

"The Hockerton Housing Project is the UK's first earth sheltered, self-sufficient ecological housing development."

So worth a look for inspiration.

Miscanthus - The Supergrass of Energy?

Apparently "The Uni of Illinois reckons if it planted 8% of the state's land area with Miscanthus grass, burning the resulting dried fibre could generate enough electricty for the entire state." Of course there is not a huge population density there, as 8% of Irish land would only supply 33% of Eirean needs. Still it's better than petroleum.

Treehugger: Miscanthus - The Supergrass of Energy?

Loss of soil carbon happening

It looks like we [the planetary 'we'] are hitting a lot of vicious cycles which relate to increasing carbon dioxide in the atmospeher. "The unexpected loss of carbon from the soils - consistently, everywhere in England and Wales and therefore probably everywhere in the temperate world - means more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which means even more global warming, and yet more carbon lost from the soil."

This is getting depressing and when I consider warming denialists, I get angry ...

Guardian Unlimited | Life | Loss of soil carbon 'will speed global warming':

Energy Vacation -Lent towards a Reduced Ecological Footprint

This idea -having period of time when you aim to consume nothing or the barest minima of minima; "During your "vacation", turn off your thermostat, refrain from using any lights and use electricity only sparingly - i.e. to keep food from spoiling. No driving. No TV. And, yes not even any blogging or 24 hour news updates.". It looks like an idea to suggest for Lenten discipline say on Wednesdays and Fridays (the traditional fast days from of old).

The article helpfully adds: "The point is not so much to create rules and turn this into a game as to slow down and really understand what would disappear along with cheap energy, and why it's important to move toward a truly sustainable society."

And I add that we also can better appreciate something of the experience of millions in the world as well as our ancestors in the faith at the same time as training ourselves to move towards our fair share of planetary resources.

Energy Vacation - an idea for Lent?

This idea -having period of time when you aim to consume nothing or the barest minima of minima; "During your "vacation", turn off your thermostat, refrain from using any lights and use electricity only sparingly - i.e. to keep food from spoiling. No driving. No TV. And, yes not even any blogging or 24 hour news updates.". It looks like an idea to suggest for Lenten discipline say on Wednesdays and Fridays (the traditional fast days from of old).
Treehugger: Energy Vacation - The Zen of a Reduced Ecological Footprint

I have not yet done that for which I was made

"O Lord my God

teach my heart

where and how to seek you,

where and how to find you.

O Lord you are my God

and you are my Lord

and I have never seen you.

You have made me and remade me,

and you have bestowed on me all the good things I possess

and still I do not know you.

I have not yet done that for which I was made.

Teach me to seek you

for I cannot seek you unless you teach me

or find you unless you show yourself to me.

Let me seek you in my desire,

let me desire you in my seeking.

Let me find you by loving you,

let me love you when I find you."

-St Anselm



What resonated for me was the 'you have bestowed ... and still I do not know you. I have not done that for which I was made.' I do know God and yet I do not know God as well as my opportunities would tell I should and I am conscious that there are huge gaps between what I sense God has given me potential to be an to do and what I have been and done thus far. I am taken back to the sense that I need to think now what kind of old person I would like to be and begin living accordingly. I want to be old with God's wisdom and an irrepressable joy that is born of compassion ...

maggi dawn: I have not yet done that for which I was made:

Change (winds)

I know that this is the opposite of life coach orthodoxy, but the Yorkshire sense of humour in me smiles in recognition

Change (winds)

New Orleans: Everything Has Changed

This means that we have to both be trying to reduce future impacts while recognising that we will have to deal with the increased turbulance of what is already in the atmosphere. "Whether or not climate change fueled Katrina, we know that in a greenhouse world, we can expect more and bigger Katrinas to come. "WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: New Orleans: Everything Has Changed:

Geldof Betrayed the Poor

George Monbiot is indulging in a bit of 'I told you so', and Bob Geldof comes out badly. However Monbiot does seem to have a point. "Geldof ... seized a campaign which commanded great public enthusiasm, which had the potential gravely to embarrass Tony Blair and George Bush. He asked us to focus not on the harm the G8 leaders were doing, but on the help they might give. When they failed to deliver, he praised them anyway. His endorsement and the public forgetfulness it prompted helped license them to start reversing their commitments. When they did so, he said nothing. This looks to me like more than just political naivity. It looks as if he is working for the other side."
George Monbiot � The Man Who Betrayed the Poor:

In-browser remix

I'm starting to get worried about Google's reach, but a new development in software seems to be potentially an apple-care upsetter; culturejamming potential 8/10, imho. "The best mods mix content from multiple sites, upsetting the carefully calibrated sales environments at big online retailers. Check out Amazon's page for the new Harry Potter novel, and the Book Burro script adds a yellow sticky in the corner with up-to-the-second price quotes scraped from Barnes & Noble, Powell's Books, and other competitors. Even Boodman's employer has been modded. A script called Butler stuffs Froogle pages with links to other shopping sites. "
I might change my mind about submitting my book to Google Print though....
"It also undoes the clever copy protection on Google Print - the company's massive archive of scanned books - so you can copy and paste copyrighted book pages to your desktop."
Wired 13.09: START:

Damage exposure will 'wake America up'?

The more I'm seeing on our news reports [in my case the BBC and the Guardian], the bigger a deal this is looking. I would love to hear some USAmerican comment and reactions ... "'There are no jobs. There are no homes to go to, no hotels to go to, there is absolutely nothing here,' deputy police chief Warren Riley said. 'We advise people that this city has been destroyed ... it has completely been destroyed.'"
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Damage exposure will 'wake America up':

the swizz of the cards

Flash animation which succeeds in an amusing way in exposing the fraudulent arguments favouring ID cards
eclectech : the swizz of the cards

Binge thinking

It is my contention, given the problem with binge drinking is shared with nordic nations and Russia, that it is a cultural trajectory going back to Viking culture (I may be wrong). This article points out that it goes back to at least Tudor times and gives an appraisal of the impact of temperance. I thought that the final comments bear repeating, even if they get us little further forward in terms of culture change. "If journalists would stop writing hysterical leaders about '24-hour drinking' and turn their hands instead to thoughtful drinks page features about the merits of our national drink, that would be useful in improving debate and reconnecting us with our forgotten history. Drunkenness is an attribute of those who do not appreciate what they are consuming, not of those who do"
Perhaps, once again, the solution is education; this time of the palate?
Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Binge thinking:

Grove Books Evangelism

Just discovered that they're still selling this
"EV21: Demolishing Strongholds
Author: Andii Bowsher
ISBN:1 85174 231 X"
I don't make money out of sales of that one !
Grove Books Evangelism:

alternativeworship.org Practice: writing prayers

The Alternative Worship site had a makeover recently. Give it a look-over. I was pleased to see that my piece on writing prayers has stood the test of time and makeover, too.
alternativeworship.org Practice: writing prayers

Fairpack: Unbranding The Bag

Here's an outfit to earmark for support; producing alternatives to carrier bags of the eco-UNfriendly variety.

Fairpack: Unbranding The Bag

[Finding Moderate Muslims:] Do you believe in modernity?

This seems to me to be a good overview of the issues of how we penetrate the evasions some Jidadistically-inclined Muslims manage behind terms that we don't understand in common, and as far as I am concerned has the advantage of summing up the 'litmus test' issues as I have come to see them.
[Finding Moderate Muslims:] Do you believe in modernity? - article by Daniel Pipes

They'll sell everything but diversity

I've just started work on a book provisionally titled 'Culturejamming Worship' [the clue is in the title]. And while I'm not fully convinced that the dots are as simple to join as the author, this article and this quote reminded me of one reason why I think that it is important."We live, therefore, in an ever more self-replicating world, with no room for much dissent or difference - or much that originates from somewhere other than the fizz-bang province of pop culture. We might also want to ponder the fate of anything from the canon, particularly if news from a country long since colonised by supermarket power is anything to go by. In the States, a recent survey by the National Endowment for the Arts revealed that the percentage of people aged 18 to 24 with experience of reading novels, poetry or plays had fallen by a third over the last 20 years. Given that the same period has seen the rise to retail omnipotence of Wal-Mart, it isn't hard to join the dots."
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | They'll sell everything but diversity:[:culturejamming::diversity::supermarkets:]

Dreaming A New New Orleans, Version 1

I found this inspirational. The near destruction of New Orleans could provide the chance to really make a difference in its rebuilding. Here are some ideas. Wouldn't it be great to see/hear some debate with ideas of this ilk? Let me know if you come across the like.
WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: Dreaming A New New Orleans, Version 1

What I said only more

The other day I blogged here about the climate and political implications of Katarina '05. Well here's an article from a former skeptic. Hat tip to Calvin Jones for digging it up. From the article note this "Munich Re, the world's largest insurer of insurance companies, said that global warming was at least partly responsible for a rise in worldwide insurance losses over the last 50 years, including $114.5 billion in losses last year, the second-highest total ever."

6 years ago similar things were being said. And get this "As developing nations attempt to build an infrastructure and economic base, some may find insurance rates prohibitive because of their demonstrated vulnerability to extreme weather events." In other words the developed world will be externalising its costs onto the rest ... we need an international 'polluter pays' scheme and we should recall this in debates about debt relief and aid.

Storm Turns Focus to Global Warming - Los Angeles Times

poverty = history implies energy = sustainable

"you cannot make poverty history, without stopping runaway climate change. Making energy sustainable is the surest way to do both."
Green Futures - Features:

What the news doesn't tell you -New Orleans

Well sometimes it gives us an inkling. BBC news today had some harrowing footage which illustrated what Jim Wallis wrote; "New Orleans has a poverty rate of 28% - more than twice the national rate. Life is always hard for poor people - living on the edge is insecure and full of risk. Natural disasters make it worse. Yet even in normal times, poverty is hidden and not reported by the media."
There are some good points in the rest of his article that provide food for prayer ...
SojoMail:

New kid on the blog

I have been informed of a newish blog on matters climatalogical: check it out.

Climate Change Action

in the Age of the Storm

I've heard few reports linking the recent disaster with global warning but I fear that we shall have to take on board that there is a human-made dimension to this. "Katrina's strength was certainly no surprise to climate scientists such as Kerry Emanuel or Kevin Trenberth, each of whom had published recent articles in top-notch journals arguing that greater hurricane intensity is the inevitable effect of global warming."

This will then be appearing in the actuarial calculations of insurance companies and so the cost of climate change will begin to be included in the costs of running households and businesses as well as health care. Unfortunately not in ways that will necessarily discourage the kinds of behaviour that contributes to making matters worse.

The Post-Oil Megacity

The peaking of oil production is likely to begin to reconfigure our cities and put into reverse urban sprawl "suburbs themselves face real challenges, and may in their current incarnations be doomed."

This article is a good overview of the issues with a more hopeful spin.

WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: The Post-Oil Megacity:

Invisible Earth

To continue the theme of how partial our information can be when it comes to the world as it is represented through our media, there's an interesting article by Annalee Newitz ["a surly media nerd whose roof looks pretty clean from Google Earth"] over at Alternet in which she says: "It doesn't feel to me like Google Earth is making the spaces and relations of the world more obvious. I can see roads in Russia, but not Kenya. Hawaii is a snowstorm of information, but Gujarat is silent. Perhaps what Google Earth really shows us in stark relief is how many parts of the world are still invisible to people in the United States, where Google generates its Earth. From here, many parts of the globe are just blurs seen from high up and far away."
Further food for prayer and reflection...
AlterNet: Invisible Earth:

Getting away with murder

I used to tell people being trained to lead intercessions that while it was good to keep an eye on what is in the news to bring into public prayer what was on people's minds, we also had a duty to discover what was not making the news and also pray for those things. Our praying should not be led by Rupert Murdoch or even the BBC. So in that spirit I invite you to take notice of this: "Three months ago, there was a massacre in Andijan, in eastern Uzbekistan - a country which, even before the massacre, had become a byword for repression. On 13 May, the authorities slaughtered hundreds of protesters. There were no television cameras, and the Uzbek regime denied the massacre had taken place. The European Union called for an international inquiry, as did Kofi Annan and others. If Uzbekistan failed to co-operate by the end of the June, ministers said, strong measures would follow. It soon became clear that this was pure fiction. When foreign ministers met again in mid-July, under UK chairmanship, the tone was already more cautious. No deadlines or sanctions were agreed. Instead, ministers concluded that an EU partnership and co-operation agreement with Uzbekistan might (not would, but might) be reviewed. And that was it. Early talk of a possible arms embargo or a visa ban for senior Uzbek officials was abandoned."
Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Getting away with murder:

Pat Robertson loses the (gospel) plot

I know this is old news but I wanted to both register my disgust that a Christian leader could get the gospel so wrong and also draw attention to this Jim Wallis article, in which he says; "Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. ... It's clear Robertson must not have first asked himself 'What would Jesus do?' ... He gets his religion elsewhere, from the twisted ideologies of an American brand of right-wing fundamentalism that has always been more nationalist than Christian. Apparently, Robertson didn't even remember what the Ten Commandments say, though he has championed their display on the walls of every American courthouse. That irritating one about 'Thou shalt not kill' seems to rule out the killing of foreign leaders. But this week, simply putting biblical ethics aside, Robertson virtually issued an American religious fatwah for the murder of a foreign leader - on national television no less. That may be a first."

Until now I have tended to say that the big difference between Christian faith and Islam is that the former has a hard time justifying the use of violence from it's founders words and actions, while the latter has a hard time bracketing them out. However, Mr Robertson has knocked my confidence in the perspicuity of the gospels in this respect...
SojoMail: