Serious Concerns
It’s a great relief that Barack Obama has won the US election and we can begin the honeymoon now.
I’ve been following the campaign for the last year. Personally, I had originally wanted Hilary Clinton to win despite the dynastic issue. She had experience and balls and would be very capable. You knew what you were getting with Hillary. Once it came down to just Obama and McCain, I was inclined to side with McCain as I wasn’t impressed with Obama’s expensive policies and interventionist inclinations. He could talk but so what? He just didn’t seem to have a lot of substance....
The results of the 2008 Malaysian election are in and Barisan Nasional is back in power. This coalition is headed by the UMNO which has ruled Malaysia ever since independence in 1957. I don’t believe having the same party in power for 50 years is that healthy and certainly makes for a very suspicious and unbalanced “democracy”.
Like many Asian countries, the deal is that citizen’s can have economic freedom but criticism, protest and dissent are not tolerated. In Malaysia, all the mainstream media are controlled by political parties. Journalists lack freedom of expression and forums for debate just don’t exist. As...
Nice succinct graphs of our global ecological foot. Particularly like this one showing countries in proportion to the resources they use:
There's an excellent article in today's Independent by Henry Porter. The intro blurb is:
In the guise of fighting terrorism and maintaining public order, Tony Blair's Government has quietly and systematically taken power from Parliament and the British people. The author charts a nine-year assault on civil liberties that reveals the danger of trading freedom for security - and must have Churchill spinning in his grave.
For example, here's an interesting extract:
"For instance, the law banning people from demonstrating within one kilometre of Parliament is contained in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act of 2005. The right to protest freely has...
Read an interesting lead article in New Internationalist (July, 2006) which highlighted some of the greenwash that's occuring when tree planting is sold as an effective carbon offset.
The problem is that burning fossil fuels permanently adds CO2 to the carbon cycle while carbon storage in trees is strictly temporary. In the long run, it doesn't help. These scheme's also tend to fund mono-culture mega-plantations and exacerbate local land disputes. Or sometimes, the planted tree's just die in poorly run scheme's. More info at SinksWatch and FERN.
So if you do buy into carbon offsets, check where your funds really are going. For example,...
So far, a personal carbon quota system is the best idea I've heard for managing carbon dioxide emissions. It's also refered to as Domestic Tradable Quotas (DTQs) or Tradeable Energy Quotas (TEQs) or Personal Carbon Allowance (PCA). Think of it as a personal pollution allowance/quota/ration.
The idea is you get a fixed number of units per year recorded on a plastic card. Units get debited when you buy goods or services. You can argue about the details but assume everything has a money price and a carbon price. The carbon units are a currency in their own right that can be bought,...
Panorama is a superb British news show. The latest broadcast exposed how the Bush administration has systematically suppressed scientific evidence of climate change over the last several years. Worth watching and you can view it online now.
It's just tragic waiting for how much worse it's going to get before real action will take place.
Ethical Consumer magazine is revising how they assess whether a country's regime is oppressive (issue EC98). This is then used to flag corporations that support these regimes so that you can avoid buying from them. The list criteria is still being revised but Sudan, China and Burma are proposed as the most oppressive regimes. Of course it's pretty hard to avoid buying stuff made in China.
Countries are ranked on occurences of 8 criteria. Turns out the the US scored 4 because of prisoners of conscience, torture, disappearances and the death penalty so it now makes it on the oppressive regime list.
Well...
I've been watching with some bemusement the debacle over Iran's pursuit of nuclear technology. I'm inclined to side with Iran.
As I see it, for better or worse, the current principle is that nations have the right to develop whatever technologies they want despite whatever risks they entail (nuclear, genetic, nano, etc). A nation does this within any treaties and restrictions it has signed up to with other nations. The caveat, however, is that weapons development which threatens regional security can attract sanctions and worse.
Iran has the right under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) to develop a nuclear fuel cycle under inspection. Would I trust...
I attended the Learning for Sustainability School Conference put on by a local education authority yesterday. It was aimed at people in various local educational roles and since I'm a school governor, I got an invitation. There are many groups promoting sustainability and the conference was an effort to bring these many groups together.
Sustainability is all very well and good but I was very sceptical about how it could be integrated into a learning environment. If we want to achieve sustainability, I believe it needs some pretty radical changes and not just some greenwash in a classroom. How far were they...
Tim Gill published an excellent article in the October 2005 Ecologist magazine entitled "If You Go Down To The Woods Today" that I found very thought provoking. Can you recall your favourite place to play as a child? I've asked quite a few people this question and the answer is almost invariably somewhere outside and away from adult supervision. It was just somewhere you mucked about.
The article goes on to attack the current status quo of tight supervision of children in highly structured play environments. The underlying concern is that if the current generation is not so engaged with nature in...
I've become increasingly aware of the stunning chemical stew that we all live in and the lack of governance in controlling the release of chemicals into the environment. U.S. industries use 75,000 different chemicals. Our exposure is pervasive from pesticides, food additives, cleaners, bodycare products, furniture, and numerous other ordinary products. It really can be no surprise that health problems are on the rise and that the majority of us will die from degenerative diseases.
Sadly, a recent report by the Environmental Working Group in the US documents that they found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in the ubilical...
Isn't it annoying when you try to be healthy and find out it's worse for you? The UK Pesticide Residues Committee reports that "wholemeal bread contains more pesticide residues than any other bread type".
The report revealed that pesticide residues were detected in 53 of the 72 ‘ordinary breads’ tested, which included white (37), wholemeal (26) and ‘other’ (9) bread types.
The pesticides detected in the bread tested were chlormequat (a plant growth regulator used on various crops, including cereals), glyphosate (used as a desiccant on cereal crops), malathion (an insecticide) and pirimiphos-methyl (an insecticide used to control pests of stored grain)....
I read a great book a few months ago entitled "Why Gender Matters" by Leonard Sax (2005). It's subtitle is "What parents and teachers need to know about the merging science of sex differences". I tried writing a book summary in my wiki but I haven't got around to finishing it.
It makes a very strong case for single sex education by summarizing lots of research about the fundamental differences between boys and girls and how they learn and behave. It's a fascinating read. For example, there's a significant difference between the balance of M cells and P cells in the visual...
Detailed article about how the business of evangelical fiction in booming in the United States. In 2004, it was worth $2 billion so obviously there's a big market.
According to a recent Fairfield University study, there are 159 million adult Americans who now call themselves Christian, of whom 46% label themselves as "born again" and 24% as "evangelical".
As a secularist, I can't say I'm keen to see the rise of a faith-based popular culture. Fiction based on The Rapture is one thing but I hope I don't see Hollywood films where God intervenes in the end.
It's about time! I would go so far as to propose that any distributable artifact that is paid for with goverment (tax payers) money should be made freely available to the tax payer. If the goverrment funds research, the research must be made available for free or at least for only the cost it takes to distribute it. The cost of those research journals are outrageous! Paper journals are useless anyway; it needs to be all online and easy to search.
All that software developed by the government should be published as unsupported Open Source software too!
I've been subscribing to Ethical Consumer for just over a year now. It's a great magazine for uncovering what's really behind the products you buy. They've launched a new subscription-based website called Ethiscore which gives you a quick ethical ranking of what the best buys are in numerous product categories. Check out some of the free reports and, if you live in the UK, consider subscribing (I did).
It's horrendously difficult to shop with ethical criteria. Just try avoiding companies like Nestle, Procter & Gamble or Johnson & Johnson. It's not easy. These kinds of companies dominate traditional retail channels. Ethiscore is an...
Interesting snippet from Wildlife Film News 65 reproduced here:
In a report just published the Wildscreen Festival has stated that broadcasters need to re-think the ways in which they treat environmental issues following comments from the veteran programme-maker who chaired many of the key debates at last year’s Wildscreen festival.
In her review of the Did You See? discussions and screenings held as part of the international nature film and tv festival, Amanda Theunissen, says there's a danger viewers are being treated like children and consequently, maybe misled"
“The standard of films entered for Wildscreen 2004’s competition was impressively high but mostly they show...
A website explaining the Latin vs Caribbean Banana plight. It's another example of the bad side of globalisation and the race to the bottom through oppressive labour standards.
Interesting Guardian article based on papers acquired through the Freedom of Information Act that uncover how much influence ExxonMobil had with the stance that the US Administration took over Kyoto. Nasty business. I'll have to make a point of avoiding Esso stations.
A massive study by the UN co-ordinated 1360 scientiest across 95 countries to take a global inventory of the state of our ecosystems and quantify the effect that human activities are having on them. After four years, they recently published their findings.
It makes grim reading. You can read summaries from either the BBC or the Guardian or read the original report.
It makes it very, very clear we're living beyond our means. But we knew that, right? In a very interesting turn of phrase, the report talks about the "services of nature". It's a clever but apt "nature as business" metaphor. Two-thirds of these...
The UK elections are ten days away but I haven't been following it too closely.
Whatever policies Labour comes up with, I won't vote for Tony Blair. I'm disgusted with how he pandered to George Bush and took the UK to war. It was a stupid move for Blair to stand again. If Gordon Brown was leading the party, I might have voted Labour.
An excellent programme recently aired on Channel 4 called "Elections Unspun, Why Politicians Can't Tell The Truth". It described the current post-democracy where the political elite have evolved into a new kind of marketing machine using sophisticated software to identify and target...
While I'm not religious, I still have a lot of respect for the office of the Pope. The Pope still has a huge and unique role to assert moral authourity in the West. No other institution can stake that claim. It's more than just leading Catholics. It's promoting humanity. I don't agree with all papal social policies but I do hope the new Pope engages the political community and provides a loud voice for global justice.
I was shocked the other day when I converted some US funds into pounds sterling. The exchange rate was 1.92!
The dollar continues to plummet due to American spending junkies. In FY04, the US spent $322 billion on interest payments. The US debt is up to $7.7 trillion. I honestly think we're creeping up to some major instability in the world finanical system. Financial instability leads to political instability.
Accidently came across this superb documentary on BBC 4 while flipping around the channels.
"Why We Fight" is actually the title of a series of US propaganda films made in 1942 justifying the war effort. This film starts there and looks at the forces that shapes and propels America's militarism. America developed it's military-industrial complex during WWII and maintained it because of the cold war. Dwight D. Eisenhower recognised the danger in his farewell speech in 1961:
"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual...
A survey of 23,500 people across 23 countries shows widespread support for a stronger UN. I totally agree. The UN needs teeth. Most favoured the idea of adding Germany, India, Japan and Brazil to the organisation's Security Council and enabling the Security Council to override the veto power of the permanent members. Yes! Yes! Yes!
Otherwise the UN is will continue to be hamstrung by the national self-interests of the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia. All the major economies should be represented and one single nation shouldn't be able to scupper important resolutions. But do you really think the permanent...
Jenny and I really enjoyed watching Jamie's School Dinners even though we only caught two of the four episodes. I think it was absolutely fantastic that Jamie did this and it's totally spot on that junkie school dinners should go. Interesting to see that the astute Tony Blair has caught on to this issue and promised to act.
This kind of advocacy programme is one of the very best uses of television. It also illustrates the kind of nasty profit driven uncaring impovished solutions that are often provided by outsourcing to a big corporation. As a school governor and parent, I'd love...
While reading about the Sudan 1 red dye scare here in the UK, I discovered the issue of acrylamide in processed foods.
According to the World Health Organisation, acrylamide is "known to cause cancer in animals. Also, certain doses of acrylamide are toxic to the nervous system of both animals and humans."
The UK Foods Standards Agency describes the problem:
"In April 2002, scientists in Sweden discovered unexpectedly large amounts of the chemical acrylamide in foods rich in starch that had been cooked at high temperatures. These included crisps, chips, bread and crispbreads. Acrylamide is known to cause cancer in animals and its presence...
You probably noticed that the Kyoto Protocol came into effect yesterday. Overall, I'm pretty pessimistic that human-kind can get their act together to avert disasterous climate change. It's going to be a matter of too little, too late. Nevertheless, it's great news that we have the Kyoto Protocol even though it doesn't go far enough and the US has shamefully refused to participate. It's great news not because it will be effective but because it's the only global forum, process and framework around for a co-ordinated effort to address climate change. My hope is that version two will be effective.
My prediction...
Well it's quite interesting seeing how employers are reacting to employee's blogging. Of course, it's usually negative but I think Waterstones went too far with this one especially for a company that's all about selling opinions. I sent them an email letting them know I'm no longer one of their customers.
Arrrgghh. Organic and free range eggs are more at risk of being contaminated with dioxins because of the land the chickens are allowed to roam on. That's the only kind of eggs I buy!
This issue has only arisen in Germany but it could happen anywhere. It's so annoying to try and do the right thing and then discover the new risks you're taking. I'm also buying only organic and free range chicken when I can in order to avoid supporting the horror of poultry factory farming.
The documentary Power Of Nightmares is being rebroadcast on BBC 2 starting at 23:20 tonight. If you haven't seen it, you really, really should. There's also part two tomorrow and part three the day after that.
It's a controversial documentary series which argues that the threat of terrorism to the West is a politically driven fantasy and that al-Qaeda is not really an organised network. It's a fascinating exploration of recent history and the rise to power of the neo-conservatives in the US and well as Islamic fundamentalist - both groups which benefit from the so called "War on Terror".
It's a must see. If you're...
You know, it just doesn't seem like a good idea to me to give birth to a child when you're a senior citizen. You ought to be reasonably fit to raise children and expect to be around for a lengthy part of their lives and your children's children's lives too. Personally, I think doctors shouldn't help anyone over 50 to try and conceive a child.
Monsanto is at the top of my list of vile corporations. They've admitted to "paying bribes to a number of other high-ranking officials between 1997 and 2002". Just more evidence about how low they will sink to push the GM agenda.
I am deeply sad reading and watching all the news about the earth quake and tsunami that hit Asia. I'm not sure that all the extended family we have in Sri Lanka have escaped but I believe they have. It's the last thing that country needed and the death toll is projected to climb to 25,000. Utterly horrendous.
The High Commission of Sri Lanka in London has appealed to expats for aid. They are directing people to this website for instructions on how to donate:
HelpSL.org
I've donated to Oxfam since they were particularly fast off the mark with aid to Sri Lanka....
I don't see what all the furor is over these things David Blunkett was accused of. I really don't care if he fast tracked a visa or took a few trivial liberties in his office. If he's really a good politician, it's ridiculous to destroy a career over such minor stuff. What a waste when good politicians are hard to find.
Watch this video of soldiers killing insurgents. It's taken from an Apache helicopter hovering about a mile away from the victims. Unmanned and remote precision weapons make war much more like a video game doesn't it? In fact, you see more blood in a video game.
Kevin Sites is a freelance solo journalist in Iraq. He witnessed the recent execution of the wounded Iraqi by Marines and describes exactly what happened in "Open Letter to Devil Dogs of the 3.1". Amazing blog.
Here's an interesting but rather scarey website: StrategyPage.
"StrategyPage strives to give you the best comprehensive bit-size summaries of military news and affairs on the Internet. You’ll find the inside data on how and why things happen here everyday."
Check out their Prediction Market and their databases, particularly Armed Forces of the World which ranks forces around the world. Do you really know who the big guns are?
It certainly makes sense to me that the EU should have it's own rapid reaction force. It should have a military independent of the United States which can react to situations faster than the UN. In fact, I don't see the point of NATO in a post-Soviet world. The EU should have a military structure of it's own as put forth in the draft EU constitution.
The pictures you won't get on television or probably any mainstream media. They're very disturbing and very graphic. Disfigured and fragmented human bodies from both sides. It's a stark difference from the sanitised war that's reported.
James Zetlen started this great little site called Sorry Everybody that allows American's to apologise for electing George Bush. Well, at least 49% are sorry. From the website:
Some of us — hopefully most of us — are trying to understand and appreciate the effect our recent election will have on you, the citizens of the rest of the world. As our so-called leaders redouble their efforts to screw you over, please remember that some of us — hopefully most of us — are truly, truly sorry. And we'll say we're sorry, even on the behalf of the ones who aren't.
The...
A tidbit worth knowing. In the BBC article Carbon Reaching Danger Levels, its claimed that when carbon dioxide reaches 500 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere, we get to irreversible climate change. It recently reached 379 ppm and its increasing by around 2 ppm each year. That gives us about 60 years to fix things or the sea level rises by 7 meters.
Here's some links for those who think Bush could still possibly deserve their vote. George Soros has a personal message worth reading. The Guardian has offered a good speech for John Kerry to make. Better yet, visit the One Thousand Reasons website which is "relentlessly documenting the failures of the Bush administration." Another fine site is One Term President which has a good list of other websites to visit. One of those is 525 Reasons to Dump Bush. If you're undecided, start reading soon.
Looks like the sugar industry got caught buying out and influencing an "impartial" investigation into the link between sugar and health. Just another example of how untrustworthy the food industry is.
Sure glad to read Mr Kerry did well in the first televised presidential debate. The BBC has published the key points made. The best soundbite was the phrase "Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong Time" and I hope it sticks to Bush like a bad hangover. Did you notice that Rumsfeld recently got caught telling the truth? He admitted there was no link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.
Be sure to drop by the BushIn30Seconds website to watch some absolutely great spoof ads for Bush. It's sponsored by MoveOn.org. Some of the more fun things I've found include a calendar from BabesAgainstBush and protest...
The Pesticide Action Network is offering a fabulously scarey poster entitled Pesticides in Your Food that nicely summarises the current state of affairs in the UK. You can download the PDF for free or buy a print to hang in your kitchen. Honestly, I would buy a print if I could think of a public place I'd be allowed to display it. The download page has a comprehensive list of links to documents backing up their claims. Definitely worth browsing. The truth is that you can often detect pesticides in food samples but they don't usually exceed the Maximum Residue Levels...
Here's a rather alarming article by Corporate Watch about Raymond Fox's ongoing failure to get any justice over plutonium contamination found in his backyard at 338 Wokingham Rd in Earley near Reading. A soil sample was found to contain five times higher radioactive contamination than pollution at a nuclear weapons factory in Aldermaston! The scarey thing is the "Wall Of Silence" that he has been subjected to as no one want to do anything about it.
If I lived in the neighbourhood, I'd be pretty upset and demanding a thorough investigation. What about the groundwater?
Generally the UK seems quite good at being evenhanded...
Two gun firms have settled with families of the victims of the Washington DC snipers. It's significant because this is the first time a gun manufacturer in the United States has agreed to pay damages for negligent distribution of weapons. This isn't an admission of liability but still it's a promising step towards bringing some sensibility to gun happy America.
George Monbiots article Goodbye, Kind World concludes:
"We live in the happiest, healthiest and most peaceful era in human history. And it will not last long."
Interesting read and I'm inclined to agree. He has another excellent article entitled The Age Of Consent which looks at how we might develop a better system of world governance.
Excellent. The International Court of Justice has ruled that the Israel wall is illegal. The wall is an abomination. However, it's non-binding and even if the UN has a debate, you can be sure the US will veto any resolutions. There's something wrong with the system. At least it makes it clear who's suppressing who.
I have a tracking device in my car. According to the company that installed it, 60% of all cars recovered have been stolen using the owners own keys. Think twice about where you keep those car keys.
List of things that Coca Cola is useful for. Better for cleaning than drinking basically; a cheap source of phosphoric acid. The company's view is here including the point that coke can be part of a healthy diet. At ten spoonfuls of sugar per can, I kind of doubt it (read Save Harry).
As a corporation, it's accused of some dirty practices. Read Killer Coke for it's troubles in Columbia or Toxic Cola in India. To be fair, here's a response from Coca Cola.
Excellent UK website with some superb publications. Check out all the food fact PDF's you can download about carrots, soya, pears, apples, beer, lettuce, chicken, beef, milk, oranges, sugar, food miles, vegetable oil, etc. Provides lots of dirt on how these items are produced and marketed. Yes, I admit this is a pet topic of mine.
Sad article on boarding kindergarten's:
"A small but growing number of China's emerging middle class are putting children as young as two in boarding kindergartens. Parents say they are too busy to look after them, or keen for them to get ahead."
Seems to me some parents really need to reconsider their lifestyle or their expectations. You can't substitute parental love and attention with an institution.
The European Elections 2004 are on June 10th. I've just finished looking through the various party manifesto's and have pretty well made up my mind to vote for the Green Party. Check out their manifesto. It makes the most sense to me (I'm not a member). I particularly like their stance to be part of Europe but to reject the single currency. Their policies seem well thought out.
The Lib Dems would be my second choice. Their manifesto is also quite good but a bit softer towards neo-liberalism. I'd probably vote for them in a National election. Can't say I trust...
The little red tractor is the trademark of the British Farm Standard promoting "food you can trust". Read this microsite to discover that it really doesn't offer much assurance beyond the statutory minimum.
There's a lot of reports regarding the current obesity crisis and actions the goverment should take along with how the food industry should be regulated. It's great to see this level of debate but I generally consider it a futile exercise. The obesity crisis is just the symptom of deeper issues around how food is produced, distributed and marketed. It's not just obesity either. Our food is simply not very healthy anymore. Period.
Some articles are hitting on the more emotive issue around children's diets and blaming the advertising of junk food. Sure it would be good to regulate that more and...
Very nice to see them admit this (you must sign-up to the NYT website to get to the original article). I particularly like this quote:
"This is one of the great journalistic mass delusions of the era," said Michael Wolff, a media commentator and columnist for Vanity Fair.
Maybe, just maybe, this will be helpful the next time the general media considers joining the government on a witch hunt. What a waste and a mess the whole Iraq affair is.
Great news. But this article and their carefully worded press release shows that their new strategy is to apply GM to less "emotive" foods that are not so easily identified. In other words, they are sneaking it in through soya, corn and oilseeds where "biotechnology is broadly applied". Note that under EU rules, a product with up to 1% contamination with GM ingredients does not have to be labelled provided the manufacturer has taken steps to avoid GM supplies. It's not the end, just a change in strategy to target less resistant markets and developing countries.
After reading about the wind power debate, I started reading about the upcoming oil crisis (or peak oil). There are lots of good articles around but this one sums it up nicely.
Truly it's amazing that given our civillisation is so heavily dependent on oil that we are so woefully unprepared to face up to the challenges of it running out. Sure there's debate about exactly when but we can all agree that it will run out. Some believe that this is the year we get to the Hubbert Peak while others put it out a few more years. If you're middle-aged, you'll probably live long...
Good article in the Guardian about the current wind power debate; read An Ill Wind?
I'm wholly in favour of wind power but can see that there has to be a consensus on the issue of scale. No one wants to live in an industrialised landscape so clearly onshore wind farms have to be kept to a reasonable scale. We saw some in Cornwall last year and thought they looked quite pleasant but they were small installations of a dozen or less. The answer has to be to build the big wind farms offshore at sea.
Ran into this really well organised website campaigning for the demise of the big five record labels. They've got some good reasons. What's really impressive is how slick their campaign appears. Personally, I think there's a lot bigger problems in the world to be concerned about but it's good to see someone doing this.
Another great example why genetic modification and cloning must be so carefully controlled. Italy is allowing horse cloning for competition purposes. So the arguement is that we need to do it as well to stay competitive. Next, someone will want to start genetically modifying animals to win competitions.
It's completely unacceptable to use this technology for such trivial purposes. The last paragraph says it all:
"It's a trivial purpose and cloning causes pain and suffering to animals because the vast number of embryos die, and those that don't may develop abnormalities and die young."
The European Union is now 25 countries strong (or weak if you're a cynic). There's a constant dance of denial that it's not a super state but it sure smells like one. It's got a legal system, a parliment, a budget and soon a constitution.
I don't think it's a bad thing and is just one of the GreatExperiments of the century. If a model of co-operation can be worked out between these countries, then perhaps it can be replicated by other trading blocs and may eventually help to create a better form of world governance. That would be huge progress....
I'm pleased to read US diplomats launch Bush attack which adds to the letter sent by UK diplomats to Tony Blair. These current policies are just making things worse. I've never quite understood why the US is so pro Israel but then I read this fairly bizarre article about the Rapture. Very scary to think this could have that much influence.
Fantastic to know that like all good corporations, the US military believes in outsourcing activities that aren't core to it's mission. Quotes from an article in the Guardian:
"We know that CACI and Titan corporations have provided interrogators and that they have in fact conducted interrogations on behalf of the US and have interacted the military police guards at the prison," he said.
but the shocking thing is they seem to operate outside the law:
"It's insanity," said Robert Baer, a former CIA agent, who has examined the case, and is concerned about the private contractors' free-ranging role. "These are rank amateurs and...
Been reading about salmon farming and it's certainly made me reconsider how often I'll eat salmon. About 99% of the salmon sold here in the UK is farmed. However, the industry has very serious problems: crowding, poop pollution, toxins, disease, antibiotics, dye, escaped species and local wildlife killed to protect the farm. Worse still, its aquaculture model is being repeated for other species.
You can read about these issues on the Salmon Farm Monitor website or there are various news articles around such as:
Sunday Herald: Farm salmon is now most contaminated food on shelf (20 October 2002)
Guardian: Salmon warning fails to...
While on the topic of supporting local food producers, I'd just like to mention how I find it stunning just how far food travels nowadays. For a few exotic items, it's reasonable but I noticed a small pack of fresh asparagus the other day that had come all the way from Thailand. Think of how much jet fuel that takes! So given a choice at a supermarket, I prefer to buy from wherever is closer. Unless it's produced by Israel in which case I avoid it.
Very interesting survey conducted by the Soil Association to find out how much organic food sold by the UK supermarkets are actually sourced from UK organic farmers. This is critical since the top five supermarkets account for around 70% of all food purchased in the UK. Their buying power controls the market.
Bottom line from the survey was that you're best off supporting Waitrose, Sainsbury or Marks & Spencer but you should read the details.
I found this article to be an pretty interesting read. It looks at the relationship of America with the rest of the world and the problem of global democracy and world governance. It's particularly worth reading the section on "What of the future" which I would summarise as:
Expect the world-wide love-hate relationship with America to become even more polarised
Expect new generations of terrorists to exact “revenge” on America
Expect America to continue to feel deeply hurt, increasingly isolated and angry and acting unilaterally around the world wherever it feels national interests dictate
In contrast, expect almost the entire rest of the world...
I've written-up my own "No Nonsense Health Guide" which is mostly about healthy eating. It's an ongoing project to distill in one place my conclusions from all the advice I read. Since everyone is interested in health to one degree or another, feel free to send me feedback on it.
Good article summarising what's now happening in Iraq. By failing to establish a social contract with the Iraqi people, the US has lost it's authority to lead and is now under attack from numerous groups. It's amazing how naive and ill prepared the US seems to have been for postwar Iraq. There's also a fascinating read on the Blair/Bush secret pact. What a mess.
It's enough to make you feel sick. Canada has ramped up the quota for the seal hunt to 350,000. The highest in half a century. The article doesn't make clear where the demand is coming from.
Here's another instance of how society and law are slowly evolving based on the recognition of human and animal rights. But it's always interesting when it clashes with religion. I don't see how religious leaders can really claim that slitting an animals throat and letting it bleed to death is "humane" (despite reading about Shechita and Zibah). I agree with the stories final quote:
"The method at the time the rules were written was probably the most humane way of killing an animal, but of course that has changed."
But the big issue is that it opens a huge religious dilema. If...
No surprise is it? 85 out of 100 cereals were considered to have "a lot" of sugar and the worst offenders were all marketed at children. Might as well give them sweets for breakfast. That said, even good ol' toast and jam must have a lot of sugar. And Marmite must have a lot of salt. A healthy breakfast can be hard to find - especially for kids. Luckily our kids quite like old fashioned oats but I confess there are some cereals in the cupboard: Cheerio's and Quaker Oat Crunchies. We do look out for the sugar content of...
Superb animated web page. Love it.
From the ones listed there, I concur that "The Guardian" is really good. I started reading it about a year ago. Their website is fantastic. I also get all my news from them and the BBC. I often read The Economist for indepth analysis that you can't really beat. I need to check out some of the others in the top left quadrant.
Ok. I'm a fan. Looks like he just started a blog called "Turning The Tide". Excellent reading.
This is going to be interesting. The European Union is one of the few bodies that can go against the steam roller of US trade policies and offer a different interpretation of WTO rules. The new battleground is the antitrust rulings against Microsoft and at least one senator is upset:
"For some time now, the United States Congress has expressed its frustration over the European Union's intransigence on international trade issues that are vitally important to the U.S. economy," Frist said in a statement. "From over- reaching attempts to regulate e-commerce, to trade barriers against American beef and other agricultural products,...
I don't have any unique insights but I just want to state that I still believe it was wrong to go to war against Iraq. I'm glad to see Saddam toppled but the means did not justify the ends. Destroying a country and killing thousands of Iraqi citizens was a crime. The process should have involved the United Nations all along.
There's much I dislike about the United States and have nothing good to say about Mr. Bush. I will be happy to see regime changes in both the US and the UK.
Well it looks like the Madrid bombings were effective in ousting the old government. That's startling if you ask me. Governments like to position acts of terror as mindless and irrational but this shows that they can be an effective political tool. A radical minority effectively ousted a government. The future formula could be to use multiple terror attacks on vunerable targets a week before an election in a country.
How does the population react? It depends on a lot of things of course. If it happened that way in the United States, I suspect Bush would win hands down....
Looks like a good documentary making the round in the theatres. Hasn't made it to the UK yet. Hope it does. Check out the blurb on corpwatch and the official website.
Succinct article about the upcoming Malaysian election describing the incredible imbalance of it's so-called democracy. It's more like a benign totalitarian state than a democracy. Police are controlled by the executive, the media is tightly censored, patronage is rife and the opposition doesn't have a chance. No wonder the election campaign only has to last eight days.
The author of “Compassionate Capitalism: How Corporations Can Make Doing Good an Integral Part of Doing Well” proposes corporations donate one percent of its revenues, stock and employees' time to improve the lives of those around them.
I couldn't agree more. It would be almost a miracle if corporations truly served their communities. Honestly, I think the whole concept of corporations as a legal entity and the primary method of organising capital and labour should be debated. Historically speaking, it's a pretty recent concept.
CD-Wow! has to raise the prices of it's CD's by £2 due to a court settlement with the British Phonographic Industry that prevents them from importing from outside of Europe. Sucks doesn't it? I'll keep going back to Canada to buy my CD's until they get cheaper here. CD's should be less than £10 with £5 to £8 being competitive.
Isn't it a little ironic that Saddam Hussein, accused of tremendous crimes, is to be given a fair trial while over 600 people rot in Camp X-ray with no trial, no legal representation and no formal charges?
Call me cynical but I think there's probably quite a lot of motivation to delay this being a level playing field:
"So far, $1.7bn has been made available to Halliburton for the work....According to contract rules, Halliburton can make a margin of up to 7 per cent on the work."
"If the UK government gives the go-ahead to commercialise the growing of GM crops against the overwhelming wishes of the British public, I pledge to non-violently remove GM crops from the ground or support those who take action to remove GM crops"
Here's a report by Christian Aid that claims that billions of dollars of oil money that has already been transferred to the US-controlled Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) has effectively disappeared into a financial black hole.
For all the talk of freedom and democracy for the Iraqi people – before, during and after the war which toppled Saddam Hussein – there is no way of knowing how the vast majority of this money has been spent.
No surprise. Call in some auditors! (but not Arthur "Shred'em" Andersons please).
The UN needs $25 million as a minimum to save the Great Apes from extinction and is grasping to find it. Isn't it amazing how billions can be quickly found to fight a war but it's so hard to scrape together millions to push back extinction?
Excellent. Someone with influence and a conscience calls out this perversion of justice by the US.
The Law Lord said the US was guilty of a "monstrous failure of justice" and challenged UK ministers to condemn the decision to hold any prisoners there....He said detainees were "beyond the rule of law, beyond the protection of any courts and at the mercy of victors".
This really looks bad. If one of the smaller members of the EU had breached the rules, I bet they would have been fined. But the guys who made the rules don't follow them. Either they got to stick to the rules or change the rules to be more flexible especially with the new member countries getting added. Otherwise, the workings of the EU become opaque, loses trust and gets further mired in political wrangling.
Interesting story of a media teacher discovering that Time Magazine has changed the contents and titles of a past issue in one of it's magazines. Specifically, an article by George Bush Snr and Brent Scowcroft entitled "Why We Didn’t Remove Saddam." The article is very pertinent to the US situation in Iraq today. Next we learn Colin Powell has connections with the parent company of Time Magazine.
Time Magazine claims the article was pulled because it doesn't have online publishing rights to it. It does leave you wondering though. Is it 1984 twenty years late?
Great. If I go to the protest on Thursday, I may get shot by a trigger happy American or maybe blown up by a terrorist. London is going to be a mess.
This story caught my eye. There's only about 5,000 Bengal Tigers in the wild but "up to 10,000 tigers are currently being kept as pets in basements and backyards across the US." One fellow was found with a 350 pound tiger in his New York flat! Well, maybe that's a bit of good news for conservationists. Once we can't find a species in the wild, we just have to start checking peoples backyards. Pet rhino anyone?
Just more evidence that the US doesn't believe in free trade for itself; only for others. Looks like I have to postpone buying that Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Well, the United States is probably the worst threat to world peace but I would absolutely agree that Israel is a major threat. I don't see how that could be surprising and find this reaction amazing:
"Reacting to the poll, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which claims 400,000 members in the US alone, has begun ordering a petition to condemn the European Commission and demand the EU no longer be represented in the so-called Quartet group trying to mediate an end to violence between Israel and Palestine."
I'd say the EU is pro-Human Rights rather than pro-Arab. Maybe that's why they don't want the EU...
Finland first, North Korea last. In between you have Canada 10th, UK 27th, US 31st and Malaysia 104th. Check the article if you're interested how they came up with the ranking. Interesting how low the US scores.
Another excellent magazine I picked up recently. The original environmental magazine subtitled "Rethinking Basic Assumptions". Very impressive editorial board, high production values, good punchy articles. For example, the October issues has a two page spread explaining why you should think twice about buying cut flowers again:
Cash Crop Impacts - moving people off their land and causing food shortages
Pesticide Abuse - there is no regulations governing the use of pesticides on flowers
Poisoned Labourers - protection from pesticides not provided
Water Waste - flowers get water when farms and people don't
Workers Rights Abused - child labour, slave wages, etc
Flower Miles -...
Picked up a copy of this magazine recently. Excellent. I gotta subscribe to it. Ever wondered what was the best petrol station to fill up at? At least from an ethical point of view? Turns out BP and Shell are considered as making the most progress. Want to avoid GM food? Tesco can't guarantee their brand products are GM free but Marks & Spencer can. Check out this guide. Good articles and references.
Fantastic landmark class action suit against ChevronTexaco for it's environmental destruction in Ecuador. What's great is the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the trial will be held in Ecuador but the judgement is enforceable in the US. This opens the legal floodgates to claims by indigenous peoples around the world against western oil and mining companies.
I recently subscribed to this magazine and got my first issue yesterday. It's a bit thin but the articles are good. The magazine subtitle is "The people, the ideas, the action in the fight for global justice." Theme of the current issue is the nasty practices of the big pharmaceutical companies. Very nasty. At first blush it seems like the world would be much better off if there was a public trust that invested in critical research and kept ownership of the patents. Maybe a trust managed through the United Nations. Certainly a better solution than the WTO TRIPS agreement.
Great website explaining why you shouldn't drink milk. It's a myth children need it for healthy bones.
The Boycott Bush campaign lists the top 30 donors to the Republican Party with global consumer brands. Microsoft is number three with a donation of $2.4 million. The call to boycott these brands is in response to the US rejection of the Kyoto agreement.
Microsoft used to be politically agnostic but the whole Department of Justifice affair certainly taught it that it couldn't be. It's now a politically savvy player and like most corporations, it's busy currying favour on Capitol Hill and donating money to both sides.
Interesting article by George Monbiot. Indeed, he's written a lot of interesting articles.
Excellent article by George Monbiot about the sweet irony of the flight of jobs to India.
The US has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organisation arguing that the EU's reluctance to take GM foods is an illegal barrier to free trade. You can follow the above link to add yourself to a petition to throw this complaint out.
Glad to see hard evidence that some GM crops are harmful. Full text of the Farm Scale Evaluations report here. Still, it only evaluates one small aspect of GM crops. Hopefully this makes it ever more clear that GM crops are a nightmare to assess in terms of their impact.
Meanwhile, the Gates Foundation is giving $25 million for research into GM food can provide extra vitamins and micro-nutrients to people in developing countries. Now there's a dilema. It's certainly great to see GM used to benefit the end consumer rather than the producer particularly for such a worthy cause. However, it...
Once again the US - Bush - seem to have such a poor foreign policy. Israel contorts this idiotic idea of "war on terrorism" to it's own agenda and the US supports it. The wall sucks. Nice to see that the moderates are still talking.
Jenny and I are both foodies so we both take food issues pretty seriously. This superb little site tackles the issue of the food quality of school meals in the UK. Low quality processed food dominates school meals costing as little as 31p per day compared with 60p spent on a prisoner's lunch. Appalling. There's a good summary report.
The September 20th issue of The Economist had an interesting survey of the world economy. In a nutshell, it's a mess and at huge risk and no one is doing anything about it. The key points were:
It relies completely on the single-engine economy of America
America's recent policies have left it with a huge and growing deficit it can't afford
Protectionist trends in America are growing especially against China
China and the rest of Asia keep their currencies valued too low
Japan and Germany still require structural adjustments before they can step in and play a stronger role in keeping the...
You can download this book for free from the Microsoft Reader site. Sounds interesting but I haven't read any of it yet. It promises "a revealing examination of shopping, consumerism, and mall design in America." Certainly overconsumerism is a major problem on the planet. I read somewhere it takes 24 acres to support 1 American. You can also download a copy of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut at the same place.
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety took effect last week and supports countries baring imports of GMO's. Here's the list of countries agreeing to it. Glad to see so many signed up to it especially Canada and the UK (not ratified though). Of course the US doesn't support it and they're the most likely exporter.
No surprise that the WTO talks in Cancun failed. The EU gives farmers $86.8 billion a year. The US Farm Bill 2002 will spend $180 billion over the next 10 years. So agricultural trade is incredibly distorted and Cancun failed because there's no political will in the rich countries to do the right thing and change their domestic policies to give developing countries a level playing field. We're not talking a major domestic fallout either. The largest 2% of Europe's farms receive 24% of all direct payments while the smallest 60% receive only 10%. We're paying big farms to (inefficiently) over produce...
"IT 4 Communities is an initiative to encourage companies, employees and individuals with professional IT skills to volunteer these skills for the benefit of local charities and community groups." Nice site. First one I've ran across that has more interesting projects than just helping people learn Microsoft Office.
Nike settles out of court for $1.5 million over false advertising about worker conditions in Asia. It's unfortunate it didn't go to court and set a precedent. Both Nike and Adidas has been criticised by Oxfam. Read the FAQ on nikewages.org and think twice before buying that swoosh.
Sad story of the Korean farmer that committed suicide at the WTO talks in Cancun. I've been following the talks and have been completely disgusted by how the EU-US lavish agricultural subsidies and subsequent dumping practices have been destroying the lives of farmers in the developing world. This article quotes an article written by the Korean farmer.
Nice to read some good news for a change. Again, it's one of those deals where the US was the last holdout. At least a compromise in good faith was made.
Very interesting animated presentation by Lawrence Lessig (Professor of Law at Stanford Law School) that builds on this refrain:
Creativity and innovation always builds on the past.
The past always tries to control the creativity that builds on it.
Free societies enable the future by limiting the past
Ours is less and less a free society
Unfortunately the audio stopped on me half-way but still worth it. Lots of historical examples. It's aimed at supporting Open Source and certainly provides food for thought.
Picked up this book the other day: "E For Additivies". I'm a compulsive label reader so it's interesting to find out what all those E numbers are. Unfortunately, it's a bit old (1988) so it's probably missing information about the effects of some of them. I've discovered E numbers on some of the sweets we have that are banned in various countries - usually food colouring. I couldn't help but point out all this junk to R*. Maybe I'll only let her eat sweets where she can spell all the ingredients like Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (E464).
Just what I've been waiting to happen. Why stop at GM food? How about GM pets? It's a horrific idea but there's bound to be a market and where there's a market, there's bound to be a supplier...
Just say no to genetically modified foods. Yeah, I know the arguements for wonder foods but letting profit motivated companies play god can't be a good idea. This research goes further in showing that you can't have GM and non-GM co-existing. It's really disappointing how much the US and Canada accept GM foods with hardly a whimper. Go ahead and research it but not on my dinner plate.
Anyone else think North Korea is just plain scary? Isolated, armed and poorly led. They're probably more nervous about the US than ever before.
Not a great surprise is it although you always have to take polls with a large chunk of salt. The show is on tonight at 9 on BBC2. One thing I really like about the UK is that you get a lot more decent debate in the media compared to the dribble you get in the US and Canada.
Found this interesting website detailing the relationship between Israel and the US. Includes a large Jewish encyclopedia. I'm much too ignorant of Jewish/Arab culture and issues given the importance of the conflict.
Nice to read some good news for a change - 105 blue flag beaches. It's interesting to read the criteria for a blue flag. And the BBC provided a follow up UK guide to the best beaches. Nice and timely as the weather has been excellent and its time to get down to a beach. We're off to Cornwall for our summer holidays later in the summer to experience the quintenssential British holiday.
Yes, it's time again for the annual G8 summit and anti-globalisation protests. Personally, my sympathies lie with the anti-globalisation protesters. I'm still reading about these kinds of things but I don't think that globalisation in it's current form and with the current institutions works. The rules get made by rich countries for their benefit. Unfortunately, it's a complex topic which means the debate is minimal and full of rhetoric.
Surprise, surprise. They still can't find those weapons of mass destruction. "The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has acknowledged for the first time that Iraq may have destroyed its weapons of mass destruction before the US launched its offensive to topple Saddam Hussein's regime." But the victors can now rewrite history as they please to manufacture their justification. Terrorism on a massive scale.
"Geekcorps is a non-profit (501c3) organization committed to expanding the Internet revolution internationally by pairing skilled volunteers from the high-tech world with small-to-medium sized businesses in emerging nations." Other organisations I've found that need volunteers with computer skills include UNITeS, NetAid and Vita.
"Bringing together a network of people and groups working for human rights and sustainable development from across the globe." Looks like a very large and very well organised group. Interesting in that they even offer technology services. Affiliated to them is Digital Opportunity channel which is trying to help bridge the digital divide. Links to lots of interesting web resources such as Tech Soup, "the technology place for non-profits."
Another interesting site - Ralph Nader's - "encouraging activism".
An interesting newsletter that I read. The Multinational Monitor tracks corporate activity, especially in the Third World, focusing on the export of hazardous substances, worker health and safety, labor union issues and the environment. Essentially reports on abuses by corporations.
Todays cool website - "The spirit of resistance lives". Particularly like ZNet "a community of people committed to social change" and...
"ZNet offers this Global Economics Crisis site as a source for understanding global economics and trade issues and particularly in preparation for ongoing demonstrations about economic justice."
Also check out their Politically Special Quotations. As usual my favourites are from Noam Chomsky such as:
The beauty of the democratic systems of thought control, as contrasted with their clumsy totalitarian counterparts, is that they operate by subtly establishing on a voluntary basis--aided by the force of nationalism and media control by substantial interests--presuppositions...
Sad but true. Microsoft technology helping one of the most evil companies in the world. Just do a google search for Monsanto and evil. No, I don't like genetically modified food thank you very much.
Clever duet by Bush and Blair
Clever. There's some really good anti-war media out there.
Sad. So software is a dirty industry after all and Microsoft contributes by targeting only the latest spec machines.
Interesting site. Until I write my link portal, I post interesting links here. The Internet is fascinating as a media since it by-passes all of the large media organisations out there (which are owned by a small aristocracy) and all kinds of alternative journalism can reach a broader audience. Only problem is quality...
Read up on the history of Iraq today. Very interesting. The British (Empire) messed up yet another country. Interesting reading through the change of U.S. foreign policy towards Iraq too. Lot of other sites out there describing Iraqi history.
The US Congress has been asked to shell out 75 billion dollars for the cost of the Iraq war just for the period up to October 2003. Doesn't that make you feel sick? What an incredible waste of money. Each cruise missle costs £400,000 and I seem to remember hearing they shot 400 of them in just one night. The budget for munitions is 6.5 billion assuming the war lasts 30 days.
Notice the payoffs to other countries. Israel gets 10 billion(!?). Jordan and Egypt get a billion each. But Iraq earns 25 billion in oil revenue so maybe some of...
Took the kids for a trip into London on the train - a real treat for K*. Met my wife in Chinatown and we binged out on dim sum before doing some food shopping around Chinatown. Earlier in the day, there had been a large anti-war protest so there were still numerous people around with placards. Felt pretty sad seeing all the war images on the front pages of the newspapers.
This evening we watched the war coverage on the evening news with the children and talked about it with R*. Explaining international politics to a seven year old is an...