Thursday, 9. August 2007, 20:01:33
big green gathering, martha tilston, environmentalism, simultaneous policy
BGG Photo Album >>Every year, 20,000 or so hippies congregate on top of the Mendip Hills in Somerset. It is called the Big Green Gathering. I just got back from this year's Gathering, so I thought I would do a joint blog and photo posting.
The idea of the festival is to let people learn about green lifestyles, and swap ideas or bring important things to peoples attention. There's also a lot of great music. One of the best experiences the festival offers is just to be able to know that you are not alone in caring about the environment. And with twenty thousand people in just a few fields, you pretty quickly get to see the full green spectrum! Among stall-holders this year were "Hunt Saboteurs", the Simultaneous Policy people, and the Squatters Rights group who, rather amusingly, put up posters for a forum titled "Beyond Squatting" on the doors to every portaloo on site!
I have to mention the
Simultaneous Policy people because their idea is just so unusual that I was surprised to see them back at this years festival. The gist of the idea is that nation-states can make decisions that could affect matters such as trade and investment more easily if they all make the decision at the same time. It removes the disadvantage in being an early adopter and possibly losing the trade or investment to another state which has not implemented the idea. To be perfectly honest, while it may sound like a good idea, I think that it is just really incredibly idealistic and naive to think that this could ever work in the current international community. Anyway, they seem like nice people with good intentions.
One of the musical highlights of the festival was Martha Tilston's performance. I don't think that she is particularly well known outside the realm of folk music, but she is an absolutely amazing artist. Because most of the audience got to the venue before she probably even left her tent, she had to tune instruments and warm up in front of everyone, but I think that just added to the experience. At the end, she managed to sneak off stage and out of the tent, leaving everyone in the audience still singing her last song!
Thursday, 10. May 2007, 01:20:35
politics, environmentalism, Evening News, Edinburgh
...
It is official. I have entered politics! With my first letter to the Edinburgh Evening News, I have sparked two people on the EEN web forum to strongly disagree with me and call me a "career-driven supporter" of the SGP, speaking "no more than blatant propaganda"! Here are the posts in full:
#12
(#10 Climate Truth) - Wow! It is good to hear from someone who can speak knowledgeably about these issues that have been reduced to no more than blatant propaganda by the Greens and too many career-driven supporters. Climate Truth's comment refers to the latest IPCC report allegedly supported by "2,500 scientists" and to the "Summary for Policy Makers" which has been released in advance of the report proper. If I understand correctly, this Summary was issued before the report proper was finalised. However, it was announced that the report would not be changed except to bring it into line with the Summary - completely the wrong way round! The summary should be of the findings of the Report! It is not only Tom Redford who says such untruths with a straight face - Greens as a group are lying their way through the Press. A couple of days ago we had another who stated as fact something that was just not true, not misinterpreted, not misunderstood but just not true. And these people have the gall to suggest we vote for them!
#14
Yes (12), I too dislike this propaganda that the Greens are using to present their argument. It implies that they have a very weak case so have to use the "big lie" to make their argument. Tom Redford says that Helen Martin "writes that the scientific community is divided on the matter of whether climate change is caused by human activities. This is simply not true." That statement is simply not true, as Climate Truth says with significant references to dissenting scientists. At least Steuart Campbell, whilst supporting TOm [sic] Redford's view, is honest enough to admit the reality - that pursuing the Greens' policy would wreck the economy, a significant factor in my view. I had the privilege to attend the lecture given some months ago by Bjorn Lomborg, who left Greenpeace at the same time as one of the co-founders. They took the view that the argument had been won, that people were correctly concerned about ecology and it was no longer necessary to pursue confrontation to make their case. Too many Greenpeace activists enjoyed confrontation to follow their lead, leading to that schism. Lomborg argues that whilst everyone should be concerned about the planet, Kyoto required far more investment than the improvements that it could create. It couldn't produce a realistic return on the investment, both in activity and financial cost. He even wrote a book about all the other steps that could be taken instead with far greater benefit to the planet and its inhabitants. He has been described as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He also disagrees with the IPCC "findings".
Full Forum Page
Wednesday, 20. September 2006, 17:46:15
environmentalism, climate-change, film
I don't normally do this, but I strongly recommend that you go to see the film: "An Inconvenient Truth". Its a film documentary about climate change, laying out the scientific facts and the moral and ethical argument for taking action against climate change. The trailer is at
Apple Trailers.
Tuesday, 15. August 2006, 00:02:08
environmentalism, lebanon
I just saw this on the BBC News website. I accidentaly read the Science/Nature page, which I normally avoid because it is so depressing.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5255966.stm?ls
Sunday, 13. August 2006, 13:08:45
environmentalism, Somerset, university
I haven't really posted anything for a while, but lots of stuff has been happening. I got back from the Big Green Gathering last week, which was fun. It's a festival of all things green (environmental, not the colour!), so there were lots of debates, stalls for things like renewable energy, and a lot of music. There also seemed to be loads of food. Most of the time we were there, I was eating something. The best thing I had was Chow Mein noodles from a place called the Philippine Village Fast Food Centre. If you go to any of the festivals in Britain look out for them, everything I had there was really good.
There was a tent called the Green Forum, which had a question time event each evening. One night they had a corespondent from BBC's Newsnight who is doing a series of pieces on ethical living. He made the mistake of suggesting that Israel wasn't all that bad. Big mistake, he got shouted down by half the pro-Palestine people in the audience.
I bought a domain name. My personal website is now at www.tredford01.co.uk. I have pointed the address to my blog at the moment, soon I'll have a separate personal website to use. I also found a tutorial that I made on XHTML a while ago, so I'm updating it and I'll have it online in a week or so.
The biggest thing happening right now is the looming start of university. The counter to the right shows how many days are left. I think everything is sorted. I've been assigned a hall, my finance is sorted, and I'm thinking what I'll take with me. All very exciting and daunting!
Friday, 10. March 2006, 18:39:55
Philosophy, driving, environmentalism
I like driving. I have had a full drivers licence for about a month now, and I can’t believe it, but I actually like driving. While I was learning, I hated driving. It was so stressful and seemed so pointless, but now I actually enjoy getting in the car to bulk buy cat food (as a Green person, I have to fully justify my use of the car, so I buy big and heavy things that don’t fit on my bike).
If environmentalism were a religion, then driving a car would be one of its cardinal sins. It’s debatable whether Environmentalism is a religion. It certainly shows some of the characteristics of conventional religion, and is based on the same ideas as some religions in the past: a respect for the earth and a greater understanding of the way that nature intends for us to live.
I suppose that in some ways, I use Environmentalism as a religion. I have no conventional faith. I’m not Christian, Jewish or even Buddhist (a very popular religion among the “Ethical Community”), but I live my life by an unwritten ethical code that many others also use.
Anyway, moving away from the “half way down the swimming pool” depth religious and moral philosophy, I have to say that I prefer cycling to driving. I’m cycling to Cornwall this summer. Its several hundred miles and only around 80 days until I leave yet I still haven’t started training. I made the excuse that it is too cold and wet outside to cycle, but I still go out most days and cycle to work. I’m just lazy. I should make a plan for training and see if I can stick to it.
As you can probably see from the side bar, I discovered a load of extras that I could add to the blog. I also tried out the new “Google Page Maker”. It seems to be quite good, but it doesn’t seem to allow extras like RSS. I think I’m going to stick with this blog for now.
WIDGETIZE