Last night I saw bats here for the first time. I welcome them - though I cant hear them like I could in my younger days - possibly due to the lack of hot water and general cold making the ablution of ears a luxury to be undertaken only in times of need. Such as the unexpected appearance of small trees on the pillow in the morning.
This afternoon we heard a cuckoo. This is delightful is it not? I have a friend living the crofting life on the west coast who hates cuckoos cos they never shut up. I can well imagine and think it is time to start planning my aural arboretum. It could be a good wee money spinner too.
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Firstly, there is nothing more important than me and my family. The most precious thing I can give them (including me) is time. In my job, with all it's pressures, I singularly failed to do this. So we run for the hills and try to redress the balance.
Secondly, climate change is happening. It's a cataclysm, the scope of which is beyond our comprehension. This is why we are doing so little to stop it - we just cant imagine the scale of the upheavals to come, and we can't imagine how we, as individuals, can stop it.
Everything is stacked against effective action. Our economy is driven by consumerism and it is consumerism that is driving climate change. Our political leaders are paralysed - to curb consumerism would cripple the economic engine. We increasingly define ourselves by our economic position and the things we buy. We are what we buy. What politician dare restrict our ability to buy, our ability to define ourselves? It would attack our very self and would be political suicide.
And anyway, the real power lies with money - and the people with money want us to consume and they spend millions every second of the day persuading us to consume more. What hope do we have against such power? And everything we buy pumps a little more CO2 into the atmosphere.
Thirdly, I am no saint. I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to change my life for the benefit of myself, and, I hope, the planet. Ultimately my reasons for doing this are selfish, and although I'll do what I can to keep my carbon footprint low, I'll make many choices that are not so good for the planet. Like anyone, I can only voluntarily make changes to my life at the speed I can. I don't intend to beat myself up over this - I do intend to change faster than most.
Fourthly, there is hope. Our lust to consume is a very recent phenomena. Not so long ago we principally defined ourselves by our relationships with friends and family and place and we defined ourselves by our usefulness to society. I believe that climate change will force us out of consumerism, and in its place we will find those core values, and rediscover a sense of wellbeing that is so missing from our current fractured existence.
There are lots of examples where this is starting to happen. The transition town movement is one - people getting together and learning to appreciate the things and people around them. I played a small part in helping Sustaining Dunbar get off the ground. (http://edubuzz.org/blogs/sustainingdunbar/about-us) What I found there were people striving to build a positive and resilient future and there are transition towns popping up all over the place - a really positive movement. (find out more about transition towns)
Fifthly, At the end of the day it's all bollocks. So let's all go off and have some fun - it's the most important thing we can do - but let's just try to do it without killing the planet in the process.
If you think there's something wrong, change what you can to make it better. I'm trying to lower my carbon footprint, step out from the 9-5 grind, rise from the weight of leadership and responsibility and have some fun again.
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Where I"m coming from - !CAUTION! a bit of a polemic
Secondly, climate change is happening. It's a cataclysm, the scope of which is beyond our comprehension. This is why we are doing so little to stop it - we just cant imagine the scale of the upheavals to come, and we can't imagine how we, as individuals, can stop it.
Everything is stacked against effective action. Our economy is driven by consumerism and it is consumerism that is driving climate change. Our political leaders are paralysed - to curb consumerism would cripple the economic engine. We increasingly define ourselves by our economic position and the things we buy. We are what we buy. What politician dare restrict our ability to buy, our ability to define ourselves? It would attack our very self and would be political suicide.
And anyway, the real power lies with money - and the people with money want us to consume and they spend millions every second of the day persuading us to consume more. What hope do we have against such power? And everything we buy pumps a little more CO2 into the atmosphere.
Thirdly, I am no saint. I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to change my life for the benefit of myself, and, I hope, the planet. Ultimately my reasons for doing this are selfish, and although I'll do what I can to keep my carbon footprint low, I'll make many choices that are not so good for the planet. Like anyone, I can only voluntarily make changes to my life at the speed I can. I don't intend to beat myself up over this - I do intend to change faster than most.
Fourthly, there is hope. Our lust to consume is a very recent phenomena. Not so long ago we principally defined ourselves by our relationships with friends and family and place and we defined ourselves by our usefulness to society. I believe that climate change will force us out of consumerism, and in its place we will find those core values, and rediscover a sense of wellbeing that is so missing from our current fractured existence.
There are lots of examples where this is starting to happen. The transition town movement is one - people getting together and learning to appreciate the things and people around them. I played a small part in helping Sustaining Dunbar get off the ground. (http://edubuzz.org/blogs/sustainingdunbar/about-us) What I found there were people striving to build a positive and resilient future and there are transition towns popping up all over the place - a really positive movement. (find out more about transition towns)
Fifthly, At the end of the day it's all bollocks. So let's all go off and have some fun - it's the most important thing we can do - but let's just try to do it without killing the planet in the process.
Things I"m going to miss
- Jour Fixe - especially Tagd and CDs from Sean
- Lennie's coffee, bacon rolls and flapjacks, always served with such...erm...charm
- Liz's happy hello in the morning
- Unpacking the Crunchy veg box (people of Dunbar - use them! - http://www.crunchycarrot.co.uk/crunchy_carrot_4/services.html)
- Our wood burning stove - we had a hybrid - http://www.dowlingstoves.com/stoves.htm
- Oh and that pumped up sense of self importance you get from being the big cheese
- Financial security
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2008
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April
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- Two firsts
- Despair
- The urbanisation of tweetie pie
- FREEDOM!
- Crunchy things
- Wheatear
- Dunbar
- A visitor from Auchtermuchty
- Comedy body
- Wow
- Fug
- A day in Edinburgh
- No fuel queues at Asda
- Sunny Dunny
- Heavy van man
- Moonrise over washing
- Heading South
- Village People
- Parties
- BE QUIET!
- Sharing
- dreamy views
- Some views
- The cottage needs a shave
- Congestion
- Mechanical prowess
- Fox Pasta
- Cat tv
- Structures
- Tales from the kitchen
- tails from the kitchen
- Notable events
- Basking in the sun
- A deep hatred develops
- of fiddlers and architects, accordians and skype
- A loyal following
- The pub
- Shopping 3 - Allens of Gillock
- Shopping 2
- Shopping
- This week
- The first bath
- I've made an itulldoofenow!
- Ailsa's first day at her new school
- Peewit
- The bed
- Eco-tricity
- Lump hammer ahoy
- Stuck in the mud
- A fine mug
- The first week
- This house snores
- The Move – April 1st 2008.Of course we had final p...
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April
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My quick links
Cheapskate jazz collections
2 comments:
will that friend on the West Coast be Christian, who gets up in the middle of the night to throw stones at the cuckoo? (Luckily he is a cr@* shot so always misses.)
Indeed it would. Good idea - thanks for the tip.
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