Conservation Biologist in "Discovery Channel People" video clip ("Between Kingdoms" by Bryan Little, Fly in the Wall Productions)

This is the most beautiful message. Something I have also always felt. Right about from the 45 second mark on is a divine message.

"Most people probably don't consciously feel claustrophobic.
Not being able to see the horizon is something that most people think is normal.
When I was young, I used to collect tadpoles in the family bathtub.
But then I also chh? to be a monkey and marry my dog.
What is a city, if not an attempt to exclude nature?
How is it that a spider in a home is seen as a pest, rather than a killer of pests?
I see nature fighting to find a balance
in the cracks in the walls and holes in a now developed world.
That's the difference I guess. Nature fights for balance.
And humans fight for excess and consumption.
We most certainly have lost a part of our souls in this developed world.
I wake up, in my little house, surrounded by buildings, cars, people, and the sounds of sirens, I struggle to see the sky out of my bedroom window.
Humans convincingly control the planet, and I think it's time that we realize that with a power comes responsibility.
Nature will win in the end. In the meantime, I am a fan of the underdog. My name is Ian Tchagra Little, and I am a conservation biologist."

October 26, 2011: I was just sent this clip by Tangerine Lullaby, a version posted by the person who made it, Bryan Little, Fly on the Wall productions! He is in Cape Town, South Africa.

Here is the link on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW3m5BnTmqQ&feature=player_embedded


Click here for an earlier post about this clip.

Thinking about Google

I just watched a documentary about Google (BBC money program), about how it works and it's implications - the commercialization of the internet. The concept of "free" email or searching, how we are actually paying by our interests (search terms) being recorded, and people advertising to us based on that information.

The show covered the various ways that commercial interests are wresting power through the ads that appear everywhere, the concept of something being "free", and sneakier devices appearing such as recommendation functions. They were concerned that instead of the web being passively available, people are finding ways to offer you, only that which they think you want...so the freedom is being tailored.

I do think that the attempt of commercial interests to reharness control is scary, but there still is so much positive that can happen, where people can connect in new ways where they weren't able to before.

By the way, one of the way the Google-monster (search engine algorithm) works, is the more a website is linked (referenced) elsewhere, the higher it will appear on the results. SO...it's like a popularity engine, working almost socially, with some sites snowballing the hits.

May 14 Climate Futures - intellectual fire on the radio late at night (NZ)

I feel like I am on fire. This happens once in awhile, I got the opportunity to listen to radio late at night while making something - wire fairy wings for girl children coming to a birthday party tomorrow - and Radio NZ had a climate change conference on in Wellington [later looked up the details: 'Climate Futures – Pathways for Society’, organized by the New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute at Victoria University]. It just feels like it has been ages since I have listened to that pure liquid of ideas that sometimes radio is. I had flashbacks of listening to the radio during my nightshifts when I had a job at a resthome. I was doing chores and night like ironing, but was on fire with ideas as I listened to the radio (sustainability as well, actually.)

There were speakers from England, Canada, and New Zealand that I heard, from the different range of intellectual disciplines - first a scholar [Sir Lloyd Geering] who had been projecting ahead different futures. He said that in the 19th century the human population had QUADRUPLED, and that in the past, our actions hadn't impacted on nature no matter what we did, she was still far more powerful. Now, we are able to effect the productivity of the world, as we cut down the world's forests to feed ourselves. It was lovely to hear spoken thoughts I have so often had and am usually alone in- to see that they were shared.

I had that sharing of ideas with Good magazine when it first came out, but it has since had to become more profitable, and now speaks less.

The next speaker from British Columbia, Canada, [Robert Gifford] was interested in the psychology of why people make choices, as he felt that many people knew and realized that there was a problem - he wanted to know why people weren't making bigger changes then. He said a few reasons, one I had heard before - that our ancient brains are geared for a different world, from when we roamed Africa in tribal groups and were concerned with the here and now, and not even with the next group unless they were threatening our resources. I do believe that is true. He mentioned all the aspects of being in a group that I agree are hugely influential, others are not changing and that is our reality - we have investments in the system and to change is to step outside our own prosperity in the immediate future. Also he mentioned media, such as Fox News, which fought against intellectualism. His main point was that we all need to do more to change, such as biking to work instead of driving to work.

A lady who had experience helping children to cope with tragedy, I believe, was interesting [Canterbury University political scientist and resilience expert Bronwyn Hayward]. She took a little while to assemble her point, but they all had different valuable contributions, that we were going through the various stages of coping with a disaster, comparing it to an event like an earthquake, denial, then blame, then resurgence of old power...she hoped for true change and said it would come with the new generation of young people who were fighting their terrible odds.

The last speaker was one of our own New Zealanders [Gareth Renowden]. I wasn't sure how he would be, but I was very proud of him. I had had the reminder of Canadian intellectualism with the British Columbian environmental psychology speaker, and in contrast this man cut right to the point and was very true in what he said, and practical. He had a successful blog called Hot Topic, which had come out of a book he had started to write. He said simply, that what we needed was " a consensus of action" of what to do about climate change. I just loved that. We do need to decide upon a course of action, so we can act, all of us humans together. He also had an interesting point from being on the ground, and hearing comments from the public - there are a few people who hound his blog, always trying to assert their view (contrary to climate change) which is independent of the facts. He said that he thought these individuals were actually acting like they were part of a "religion", contrary to their view that people who were concerned about climate change were. They held fast to their view despite the facts.

I definitely need to listen to the radio more, and pass around articles less...

Snail or no snail

Slugs! Snails!

With gardening and becoming closer to the land, there are more physically intense experiences, some good, some not so pleasant.
Pleasant: smelling fragrant basil waft when I am in the garden at night.
Not pleasant: getting rid of slimy slugs and snails!

I had been noticing that all my lovely perfect seedlings have been getting riddled with holes. I couldn't see any insects eating them. Totally new to gardening in NZ - I am reading Xanthe White's organic vegetable gardening book. She had said to go on night raids, and that in general with a garden and pests, "observation was key". I had planted the seedlings, but then just ignored them. Tonight after it was quiet and everyone was in bed, I grabbed a flashlight and and a bucket and went to have a look.

THEY WERE EATING MY GARDEN! There were many, many snails of all sizes locomoting around and clinging to leaves, and small slimy slugs. I grabbed them with my bare hand and put them in my bucket, observing where they were making short work of all my seedlings, in particular the lettuces. I think I've made a giant leap here, and that perhaps if I take measures I may actually have vegetables. In the past when I have experimented with growing, in pots, the pests totalled whatever I was growing. In NZ, it is bountiful, but bountiful in pests as well! Xanthe White had made brick beds, and had gravel in between her raised gardens to discourage locomoting of slimers. I am definitely going to put gravel in between my garden beds, in the areas that I can. I can even add some salt.

But then a dramatic event occurred.

It was an ethical dilemma. Xanthe had said although it was a queazy matter, those "suckers could do with some population control once in a while!" Being city suburb born, and we didn't have snails persay, I was concerned about killing something that I've seen illustrated in children's books as woodland creatures along with fairies and toadstools. I pictured painting the mural I plan to paint in my children's bedroom, and how unable I would be to paint a snail's magic if I killed them. I had seen them this night, stretching slowly and magically up - their delicate antennas stretching delicately out. I heated up boiling water, deciding to be a farmer. Then I changed my mind easily, and decided to throw them into the inedible part of our garden (yard), into the bushes. I threw them all into the bushes, stopping to wonder why I felt less caring towards the slimy slugs that had no shells. I knew that the shell was just one more adaptation to protect it...they were basically cuter. I returned to the garden to see if more slugs or snails were reeling up after I had left. I found a small black slug creating holes in a lettuce leaf. My caring turned to repulsion as my inner self regarded it as an unwanted, negative creature. And then I realized what the difference would have been, for earlier people, that resolved the ethical dilemma. They would have been eating your only food. It's killed or be killed, babies.

I plucked the black offensive creature off the leaf, dropped it into the bucket, and put the kettle back on to boil...

Get up Stand up by Bob

GET UP STAND UP
Bob Marley
Get up, stand up...stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up...stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up...stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up...don't give up the fight!

Preacher man, don't tell me,
Heaven is under the earth.
I know you don't know
What life is really worth.
It's not all that glitters is gold
'Alf the story has never been told
So now you see the light, eh!
Stand up for your rights. come on!

Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!

Most people think,
Great god will come from the skies,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth:
And now you see the light,
You stand up for your rights. jah!

Get up, stand up! (jah, jah! )
Stand up for your rights! (oh-hoo! )
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up! )
Don't give up the fight! (life is your right! )
Get up, stand up! (so we can't give up the fight! )
Stand up for your rights! (lord, lord! )
Get up, stand up! (keep on struggling on! )
Don't give up the fight! (yeah! )

We sick an' tired of-a your ism-skism game -
Dyin' 'n' goin' to heaven in-a Jesus' name, lord.
We know when we understand
Almighty god is a living man.
You can fool some people sometimes,
But you can't fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light (what you gonna do?)
We gonna stand up for our rights! (yeah, yeah, yeah! )

So you better:
Get up, stand up! (in the morning! git it up! )
Stand up for your rights! (stand up for our rights! )
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight! (don't give it up, don't give it up! )
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up! )
Stand up for your rights! (get up, stand up! )
Get up, stand up! ...
Don't give up the fight! (get up, stand up! )
Get up, stand up! ...
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight!

Let's cast amnesia - forget about all that evil

ONE TRIBEBlack Eyed Peas
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh!
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!
Woah-oh-oh-oh-ooooh!
Oh-woah-oh!

One Tri...
One Tri...
One Tribe, one time, one planet, one race
Its all one blood, don't care about your face
The color of your eye or the tone of your skin
Don't care where ya are
Don't care where ya been
Cause where we gonna go
Is where we wanna be
The place where the little language is unity
And the continent is called Pangaea
And the main ideas are connected like a spear
No propaganda, They tried to upper hand us
Cause man I'm loving this peace
Man, man, I'm loving this peace
Man, man, I'm loving this peace
I don't need no leader
That's gonna force feed a
Concept that make me think I need to
Fear my brother and fear my sister
And shoot my neighbor or my big missile
If I had an enemy to [enemy]
If I had an enemy to [enemy]
If I had an enemy, then my enemy is gonna try to come and kill me
Cause I'm his enemy
There's one tribe ya'll

One tribe ya'll
One tribe ya'll
One tribe ya'll
We are one people
Let's cast amnesia, forget about all that evil
Forget about all that evil, that evil that they feed ya
Let's cast amnesia, forget about all that evil
That evil that they feed ya
Remember that we're one people
We are one people
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]

One tribe, one tribe
One tribe, one time, one planet, one [race]
Race, one love, one people, one [and]
Too many things that's causing one [to]
To forget about the main cause
Connecting, uniting
But the evil is seen and alive in us
So our hopes are colliding
And our peace is sinking like Poseidon
But, we know that the one [one]
The evil one is threatened by the sum [sum]
So he'll come and try and separate the sum
But he dumb, he didn't know we had a way to overcome
Rejuvenated by the beating of the drum
Come together by the cycle of the hum
Freedom when all become one [one]
Forever

One tribe ya'll
One tribe ya'll
One tribe ya'll
We are one people
Let's cast amnesia
Forget about all that evil [evil]
Forget about all that evil [evil]
That evil that they feed ya
Let's cast amnesia
Forget about all that evil [evil]
That evil, that they feed ya [feed ya]
Remember that we're one people
We are one people
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]

One love, one blood, one people
One heart, one beat, we equal
Connected like the internet
United that's how we do
Lets break walls, so we see through
Let love and peace lead you
We could overcome the complication cause we need to
Help each other, make these changes
Brother, sister, rearrange this
The way I'm thinking that we can change this bad condition
Wait, use you mind and not your greed
Let's connect and then proceed
This is something I believe
We are one, we're all just people

One tribe ya'll
One tribe ya'll
One tribe ya'll
We are one people
Let's cast amnesia
Forget about all that evil
Forget about all that evil, that evil that they feed ya
Let's cast amnesia
Let's cast amnesia, forget about all that evil
That evil, that they feed ya
We're one tribe ya'll
We people, we people
One tribe ya'll
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]
One people, one people [One People]

Lets, lets cast amnesia
Lord help me out
Trying to figure out what its all about [what its all about]
Cause we're one in the same [one in the same]
Same joy, same pain
And I hope that you're there when I need ya
Cause maybe we need amnesia
And I don't wanna sound like a preacher
But we need to be one

One world, one love, one passion
One tribe, one understanding
Cause you and me can become one.

hear it

Horrified by the mountain

...of crap that came with our new dryer. AND the mountains of cling-film that came with our new couch. I didn't expect it, so it wasn't avoided. I would rather the couch had come dented and dirty, truly. But worse than a huge ball of cling film was the mound of polystyrene ("styrofoam" in Canada). That stuff never goes away (doesn't break down). I find it almost criminally irresponsible that it is still used.

Step 1. Phoned the appliance store that sold me the dryer to ask if they would take back the polstyrene. They wanted to help, but would only throw it in the rubbish instead of me. They said that the manufacturer wouldn't reuse it.

Step 2. Researched alternative places that would recycle it. There were only two places locally. One was Expol, which makes and installs polystyrene insulation under floors.

At first I was going to take it there, but now I am having second thoughts. Why contribute to a business that creates more of the same problem? We don't need polystyrene under floors either, where it will also one day be a waste problem.

Step 3 is going to be calling Haier directly, and asking them to take back their perfectly "good" horrible packing material. If they don't take responsibility for it, I can start communicating with them and making some small change there.

Small change, anyone? Watch this mountain.

Update 16 August 2012.I ended up getting tired and overwhelmed, and...I should have done something about it, but I just wanted you to know I actually didn't.

Companies are changing though, so if I ever do get a new appliance (which I will, we will need a better water saving washing machine, and dishwasher at some point since we live on tank water), I will stop it at the source and tell them I don't want the packaging. I can at that point make sure the action is accompanied with letter or even a Facebook comment. I have helped create action with Pak'N Save before by nagging on Facebook from time to time (about Fair Trade bananas). There is nothing wrong with communication structures like Facebook for companies to communicate with the public. Then, actually, their marketing communications team has to figure out how to respond to it officially - which is a good thing.

In fact - I should make a comment right now...far easier than writing letters (and more effective too).




I did it! http://www.facebook.com/liveahaierlife

How hard was that? Posted the photo above, and: "Sorry - just had to pass something on. I got a Haier dryer last year - which is working great, thanks. Just was wondering if there was an option in future to give back all the polystyrene or program to recycle it? Just not very good from a waste (environmental) perspective."

It's good to be nice. If it's not said with love, would you listen?


17 August 2012

Hey, they got back to me!

"Hi Nonavee, in NZ most retailers have some form of recycling available at their warehouse operations. We are more than happy to accept your packaging at our locations in Auckland or Christchurch (13 Kerwyn Ave, East Tamaki Auckland or 79 Shands Road Hornby, Christchurch) and will recycle the packaging and old Haier appliances as well if required. :) Hope this is helpful."

That is great. If only I contacted them directly at the time. I could have shipped it or taken it over there... which although it's a pain in the butt would assist in their process of learning to deal with it. Next time -