“Questioning growth is deemed to be the act of lunatics, idealists and revolutionaries. But question it we must. The myth of growth has failed us. It has failed the two billion people who still live on less than $2 a day. It has failed the fragile ecological systems on which we depend for survival. It [...]
Archive | March, 2009
Too much information
Posting about Offlining Day this morning, I noticed a similar theme from Charlie Brooker’s column today as he reflects on Google Instant: My attention span was never great, but modern technology has halved it, and halved it again, and again and again, down to an atomic level, and now there’s nothing discernible left… bombarded by [...]
Keeping the peace at the G20 protests
Am I the only one who’s a little concerned at the tone the police are taking over this week’s G20 protests? A number of participating groups have apparently received a letter warning that protests, particularly on Wednesday 1st, could turn violent, and that the police are “up for it, and up to it” if it [...]
If you’re visiting from Elevate…
Welcome. Just to fill you in on some of the things we talked about, the Breathe Conference is the 25th of April in London, and the details are here. See you there perhaps? Want to swap some clothes, DVDs or games? Details of swapping websites here. If you haven’t watched The Story of Stuff yet, [...]
What we learned this week
Under new primary school guidelines, studying the Second World War will be non-compulsory, but children will have to master Twitter. In probably unrelated news, this is a big week for the anarchists. Watch this space. Iraq is the next hot tourist destination. For the architecture, the history, and the migratory birds of course – nothing [...]
Hot, Flat and Crowded, by Thomas L Friedman
I’d been putting this book off a little, partly because it’s a big book and I’m a little lazy, and also because Friedman tends to annoy me. He’s a great writer and full of useful information, but he’s a die-hard free-marketer and champion of globalisation, two things I’m less enthusiastic about. The basic argument of [...]
Swap it!
Recessions are good for some things, and one of those things is alternative economies. Time banks, local currencies, bartering and swapping all see a resurgence whenever the economy takes a tumble. Swapping brings people together, saves you money, keeps stuff out of landfill and uses less of the earth’s resources. The internet makes swapping a [...]
The One World Flag
How would you design a flag for the whole world? That was the challenge set out by Adbusters recently: “We invite you to create a flag – free from language and well-worn clichés – that embodies the idea of global citizenship. A symbol that triggers pride and cohesion, whether worn on a backpack, displayed on [...]
What if we’re wrong about climate change?
I’ve been reading Thomas L Friedman‘s ‘Hot, Flat, and Crowded’ this week. Review to follow, but this passage struck me and I thought it was worth quoting in full. It’s very similar to my own view, which I wrote up here. “If those of us who have become concerned about climate change turn out to [...]
Obamas re-instate the White House vegetable patch
This is fun to see – Michelle Obama and a bunch of schoolchildren have dug up a section of the lawn and re-planted the White House kitchen garden. The last time anything was grown there was Eleanor Roosevelt’s garden during the Second World War. Hopefully it’ll inspire people to re-connect with the earth a little, [...]
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