eek.ology

I have not written much here recently - I am in fact in the process of moving across to wordpress, which I think is better suited to my conent.

Please come visit me there!  It’s still very much a work in progress, but you can find me at eekology.wordpress.com

Thanks :)

Reading this sort of thing really makes me furious because this is not about balance. This is about dismissal of scientific evidence because of political leanings.  If Dr Barke has his way, this is just as much about indoctrination as those ‘dogmatic liberals’ and their left-wing, zealot approaches.

While I strongly believe that the science points irrefutably to the fact of anthropogenic climate change, I can accept that others disagree.  I personally feel they’re wrong and that they’re just refusing to look at the massive amounts of evidence for it – but they’re entitled to believe whatever they like.  But teaching that all of that evidence might be wrong (or, according to Dr Barke, flat out is wrong) seems a little like teaching Creationism in a Science class – putting aside fact for personal and political belief.

I find it hard to believe that people can read CSIRO reports and the work of the IPCC and not be convinced of the human effect on global climate.  I hope that the kids being exposed to Dr Barke’s “balanced views” on climate change feel the same way.  Because they’re the generation that’s going to need to drive the changes in the way we look at our world.

Today’s awesome eco-design pic is from inhabitat.com.  Nava Lubelski uses rolled up tax returns to create these gorgeous, spirally designs.  I’m assuming that she’s collected tax returns from other people…otherwise, she is doing something real weird with her tax.

In so many ways we like to think that in the “West” we are enlightened in our treatment of animals – that we know that animal abuse is wrong and basically the domain of future serial killers. I think that’s part of the reason that the recent Water for Elephants scandal is so upsetting.

I was also particularly upset because elephants are some of the most intelligent, gentle, beautiful animals that I have ever come across.  In 2009 I spent some time volunteering at Elephant Nature Park outside of Chiang Mai getting to know some of these amazing creatures.  Many of the elephants there had been severely abused and their stories were heartbreaking.  I find it appalling that the same kind of brutal training is happening in a Hollywood studio (and frankly, whether it happened last year or in 2005 is irrelevant).

Please boycott this film.  It looks like absolute drivel anyway, but even if you’re tempted to see it, don’t.  Elephants should not be treated in this way.

(Dinner time at ENP.  The animals are allowed to live as freely as possible but are somewhat restricted to keep them safe from further harm).

Late last week, I posted about a debate in the NY Times that discussed the potential of a world with 10 billion people – you might remember, I was pretty horrified by the thought.

But you know what?  I’m hoping that I’ll contribute to those 10 billion.  I want children some day.  I’ve always wanted kids and at this point, it’s not something I’m prepared to compromise on (except in a horrible unable-to-have-babies situation).

Is that hypocritical of me?  Is it selfish? Well, in a nutshell, yes.  I see the size of the global population as the biggest issue facing the world right now.  But I don’t want to give up my right to have a family, to have a little mini-me or two venturing bravely forward.  Maybe I hope that I can produce the kind of offspring who can help save the future, who will care enough to make the changes that we need to see.  Even so, that doesn’t negate the fact that they’ll still be extra mouths to feed in a very hungry world.

I’m not writing this to say “Hey, look at me!  I’m happily going to screw the planet!”  I’m also not going to try and justify myself with some flimsy logic about the fact that I’ll never live in an air-conditioned McMansion or drive a 4x4 (SUV for any Americans lurking).  My point is that in some way, we are all going to be environmental hypocrites in one way or another.  You might drive a Prius and it might be a squillion times better than a 4x4 – but you’re not relying on walking, biking and public transport.  You might buy organic but disregard the food miles.  Unless you go completely off the grid, grow all your own food, install solar, don’t travel, don’t use batteries and basically shut out the outside world entirely, you are making an impact.

The best we can do is to be aware of this and to do the best we can to lessen our effect.

Very cool recycled book lamps by Lula Dot.  Taken from treehugger.com.

More substantial posts will return soon, I promise - I’ve had a crappy few weeks and my mind has been a bit too scatty for proper-wordy-posts.

So for now…pretty pictures instead :)  Has anyone seen any other great art and design over the last week or so? Please share!

Having been through Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Turkey in late 2010, this hardly surprises me. I was horrified to see trucks hosing the streets and markets in Damascus and Aleppo in particular.  I don’t think that agriculture is the only problem.  I really think that these countries will need to completely reconsider their relationships with water if they are to continue to survive.

So, this morning I read this article in today’s Sydney Morning Herald.  Mr Keating, you are an arrogant, self-righteous, stuck-up little man and I can’t help but not give a rat’s posterior about your opinion.  I’m more interested in the 11,000 signatures against the Barangaroo project. Yes, 11,000.

Mr Keating may be in favour of a project which has;

-Broken previous planning laws to allow an extremely tall building right on the headland;

-Allowed unproven “remediation technology” to be used to treat contaminated land waste in Sydney Harbour - again, changing previous planning laws;

-Changed the law to allow harbour subdivision, essentially allowing its privatisation;

but if being against such a development makes me a ‘“sandal-wearing, muesli-chewing, bike-riding pedestrian’, then it’s a badge I’ll wear with pride.

Image from www.theurbandeveloper.com

While trawling through the NY Times in my lunchbreak today, I came across a really interesting ‘Room for Debate’ piece about population growth.  Surprisingly, most of the opinions were really quite optimistic about the future – I was expecting a lot more doom and gloom.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t convinced by all of the arguments.  Change on the scale many of them discussed is going to take a lot more determination, creativity and vision than a lot of people and governments are showing at the moment.  I’m willing to stand corrected – I’m certainly no expert -  but there wasn’t anything in the piece that made me feel that a world of 8 to 10 billion people would be a place I’d want to be.

This is freaking gorgeous.  Moss graffiti in London by Anna Garforth.

From treehugger via HipsterHousewife