tales of a scorched earth

There are good things.

2011-12-30T08:11:00.001+01:00

Judging by the name of this blog, you can imagine that the contents of the posts are not always cheery. There are some great signs out there that things are changing, and most encouragingly for me - mindsets.

One little example is pet training. We recently welcomed Spencer into our house. Spencer is a puppy - see picture. We decided to get him all trained up and so started finding out about puppy training schools. Most training schools these days appear to work entirely with non-violence, all training is done through encouragement and rewards, and ignoring bad behaviour.

What does this all have to do with the state of the world? Thinking about this, I thought that there is no way that these sorts of ideas could spill over into the trainer's and the human trainee's (it's as much about training the custodian as it is about training the dog!) lives. I quickly checked the cynic in me. I think it is safe to presume that if a trainer is training people through encouragement rather than punishment, they will treat people close to them and who they interact with in the same way.

So this is just one small example of how I see mindsets and attitudes changing. Yes, I blog about a lot of really bad stuff happening out there in the world, but things are changing, quickly.

The mo continues…

2011-11-24T16:47:00.000+01:00

Mo on a train...

So it's heading towards the end of week 3 of Movember, and think the my moustache is coming on nicely. I must say that I am rather relieved it's only one more week.

As you probably know by now, we're raising money for Project 90 by 2030. I work there, and one of the reasons I do is because they think cradle to cradle. The things we buy and use come from somewhere, and need to go somewhere to be used again. In contrast to cradle to cradle is cradle to grave - that things go somewhere "else" when we're done using them (the "away" in "I'll just throw it away"). Two illustrations of this: one of my colleagues posted a link today of how many raw materials we use in our lifetime, while another recently spoke at a "green burial" colloquium. The second really taking the idea and running with it (personally I'd like to be exposed, I just hope I'd still be edible with all the toxins in my body!).

Now the question is - what to do with my mo once its time has come... Answers in the comments please.

The secrecy bill and the constitution.

2011-11-24T11:35:00.001+01:00

Pierre de Vos is a constitutional lawyer and writes a blog about current events seen through the constitution.

One of his latest blogs is about where he thinks the secrecy bill and the constitution clash. A good place to start if you want to know what is wrong with the bill and how it could be fixed.

http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/how-to-fix-the-secrecy-bill-and-make-it-constitutionally-compliant/

More mo

2011-11-15T20:11:00.001+01:00

So if nothing else, at least Movember has me blogging again! The idea behind it though is to raise money, and so far there is not much happening. I hope it is like my 'tashe though - a slow starter.

The current mo. A little more than stubble.

There are three of us in our office, and as many will let you know, I am a sucker for competition, so I would very much like to try and raise more money than Dan or Stephen. I might be pushing my luck though, as I recently competed in the Red Hill Challenge and got a lot of my friends to sponsor me for that. They me be a little uit gesponsored (see, I can still talk a little Afrikaans...).

If you are not one of them, I think you should sponsor me. Here's why:

It's the end of the year, and at this time we give prizes to our Project 90 by 2030 clubs. We are still looking for prizes for this year, and so need your money to be able to reward our clubs hard work this year. What have they done you ask? Well, all sorts of inspiring people to act on climate change, and a whole lot of acting themselves. Hell, one of the clubs is even building their own wind turbine! The prizes themselves are given with the objective of cutting more carbon, so you can be sure your money will help do something tangible. The fact that all this happens at schools means that it not only reduces the schools carbon footprint, but also provides an example for the learners of what technologies and actions can help wean us off fossil fuels.

I'd like to aim for R1000, so if you can contribute a bit to that, no matter how small, it would be very much appreciated. If you'd like to donate directly, you can via the Project 90 website. Please let me know though!

Movember and me

2011-11-04T15:25:00.000+01:00

Once again it is Movember, the time of year where you get to look silly for good.

I have had various attempts at 'tasche growing, the first was with Fat Tire Bike Tours in Berlin, for their annual Rattiest Tasche compo. Here you can see the result - a good demonstration of the handle bar if I do say so myself.

The second was for Movember itself when I worked at Greenpeace. We dressed as village people - apparently - and raised money (particularly through allowing people to shave them off), and donated it to prostate cancer research. Movember is about raising awareness of prostate cancer and to raise money for cancer research.

During this second Movember the conversation started around the fundraising goal - why are we trying to treat the symptom? Surely going after the cause would be better and smarter? I don't think it is easy to pinpoint one cause of cancer, but there are many that we know about - scientifically and intuitively. I can't be certain, but I would imagine that the rise of cancer tracks the rise of our petro-chemically fuelled civilisation a little too closely. All those toxic substances, working more hours, building nuclear plants - all of this contributes to cancer (and yes, probably some more benign things as well, like burnt toast).

So for this Movember, two colleagues and myself are growing moustaches to raise money for the organisation we work for, Project 90 by 2030. Project 90 by 2030 challenges South Africans to reduce their carbon footprint and change the way they live and relate to the environment. We believe that achieving this goal will not only help us avoid catastrophic climate change, but also have other positive effects, like lower cancer rates. Of course there are other very clear benefits of growing moustaches:

If you'd like to sponsor us, leave a comment below, or e-mail me: glen@90x2030.org.za. If you're on facebook, come find me (if you haven't already). I'll be updating my profile pic every week so you can see the progress...

Something good to eat

2011-06-19T10:04:00.000+02:00

Yes it's really hard to always eat the right thing, especially if you're paying money for it. On top of that you've got to watch your weight, make sure you're getting the right vitamins and minerals, the list goes on.

So growing your own food is probably the easiest way to go about things, but can be really hard to do. What often makes it so hard is often the type of things people try to grow. The fruit and veg we buy in the shops has been selectively bred for specific traits - often what makes them most marketable, things like size and shelf life. To get to this point though, they often become hard to grow, particularly in small quantities and without the use of agrochemicals. And I'm not suggesting that we all should be growing heritage varieties either.

Budding gardeners (yes, I did) often joke that all they can grow are weeds. Well, maybe that's not such a bad thing. At least for one, and I'd be prepared to bet a lot more. Pigweed. The name might get you thinking that you should be growing it for other animals, but humans can eat it too. It is considered a weed and in the US it has become resistant to certain over-relied on herbicides and is causing mayhem for farmers of genetically modified cotton. The local variety, Amaranthus hybridus, is still easy to grow, but is not invasive.

Getting on to the eating part, pigweed has many benefits. One serving of the leaves, cooked like spinach, will provide you with five times the iron you need, twice the calcium, 20 times the vitamin A and nearly half your daily protein requirements. I've yet to eat it, but the next time I'm at Kirstenbosch, I'm going to pick up some seeds, grow it and eat it. It could be a while, but I'll report back!

*Most of the info here was taken from an article in Veld and Flora, December 2010, Volume 96(4)
**Photo from www.southeasternflora.com. Used without permission - please don't sue me.

International eating

2011-06-12T08:29:00.001+02:00

Food has gone international in a big way. Walking around Checkers (a local supermarket) in Muizenberg yesterday I was blown away by the amount of food coming from overseas. Agricultural dumping aside, it is amazing to think that the products have travelled hours and hours to arrive in South Africa from Finland, the US, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. Most of it was packaged food (Idaho powdered potatoes anyone?) but there is a lot of fresh food as well.

I have long sneered at Kerrygold Irish Butter in my local Pick n Pay, but now there is cheese from England there too. Stop for a minute and think about the logisitics of this. How much cheese would you have to send over to make importing cheese from england viable? And how do they do it? The cheese was vaccum packed in England in plastic (with a nice stylised picture of the country side on it), but how did it travel out here? I would imagine on a refrigerated shipping container - using up left over space on passenger planes seems like a bridge too far. So there is a giant shipping container filled with cheese humming away in amongst loads of other containers with who knows what in them (toxic chemicals in some no doubt, as the population of coastal Africa repeatedly find out). I'm not sure about you, but imagining the food I am going to eat in such an industrial setting just doesn't do it for me. However, If you live in a city it is hard to avoid these types of food miles, but there are choices to be made too. My mother has organic gouda in her fridge that she picks up from an equally lovely woman who distributes organic food from small producers. And that is one end of the spectrum - you could just buy local cheese on the shelf next to the imported one.

Returning to the dumping issue. It's an old one, and one that sites like farmsubsidy.org have been going on about for ages. Huge farms and agricultural industries in Europe and the US receive massive (think around EUR 55 billion in the EU alone) amounts of money every year to produce more food than the populations of both regions could ever hope to eat. They feed loads to animals (acknowledged as being a wasteful way of using plant energy as food) but even so there is an amazing amount left over. So what do they do with all of it? Well, Africa is starving right? Ship it over there of course. Good in theory, but when all this cheap, subsidised food arrives in Africa (and you can bet it's not the perishable organic food that's being shipped) it robs African producers of their market. You begin to get a picture of the inequity when you imagine the jumbo jets full of organic fresh succulent beans being flown from Kenya to Europe and the bits of chicken other than the breast (because dieting Europeans want the lean and best meat only) being shipped to Africa.

A huge and complex problem. Or is it? Often when these global issues descend on us all we really feel we can do is stop watching the news - it seems a lot more simpler then. With this issue at least, there is something we can do and it's flippin easy. Check where your favourite food brands come from - it's right there on the label. If they aren't produced in your country, don't buy them. Better yet, buy food with only one ingredient. Think fresh veg, legumes and grains.

With all the gourmet eating that's doing the rounds, it's easy to think that we need to buy food from all over the world. In South Africa though, we are really lucky that we can grow most foods right here. We don't need to buy from overseas to cook amazingly.

Spreadsheets

2011-02-17T23:17:00.000+01:00

Someone in our office has a mug that says "I (heart) spreadsheets". I am think I'm pretty safe in saying this is meant sarcastically.

I don't want to slate spreadsheets completely - being a planner and freak for order, I do like using them. It just occurred to me, walking around our office and seeing a couple of people sitting staring at them that they more or less sum up what is wrong with what has become our way of life.

We have become so removed from reality and the real world - trees, soil, wind, grass and sunshine. How can we ever hope to care about the world when we don't interact with it? When we divide up pieces of it into cells (appropriate term) on a spreadsheet, to be divided, added and totalled up.

When we start to see the world through spreadsheets, we may often think we are valuing it - we are giving it importance. The truth is we are stripping it of value. We will never love what we cannot hug, and I have yet to experience a satisfying embrace with a spreadsheet.

The food industry gets up my nose...

2011-02-17T22:18:00.000+01:00

Two things that have made my blood boil from the BBC's "Farming Today" podcast. Both of them are parts of the same theme - the lie that the more we treat food production systems like an assembly line the better off we'll be.

Firstly Paul Conway, vice president of the global grain trader Cargill, says that food security is not the same as food self-sufficiency. Global food trade is apparently "the rational thing to do." Therefore people in countries that grow grain for European cattle should do so. What will they then eat? The cattle imported back from Europe? Oh no, food grown with technology like "precision farming" (the buzz-phrase "precision bombing" craftily recycled - from chemical warfare to agrochemicals) and GE (genetic engineering) - food which apparently only the rich can afford to reject.

Seems to me that in Mr. Conway's world, everybody dances to the tune of the global food industry - and the quality of food, as well as the quality of many people's and animal's lives declines rapidly. As for his view that only the rich can reject GE, I do wish he would look at poorer African countries rejecting food aid on account that it is GE, and the fact that there is a moratorium on GE brinjal in India because the farmers and public protested its approval so strongly.

Secondly, the application for a mega dairy near the small town of Nocton in the UK has been rejected. This is of course great news, so what pissed me off? The farmers (I would hazard a guess they are more business men, and yes I use a gender specific term) that applied for the dairy refer to it as a "high welfare animal establishment". High welfare meaning it is unlikely the cows will ever venture outside, and will eat grain (probably supplied by Cargill). If you have ever seen a free range cow grazing on soybeans or munching a corn cob, please let me know. I'll bet you haven't, because cows eat grass. That is what there stomachs are designed to digest.

This is the food industry's idea to enable us to produce more food - feed plants we can eat to animals which can eat plants we can't.

I'll be sticking my middle finger of both hands up at Mr. Conway and friends the next time I go food shopping by buying the least processed, most local, organic food I possibly can.

Cartoon

2011-02-15T10:06:00.000+01:00

Here's a great cartoon from Stephanie McMillan, who is great in her work against global ecocide.

You can check out more of her work here: http://www.stephaniemcmillan.org/codegreen/

Creative gift wrapping

2010-11-25T21:10:00.000+01:00

If you're looking for some creative gift wrapping this festive season, check out Wrap Sacks. A gift bag that you give and then is re-givable. Nice idea.

Attending IDFA

2010-11-21T19:45:00.000+01:00

It's IDFA time in Amsterdam - the International Documentary Film Festival. Probably one of the best times in winter in the dam. It happens every year and normally involves me running from film to film trying to see as many as possible, or sitting in a theatre an entire Sunday watching the 10hour "best of the fest" marathon.

This year I've been pretty moderate, only going to see 5 screenings, a couple of which are double screenings, so I'll see 8 in total. I've seen 7 already and there have been some awesome ones among them.

il Capo

A film about marble mining in Italy, and particularly the hand signals used by the "conductor" who shows the diggers where to push and pull the marble. The questions afterwards focused on the type of marble, what it is used for, and about the diggers. I didn't get to ask my question about whether there was any protest against the mountains being ripped apart for rich peoples floors and kitchen counters. This film made me want to protest mining in any form. Our comfort should not come at the cost of ripping apart the earth.

My Playground

A Danish film about free running or Parkour, people running up and down buildings, and urban design for more than just one use. I enjoyed it and it made me want to use my body to the fullest all the time, and of course become a free runner!

Maswife: Life in Camp Pinchinat

About life in one of the camps set up to accommodate homeless people following the earthquake in Haiti. It captured the grimness of life in the camp very well. People living in truly diabolical conditions, and the kinds of structures and hierarchies that spring up out of these conditions. I didn't feel good eating popcorn during this one.

MINUSTAH Steals Goats

Another film about Haiti - this one about the UN mission (known as MINUSTAH) there that begun in 2004. Primarily a peacekeeping mission, the film posed questions about whether there was need for economic "development" as a more sustainable way to bring peace. I think the film tried to include everything, and could have done with more focus. It made me wonder about the ideas of development and what it would take for organisations like the UN and countries to rethink what development is and what aid should be.

Into the Belly of the Whale

This was less a documentary and more a reconstruction of life in the smuggling tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Just before this film I heard the voice (cries) of my new niece for the first time.

Abu Jamil Street

Another film about the smuggling tunnels, this one was an actual documentary and did well not to take sides, but just to show the people working in these tunnels. Often just trying to make money in a way that is presented to them. The last thing the film showed was them smuggling a Lama through the tunnel for the Gaza Strip zoo. This film made me not want to live in a place where explosions are routine. I think we dismiss the value of peace.

Al-Halqa - In the Storyteller's Circle

I love telling stories and wish I could be a lot better at it. This was the film of the festival that I really wanted to go and see. It was brilliant, all about Moroccan storytellers and particularly a father teaching the art to his son. How to assemble a Halqa (a circle of people listening to the story), use the words and remember the stories (some of which can go on for four years like a mini-series). Such a wonderful tradition, and way to build and bind community, something I long for and think we are continually moving away from as opposed to towards. This film made me want to tell stories even more, and become good at it!

The last film I'm going to see is on Tuesday and is called Cane Toads: The Conquest. Many have said I am weird for wanting to see a film about cane toads. Perhaps true, but it seems really interesting, and it's about a country I have grown a sudden affiliation too, and I am really looking forward to seeing it, and hopefully learning about cane toad whispering.

WWF at Schiphol

2010-10-21T14:34:00.000+02:00

WWF (The World Wide Fund for Nature or Woof Woof) have put up some advertisements at Schiphol airport asking people to [in English] "Look, Look, but don't buy". The ads are asking people not to buy souvenirs from the countries that they visit on holiday that are produced by killing endangered plants and animals.

It seems like quite a straight forward ask, but when we know about things like climate change, mining disasters (even though this is an oxymoron, I use it to indicate the ones that affect humans immediately as well - think Chile and Hungary). The issue I have with this is the thinking behind it. WWF no doubt spent thousands for the advert, and I am sure hours of strategic meetings and planning went into the text, photos and style of writing. I imagine that tactically WWF (who also works on climate change) thought this would be an obtainable ask - something they think the public would take notice of and actually act on instead of ignoring. The issue is that this is a cosmetic change. It is the same as putting a disney plaster on an amputation.

As long as big NGOs and others trying to do something about the various environmental challenges we face continue to work on what is obtainable and doesn't offend funders, they will only act as a salve to our conscience as we head toward environmental collapse. We need organisations to shout, loudly, the inconvenient truths we are facing. No, we cannot afford to take intercontinental holiday flights, we have to change our patterns of consumption. We have to start listening to nature, seeing ourselves as part of a very intricate system and begin playing by the earth's rules. Seeing a small group of animals and plants as endangered misses the point. We are amongst the endangered species, time to call a spade a spade.

Fish

2010-10-10T22:38:00.000+02:00

This deserves a blog.

AquaBounty is a Canadian company that has developed a GE Salmon. This Salmon is genetically engineered to grow year round (unlikely normal salmon that only grow for some of the year). The result is a bigger fish, quicker.

I'm not going to get into the science of all of this, or the fact that the eggs are being shipped to Panama (as it is not a signatory to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity) to be grown, and then shipped back to the US and Canada to be sold.
Consumers will of course be saved from seeing salmon that looks like it has been stretched and pumped up with a bicycle pump, as they will no doubt be offered the salmon, unlabelled as GE, in neat little shrink-wrapped polystyrene trays.

The bit I'd like to talk about is the company's (AquaBounty) argument for this fish. They claim, quite straight faced, that it is needed to address world hunger. This will no doubt be met with delight by the French who are trying to grow GE vines (which fortunately keep getting ripped out by volunteer reapers, even after public consultation and a fence being erected around the trial). Obviously the starving people in the world will soon need a chilled GE Chardonnay to wash down their GE salmon.

Jokes aside, could they be any more brazen? Salmon as a solution to world hunger? There are so many outrageous things going on here that it's hard to know where to start. How about with salmon. There used to be streams all over the Western US and Canada that were so full of Salmon in season that people scoop them out with buckets, and bears would take one bite of one fish and then move onto another. Many of these rivers and streams have been dammed for various reasons (something about progress and development) and the fish can now no longer return to the spawning grounds as they always have. This is perhaps not such a problem when, with all the money you've made by damming rivers in your own country, you can build fish farms in places like Panama and farm fish there. All good and well except these fish need to be fed something. Mostly they are fed wild fish, but it takes much more than a kilo of wild fish to produce a kilo of farmed salmon. Slowly it starts to look as if AquaBounty may not have the poor and starving peoples interests at heart after all.

We need to look at what we will need to do to enable people to eat salmon without having to make them artificial and raise them in artificial environments completely removed from any type of ecosystem. A good start would be to start questioning companies trying to sell snake oil by promising to feed the world with it.

A wonderful morning moment (another)

2010-10-08T09:30:00.000+02:00

An amazing moment on the way into work today that inspired me, gave me hope and added to an amazing start to the day.

While riding along and listening to K'naan's "Take a minute", I was getting nearer to GP Berlin, and as a taxi backed away from me (there was a truck blocking the street that I had just squeezed past) I saw a women, perhaps 45, walk across the road and notice a dead bird that resembled much less of a bird having been run over repeatedly. I lost sight of her as she got off the street between two parked cars, but as I rode past, I saw her again. She was looking back down at the bird with so much tenderness and sadness.

Just amazing.

Clearly, it's the little things.

Man with a gun

2010-09-01T09:14:00.000+02:00

Here's a little story I told myself on the way to work today.

I started off thinking about the police, and got onto thinking about the argument that you can't criticise the system while you continue to live within it. However I think we are forced to live within the system (or civilisation).

Say I choose to live outside the system. Okay, so I'm feeling hungry, and reckon I'll get something to eat. There's a supermarket. I go in, get something to eat and walk out. No paying right - I'm living outside the system. Well unless a friendly wave, a thank you and a mental note to do something nice for the cashier sometime counts.

As I'm outside eating my food, a guy with a gun arrives and takes the food away, and says something about "ever catching me again", arrest and jail. Well, as it turns out I wasn't that hungry, so I decide to turn in for the night. I walk back to my modest flat and get into bed. I haven't paid rent for a couple of months as I live outside the system. Just as I'm drifting off to sleep, there is a knock on the door - same guy with a gun. Man, he's really beginning to be a problem.

So no, we cannot choose to live outside the system, we are forced to live within it. And for some the easiest thing to do it put on a jacket and tie, carry a bag full of lies and smile, smile, smile, smile that colgate white smile.

** To be fair this wasn't really my story, but a bad mismash of Derrick Jensen with a little Promoe stuck on the end.

A recession for the poor

2010-08-16T19:39:00.000+02:00

The media reports the economic recession as something terrible for all people. However there are some different stories that are seeming to come up every now and again. These tell of how there seems to be one (or more) "recession-proof" sectors. These sectors are always (in my brief analysis) luxury sectors and also tech sectors. Some articles proclaim the good news factor of this - one even appearing on "South Africa - The Good News" website.

I imagine the writers of particularly the second type of article - showing that there is some good news despite the recession - are wanting to show that at least one sector is doing it right, or, more vaguely that "there is hope". The truth is that the global recession is only a recession for the poor. Food price increases aren't affecting any of my family or friends (or me). I hear of vary few CEOs losing there jobs, but plenty of blue-collar and government workers out of work (again, it seems as the important ones are still there - the EU still has a commissioner of "Digital Agenda" - important one that).

This recession is a recession of and for the poor. The rich continue to buy their iphone apps, expensive "handmade" watches and luxury yachts. And what's more they are buying them in ever greater numbers, despite the increasing number of children going to bed being "fed" water to stop them from crying because there is no food in the house.

So next time someone with an iphone complains about the recession, slap them and go and do something useful to take down the system that causes the inequality which allows a simultaneous recession for the poor and boom for the rich.

Making Hlodnik

2010-07-11T15:02:00.000+02:00

Kasia, who is from Poland and works in our finance department, brought in some Hlodnik the other day and proceeded to let us taste it and then when we all really enjoyed it, she promised to bring us all some the next day. She did. We like people like Kasia.

Hlodnik is a Polish soup made from beetroot and yoghurt (amongst other things). It is served cold and is very refreshing on a summers day. Once having tasted it I made some (a HUGE batch) at home and included the cucumbers as well as a large amount of other veggies (as is required by the recipe). It wasn't nearly as good as Kasia's, but I think it will be a learning experience!

Here are some pictures of the herbs, the other ingredients and the cooking process. Enjoy.

The herbs (chives, dill, basil, coriander).

Yoghurt.

Beetroot.

Cucumbers and Kholrabi.

Hlodnik!

And a good blog about it if you want more...

Bioplastic

2010-06-20T08:57:00.000+02:00

We all know how much we rely on plastic in our everyday lives (if you don't, just look around you!). Plastic is made from oil, and this tends to bother environmentalists. As well as being non-renewable (i.e. it will run out someday), oil is rather polluting when dragged from the ground and "used" - read: burned. And of course, besides all that polluting the C02 it emits also contributes to climate change.

One of the lowest hanging fruit (in this culture's mind's eye) concerning the struggle to be more sustainable is the ubiquitous plastic shopping bag and wrapping that food products are sold in. To replace conventional plastic bags and packaging, bioplastics have been invented. These are plastics manufactured from "renewable" sources - mainly glucose which normally comes from refined maize (or potatoes or beets). Increasingly you will see advertising on shopping bags saying that they are biodegradable, these are invariably made from bioplastics. With regards to there biodegradability, my aunt and uncle (who actually have a very functioning compost heap - nice) have tried to compost them, but have been unsuccessful up until now, apparently they persist long after the rest of the food scraps, paper, etc. Biodegradability is only a measure of the amount of time it takes something to breakdown anyway - but that's another blog post.

So bioplastics are becoming increasingly popular, especially by those who *really* want to be seen to be doing something good for the environment. At my local supermarket, all the organic fruit is placed on a recycled cardboard tray and wrapped in a very loud crinkly bioplastic (the normal fruit of course gets the conventional thin plastic bag - which are somehow exempt from laws banning plastic shopping bags...). The problem with bioplastics is that there production consumes a lot more energy than conventional plastics. The actual production of the plastics obviously takes energy in both cases, and it seems that bioplastics consume more energy in their production, but it also takes energy to produce the feedstock. Oil obviously requires drilling, transport, etc. But glucose (or starch - made of lots of glucose molecules) needs all the inputs required to grow it on top of the energy intensive refining process. And when you boil it down, these inputs are essentially oil (chemical fertilizers, pesticides, petrol for the tractor) - I'm assuming a company will use the cheapest glucose around, which with our skewed subsidies is more than likely not organic!

So it turns out that at the end of the day the more environmental choice would probably be conventional plastic. Of course neither of these are really environmental choices at all, and if I was writing this post for my other "live simply it will help the planet" blog I would probably end off by saying we should all be re-using our cotton, hemp or plastic bags. In this case though I imagine you can guess what my solution will be...

The oil spill

2010-06-12T08:51:00.000+02:00

Osborne, Britain's chancellor of the exchequer, said after speaking to BP CEO Tony Hayward, "The prime minister is also clear that we need constructive solutions and that we remember the economic value BP brings to people in Britain and America."

The oil spill and people's response to it confuses me. And at the same time it shows how brilliantly this culture has turned us from citizens - people - to consumers. Just looking at the response to it shows the lies we are being told. I mean chemical dispersants? Plastic bags to put the oil in (and then dump it where? another planet?)? Oil absorbent booms? Plastic protective gloves and clothing? The common thread? ALL these things use oil either as an ingredient (plastic, most chemicals) or in their production and transport to the spill. Bad for the economy? The economy is loving it! All this buying up of oil fighting equipment, all the media flights and trips on boats. Pathetic. Real solutions? Try supporting nature in it's own ability to deal with the spill.

When I see a video on youtube of a US man mocking BP's response to the oil spill and encouraging people to dump their garden "waste" on BP's property to get back at them, the madness is clear. To punish a company that in their NORMAL operations rapes and kills the earth by "dumping" the most valuable product the earth offers us on their property is beyond nonsensical.

I'm waiting for the "Buy American" campaigns telling people to buy their petrol from US companies - because there products are a product of nature (1) that do not kill the earth? Does anyone really think other oil companies are better? One encouraging sign is the couple of "radical environmentalists" talking about oil companies, particularly Shell's destruction of the Niger delta, and comparing it to the Gulf oil spill.

Looking at the quotation above, one can only marvel that Osborne is still a publicly employed official. People might actually believe that? Even if you think in purely economic terms, BP is destroying the economy by vacuuming up "resources" that could be used for "development". Let's not even get into the bit about how they are destroying the planet. You know, that thing that all of us - our children and all other species depend on for LIFE. And then the little sinister leer and knowing wink - bringing economic value (a prime example of an oxymoron) "to people in Britain and America". To clarify, not to Britain and America, but only to people, and by that we mean some people, not all, and by that we mean an infinitesimal portion of the people in the UK and US, and by that we mean the ecocidal maniacs who are destroying everything the rest of us (including the cute and cuddly, big and ugly, inanimate, breathtaking, tiny, new and old) rely on for LIFE.

We don't need a better response to the oil spill, we need a better response to the assault on our planet. We don't need people angry at BP, we need people angry at this culture. We need more Greenpeace, we need more Sea Shepard, we need more MEND, we need more people who refuse to take responsibility for the death of the planet, but begin to dismantle the industrial economy, starting from where it is weakest.

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(1) Oil might be a product from nature, but petrol is certainly not. There is also a reason nature stored the oil underground.

Recovering my saddle

2010-04-18T21:21:00.000+02:00

On Thursday I recovered my saddle - orange of course - and then took it out on a test drive today. Fun! Here are some pics of the process:

Shining a light on civilisation

2010-04-14T17:53:00.000+02:00

Okay, just before you think I've got a light theme going on - I actually wrote this on the train to the UK a couple weeks ago, and subsequently forgot about it while languishing on my death bed (I'm fine now, thanks).

I think lightbulbs are a good example of just how deep we're into the civilisation dead end. We are developing a habit of solving problems with things that create a bigger problem. We discover that we are using too much energy, and a lot of this is going into lighting. So what we are presented with as a solution is a lightbulb that uses less energy. Unfortunately as with many things that are the product of civilisation we later find out that once again when we exclude nature from our thinking we have created yet another problem.

With lightbulbs I think it was even clearer – we knew there was mercury in the HCL lightbulbs, however I guess we thought that less energy use was better than more mercury poisoning our environment (or let's be cynical – perhaps it was just more economical). Now we are trying to create even more energy efficient lightbulbs by using LED technology – I wonder how long before we realise the problem with them.

In a world where only those that work with nature survive, anything that takes more than it gives is doomed, no matter how clever it looks on paper. Technology will not make civilisation sustainable, nor will it slow us down until we have enough time to notice the people next to each other, and stay in one place long enough to build up meaningful relationships.

Seeing the light

2010-04-14T17:39:00.000+02:00

A friend of mine at work is a Eugene Terreblanche hater. Before ETs death he would often decry me (and all South Africans) because nobody had killed him yet. In his view, as a blatant racist and inciter of violence he needed to be 'offed'.

I always laughed at him (kind of nervously) becuase I never really knew what to make of his tirades. Unfortunately it is only in ETs death that I find the answer. The fact that ET was allowed to live free and do his thing (whether that was going to jail, rattling on about some idea that white people might be better in some way than black people because they are white, falling of his horse, being a reason for many South Africans to be grateful that white neo-nazi's in SA don't have a better leader) in South Africa and was NOT killed by someone or tried by a kangaroo court shows exactly the type of miracle that the New South Africa is. A place where you can be a crazy, and still expect to be tried according to the laws of the same country all the other crazies are tried according to.

I think that if through his death and the trial of his killers, if we can keep this foremost in our minds, that all South Africans are equal in front of the law, we'll stay on track as a nation. No matter how much Julius Malema, Steve Hofmeyer and Jonah Fisher are trotted out to try to get us to forget this, we need to remember that all are innocent until proven guilty. And if I had another opportunity from my work colleague, I would love to tell him how ET living there is the best example of the beauty of South Africa.

What I'd like to see is some cunning plans on how we can all contribute to upholding these sorts of laws in our everyday lives.

Phew finally someone does something serious about climate change!

2010-04-11T09:31:00.000+02:00

Let's not lie - it was getting a bit worrying there. All this talk of coal power plants, world cup stadiums made of concrete, BRT's instead of bicycles - the list was seemingly endless - and dire for the climate.

BUT, there is a ray of hope on the horizon and it comes in the unlikely form of the World Bank. A revolutionary counter note here - this is the NEW world bank (ie, sans all those bloated colonial masters of yesteryear who are intent on never seeing South Africa develop anyway - don't think we Africans didn't notice your sneaky skyving off US, Netherlands, UK, Italy and Norway! Although we may remember you at some point when we are economic power houses for not actually voting no).

Yes the NEW WB have seen the errors of their old incarnations ways, and have decided to loan (well, no they couldn't just give money away - that creates dependency) South Africa 3.75 billion US DOLLARS!!!! Talk about the jackpot! Before I get carried away, let me not forget to share the really big news, what the money is for:

Ruth Kagia, World Bank country director for South Africa (ie, she sits just above JZ) said the Eskom project offered a unique opportunity for the World Bank Group to strengthen its partnership with the government of South Africa, Eskom, and other financiers "and help South Africa chart a path toward meeting its commitment on climate change while meeting people's urgent energy needs".

As if that wasn't enough, the real NEW WB WOman (of course - and hey, none of that reverse sexism here!) Obiageli K Ezekwesili, World Bank vice president for Africa said: "Our support to Eskom combines much-needed investments to boost generation capacity for growing small and large businesses [we'll come back to this point... never], creating jobs and helping lay the foundations for a clean energy future through investments in solar and wind power."

Did I tell you they were NEW or what??? I trust by this stage you are as excited about this whole pro-poor, pro-environment, pro-democracy, pro-life deal as I am! And with all the hype, you can only imagine that at least 3.7 billion of the 3.75 total is going to renewables right? Well, you wouldn't be very wrong at all! But it's not that exact figure, let's take a closer look:

WOAH, not that close! Oh, you're actually interested in the "figures"? Oh well, here's a breakdown:

0.75bn - RENEWABLES!!!
3bn - Coal fired power plant (well, that's part of the 17bn needed for the plant)
0.75bn - RENEWABLES!!! Oh, did I say that already? but look this time it's not in bold :-)

Go NEW WB Go! What, you want to know the breakdown of the renewables part do you? Look, there's a bn after the renewables figure! No? Still want a breakdown huh? You bloody agent, don't touch me on my studio!

Okay, so:

0.75bn =
TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS for wind and solar projects! THAT IS 26 (yes, TWENTY SIX) Darling wind farms! What? Yes, their are only 4 turbines at Darling. No, that doesn't include any solar.... or consultancy fees... Chief, get this thing out of here.
oh, and 485mil on a railway "to transport coal with fewer greenhouse gas emissions".

So of 3.75bn, only 0.26bn is for actual renewables? C'mon, that's almost a whopping 7%!

And corruption I hear you say? Nope, no worries there, the NEW WB has a dedicated team of grade 2 accountants (SA School system grades...) to ensure any corruption is totally overlooked. For instance there have been elements in the media (we have your bank account details) that have been telling people about the ANC's holdings (which is private information I might add) of Hitachi Africa, who are making the boilers for the plant.

Sarwat Hussein, senior spokesperson for the World Bank's Africa region, quickly sorts this out: "The Hitachi component is not part of what we are financing. We were not party to awarding a contract, and we are not a party to its payment". See? What did I tell you, these guys are stellar - you can't even pin trumped up charges of corruption to them.

So, now that the NEW WB is here to stay, we can only be thankful that "Energy insecurity and climate change are two of the most significant development challenges of our time," Hussein again, pointing out that only one in four Africans have access to energy (... and one in one have access to climate change, he quietly pointed the other way).

Back to Africa

2010-03-28T21:03:00.000+02:00

For the past week I've been in and around Bamako, Mali. I was there for work, for the 2nd Africa Rice Congress. It was an amazing experience, although at the same time frustrating as I was sick for some of the time and therefore lacked a lot of energy that would have made the trip that much better.

I travelled with Arnaud, my French colleague - I mention his nationality specifically as it was brilliant having a native French speaker to ease the way through everyday interactions. We stayed at the Plaza Hotel (otherwise known as the Royal Hotel by Arnaud and at least one other taxi driver). The hotel had a good restaurant and a very friendly staff of Malians and Lebanese. Despite two leaks in two separate bathrooms - we had a very good time there. The staff were definitely the highlight with Arnaud leaving with a number of friends.

From Monday to Thursday we travelled to the conference centre, and spent the days there either in sessions, trying to corner important people to speak to or trying to maintain some semblance of calm over all our colleagues in the rest of the team. On Friday we travelled to the Office du Niger, a large (almost 1 million hectares) agricultural area for rice and cotton production (with some other minor crops as well). This area also includes "Malibya" a project to develop 100 000 hectares of the land, which has been bought by Libya and will be developed by Chinese engineers and agronomists. On the way there and back we saw lots of Baobabs, and I think I will need to go back to give a couple a hug!

The Chinese presence is very real in Mali - most of the vehicles on the road are Djhakartas - small (what looked like) 50cc motorbikes, all made in China. Even most of the clothes are made in China, despite looking as "African" as the genuine article.

Back in Bamako, I spent the Saturday in the hotel in bed while Arnaud and Anne and Anicent went off to explore the city. Anne works for an NGO in Mali, and that is how Arnaud got in contact with her - we met on the Wednesday, and as Anicent, her partner, works in tourism, they offered to take us around on Saturday. They did on Saturday and Sunday - giving up a whole weekend for us - we felt very spoilt! When they got back on Saturday, Arnaud thankfully convinced me to give up my attempt at being sensible and remaining in bed, and we went out for dinner again with A and A to the "hip" part of town. It was really good, I ate fried plantain and and a separate onion sauce. After another beer we took another taxi home. We took taxis everywhere - they are a bit similar to the cockroaches in Cape Town's townships, although perhaps not AS run-down. Obviously with the window open all the time, although the exhaust fumes from the Djhakartas and heavy trucks and all the dust in the air can be quite stifling.

Once Sunday rolled around I decided to suck it up and head out with the gang, having seen the awesome shirts Arnaud had made up for him at the market yesterday. Anicent and Anne took us to a market where they recycle old metal and make it into new things. Using literally anything not only for the raw material, but for the tools as well. The picture here shows a bellows made from a wheel and a carburettor. The products were mainly tools, although some decorative things like tea trays where being made from melted down aluminium (the silver in the middle of this sand mould.

The market was really big, and climbed up the side of a hill. Afterwards we walked down the hill and through another market where I bought some things. We eventually went for a lunch at a cafe and afterwards to a stall of a friend of Anicent's (although it seems as if he is friends with most of Bamako!). We then went back to the Hotel for some packing and after a middle of the night flight back to Paris and then an early morning train trip to Amsterdam, I was back home!

The last photo is the summary of my Bamako shopping. A big block of soap, 3 cds and plunger - because my shower drain at home was blocked (and is now no longer so!).

sigh

2010-03-18T19:00:00.000+01:00

It does indeed feel like the end of the line. Today the collection of country representatives (ha ha) at CITES voted not to protect Atlantic Bluefin tuna. The trade in the fish that we once so loved in our tuna salad will continue (tinned tuna these days is normally skipjack).

Well, for now anyway. Soon they will fish the last one and our children will be making jokes about tuna, not dodos.

St. Paulopoli

2010-03-08T18:15:00.000+01:00

Left for Hamburg early on Saturday morning, having replaced my bb with james' salvaged from his cyclocross bike (thanks man).

Went by train, read "after the party" about the ANC - really good, but had me tearing up, especially the bits of Mbeki's 'I am an African' speech. Got to Hamburg, removed my bike from bike bag (thanks B and Tom) and built it up and then walked about half the way to St. Pauli because the snow was super icey. Got found by Daniel, with a fantastic moustache, who gave me directions to reaperbahn. Eventually met a very hungover haterer. Had a hot chocolate and then met up with James and the rest of the Amsterdamage. Went to a friends house, drank a beer and then left for the start of the alley cat, stopping for a huge plate of veggie burger and chip goodness.

Met up with Siep and more of the boys and girls on the way to the start, and registered and asked various people what I was supposed to do. Started the alley cat which basically involved cycling from check point to checkpoint - at each checkpoint you got checked in, and then threw dice to see where you'd go to next - if you threw the same number as where you were, you had to go to jail and get a shot of corn (?) and then come back. Oh, you also got money at check points, but I never worked out what the point of the monopoly money was. So the night involved riding around, criss crossing (will make you jump jump) with loads of messengers and people generally trying to cycle as fast as possible and not fall off their bikes. For the record I only fell once (during the race).

The best memory was cycling like mad past the docks area as this grossly big cruise ship was being launched. Heard some old white guy in a suit talking about how some of the money was going to help kids - almost fell off my bike at this point. The revenge was had though - read on.

The after part was held at Hafenklang, and started with soup and bread and this was preceeded and anticeeded by beers. Partied on well into the middle of sunday morning, went and snatched a couple of hours of sleep, met everyone at a cafe for a goodbye beer and burrito. Went to say goodbye to everyone at the local squat, and as we were there the new cruise ship from last night sailed past. We took the opportunity to abuse it and all on board with a megaphone we had handy. I'll skip the choicest bits, but basically saying how silly they looked, that their money would never save them and that we wished the somali pirates the best of luck. We eventually tumbled into Vis' bus (complete with beds and lounge area) for the trip back. James slept, and me and Jan Willem drank a beer and ate an assortment of junk food while watching some rather mad films.

Got back to Amsterdam at about 9 this morning, and spent the whole of today recovering :-)

Good times.

Items gained:
1 x red and white cycling hat from hat swapping game at the party
4 x udis
1 x stiff body
lots x good memories

the arrogance...

2010-02-16T09:36:00.000+01:00

Excerpt from Nature 463, 713 (11 February 2010):

"Climate warming could exacerbate species invasions and their often-negative ecological impacts if non-native plants continue to respond better to changing conditions, a study warns.

Using a 150-year record of seasonal plant data started by US poet and naturalist Henry David Thoreau, Charles Davis at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his colleagues analysed the long-term changes in the flowering times of native and non-native plants in Concord, Massachusetts, near where Thoreau lived."

The arrogance to think that with a 150-year record of seasonal plant data these scientists could know ANYTHING about millions of years of species and ecosystems interaction with their environment and climate.

If you really want the solution, start listening to the few remaining wild trees, rocks and streams. They are the only ones that can teach you.

Musicians as NGOs

2010-02-07T09:56:00.000+01:00

Now that anybody with a half decent internet connection can download any music they want, how will musicians survive?

Will musicians start to make their music available for free and ask for donations? Would be great, and skip all the music industry. Of course there will be free(down)loaders, but I would imagine they will be enough people who will realise that without people spending some money on them, they will stop creating music (or at least making it available).

But then again, artists in hardship, and often poverty, have often produced their best work.

Should art never be a profession?

Hello weekend

2010-02-06T09:38:00.000+01:00

It's the weekend! I've got my weekend pants on, there is a bike downstairs that has "ride me" written all over it and I'm meeting mates for an afternoon of polo. Man life looks good from the 10th floor!

The week also allowed me to get more or less back on top of my work, and then on Friday afternoon I had what would be a pretty average call with a campaigner which left me with loads of action points to get an awesome project rolling. If there wasn't such a good Saturday ahead, I'd like to start working on them straight away.

Cheers for life on this scorched earth!

Love and respect.

Comment Spam

2010-01-27T09:43:00.000+01:00

Thanks to all of you who leave comments on my blog. Unfortunately I've been getting a lot of spam comments, so I've turned on word verification. You'll have to type in some words before posting your comment. Sorry about the extra effort, and that you will no longer be tempted with amazing investment opportunities every time you read the comments on the blog,

Did you know I've started up another blog? It's about environmental stuff in Amsterdam and you can find it here: http://ecoamsterdam.blogspot.com/

On being assaulted in Amsterdam

2010-01-24T13:02:00.000+01:00

In the last 24hrs I was assaulted twice in Amsterdam. Nothing serious, but as with any assault, they shook me a bit.

I have been assaulted before in Cape Town (a number of times, and more violently than in the above instances) but in all of those times it has been by people wanting something from me. In Amsterdam, most people have what they want and there is a lot of social "support" for people who don't. I use the inverted commas as the support is often in the form of being arrested and imprisoned.

In both of the recent cases, I have felt that the people involved have behaved as if they were trapped. Not only physically but emotionally, as if they are being forced to act in a certain way - and it is not surprising that many of their actions have a very close resemblance to bad TV. Being in such a controlled society though, I did not feel unsafe in either situation, more concerned for the people involved - their (re)actions were at the same time comical and sad.

In the second case it was also interesting to see the people around me get involved. The assaulter got very little out of his interaction with me, and so, quickly started to argue with people who had stepped in on my "side", who provided him with much more of a reaction. As I cycled away, the argument continued and seemed to be getting more intense.

It feels as if there is constantly a fight brewing beneath the surface of this society, and I think it is because of our increasing isolation from each other.

We should start talking to each other more.

my snow haiku

2010-01-17T20:46:00.000+01:00

snow brings white safety
as she reclaims humans concrete world
but hubris soon shows

A buffet with no eating

2009-12-17T21:45:00.000+01:00

This has to be a first for me. I went to the Christmas party at the GP NL office tonight, and did not eat anything from the most amazing buffet.

Shew, the sacrifice! Hermann, the agriculture campaigner in the Dutch office did make a very good point though, that it should be all right - it was all vegetarian. Not eating for a day is one thing, but if we all ate less, and particularly ate less meat, we would be doing something very achievable and very positive for the climate. In the words of Michael Pollan:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Getting over hunger...

2009-12-17T17:04:00.000+01:00

I'm going strong (you'll be relieved to hear), just a little light headed.

I've been keeping up with the news rolling in from COP15 and it doesn't sound great - civil society has been kicked out. However there was a voice of reason in amongst all the madness, Bolivian President Evo Morales. Said some good things about mother earth.

I'm going to cycle across A'dam in the snow this evening to attend the GP NL party, bit worried, but shouldn't be too hard.

Obama arrives tomorrow, and hopefully with some good news in tow.

Love and respect.

Climate Justice Fast!

2009-12-17T10:40:00.000+01:00

It's been described as a moral response to an immoral situation. Thousands of people (me included) around the world are fasting today to raise awareness of the need for a FAB (Fair, Ambitious and (legally) Binding) Treaty at the COP 15 Climate talks in Copenhagen.

The only reason for me to fast is that I think I have been robbed of my voice in so many ways with regards to what is happening to our earth and landbase. This is an act of desperation. While I had the opportunity to go to Copenhagen and participate in actions of NGOs there, I think my work in Amsterdam is as important, and I am more effective here than I would be there. The pessimist in me says that there is just no way to talk to our leaders (sic) who are all, quite literally, insane.

I still am not sure what impact it will have, I can't see how it will help bring about a FAB deal, but it is what I can do where I am.

My thoughts will be with the activists on the ground in Copenhagen and the delegates in the Bella Centre today.

Love and respect.

Greenpeace UK telling it like it is...

2009-12-13T10:14:00.000+01:00

Barefoot running updated

2009-11-17T08:41:00.000+01:00

I am now doing a regular 4.5km route at least twice a week. It is mainly on paving/tar, but includes grass and a dirt path. The hardest/best part is running through a shopping area (only about 100m) and the looks and comments I get.

I do worry a bit about running in the cold as my feet can get numb and then I worry that I won't feel any cuts. This in turn makes me a bit paranoid and so anything I feel I stop to check in case I'm bleeding. What this is slowly making me realise is that feet are a lot more robust than I thought.

After the first time I did this route, I got some serious blisters, particularly on the front of my feet and on my second toes. My second toes are quite skew (the result of being crammed into shoes all their life no doubt), and so they hit the ground on the bottom and side. I had hoped the blisters would become harder skin - they have now gone, and my feet seem to be getting tougher, although not noticeably were the blisters where.

So all in all, my feet are slowly taking to the barefoot thing. I could have probably started slower with less discomfort, but I am a little impatient :-)

Yet another great idea...

2009-11-11T23:15:00.000+01:00

Introducing the audienceometer.

An essential piece of equipment for the modern person (good for both genders). The audienceometer (AM) behaves very much like the studio audience in a sitcom, except it is tuned in to "real life". The next time you make a stupid mistake like saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, the AM goes ooooooohh, thereby alerting you to your folly and allowing you to immediately correct your blunder or social faux pas.

When you say something really cute and positive to someone, it goes aaaaaahh, allowing you to then immediately correct it (if it was actually your worst enemy), or point two fingers at the person and click as you shoot your "guns" signalling your knowledge of how cool and caring you are.

Particularly helpful is the laughter at times of even mild humour, which boosts your own self confidence and allows you to continue telling stupid jokes long after you should have stopped. By this time people should be laughing at you, further helping you to think that your high school career counsellor was right about Stand-up Comedian.

The AM has the objectivity of an American teenager (additional maturity upgrade sold separately), and it's keen sense of social decorum is only enhanced by the user drinking heavily.

The AM is the size of a jelly bean and fits discreetly into the user's ear. It is only audible to the user to ensure you are unable to hear conflicting signals from potential other user's AMs (these things will soon be EVERYWHERE!)

---

Batteries sold separately, no liability is accepted for AMs incorrect judgement. "Helping you be successful with other Emotional Failures" and the AM logo are copyright of the Consumer Crap Corporation.

Barefoot running

2009-10-25T10:21:00.000+01:00

So with the failure of all searches for ethical running shoes (and let's not lie, if you're paying money for it, you can guarantee it's got something bad attached to it) I went for my first barefoot run yesterday.

I hope it won't be the last, it went pretty well. Well, until I got back that was. As I was stopping on the wooden walk way to the entrance of my plattenbau, I slipped on the smooth surface and my right foot shot forward and wedged itself in between said walkway and the little ramp up to the door. Ow. So my right toe is now swollen, and I don't think any running will happen for a while! Oh well, once it's healed I'll be back to barefoot.

Interesting fact is that apparently barefoot runners experience less repetitive stress injuries than runners running in shoes. This is evident in the Nike Free running shoes series and the Vibram Five Fingers, both shoes designed to simulate barefoot running (the five fingers is more a rubber foot glove...).

So welcome barefoot running, welcome the future. Goodbye toxic chemicals in running shoes, goodbye worrying about running shoe makers working conditions.

I'll let you know how it goes...

Eating Saturday morning

2009-10-11T18:21:00.000+02:00

So I woke up at 1... and let myself loose on the streets of Berlin on the way to Oranienburg. I was feeling less than well, after getting back late (6) from a place who's name I don't remember. I walked to UFO and stocked up. I bought a mix im brot (haloumi and falafel in pita - goodness), a coke (big red ambulance, you know), an ayran and a piece of baklava. The baklava and coke I stowed in my pockets, and the ayran I downed, leaving only the mix im brot for the tram ride from Eberswalde to Nordbahnhof. Rode past the wall memorial - Berlin is truly an amazing city. By the time I reached Nbahnhof the mix was finished and getting out of the tram I opened up the coke (glass bottle, very cool) and headed into the underground S-bahn station.

There I sat on a bench on the platform, looking at the station name written in great old German gothic script. I sat with my legs crossed under me, and felt like a rock star (as you do). Having finished the coke I said to myself I could only eat the baklava once I was in the sun again. The s-bahn came, I sat next to a window and waited. Soon we were out of the tunnel and the baklava was the perfect sweet end to a fantastic meal. With my head against the window and the autumnal leaves flashing by I drifted in and out of sleep. Once I got to Orianienburg I walked off the s-bahn tossing the tinfoil from my mix into the air, and was feeling like a million dollars - exactly the feeling you need for baroque theatre in the landesgartenschau (think Chelsea flower show outdoors and in German).

Long time no post

2009-09-28T20:07:00.000+02:00

So it's been a while, partly because I've been spending my time setting up ecoamsterdam.blogspot.com (yes, check it out!).

So a little something for now, written on a Saturday afternoon in a beer garden in Berlin:

Almost an afternoon in Prater...

I mean, it's just so unbelievably cool. The sun shining through the trees and clouds, landing golden in my beer. The diving board rusting and used now only as a light post. No swimming pool to dive into, just a concrete play place for children. And play they do, with the stones and anything else to hand. The small brown birds that are infused in Berlin's ground and flower beds gather, steal, depart. The cold of winter and Russian tanks and clinging waiting seems to lurk in the wind, but it is not here yet. The sun shines through the clouds again and friends and more beer arrive. I have picked up summers end and found it has all the flavour of the memories made by millions throughout this city of permanence and transience.

Computer (f).

2009-07-27T20:19:00.000+02:00

Computers were clearly a male invention, something there primarily to increase production, and help those (mostly males) at the top destroy the world a lot faster than they were doing before computers arrived.

I've been asking myself (and others) what a computer designed (and invented?) by a woman would look like. Okay more than just look like, how would it function? It amazes how often women struggle with computers when in my experience most men seem to understand them intuitively (or is it just that men never ask for help!).

The answer that I've gotten from a number of people is that a woman would not invent a computer. I think that's it, but I'm still intrigued by my own question (ah thank you) though and would love a really creative answer. For a start, I think it would have more inputs than just a mouse and a keyboard (maybe some frikkin voice recognition :-). Something more intuitive - how do you take the motion of picking cherries and turn it into a computer input device? Okay, hopefully I'll come back to this question...

Mamma always told me...

2009-07-27T20:04:00.000+02:00

To learn to touch type.

And being a young male adolescent and the last child (see, I would be touch typing if I had a younger brother.... clearly), I can clearly remember sitting in the dining room at the computer saying, now worries mum, when I grow up keyboards will be a thing of the past. I was firm believer in voice recognition software, and to be fair, we did have a very basic package in the house (yep, even back in the day) and it could capture the gist of what I was saying, but clearly things never progressed much beyond that.

I guess though that a software that is to be sold on the mass market would never be able to adjust or adapt to the millions of different voices in the world, not to mention languages, not to mention accents. And that's the thing about a successful product it can be used by everyone everywhere. So here I sit, not being able to touch type (as well as I'd like) and without any flippin voice recognition.

So now I have installed addictive typing on both my work and home computers and am trying to do at least 10 minutes a day. I'm getting better, but I'm sure as my mother predicted, it is much harder to relearn to type properly than to just do it.

Rest assured that if I ever have children they will be persuaded to learn to type, but I'll at least be giving them a Dvorak keyboard, because this whole qwerty nonsense is way past its sell by date.

Damn it, keep typing those b's with both pointing fingers...

How much is enough?

2009-06-29T20:31:00.000+02:00

So starting from the fact that we're all aware their is big trouble on the horizon for the world.

How much of what we do is enough? What do you have to do in order to be satisfied you will be leaving a world set to support your children through their lifetimes? When should you stop working for a better world and relax with the people you love (if your work doesn't include them)?

I don't know, but looking at the way things are going, I would say we could still take it up a notch!

A scary climate vision

2009-06-06T19:57:00.000+02:00

I've just finished reading Greenpeace's Climate Vision. It's the organisations vision for stopping anthropocentric climate change.

The scariest thing was the figures - emissions need to peak by 2015 and sink to 0 by 2050. 0, that means NO C02 emmissions. This is to stop the worst, not to save everything.

What I appreciated though was their directness in showing on page 16 that we might actually have to change our lifestyle in order to bring about these decreases. It's pretty clear to me, and I think anyone who thinks about it for any serious length of time - we cannot go on living like we are, if we don't change, we will be forced to.

What thoughts?

2009-06-03T21:37:00.000+02:00

I wonder what the dreams and thoughts of the person that cleans rental cars is. As they sweep out dirt from all over their home country, do they imagine the stories behind it?

The leaves and pollen and damp from when a careless tourist left the window down during a sudden cloud burst atop an ancient hill,

The small stones from a rough beach which pressed into a couples skin between swims as they drank the setting sun together on a beach talking about mythical beasts and scared tourists,

The mud from a hurried and careless stop for a toilet break in between honey ice-cream and airplane enforced deadlines,

The pet hair from a borrowed cat that belonged to a busy woman and was caught between being loved and wished away by holiday makers caught up in orange juice breakfasts and using-up-the-left-overs dinners,

The soil from mountain trails that led to waterfalls of inspiration and healing and waterfalls of tears over the death of a family member not on this particular holiday,

And maybe though they never noticed it the, tiny bits of animal faeces that worked its way into grooves of shoes that took owners to make all to brief acquaintances with the animals of the cleaners country,

Do they feel their country has been turned to dirt by foreigners too rich to care that this dirt is their landbase, or do they rejoice that this dirt represents new dreams fulfilled and experiences won?

Dreaming of JZ

2009-05-16T12:08:00.000+02:00

I put it down to being sick, finishing "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by Haruki Murakami and running a mild temperature, but I was dreaming about JZ the other day.

He was pretty much the thread running through a very long and lucid dream. For those not in the know, JZ refers to our new president - Jacob Zuma. Judging by the howls of protest I gave rise to a while ago when I intimated that I might not be too worried about him becoming president, I imagine that many of the people who read my online mumblings are not too pleased with South Africa's new president. I know I tread on thin ice when I talk about him.

But back to my dream - the recurring theme in it was me teaching JZ to shake hands like anybody cool and vaguely African does in Cape Town, particularly in the townships. He wasn't too good at this, so I really had to give him some training (you be pleased to know that by the end of the dream he was getting the hang of it). What struck me was the size of his hands - they were really big, something I've always admired (I'm not sure this is the right word, but "been attracted to" also didn't seem right!). In exchange for my spending the time teaching him to shake hands, he was introducing me to a variety of wonderful people.

He was not introducing them to me personally, but rather giving me clues and hints as to where I might find them. I can only remember one group that I met (although I know there were more). They were a family group (but with no father - in fact I only remember the mother and one of the girls) all sleeping in an old hospital which looked like what I imagine one of the original wings of Groote Schuur (a hospital in Cape Town) must have looked like. Although I didn't have any meaningful conversation with them or any of the people I met in the dream through JZ, I received an amazing feeling of warmth from them, and hugging them hello felt like being welcomed back to a warm holiday hut from a cold and rainy night.

I still believe we could have done far worse than Jacob Zuma for president, yes, he has done and said some really crazy and stupid things, but he seems to be interested in the people of South Africa and getting them a better deal. I don't have an interest in defending him, and I'm sure many of his decisions that will be made will need some defending to some extent or another. I do think South Africa will be in a better shape after the next five years than it is now, and that interests me.

I was very privileged to meet Nelson Mandela once, on the Main Road in Rondebosch, late at night, and I remember the formal handshake that I gave (or was offered by) him. It was a lot different to the practising of local handshake used by ordinary everyday South Africans in dusty taxi ranks and fitful dreams.

Stopping traffic...

2009-04-26T18:01:00.008+02:00

My second action went swimmingly today. Yesterday I headed through to Gent in Belgium and spent the afternoon training with all sorts of traffic equipment, and getting to know some cool people.

This morning we woke up at 5:30 to an awesome song Alela Diane's "The Pirates Gospel". We then went off to block the Brussels ring road, and put in some environmentally inspired theatre in protest to the plans to add another lane to the road.

It went fantastically, no hiccups and most people hardly noticed we were there - except when they (and particularly the intended audience) saw it later on the news. Greenpeace Belgium captured some of it, check it out on their website in Dutch or in French.

pirates again

2009-04-13T12:13:00.002+02:00

I am inexplicably drawn to stories of the Somalian pirates. I think it is because for me this represents the world of global capitalism grinding up against those it has excluded.

It seems to me that the pirates are far from criminals. To call them evil would be plain wrong, and terrorists? Not unless anybody who works to earn a better wage or improve their stock in life is a terrorist. In my opinion these are men who have found a way of earning money for themselves (and probably many people dependent on them). Is there any harm done to anyone through this form of piracy? Well, I can't see any - the money they get in ransoms comes from big multinational corporations, or people who have so much that they can afford an ocean going yacht, and who, I would presume have insurance. Speaking of insurance, I am not speaking from any authority here, but I would imagine commercial ships and most private ships would have some sort of insurance against piracy. So what does this have to do with anything? Well, this means that any money that is paid to pirates comes from insurance firms who basically gamble with their shareholders money (they use algorithms which basically say how much they need to charge people as a premium vs. how much they will need to pay out (the actual risk) and then whack a hefty profit on top). If the shareholders are losing out, helaas pindakaas ("too bad so sad" in dutch), these are people who have enough money to take a risk with some by putting it in the stock market - you have good days, you have bad. So insurance firms aren't losing out (just adjusting their premiums), and people who are putting money into stocks (probably owners of insurance firms) are maybe having one more bad day, which they probably won't even notice given the current state of stock markets!

So nobody goes home hungry because of pirates, but what about the people on the boats? When they get hijacked, that must be pretty scary. Sure, not having control over your situation is scary, but I would imagine seafarers would be used to this in some sense or another. Apart from the odd beating, I understand that the pirates treat their hostages very well, handing around cooked goat meat (seriously, did they bring the goat with them and cook it there?!) and letting them phone home to calm anxious relatives. I would imagine the weather also isn't as bad off the coast of Somalia either - in any case, the pirates stopped pirating in bad weather. Yes, everybody thought it was due to the increased naval presence - turns out it was just a little nippy out.

Granted I probably skimmed way too lightly over a lot of very intricate issues in the second paragraph, and was a bit too blasé about the experience of being held hostage in the last, but there is a bigger issue at work here for me. The fact that as soon as multinationals start losing money, the governments of the world jump, and not only do they jump, but while saying "how high" they raise the ante for the pirates. In order to get one American captain back, they kill 3 pirates. Up until now, as I have mentioned, the pirates have been very hospitable and not done any hostages harm. I would not be surprised if this lenient piracy comes to an abrupt end.

Working for an organisations that runs 3 ocean going ships, I have a rough idea of how much it costs to get a ship around the world. The money being spent patrolling the waters off Somalia are being paid for by taxpayers in the countries that are sending warships. Would a fairer solution not be to let the companies pay for security on their ships, or just for the ransoms, and the government can go on taking care of their citizens more equitably?

This story of pirates highlights the fact that the current global economy is desperately skewed in the favour of a rich minority, through not taking into account externalities. Whether these externalities be environmental, or piratical.

As long as they stay peaceful, I'm on the side of the pirates.

Thailand

2009-03-15T16:29:00.004+01:00

After the train journey from Brussels and the flight from Amsterdam, I landed in Bangkok and met up with Jan and his son Finn. We caught a taxi and rode through to our Hotel, Sena Place. As he drives, the driver of the taxi asks you if you would like to take the highway, which means paying extra at toll booths, but quite literally is an elevated road. I headed out onto the street, and bought an ice cold coconut (with plastic straw to drink from – they seem to give you a straw with anything that isn’t beer). I wandered down the street taking in the new and pungent smells from a myrid of street stalls cooking all sorts of things.

The next morning I left for the meeting venue. We arrived and after a quick swim had a couple of hours pre-meeting. I then took the couple of free hours I had for a Thai massage which was fabulous! The next three days were consumed by meetings, with me pulling off some less than good facilitation. On the Tuesday we escaped the good food of the venue and took a short boat trip across the river to a restaurant on stilts. The food there as with everywhere else in Thailand was fantastic, subtle flavours and hot spices - nice!

After the meeting I headed back to Bangkok and spent the rest of Thursday afternoon in the Bangkok office. We went out for supper at Sam Sen train station with Ply, and ate more good food served by good looking waitresses. The Friday and Saturday were set aside for sight seeing and we took advantage of them! On Friday Wen Jing and I traveled up to Ayuttaha and took a boat ride around the island. We stopped at three Wat's (Temples) and stayed only long enough to get super heated and dive back into the boat which was a lot cooler.

Afterwards we went for lunch at a lonely planet recommended restaurant which wasn't very good. It did have a tamarind tree (which Wen Jing pointed out to me and Gopi told me what it was in English) growing near by and this led us to search for more Tamarind trees amongst the ruins of Ayuttaha (the old Siamese capital). We found one that was loaded with Tamarind fruit and I was determined to bring one back, so after throwing a stick up after them, I tried to throw my water bottle up, but as I did my shoe came off and I landed with my right foot hard on a sharp piece of concrete. Wen Jing shepherded me off to hospital (in another tuk tuk) and I got a crash course in the excellent Thai health care system. Once I was stitched up we took another tuk tuk to the bus station and caught the bus back home. We met Gopi and Rajesh for supper and ate loads (again!).

On Saturday Natwipha met the four of us at the Charuchak market in Bangkok (15 000 stalls!)and we shopped until we dropped, including a nice lunch where the chef's sang and danced in between cooking up some pretty amazing dishes.

Later Wen Jing and I road the Skytrain to the river and sat and people watched and she helped to augment my grossly lacking knowledge of China! We road the train back to the hotel and I said good bye to my Thailand travelling friends and headed for the airport.

Thanks to Nat for helping me out with all the logistics for the meeting, being the best travel guide and never even looking remotely concerned that I was asking her for yet another hotel booking change even after a whole day of meetings. Thanks to all the people I travelled some of Thailand with, Jan and Finn (auch fuer der Lonely Planet!), Maciej, Rajesh (great barganing!), Gopi (it was a VERY dangerous looking baby tiger!) and Wen Jing (for taking care of me and traveling at a great pace around Ayuttaha and Bangkok).

Back in the 'dam and back to work tomorrow!

Dandala vs. JZ

2009-02-28T11:56:00.004+01:00

Classic (and possibly a little unfair) comment from the M&G:

"Where Jacob Zuma is essentially an autodidact, Dr Dandala (COPE presidential candidate) has degrees from Cambridge University, as well as honorary degrees from The University of Transkei and from the Cameroons.

Whereas Zuma has several wives, Dandala has but one. Dandala publicly took an HIV/Aids test. Zuma famously took a shower."

ps: an autodidact is a self taught person (I had to look it up...)

Where boys fear to tread...

2009-02-26T22:51:00.002+01:00

For those who don't know, the title of my blog is also the title of a Smashing Pumpkins song, as is the title of this post, but I digress before I've started...

Okay, so I'm definitely not the most experienced to speak about menstruation, but I have heard a bit about menstrual cups. They sound as if they are comfortable and environmentally, I reckon they are the business.

Check out a pretty glowing review from my South African paper of choice.

Now to tackle the resource intensiveness of toilet paper.

e-readers

2009-02-26T21:07:00.004+01:00

Whether to buy an e-reader or not... It's been a question that I've been thinking about for quite a while.

I first heard about e-readers and e-ink when my dad suggested I worked for them (e-ink) when I was thinking about what to do with my life, and was considering various environmental jobs. The concept is simple, e-ink allows easy to read text on a small screen. It is supposed to look like paper, and can be read in bright sunlight. The devices are highly portable, about as thin as a box of matches and weigh less than a paper back. It is normally bigger than your average book. The battery typically lasts for roughly 7000 page turns (when the text is being displayed it hardly uses any power), which is enough for at least a weeks serious reading.

The reason for me to buy one would be mostly environmental, however the speed at which you are able to download and start reading a new book is definitely a plus.

Environmentally I'm not totally convinced, but let's look at the pros and cons. In the e-readers favour is the fact that every book is displayed on the same device - this means no printing and transporting the books around (I normally order books online), however the life cycle of the e-reader has to be taken into account. The manufacture includes all nasties of all our electronic gadgets - mining, plastics, chemicals - they'll all be there. Of course there is also the disposal - I haven't yet found a disposable e-reader!Greenpeace has done a great job highlighting the problem. So what have I found?

There seem to be 4 big names of purpose built e-reader. They are (with links to their websites:

Bebook
Iliad
Sony eBook
Kindle

All four are roughly similar, except that the Sony and Kindle only let you use formats that they specify - the Kindle particularly as it only lets you buy books from Amazon.com (who sell it), and you actually have to pay to read .pdfs on it (which immediately ruled it out for me). The other two run on linux based systems and allow you to read a number of formats on them.

The problem with all of them however, and my reason for not buying one at all, is simply the selection of books currently available as e-books. There just aren't enough (and particularly not of the ones I want to read). Having an e-reader and still having to buy the odd real book just seems silly - more just e-showing off, geek factor.

So lessons I've learnt through all this - I still need to join the library, I need to get my book club swapping the books we have rather than all reading the same book at the same time, and lastly, that I won't be buying an e-reader for a long time.

Shame though, could've impressed my mom.

My first action

2009-02-23T19:05:00.003+01:00

Last Wednesday I met up with some other people to protest against Junichi and Toro being tried by the Japanese system for their part in uncovering a whaling scandal. You can read all about the Tokyo Two and the part they are playing to end whaling on the Greenpeace Website. Part of the reason for this blog is to try and answer all the questions my family have asked me about the protest.

We met at the Japanese Embassy in the Hague, one of us dressed as Lady Justice and with a big blow up whale, that was my job - plugging it in and taking care of it. Not lurking as my father was kind enough to point out - that's my concerned face (okay, I'm the once right at the back with the fashionable beanie).

We were there to hand protest the trial of the Tokyo Two and hand a letter over to the Ambassador asking the Japanese to put whaling on trial instead. There were lots of other protests all over the world - watch the slideshow halfway down this page. All went well, but the people exposing corruption are still in court.

You can help, click the link on the banner on the right of the screen and let the Japanese police know if exposing the corruption in whaling as a crime is an offence, they can arrest you too!

And thanks mum, I took care and was fine ;-)

Hiking the point (SA Dec/Jan 09 pt6)

2009-02-19T21:05:00.002+01:00

So despite the fact that this is now about a month late, here is the final installment of my SA holiday.

Having arrived back in CT with my dad on the train, Em, Al and I gathered some things for our hike the next day and then got an early night. The next morning we got up, packed our things and headed off in Als car to pick dad up, and then travel on to the Cape Point nature reserve, with a mandatory stop at Olympia for baked goods.

We got there, parked the car, donned our packs and set off. We walked along the East coast of the point with amazing views of the sheer drop to the rocks and breakers below, and the rest of the peninsula. We passed the old cannon and dropped down to the sea, and walked past all the Sunday picnikers and braaiers. We joined them for lunch though, after a swim in the refreshing water. Once we had lunched on cheese rolls and mussel oil we searched for the small traffic circle, and once we found it began the climb to the overnight huts. Towards the top of the hill we saw a pair of ostrich with a whole bunch of baby ostriches running around. We carried on to the hut where we relaxed and had sundowners while counting windsurfers and kite surfers (which became the entertainment of the evening). We had braai for supper and a couple of beers, and made up fantastic stories about windsurfers not making it out of the park before the gate was shut.

The next morning we had hot water (mmmh) and muesli before setting off with considerably lighter packs. The walk started off along the beach which involved some sand, but mainly rocks. We were treated to a Bles(bonte?)bok peering at us through the mist. As we carried on we saw other wildlife (a very small tortoise included). We had lunch next to a very black lagoon and were visited by a large group of Baboons. After lunch we headed off with some of the party taking the short way round, and some finishing off the final hill for all.

The rest of my time in Cape Town was filled with friends, braais at Oudekraal, amazing productions of the Tempest, fantastic days in Napier with mum, swimming in rock pools and spending time with my sisters.

I'm now very much back in Amsterdam (it really is very cold), and working away again. It was an amazing 6 weeks and I can't wait to get back there soonest!

Thanks to everybody who made it such a good time!

GSK starts to break the mould

2009-02-15T14:18:00.001+01:00

Drug companies have been taking a lot of slack because of their protecting of patents that deny poor people access to medicine.

GSK have come out against this with a brave new stance by their CEO, promising to slash prices in poor countries and pool patents for other scientists to work on.

Read more: http://tinyurl.com/bqbrxy

I wonder if this will lead to a different type of medical safari, and whether it will prompt others to do the same!

Twittering

2009-02-14T18:56:00.002+01:00

I'm twittering.

Unfortunately, because my cell phones a bit old and I'm on pre-paid (laugh all you want james) I can't update it from my phone yet, but watch this space.

In the meantime I'll update it every now and again. You can check out my entries here (on the right of this page, scroll down a bit, below my links, above my followers).

Wiki!

for those who might not know what twitter is (no names mentioned):

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

The best way to travel (SA Dec/Jan 09 pt5)

2009-02-14T18:47:00.000+01:00

I flew into joburg and quickly got a taxi into Melville, and to the Greenpeace office. I walked in and said hello to the people who were working. Some of the people I would have liked to have spoken to were not there, but I got introduced to the people working there and saw their premises, a really nice house that has been converted into an office.

After that I walked down to a local Mugg and Bean and had a cup of tea while I waited for Phil to finish work. Once he had he picked me up we headed to the Jolly roger for half a pizza and a couple of beers. Chris and Ciska picked me up there and we got some excellent thai food, and headed back to their (lovely) new house and Larry the beaglador. After some great chatting and a bit of hooka piping we went to bed, and in the morning Chris dropped me off at the Joburg station, where I bought a newspaper and met Dad for the train ride to Cape Town.

The Shosholoza Meyl was advertised as a pleasant experience, which I think rather under sells the train trip (aah, they've hit on my underpromise and overdeliver mantra, which some day I'll actually adhere to!). The only thing that wasn't good about the trip was booking the tickets. They have no way to book without actually going to the station (although my sister swears she booked by paying money into their bank account and then picking the tickets up from the station). You can book tickets before hand, however once you've reserved, the reservation is only valid for two days where after you need to have bought your tickets at the station. It should be easy enough to set up an e-ticketing system where you can print your tickets at home, or at least to hook up with a service like Computicket, like Intercape buses do.

Well, as I said the only bad thing was the booking. We got on at joburg and left only about 15 minutes late (was it dad? - he has the time to the minute that we arrived at and left every station, I think he was still keeping tabs in his sleep ;-). As we pulled out of johannesburg we settled into our 2 person coupé, distributed the newspapers and had a bit of a read as the highveld slipped by. We ordered our bedding (for R40) and then went off for a little something to eat (after some literally ice cold beers). Cards were the order of the afternoon and as a thunder and lightning storm stormed off in the distance we played a refined game of German whist. Supper was macaroni cheese for me and a steak for dad, accompanied by a fine bottle of red (okay, it was Chateu Libertas...). After that it was a few more hands and then bed.

The night went well, despite the rain continueing, and when we went to bed Dad thought we would be in a lot later than the anticipated 12:10 (I however had a well placed hope in the men and women at SARS and Shosholoza Meyl). Sleeping on the train wasn't the deepest sleep which was perhaps that the bunks were a bit small, but after a relatively good sleep I woke up and read for a bit (unfortunatly on the top bunk so I couldn't see the scenery go by). Once dad was up we had a fry up breakfast, and went back to our cabin for a few games of battleships (all won by Dad!) and to watch the last of the Klein Karoo and the Hex River valley slide by. There were also some very long tunnels which neither of us had expected. Sooner than expected we were pulling into Cape Town with the mountain ahead and Ratanga Junction off to our right. We got into the station early, and got onto a Metro train to take me to Mowbray, and Dad to False Bay.

I walked back to Em and Al's house where I was to spend only a night before starting a two day trail with Em, Plus, Al and Dad.

Shosholoza Meyl was fantastic, and I would highly recommend a trip on the train to anybody with enough time to take a slow trip.

Zuma for prez?

2009-02-03T22:40:00.002+01:00

Well, okay, bring it on!

Having just read Jeremy Gordin's biography, I'm feeling much better about JZ taking over the presidency of my country. I also hope he brings about some economic sense to a developing country (read: not bow to the false god of FDI).

If the ANC is going to focus on the rural areas more in 2009, I think there are worse people and parties for the top job.

Sabi Sands (SA Dec/Jan 09 pt4)

2009-02-03T22:04:00.003+01:00

After the morning after fry up at one of the trout dams I said goodbye to the rhodes mates and set off towards Nelspruit with Gene's parents. I got to Nelspruit without trouble, and some interesting conversation about forestry with John, Gene's dad.

Once there though I started feeling a bit off colour. I met up with the guy who was going to give me and 4 brits a lift through to Kirkman's Camp, in the Sabi Sands. Kirkmans is a private game reserve in one of the richest game areas of the Kruger Park, the Sabi Sands. Murray, a friend of mine from school days is the head game ranger at Kirkman's, and it was because of him that I had the opportunity of a life time to experience a luxury game reserve.

I was staying in Murray's staff lodging (he quickly whipped up a bed for me to sleep off the rest of my hangover - very understanding). It was simple, but right in the middle of the bush which made it luxurious beyond measure - were else do you get to see hyenas running past about 10 metres away while you're having a braai, and have to make sure your shoes are inside at night to avoid them walking off. During the days I slept and read, only to be disturbed by the odd meal and game drive.

The game drives were awesome, off road driving like I've never experienced. And of course the animals. The rangers found them all and extremely close up, I could've touched most of them. We almost ran over the pack of wild dogs we found on my first full day. I saw Rhino, Baboons, Giraffe, Impala, Leopards, Wild dogs, Hyena, Elephant, Owls, Amarula treas, Russet Willows, Sausage trees, Chameleons, Lions, Buffalo, Smaller antelops, Bats, Moths, Monkeys and if I sit long enough I think I'll remember a million more! I was also treated to a bush breakfast (all laid out in the middle of the bush, with cooked breakfast and croissants), and on the evening game drives we stopped for sundowners with biltong, nuts, dried mango and our choice of ice cold drinks - there is really nothing like a ice cold beer as the sun goes down over the bush!

At night we'd braai or just have some beers and talk. It was really magical. After 4 days it was time to move on again though, and Murray again came through, organising me a flight to Joburg from only 15 minutes down the dirt road.

Once back in the big city, I was amazed at how we have managed to confine nature to these small spaces between civilisation, but as soon as we reach the pinical of civilisation, we take the opportunity to rush back to the wild (admitedly, this time in a 4x4).

In Joburg I went to visit Greenpeace SA and managed to squeeze in a beer (or 3) and pizza with Phil at Jolly Rogers before I was picked up by Chris and Ciska for some great thai food and a comfy bed in there new house, gaurded ably by Larry the Beaglador.

(sorry, photos just wouldn't do it justice - and besides, I didn't take a camera!)

Fishy weddings (SA Dec/Jan 09 pt3)

2009-01-26T12:16:00.006+01:00

So after Napier, Mum dropped me off at the airport and I met Thandi who was on the same flight up to Jozi for New Years and weddings. After a long shuttle ride from the Joburg airport to Lydenburg we were met there by Bruce and Charne in the bakkies to go back to the farm. We stayed the first couple of nights on a friends farm with no electricity and an argar to heat the water - good times!

The first night we had a fantastic new years party 60's style (which looked more like it was just fancy dress) when you put that many rhodents together you're sure of a good party, and a party it was! See edited pictures for evidence.

The next day I put a hole in Killas tyre on an ill-fated and never completed town trip. And then spent the most of the day reading and swimming, while others slaved away over at the wedding venue. That night we got our last minute instructions from the bride and groom over a great meal of pasta made by Peta.

The day before the wedding (2/1) everybody was running around helping with a million things and moving us into our fantastic lodges on Bruce's parents trout farm. The venue was looking awesome with the the chapel constructed from scratch for the event. Finishing touches were being put on the orders of service, the golf course and the dancefloor. We had snacks and drinks at the girls lodge before going back to the boys lodge for a couple of sneaky beers, some didgeridoo playing and talk of wynd's (a passage of sorts).

The day arrived with much hecticness of sticking names onto seating plans made out of rock, cleaning of dance floors and trying to disguise portaloos (and rus and killa still trying to finish off the video booth). It soon all collapsed into an amazing wedding in the most awesome venue. Everyone looked great, the speeches were good, the mcing brilliant (if I do say so myself :-) and the entertainment legendary, even with a not very well stocked bar. The best thing was the reuniting of people - with all the group there it was like one of the best night at Rhodes, with all the dance moves being thrown around, the silliness, the bad photos.

Congratulations to Bruce and Charne on getting married, and putting a huge amount of effort into an amazing wedding.

Pick it up! or...

2009-01-23T21:17:00.000+01:00

When I see rubbish lying on the beach, I'm in two minds whether to pick it up or not. Strange, being an "environmentally minded" person, but I guess the question is, where does the rubbish go once you do pick it up? Where is away?

When someone picks up rubbish from a beach or nature reserve they usually put it in the nearest bin. I doubt it is recycled from there, it is probably taken to landfill. Landfill is just another person/creature/insect's home.

For me the answer to plastic bottles lying on the beach surely doesn't lie with how we dispose or recycle the bottles, but rather with not using plastic bottles (and all the other -mainly plastic- junk that litters or environment) .

Buy one water bottle that is made from another material, or buy one that will last at least 10 years. Refuse to buy things in packaging the manufacturer will not take back, and where possible bring your own packaging. These are steps that are easy to take and will have the biggest influence.

As for the litter - leave it lying there as a reminder to others that there is no such place as "away", and precycling, not recycling is the only answer.

Christmas at Mariley (SA Dec/Jan 09 pt2)

2009-01-22T20:56:00.000+01:00

Christmas with the family was good, despite being tense at times. Full was definitely the word to describe it best with it passing in a blur of breakfasts, teas, lunches, dinners, chocolates and biscuits. Mum as always pulled out all the stops with loads of fresh veggies from the garden and a superb nut roast for me, as well as a cassata I was entirely ready to lie cheat and steal for. Dads Christmas pud also went down well I had a second helping, whether I managed it is another story. I also managed to sort out my stuff (with Mark's help) and give some to charity and condense the rest. Once everyone else had left it was me, mum and al and em. We spent an afternoon wlaking around de Mond, took the dogs for a walk and had an amazing supper at Juliens in Bredasdorp with great wine (Soetvlei Shiraz?).

Road trippin' (SA Dec/Jan 09 pt1)

2009-01-21T15:24:00.005+01:00

After a week of admin in Cape Town, Saturday morning came round. After visiting the Hiscocks and Tylers, I went shopping at KC for the essentials (and the biggest watermelon I could find, which, lets face it, is an essential) while Ruth sorted Kit(t?) with some last minute wheel alignment. We managed to get on the road only and hour later than our absolute deadling and headed of for "die Hel".

By the time we reached Beaufort West (I think) we (read "I") were getting a little worried about the light, given that those who had been there before all suggested a 4x4. Ruth decided to push on despite me trying to sound as anti driving into the mountains, yet uncritical of Kit as possible. We filled up at the last petrol station and ventured off, driving into an amazing mountain pass with fantastic views, very badly captured on camera.

The sun had pretty much set by the time we passed the "2 and a half hours to die Hel" sign, but unbowed we carried on. With only a few scrapes to Kit and some white knuckles, we got to the campsite and managed to chose the best spot, even in the dark. The next morning we woke up and made the biggest fruit salad ever (in the watermelon) and also, inadvertently, Wyclef the watermelon.

As it was frikkin boiling we went in search of the pool and cold beers, with a packed lunch. We wallowed in the pool and chatted to the friendly Joburgers and Germans. Supper was braaied veggie sausages, beers and chocolate (a little runny from the day in the car). We also fitted in some frisbee throwing as well.

The next day we joined the ever coming and going procession of 4x4s out of die Hel, with me guiding Ruth and Kit over the the dry river beds (note white knuckles).

The journey out was even more beautiful than the drive in. Once we were out of the pass we hit Oudtshoorn for a quick drink, sunglasses and some aubergines. Then it was on to Route 62, past Ronnies Sex Shop and to lunch and foosball just outside Ladysmith. Through another pass, and we arrived at Napier, and quickly headed to Sun Touched for a cold one, which was followed by half a movie and bed.

The next day Paul arrived and we went off in search of candles and lunch, to eat at de Mond. Unfortunately no one wanted to brave the wind as much as I did (it was admittedly blowing quite a gale) so we returned to Mariley for lunch. Once mum had gone to bed, the three of us stayed up late into the night talking and drinking tassies, obies and klippies and coke (Ruth and I had luckily escaped the curse of klippies and coke despite our stop in Oudtshoorn.)

The next day Paul and Ruth left for their respective families for Christmas.

Thanks to Kit for getting us there and back again in absolute style. Thanks to Paul fr coming out ad spending time in Napier (and being official photographer for a while). Biggest thanks to Ruth, who didn't get scared off by my powerpoint. One of the best road trip partners ever, who drove the dodgiest road without losing her sense of humour once. You rock! Looking forward to Road Trip II - The return of the killer sporf...

Documentaries and friends

2008-11-30T20:29:00.003+01:00

This past week was the idfa in Amsterdam, a documentary film festival. It was great, and I saw some really good ones, and am considering reviewing my criteria for a good film (guns, explosion and good looking women).

On Monday I saw Poison Fire a film about gas flaring in Nigeria. Another of those thinks that reminds you that the current economic system is very deeply flawed. Big oil multinationals drill for oil in Nigeria and when the oil comes up, it brings with it a lot of gas. This gas makes the oil difficult to transport, so the companies burn it off in huge gas flares. This is while Nigerians have very few opportunities for fuel for cooking. And of course the flaring leads to huge health problems for the people living nearby. Shell in particular has been taking to court a number of times in Nigeria over the flaring and has been ordered to stop flaring. They haven't, but now a case is being brought to a Dutch court ... we live in hope!

On Wednesday I saw a film that wasn't on the festival, but was shown by Greenpeace NL. It was called The Deadline and was about pirate fishing off the cost of Africa (New Guinea in particular). It was interesting to learn about pirate fishing, but more to see again how much work goes into a Greenpeace campaign, to end with just one action. I've bought a copy of this one, so if you'd like to see it, let me know the next time I'm on my way to you.

**oh, and speaking of piracy, check out this Sunday Herald article for a really interesting take on the recent increase in piracy off the coast of Somalia**

On Thursday it was Let's Make Money, a film about the world economy and how CRAZY it is. The best quote? An government official from Burkina Fasso saying that if subsidies like the US subsidy on cotton were not ended, the people of Africa would invade Europe, even if they built a wall 10 metres high to keep them out (Kein mensch ist illegal!). Me and Zeina were cheering :-)

On Friday I saw Sea Point Days, a documentary about Sea Point (yes, in Cape Town) and it left me with the biggest smile on my face. A really positive look at SA, and showed of some of SAs best sides!

Saturday was a weird one called A Complete History of My Sexual Failures. A (rather useless) guy going back and interviewing all his ex girlfriends on why they dumped him. It also involved him being whipped by dominatrix and taking 6 viagras. Pretty funny at times. And led to a good discusion between me and Tamar on assholes and what constitutes an asshole. The randomness of the conversation was also fed by the fact that about 4 hours previously I had eaten more baked goods than could strictly be called necessary and then gone to a party where Mel had shown what the snack table would look like in heaven (mint and feta bread? yes please).

Today was the last one and a really good one about plastic called Addicted to Plastic. Not nearly depressing enough to be called a good environmental documentary in my book. Well, seriously it was very good at not getting too crazy about the fact that the pacific ocean is more or less a plastic soup, and showing some really good examples of people working on plastic waste.

So a good week of documentaries and now for the next two weeks I've got meetings most days. Then it's holidays in SA, which I am really looking forward to!

Risk

2008-11-22T14:53:00.000+01:00

yeah, nuff blog posting, I'm off to play risk...

lost glove found glove

2008-11-22T14:38:00.002+01:00

I went for a long ride on Sunday and during the taking off my jacket, putting on my jacket and taking my gloves off and putting them back on and putting them in the pockets of my jacket I lost one. Really cool gloves that Holle bought for me at Globetrotter.

So what good is one glove? Not very much and I was very frustrated that I would have to throw away a perfectly good glove and go and buy 2 more. However, I related my story of woe to anyone and everyone who would listen, and what do you know, Ilona said that she had a glove that some one left at her house.

So she bought it in, and it was the right hand (in both meanings of the word). So now I have too slightly different gloves, warm hands and a warm heart.

When not getting arrested isn't good...

2008-11-22T14:19:00.003+01:00

Last Saturday I wanted to join some friends in stopping e-on building a coal power station in Rotterdam. We were going to camp outside the power station on Friday and then slowly escalate our prescene until we entered the site on Monday and locked on to machinery etc. to stop the construction of the power station.

I had a meeting on Friday, so was planning to join my hundred odd friends on Saturday, but as I was preparing to catch the train out to Rottterdam, I got a call saying that the had already entered the site and were busy getting arrested.

Oh well, hopefully next time I'll be able to confront the enforced violence of a system intent on destroying the planet.

The Premises of Endgame

2008-11-22T14:11:00.000+01:00

Premise One: Civilization is not and can never be sustainable. This is especially true for industrial civilization.

Premise Two: Traditional communities do not often voluntarily give up or sell the resources on which their communities are based until their communities have been destroyed. They also do not willingly allow their landbases to be damaged so that other resources—gold, oil, and so on—can be extracted. It follows that those who want the resources will do what they can to destroy traditional communities.

Premise Three: Our way of living—industrial civilization—is based on, requires, and would collapse very quickly without persistent and widespread violence.

Premise Four: Civilization is based on a clearly defined and widely accepted yet often unarticulated hierarchy. Violence done by those higher on the hierarchy to those lower is nearly always invisible, that is, unnoticed. When it is noticed, it is fully rationalized. Violence done by those lower on the hierarchy to those higher is unthinkable, and when it does occur is regarded with shock, horror, and the fetishization of the victims.

Premise Five: The property of those higher on the hierarchy is more valuable than the lives of those below. It is acceptable for those above to increase the amount of property they control—in everyday language, to make money—by destroying or taking the lives of those below. This is called production. If those below damage the property of those above, those above may kill or otherwise destroy the lives of those below. This is called justice.

Premise Six: Civilization is not redeemable. This culture will not undergo any sort of voluntary transformation to a sane and sustainable way of living. If we do not put a halt to it, civilization will continue to immiserate the vast majority of humans and to degrade the planet until it (civilization, and probably the planet) collapses. The effects of this degradation will continue to harm humans and nonhumans for a very long time.

Premise Seven: The longer we wait for civilization to crash—or the longer we wait before we ourselves bring it down—the messier will be the crash, and the worse things will be for those humans and nonhumans who live during it, and for those who come after.

Premise Eight: The needs of the natural world are more important than the needs of the economic system.

Another way to put premise Eight: Any economic or social system that does not benefit the natural communities on which it is based is unsustainable, immoral, and stupid. Sustainability, morality, and intelligence (as well as justice) requires the dismantling of any such economic or social system, or at the very least disallowing it from damaging your landbase.

Premise Nine: Although there will clearly some day be far fewer humans than there are at present, there are many ways this reduction in population could occur (or be achieved, depending on the passivity or activity with which we choose to approach this transformation). Some of these ways would be characterized by extreme violence and privation: nuclear armageddon, for example, would reduce both population and consumption, yet do so horrifically; the same would be true for a continuation of overshoot, followed by crash. Other ways could be characterized by less violence. Given the current levels of violence by this culture against both humans and the natural world, however, it's not possible to speak of reductions in population and consumption that do not involve violence and privation, not because the reductions themselves would necessarily involve violence, but because violence and privation have become the default. Yet some ways of reducing population and consumption, while still violent, would consist of decreasing the current levels of violence required, and caused by, the (often forced) movement of resources from the poor to the rich, and would of course be marked by a reduction in current violence against the natural world. Personally and collectively we may be able to both reduce the amount and soften the character of violence that occurs during this ongoing and perhaps longterm shift. Or we may not. But this much is certain: if we do not approach it actively—if we do not talk about our predicament and what we are going to do about it—the violence will almost undoubtedly be far more severe, the privation more extreme.

Premise Ten: The culture as a whole and most of its members are insane. The culture is driven by a death urge, an urge to destroy life.

Premise Eleven: From the beginning, this culture—civilization—has been a culture of occupation.

Premise Twelve: There are no rich people in the world, and there are no poor people. There are just people. The rich may have lots of pieces of green paper that many pretend are worth something—or their presumed riches may be even more abstract: numbers on hard drives at banks—and the poor may not. These "rich" claim they own land, and the "poor" are often denied the right to make that same claim. A primary purpose of the police is to enforce the delusions of those with lots of pieces of green paper. Those without the green papers generally buy into these delusions almost as quickly and completely as those with. These delusions carry with them extreme consequences in the real world.

Premise Thirteen: Those in power rule by force, and the sooner we break ourselves of illusions to the contrary, the sooner we can at least begin to make reasonable decisions about whether, when, and how we are going to resist.

Premise Fourteen: From birth on—and probably from conception, but I'm not sure how I'd make the case—we are individually and collectively enculturated to hate life, hate the natural world, hate the wild, hate wild animals, hate women, hate children, hate our bodies, hate and fear our emotions, hate ourselves. If we did not hate the world, we could not allow it to be destroyed before our eyes. If we did not hate ourselves, we could not allow our homes—and our bodies—to be poisoned.

Premise Fifteen: Love does not imply pacifism.

Premise Sixteen: The material world is primary. This does not mean that the spirit does not exist, nor that the material world is all there is. It means that spirit mixes with flesh. It means also that real world actions have real world consequences. It means we cannot rely on Jesus, Santa Claus, the Great Mother, or even the Easter Bunny to get us out of this mess. It means this mess really is a mess, and not just the movement of God's eyebrows. It means we have to face this mess ourselves. It means that for the time we are here on Earth—whether or not we end up somewhere else after we die, and whether we are condemned or privileged to live here—the Earth is the point. It is primary. It is our home. It is everything. It is silly to think or act or be as though this world is not real and primary. It is silly and pathetic to not live our lives as though our lives are real.

Premise Seventeen: It is a mistake (or more likely, denial) to base our decisions on whether actions arising from these will or won't frighten fence-sitters, or the mass of Americans.

Premise Eighteen: Our current sense of self is no more sustainable than our current use of energy or technology.

Premise Nineteen: The culture's problem lies above all in the belief that controlling and abusing the natural world is justifiable.

Premise Twenty: Within this culture, economics—not community well-being, not morals, not ethics, not justice, not life itself—drives social decisions.

Modification of Premise Twenty: Social decisions are determined primarily (and often exclusively) on the basis of whether these decisions will increase the monetary fortunes of the decision-makers and those they serve.

Re-modification of Premise Twenty: Social decisions are determined primarily (and often exclusively) on the basis of whether these decisions will increase the power of the decision-makers and those they serve.

Re-modification of Premise Twenty: Social decisions are founded primarily (and often exclusively) on the almost entirely unexamined belief that the decision-makers and those they serve are entitled to magnify their power and/or financial fortunes at the expense of those below.

Re-modification of Premise Twenty: If you dig to the heart of it—if there were any heart left—you would find that social decisions are determined primarily on the basis of how well these decisions serve the ends of controlling or destroying wild nature.

www.endgamethebook.org

What I ate today

2008-11-04T19:51:00.002+01:00

Because James doesn't care, I hope there is somebody out there who might...

Today I ate:

I big bowl of porridge with raisins and apple (I ate this in two sittings, one at home on my blue couch and the other infront of my computer at work - and it was still warm)
Two sticks of celery - a bit limp, but fine when cut into sections
Three sandwiches (or butter hams in Dutch) one with Marmite and two with cheese, mustard, tomato and spinach
A brownie (kindly donated by Tamar to the cause)
3 grapes
1 naartjie
2 small pieces of chocolate
2 really big bowls of pasta, pickled onions, tomato, pesto and feta
1 man siyed portion of cookies and vla

Good feed (with apologies to Al)

Follow my blog

2008-11-03T20:49:00.003+01:00

If you've got a blogger or google account, you can follow my blog. Check the link below right.

Basically Training

2008-11-03T20:42:00.001+01:00

This past weekend I attended the Basic Action Training. It was in short, one of the most fun weekends ever!

The training started at 8pm on Friday night, and after having a scenic tour of North Amsterdam at night I eventually arrived at about 20:20. We started with an introduction and a slide show and short movie about some great Greenpeace actions. Check this out if you want to know what I'm talking about:

I couldn't tell you everything that went on, but it involved ropes boats and plenty action.

The Dutch warehouse is absolutely amazing with all sorts of equipment and loads of protective clothing. I learnt loads, and met some really amazing people. A professor of mine once told me that if I went into the type of work I'm in I would meet loads of nice people. It has proved correct a million times over, people who care about the future of the planet, people and life are amazing. The took us into what is often seen as a rather exclusive club and handed over the reigns completely. They were always there to help out, but where never patronising and never once tried to limit any of us. They merely said know your limits and admit when you are uncomfortable. Such a fantastically liberating approach to education. Most of what I learnt I learnt in reflection, and while I sometimes wish I had more information to do a "better" job, I think the lesson was all the more stronger having tried things and got them wrong.

Good times all round.

EDMing it

2008-11-03T20:33:00.002+01:00

On Thursday of last week I was privileged to attend the Executive Directors Meeting of Greenpeace in Berg en Dal in the Netherlands.

I was taking minutes, something that I don't find particularly easy, but luckily I had a very interesting subject to be minuting! Hearing all the EDs introducing themselves in all their different languages brought it home to me how diverse Greenpeace is and how it really does span the globe. To be united with fellow humans behind such a great cause was really moving.

I then of course spent the rest of the meeting getting over myself and shamelessly introducing myself to as many EDs as I could get my hands on!

Sitting on the train home I felt tired, but happy to be where I was. I am so happy to be working for a cause that I really believe in and am more than happy to put so much of my energy into.

I'm going to go away and try and find something to complain about for the next post (well actually the next post is already, so it'll have to be the übernächste).

Combat Monsanto

2008-10-07T22:32:00.003+02:00

Monsanto, possibly the most evil corporation in my book (up there with Exxon-Mobil).

Combat Monsanto:

http://www.combat-monsanto.co.uk/

If you're keen for some direct action against them, give me a shout and we can organise something in SA in December... watch this space.

Positivity

2008-10-01T21:25:00.005+02:00

We all know climate change is not good news, well, here is another climate change animation, but I really like the last credits and the positive message and the call to action. From wakeupfreakout.org.

Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.

Then as today has a had a bit of a positive fighting theme for me, here's a really cool song I found (song after the lyrics):

The Flobots - We Are Winning

[Spoken]
Rival gangsters sit down to plan an after-school program
A religious fanatic posts footage of an interfaith service project
A group of teenage boys watches a video of a father playing catch with his son
An adult film star paints thumbnail portraits of elderly couples, fully clothed and smiling
A record executive records a demo of his apology
A policeman makes reverse 911 calls instructing residents to take to the streets
A patriot reports for duty
She's wearing an orange jumpsuit and holding a picket sign
She's ashamed of her birthplace
But retreat is not an option

Women and children
Frontline
Logon
Tune in
Stand and be counted
Wounded
Stationed
In the belly of the vulture
Watch your back
Theres no civilians
Women children
Frontline
Listen
Consider this a distant early warning
The fires imminent
Pollution gathering dust particles
Funneling through smokestacks
Airwaves
Bandwidth
Disinformation tube fed
Check the label
Delete the virus
Alert the masses

[spoken]
Butterfly wing crosswinds send black hawks toward hurricane survivors
Roses sprout from empty lots and sidewalk cracks
Pacifist guerrillas move undetected through concrete jungles
New forms are beginning to take shape
Once-occupied minds are activating
People are waking up
The insurgency is alive and well

Rise of the flobots
Portrait of the new american insurgent
Rattle and shake the foundation of the world order
Assembly line consent
Resist
Refuse
Inform
Create
Direct loved ones to the trenches
Suit up
Forge rubble into fortresses
Plaster
Cloth
Aluminum
Broken porcelain
Rusted platinum
Burn bloodstains from decompressed diamonds
Hammer the battlecry into braille-studded armor

[spoken]
We are building up a new world
Do not sit idly by
Do not remain neutral
Do not rely on this broadcast alone
We are only as strong as our signal
There is a war going on for your mind
If you are thinking you are winning
Resistance is victory
Defeat is impossible
Your weapons are already in hand
Reach within you and find the means by which to gain your freedom
Fight with tools
Your fate and that of everyone you know depends on it

New Shoes

2008-10-01T20:59:00.002+02:00

On the weekend I finally bought new shoes. The reason I finally got round to buying shoes is that I my current shoes (the Nikes I blackspotted in this blog a while ago) have developed lots of holes in the bottom of them and are not ideal for winter weather (which has now firmly set in!).

When I got to Berlin I went to buy proper blackspot shoes. Blackspots are made by adbusters, are made of hemp and recycled rubber in a fair labour factory in Portugal and with the added bonus that when you buy a pair you get a say in what the organisation does with their profits. This last factor, that of looking at different ways of running a company, or how a company can be run for good is the thing that really interested me. While I was in Berlin I tried on the biggest pair of blackspots they had, but they were to small for me, so hence the Nikes...

Now that the Nikes have worn out, I'm glad to say the blackspots fit (and they now come in red). So I have a brand new pair of blackspots and am very happy with them.

I did think about getting leather shoes though as apparently hemp shoes don't last very long, but then of course there's the animal argument, but I think I might be convinced to buy them. At least now I get to support the kind of capitalism I'm into and wear cool red shoes!

Running in the Netherlands...

2008-09-21T21:09:00.002+02:00

I ran a 16km race today, which was fantastic (despite staying up until 2 last night playing risk and drinking wine). About 50 000 other people were running, which was crazy.

It went really well, despite having a headache and feeling sore now! I ran with Dominique (a friend of James' from the Candy shop). There was a lot of support along the way. And also an amazing amount of paper and plastic cups used - crazy. They were giving away bottles of ACE drink at the end - better than the Coke you normally get at the end of a race in SA, but still very artificial.

I also got a medal, and thought briefly of starting a medal recycling business - in another life time perhaps!

It's amazing how people identify with a brand here - they really "live" the Nike/Asics/whatever dream. It's a bit scary, but I'm very glad I grew up when and where I did. In SA it definitely was the case that not everybody had the money for brands, so you wore whatever you had, or if you did, you had parents who had better ideas of what life should be about...

Okay, enough ranting!

I'm off to Dalfsen tomorrow for the Toxics planning meeting - should be exciting!

Cheers Mbeki

2008-09-21T10:17:00.002+02:00

Thanks for the economic growth, jobless though it was. Looking forward to see what Mbete can do in about 4 months!

BUT seriously, let's talk about Manuel with you. He's done wonders for the big companies and the rich, but to keep him on now?

Bring on the populist Zuma...

Travelling

2008-09-16T20:40:00.002+02:00

On the weekend I went to England to visit a friend. I got caught up in the madness following the fire in the channel tunnel - basically meant that a 8 hour trip amsterdam - Canterbury turned into a 10 hour trip (still not too bad). The bonus was that I got to take the ferry which was a first time for me. The coasts of France and England were fantastic, white cliffs of Dover and all. I won't say which were better as I might offend certain people.

Once I got to Canterbury I checked out the Youth Hostel and then went to pick up Elodie from the station. We dropped our stuff and then went to town for supper and drinks and dancing etc. Good fun!

On Saturday we saw Canterbury Cathederal, which was just awesome and had me all mixed up about my Christian roots. One thing that really struck me where the plaques on the walls all around the inside of the cathedral commemorating people who had died. Mostly men in defence of the Empire. Wouldn't it have been amazing if we had the ideas of using kindness to get people onto "our" side like we had during the Iraq war. Imagine going into these (then) far flung places and using our "advanced" knowledge to heal people we encountered and bring them similar benefits to their quality of life.

Anyway, I digress. We went to Herne Bay later to walk on the beach (and got distracted by chloe and some fine lads drinking beers) and took a bried nap in the sun. We walked the pier and then caught the bus back to Canterbury. We had supper, took in some live music and then got an earlier night with me feeling a cold coming on.

On Sunday we had a Boho breakfast and then caught the train back to London, where I hopped onto the now running (slowly) Eurostar and made my way back to Amsterdam.

I fixed my other bike...

2008-09-10T21:50:00.002+02:00

Only one more to go... Since James stole my brake lever I have had a dodgy left hand brake lever turned upside down and lacking some crucial silver bits. I am please to announce I have all the silver bits necessary now. I'm also quite keen to minimize the cycling to work in sandals phase - sandals and fixies don't always mix well...

As soon as I've fixed my mtb's front tire (it's flat) I will have three functioning bikes again. The coolness.

I'd also like to say that webcams are fantastic :-)

And one more thing. That Zapiro cartoon, now there is something to talk about. And I'm glad it's working!

Fixing my bike

2008-09-07T22:28:00.002+02:00

I got back from 6 days of meetings, usually from 8:30am until 10pm at the Greenpeace Agriculture campaign planning meeting yesterday. It was a fantastic experience although quite tiring! And the Agricuture team are awesome - we had a lot of fun in any available time.

I got back to discover that someone had let my tire down and kicked in my back wheel. So I did the sensible thing - locked up my bike and went off in search of a party on the tram. The party in question was my end of student loan party - finally paid it off! It started with three bottles of prosecco at the Greenpeace office and ended at 4 in the morning eating chips with some of the agriculture campaigners on Rembrandt Plein. Good times.

Saturday from 10 until about 2:30 was spent fixing my bike. At first I tried to find a second hand wheel, and after a number of failed attempts, I eventually decided to buy a new one. All the time I was riding back and forth between my dutch bike and the cycle shops on my fixie, carrying various spare parts. My bike was on the top of the big bicycle park overlooking Amsterdam, so at least I had a good view while fixing!

In the end I got it fixed and now it works fine, with a shortened chain and a shiny new rear wheel! And for all this work, I spent most of the weekend on my fixie, which is SO much fun!

A good weekend, to now be rounded off with an early night!

Suriname

2008-08-24T12:11:00.002+02:00

... is in SOUTH AMERICA!!!! and has an "e" on the end of it.

About 5 minutes ago I had one of those lightbulb moments when your perception of the world completely changes. It's a really cool thing. The world is no where near as known as we thought.

I thought Suriname was in Asia, somewhere near Indonesia. The reason I know a lot about it is that there is a large Surinamese community in Amsterdam, and I thought I always knew where it was - boy how wrong!

I almost called these moments Standard Bank moments, because when I was young I always thought the Standard Bank logo was just a squiggle in a badge. One day I saw it was a flag, and from then I could never see the squiggle again. Life changing moments.

mud, and then some photos!

2008-08-18T21:46:00.009+02:00

So Giona and Elaine took some photos of us, just so you can get an idea:

The start of the race and everybody looking quite casual, clearly not aware of what's coming...

That's Tom, me and Eoin after clearing the last ditch (clearly we weren't too worried about getting to the finish line in time!). More like watching the other sorry souls dragging them from the nearest ditch (gloating Tom?).

The end of the race and while Eoin and Tom are looking quite relaxed I'm still dealing with mud in the teeth. Nice.

To end it all of a bit of bumper cars after a hosing by the fire brigade and plus minus three bottles of shampoo and at least 2 showers each!

Dutch Mud

2008-08-17T20:46:00.003+02:00

Yesterday was the Land over Zand 4km fun run through the best the Dutch country side has to offer. When I say through, I mean it literally!

Tom, someone I work with on the Toxics campaign, lives in Broek in Waterland, a small town to the North of Amsterdam. Every year the town has something of a feestje, with stalls, drinking, carnival type rides and a fun run. It was for the fun run that about 350 people and I where there. Tom had invited a few of us from work to take part and while 10 of us arrived, only 5 of us ran, Tom, Andrew, Eoin, Alexandra and Myself.

After a short ferry trip and a 45 minute cycle ride (back on my fixie -woohoo!) interrupted only by a stop for a glass of fresh organic milk fresh from the farm I arrived in Broek in Waterland. I was a bit nervous and tried to gain as much information from those who had run last year (Andrew, Eion and Tom). I eventually decided to run without a shirt or shoes (as apparently the shirt can only ever be used for the same event, and having a once a year shirt ain't my thing; and if you start with shoes on, you aren't guaranteed to finish with them on!) and with tissue shoved in my ears. Why all the prep? While the run is only 4kms, it includes jumping over when you can, but more often than not, into the ditches between the fields. These are filled with a mixture of black dutch soil, cow excrement and various other flotsam and jetsam. After the first one everyone was filthy (I was rather proud of my graceful jump, only getting covered in "mud" up to my chest on the front of me, until a fellow runner jumped in behind me and caused a wave of "mud" to cascade all over me). By the end of the race we were unrecognisable. After the 10th ditch, now covered in "mud" from head to toe I had the feeling I was in a horror movie with my breathing heavy in my own ears from the mixture of tissue paper and mud, and my vision impaired by the mud dripping out of my eyebrows.

Some of the less agreeable things:

The smell of ditch 7 and 12 (okay they were all pretty terrible, but these two were horrific)
The hard pebbly bits in ditches 14 and 16 (I would like to believe this was bits of wood and flotting rocks, but I would imagine it was more from the lack of roughage in some of the cows diets... in any case, I now know what my teeth feel like when I brush with the toothpaste with the beads in - ditch 14 and 16, now with active.....)
getting a couple of cuts in my feet and trying but not really succeeding to convince myself that my immune system would be strong enough to ward of the 101 things in the water that could probably cause infection that would make gangrene look like a scratch.
The fact that if you arrived at a ditch with no one in it it was bubbling.

Besides these however, the whole run (well, walk in our case) was great, with a dousing by the local fire dept. and their high pressure hoses afterwards - which got the worst off, however I think I will be surprised by what goes down the drain when I take a shower tonight, even though it is my 4th in 2 days!

Beers and a bit of bumper cars sorted most of the bad memories, and was an end to an excellent visit to Broek in Waterland, and some of the best laughs of the week.

I finished off the day at "Pluk de Nacht", an outdoor film festival. The main show (Flight of the Choncords) was definitely upstaged by the short movie that was shown before hand. Guess what? I found it on you tube! I'm nominating it for official movie of my blog, as I think it fits in well with the title. Enjoy:

Today I spent the day sorting out the recycling (which isn't foreplay, but is also very important) and doing washing. Also got a webcam connected to my computer (no worries, I didn't buy it - found in my flat).

Enviro tip: You can find the drivers for most hardware on the internet, normally from the producer, so don't throw away stuff just because it's not talking to your computer.

More info? skype me and I'll show you :-)

To GE or not to GE

2008-08-15T20:23:00.002+02:00

A good question: if GE had no corporate contral, no bad environmental impacts and real benefits, more than exisiting and conventional methods, would it be a bad thing?

This sounds like a really loaded question but I ask it in all sincerity, should we persue a technology that is currently not performing at all in the hopes that at some time it may deliver un-thought of benefits.

I think it is in this last sentance lies the rub - GE is a solution looking for a problem, and at the moment it's doing a terrible job of it.

The march of Asia

2008-07-14T15:28:00.001+02:00

Upon booking a hotel in Accra for a woman with the first name Kim, I received an e-mail asking when exactly Mr Kim would be arriving.

Could be my eurocentic viewpoint, but could also be that many Asian business men have been visiting Africa lately...

The conspiracy theories march on...

Hope for anti-war!!!

2008-06-14T12:37:00.000+02:00

The Raytheon 9 are nine people who walked into the Raytheon ("light from the gods") headquarters, and threw computer servers and files out of the window, disrupting Raytheon's business.

Raytheon is a company that produces missiles and other weapons that are used around the world, but particularly in the middle east.

On Wednesday all 9 were acquitted for their actions by a jury of their peers.

There is hope.

More on http://www.raytheon9.org/

So many things to write about, so little time!

2008-04-07T16:41:00.002+02:00

Really the story of my life right now, but there are a million things I want to write about at the moment, but I may have to settle for posting little soundbites here and there. I am in Johannesburg for the IAASTD (International Assessment of Agriculture, Science and Technology for Development). At the moment I am busy working on the Greenpeace Toxics campaign's monthly and I stumbled over this:

Philips have opened a recycling plant for lightbulbs in Lesotho. Cunning huh? btw, Greenpeace was mentioned at least 4 times in their AGM - nice!

more to come...

Side-effects of terrorism

2008-02-15T14:26:00.000+01:00

Do terrorists targeting airplanes and airports help combat climate change?

While governments and the airline industry seem to pay only lip service to combating climate change, every time there is a terrorist attack, attempted attack or even just a threat airports are shut down and AIRPLANES DO NOT FLY. The security checks that slow flying and make other more climate friendly options of transport more attractive, are largely due to the threat of terrorism.

Sounds like an inconvenient truth...

Oi Oi!

2008-02-13T09:42:00.001+01:00

Just a quick one on a very misty Amsterdam morning to say WELL DONE MR RUDD!! 'Bout bloody time. Great news for a Wednesday morning!

ipodism

2008-01-27T11:40:00.000+01:00

I like the whole idea of being able to take music wherever I go, but I think there is a dark side of ipods. In essence it is just another attempt by the people trying to sell us things to compartmentalise our lives and ourselves. If we have no connections to other people we are more insecure and look for things to fill those insecurities and things that fill our time.

In South Africa this captive market has been very easy to create due to our lack of public transport (at least what all the rich people see as a lack of public transport). We leave home and travel in a small metalic bubble to wherever we are going, and then quickly hurry into the office or shops trying to avoid eye contact with car guards and beggars on our way. The ipod is essentially just the car stereo for people without cars. In Europe where a lot of people (and rich people - at least rich enough to consume) travel by public transport, there was a chance almost daily to interact with other people. With everybody listening to ipods this is difficult. I feel as if I am intruding if I need to ask someone listening to and ipod for directions, and striking up a random conversation is impossible. I think this is why continental Europeans (and all of us really) like to complain. Complaining is a great way to strike up a conversation, particularly with someone you don't know. But that is another story.

ipods enable us to ignore those around us and pretend we didn't hear whatever it is that might make us vaguely uncomfortable. I recently lost my ipod (which wasn't actually an ipod, but in the hopes of diluting Mr. Jobs brand, I will refer to as an ipod). I don't think I'm going to replace it, and see if I have any opportunities to talk to people that I wouldn't normally.

We need to unplug more from all the noise we create in our lives. Hopefully we will be able to hear each other more and create connections that create meaningful lives. Who knows, we might even hear nature in the mix.

This is very badly put together, but I think it is very important. I'll try and think about it a bit and get something more succinct out.

Thanks to Nathalie for making me realise I wasn't completely crazy.

Good riddance.

2008-01-23T08:00:00.000+01:00

The Dakar Rally was cancelled in 2008 by the race directors, citing political unrest and terrorist threats against the race. Good riddance I say.

In a world that is facing the threat of climate change, I can hardly see the sense in racing a truck through the desert. Well, not just trucks but cars, quads and motorcycles too. In a world of gps, airplanes and instant communication, do we really need to still prove that we can drive over the last little bits of wilderness left in the world in rather outmoded forms of transport? In the TV advert, showing various vehicles doing the best to destroy the desert and other competitors, the last shot is of someone saying sarcastically "oh yeah, lets do the Dakar". I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the entries start like that, late night down the pub - admittedly at a rather high end pub - this is not the sport of the masses. In a rush to create heroes, I'm sure the competitors (which from the organisers website, it looks like are all male) would complain about the gruelling steering wheel turning and gear changing, and the advertisers would flock to this camel man adventure.

There must be a better way to compete. Not only to show off physical and mental ability of the competitors, but maybe to do something for the planet (hell, even for other people!). This isn't a call for more of the bleeding heart side show, yes I know they donate to SOS Sahel. Stop here for a moment, go to the organisations website, see the 14 white staff (out of a staff of... 15) and get into a discussion about European solutions for Africa. I am not talking about donating a percentage of the takings to a (very worthy, I'm sure) cause. I mean make it the central part of the competition.

Competition seems to have done so well at ripping apart the fabric of our planet, her ecosystems and our societies. In the end of the day though, competition is not inherently bad or good. Nor are we, and just as we can fail to set any positive goal for competition we can consciously decide to make competition a catalyst for change. With all the creativity we have, is there no one who could create a reality TV show for good, that would still manage to sell prime time TV commercials?

I'm sure there is, but in the mean time, I'm just overjoyed that all those litres of fuel aren't going to be burnt this year, getting people somewhere they don't really need to be and probably wouldn't want to be after the champagne stopped flowing. Now, who's got some good ideas for stopping F1?

Thanks to my dad for reminding me I have a blog...

Amsterdam

2007-12-02T04:29:00.000+01:00

Got the internet sorted - yay! It's not wireless because trying to get that sorted out was toooo much! So now for a bit about getting to Amsterdam and my first weeks here...

I left after a night of late night packing in Berlin. Torsten (my flat mate) helped me to the Station, which was really good because I would never have made it. I left with my big rucksack, small rucksack and bike with bike trailer. More stuff than I would've liked to have, but anyway. Torsten got a picture of it all (und Torsten ich wurde gerne die bilder noch haben!) so I'll post that when I get it. I eventually got on the right train, after chasing my rucksack around the hauptbahnhof (it got left in a lift - I was too slow at unloading), with all my stuff and the trip to A'dam was pretty uneventful. Once in Amsterdam I moved into my room and met my new flatmate (engineer on oil refineries, deer hunter, southerner...). My room is much smaller than my room in Berlin (and more expensive) but should do for now!

On the following Monday (the 19th) I started work. For the 1st day I was shown around and didn't do much work as my computer wasn't set up, but got to meet loads of people who's names I subsequently forgot. I work in a building with about 120 other Greenpeacers. Our offices are in a three story building on the outskirts of Amsterdam. We have the whole top floor (where I am) and half the second floor. We also have archives, a bike cellar and a cafeteria in the basement. The people at work are cool, as one would expect working at Greenpeace. Our campaigns (Toxics and GE) are both being scaled down next year as GP is focusing more and more on Climate Change, so for now there are 2 campaign assistants (myself and Hanna, who was CA before me), but come 2008 it'll just be me. I've also been asked to work 5 days a week instead of 4, an idea I'm warming to.

So now that the job has started I'm just slowly starting to get used to everything here. I've bought a new bike as I was advised not to use my mountain bike as it would probably get stolen. It's a classic Amsterdam bike - a gazelle. Apart from going to a Cat Empire concert last Thursday, I haven't been doing much social, but looks like things will be starting up from next weekend. Also going to go check out some ultimate frisbee on Mondays...

Less internet, less blogging...

2007-11-27T08:34:00.000+01:00

As most of you know I still don't have internet access on my laptop, so I'm afraid the blogging is going to take a bit of a knock. Suffice to say that I am LOVING my new job, and amsterdam looks like it's going to be a great city! I've put a link to my map on the right...

Life is so much better than good!

2007-11-11T11:23:00.000+01:00

It's been a while and from now on I have no apologies for not sitting in front of a computer and blogging, life is happening!

I've just got back to Berlin's first snowfall from Prenzlau. Prenzlau is a small town (about 20 000 peeps and probably loads of cool animals, some rather aggressive...) near the Polish border, my digsmate (flatmate for our american friends) Torsten comes from Prenzlau and he took me back there for a day and night yesterday. It was awesome. On the car drive there I spoke a lot with his folks about life in the DDR times (Torsten took the train to take his bike). When we got there we went to visit Torsten's grandparents who were celebrating their 51st wedding anniversary. We helped Torsten's grandpa load some large strawbales onto a trailer and played a bit with Barny, the (very beautiful) dog. I WANT A DOG! I also played with a very aggressive Kaninchen (rabbit) and got properly scratched. Also saw the buck rabbit - frikkin huge! We ate kartoffel puffer mmmh. Then we went to visit some other relatives who were renovating an absolutely traumhaft (from a dream) old manor house. The Germans use of coloured glass bricks needs to be addressed though, but otherwise beautiful with strawberry fields and horses. We had a celebratory supper at a beer garden for Torsten's grandparents. It was great, but they did have horse on the menu, which seemed kinda strange to me, but I guess sometimes when I have these moments of clarity, having any animal on the menu seems totally barbaric, even if some of them scratch... My german is pretty much fluent now although my grammar leaves much to be desired. It was great to be able to participate in conversation and understand everything that was being said.

It's funny to hear some German people complaining about how unsightly wind turbines are, but in the same sentence how beautiful the scenery is (which is all fields for agriculture). I think both are a necessary evil if we want to live the high-tech power hungry lives we do and try and feed everybody (or produce sweetened highly processed food - most of the fields were for sugar beet which is made into sugar). We've gotten used to the fields which are essentially biodiversity deserts because they are essential for our way of life, I wonder if my children will have gotten used to wind turbines in the same way? I think it would be great if we could live a bit more in step with gaia. I guess if we don't she'll reject us anyway...

So I'm about to leave for work which will be the start of my last week in Berlin. It has been an amazing time. Berlin is now securely my second favourite city, edging out Istanbul. CT first of course. I'm really going to miss a lot about my time here, and probably most of all the amazing variety of people I've met and friends I've made. I'm sure I'll stay in touch with many of them (facebook has to have some use!) and can't wait to introduce some of them to Cape Town and South Africa.

I'm looking forward to Amsterdam, and getting going at Greenpeace, I think it's going to be a really good feeling to be putting my energy into something I really believe in! And of course there will be new friends to be made there, as well as deer hunting flatmates to deal with!

Life is beautiful!

Oslo-a-go-go

2007-10-05T10:36:00.000+02:00

Back from Oslo, and it was an awesome time! Here's kind of how it went:

Thursday - got on the bus at 21:00 and left berlin. A couple of ferry rides, a stop in Kopenhagen and a 19 hour journey later I arrived in Oslo at 16:20 on friday.

Friday - got off the bus and as per em's sms went to find the tourist info. Found out about Cabins in the area and was boffed by Em. Happy meeting! Then followed her outside to find Al "hovering" in the rental car. Finally got to off-load my backpack (holding 17 bottles of beer to escape murderous Norwegian alcohol prices) and we set off in search of our cabin about 30min outside Oslo. On the way we stopped off at a supermarket to get some supplies, and the first bought of (much) hilarity started when we had to ask the 7/11 man where a proper supermarket was (after getting lost in the industrial area). We got the supplies after much discussions over the type of bread that was right for us and very little discussion over a small fillet of reindeer that would have cost R490. We proceeded on to the site of our cabins, found it and picked a good one and then went to the Hotel to pick up the key, where we found we could also use the hotels facilities including pool - nice.

We made our way over to the cabin, unloaded and had a couple of beers. Em gave me the marmite and a couple of other presents from people back home. We then cooked supper and ate. After that we got an early night.

Saturday - We got up late to find ourselves in an awesome area with mountains behind us and fjords in front. Norway is a beautiful country (and had some similarities to South Africa I thought). We went for a walk up the mountain (hill maybe) behind us to kings view and where warned about the slipperyness, which I laughed at, only to find out all about on our way down. We got to the top in the rain, walking through forests with moss on the ground . spectacular. The view wasn't the best with the rain, but Al "the scot" Simpson, Glen "the German" Tyler, and Emily "the Saffer" Tyler made the most of it. We walked/slid down again to the hotel where we took full advantage of the swimming pool, jaccuzi and sauna as well as the beers on call (as one does). After warming up and drying off, we bought some more supplies at the Joker and headed back to the cabin for an afternoon of beer drinking, reading and hearts playing. Supper was a stir fry of sorts followed by hot chocolate and bed.

Sunday - we got up and had a nice cooked breakfast with a killer omlete and then packed up the cabin and cleaned it. After dropping off the keys we headed off to Oslo to our (well Em's with me and Al freebootin') Hotel. Very fancy and a breakfast buffet to get stuffed for. We settled in (checked out the facilities, planned the next day's sightseeing, drunk beer and made sure we knew where all the important tv channels were. We finished off the sandwiches and snacks from the weekend, watched hitch and then went to bed.

Monday - We got up at 7 and proceeded to the buffet that would be the scene of some of the biggest breakfasts eaten over the next couple of days. Rolling out an hour later we made our way to our car and headed off to town, picking up a Taiwanese woman on the way who joined us for the first part of the day. We got to the Statue Park early which was amazing with lots of larger than life statues (unfortunately none with a toe as big as emily's head) which we proceeded to impersonate, looking as much like tourists as we could, and probably having something to do with our Taiwanese guests running like mad from us as soon as we had got her to town on the pretence of finding lunch. After the park we checked out two museums, a Norwegian Volksmuseum, with some great houses and things that the locals used to live in, as well as some very poor reasons for why the alcohol is so expensive. We also took in a Stave Church, which was very impressive, or at least it was before Emily tried to break the door down to get inside. The next Museum was a viking museum with three viking boats. Very good as there was not too much to take in and all was explained quite well (unlike the last museum). We then took the car back and went off to explore the town centre. However we didn't get very far before Em realised she had left her wallet in the car, something that would become a recuring theme with em and al for the next couple of days. Our first stop was a Mövenpick ice cream shop where we ate rather large, delicious soft serves, and saw the brute force of the Norwegian police (they hunt in pairs, one native one immigrant) and a very suspicious looking woman in an orange top abducting innocent women from the pavement. With our tourist mode being rather played out (well mine at least) and me professing that I prefer to get lost and then find my way back we proceeded to wander around Oslo looking for a castle, which we found, speculated about the guards and lazed in the sun on top of the wall. To our credit, we did try and go into a museum about the Norwegian resistance to the Nazi's, but it was closed. After the castle we walked through town to a Scottish pub for a pint and did some fantastic people watching. We then walked to our restuarant of choice for a slap up meal as it was the last evening before Em started her conference. After baulking at the prices (something that took place before buying anything in Norway, regardless of how long we were there) we thankfully didn't decide just to get a pizza (we were all quite tired) but stayed and ate supper there, drinking a fantastic French white wine, eating superb food and being waited on by one of the best waiters I have ever been waited on by. After supper we made our way back to the hotel via train for a little while.

Tuesday - Emily's conference started, so she was up early. Al and I took a more leisurely pace, and made it to breakfast at 9:15. I put in my most impressive performance on the buffet table, managing 5 courses - Ian would have been proud. After breakfast Al and I headed up the Olympic ski jump for a really good panoramic view of oslo, as well as a look at the ski museum. We then took a ride on a ski simulator, which I think is obligatory for tourists. After managing to hold on to our breakfasts we went for a walk in the woods which was really great. Once we got to a good vantage point we stopped (still in the sun - the weather was amazing) and cracked a couple of beers. After the beers we walked back and started what was a very long and perilous decision making process for supper. We decided pizza was out as two medium pizzas and the short train journey to get there would have cost in the region of R400. We checked out a restaurant near the hotel, before going back to the hotel. We went to the fancy hotel restaurant and asked to see the menu, seeing the price of a main being about R290 Al asked if they had reindeer. When they said no, I told Al that the other hotel restaurant did, complete a cunning get away without looking cheap. Little did we know we wouldn't be laughing too long! We got to the other restaurant which was in the same place as the breakfast buffet. Judging by the breakfast quality, we didn't think we could go too wrong. Oh how wrong we were. Not thinking it suspicious that we were the only people in the restaurant (maybe the rest are just eating later...) we ordered a beer and the first of a series of terrible mistakes. The meals all came on very small plates and were literally what the said. If you ordered a reindeer patty, you literally got one reindeer patty in gravy with no veg. The service wasn't much better, with the waitress brining Al something wrapped in tinfoil and saying "I hope it's fish". Somehow we ploughed through four of these entrées each before realising that things just weren't going to get better. The food made airplane food look like haute cuisine. It was ugly. Anyway, we had another drink with Em who was back from her conference dinner and then retired to our room, vowing that we would be back to visit our retribution on the breakfast buffet.

Wednesday - Our day of leaving, and I said my goodbyes to Em as she left for her conference. Al and I went to breakfast, came back and packed. Em popped in again for a final goodbye and then Al walked me to the station to catch a train to the bus station. I spent my last kroner on padkos for the bus and then boarded for a trip through the stunning Norwegian country side and the 16hr (minus the 3hr wait in Copenhagen) trip to Berlin.

It was an amazing holiday, with things seeming to all go right for us. The best part of it for me was getting to spend time with Em and Al. Lots of good laughs.

I'm now back in Berlin and have my first shift in a couple of hours.

On bicycle bells and winning the world cup

2007-09-15T07:35:00.000+02:00

If we are serious about winning the world cup, and it appears so, I have a fool proof plan. Replace our 2nd centre (sorry, don't know who this is) with a middle aged german woman with a small dog, and give percy a bicycle bell to ring.

I promise the resulting sidestep will be deadly...

Bananas

2007-09-15T07:33:00.000+02:00

In a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), on March 14 Chiquita Brands International agreed to pay a $25 million fine after admitting it paid terrorists for protection in a dangerous region of Colombia. The payments, made between 1997 and 2004, continued despite the company's knowledge that they were illegal. The company was allowed to continue profitable production during the investigation. The U.S. government's action is inconsistent with standards and procedure used against charities, which have had their assets seized and frozen while investigations are pending. Six U.S. charities have been shut down on the basis of much less evidence than the direct payments to which Chiquita admitted. The Chiquita fine is unlikely to affect its operations, as the company has annual revenues of approximately $4.5 billion.

Isn't the world banana's?

Pics

2007-08-31T09:39:00.000+02:00

Oh, and while I fell behind on the blogging, I carried on taking pictures, most of which are up on my photo site (see link on the right), so take a look if you get a chance.