Just to prove that I am blogging from the real Scotland, and not like Neil Armstrong from a Hollywood studio (OK, I know men went to the moon), a couple of Very Scottish Photos. One of an abandoned, ruined but thoroughly Wromantic 18th century barracks built by the English in their initially vain (and perhaps … Read more …
The photo doesn’t show it very clearly, but with the journey resumed by train from Edinburgh to the Highlands, across the Forth Bridge (see pillars in the background), I’m moved to wonder whether we as humans really deserve to survive. My tendon is behaving itself after all, to my surprise, but this morning in Edinburgh, … Read more …
It’s so good – and knackering – to be on the road and the bike again. From Hexham in the far English North across a sunlit Hadrian’s Wall and to Kielder Water some 40 miles into a determined headwind Sun in the morning casting a bulky shadow of self, heavily-loaded panniers and Raven (readers of … Read more …
I’ve just chanced on a brilliant, and indeed inspiring cartoon by Leo Murray about the tipping point and why this time in human history matters so terribly much. It’s the best and most accessible exposition by far that I’ve seen on the science and implications of what’s happening with the climate, and what it means … Read more …
First the good news. We now have a solar water heater installed, as of this week – and it’s brilliant. I’m sure that it took vastly more CO2 to construct and install than it will ever save. But when things get bad, and gas goes off, at least we’ll have hot water. As long, that … Read more …
A couple of short thoughts before I get on my bike on Saturday and start pedalling (with a bit of interim help from CrossCountry Trains) from Hexham to Inverness, for a week at the Findhorn Foundation contemplating the current spring awakening. (I may well blog along the way – keeps the mind safely occupied over … Read more …
(Reposting this with proper formatting and also correcting a fairly major Freudian slip, which suggested that flying and driving might be a meaningful contribution to combatting climate change…. A reminder that it’s best not to post things very late at night and in a hurry.) In an earlier post, this blog tackled the challenge of whether … Read more …
Just back from seeingThe Age of Stupid,a new UK-produced film looking back from an imagined hot world in 2055 from on mankind’s failure to take the steps that would have saved our homo sapiens from catastrophe. I guess I’d hoped for a repeat and equally inspirational experience of Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth – a film … Read more …
Humankind with our current level of political and economic courage is like that addict, believing that we can keep using/abusing and somehow change at the same time. We can’t, and only very tough love will wake us up. The difference with the therapy analogy here being that it isn’t just the client who’s killing him/herself. … Read more …
A couple of thoughts from Eeyore’s gloomy corner of the Gaian wood about guilt and shame and travelling by car or plane to an ecotherapy retreat weekend in July. As any readers of this blog know, the position I’ve found as a relative newcomer to these discussions is one of sad certainty that the Game … Read more …