Tag: sustainable living

Too little too late for GM?

1st April 2006


Image source: BBC news

A couple of my bloggerbuddies have recently taken up the cause of pictorially documenting the irresponsible behaviour of Singapore drivers. It is fortunate I don’t drive here as I think they would have a field day following me around the place. Driving one-handed and blocking the thoroughfare are minor offences, however, compared to amount of carbon monoxide churned out each day by ‘careful’ drivers. The amazing thing is that fuel cell technology has been around for years and, with a few exceptions, it is only now that car manufacturers are starting to wean themselves off fossil fuels. For GM it could be their last roll of the dice.

The case for city dwelling

28th January 2005

IMG_0622.jpg
The view from my home office window

Having been a resident of the concrete jungle of Singapore for the last 18 months, I sometimes long for the wide open spaces of my Kobble Creek five acre block … the fresh air, the striking contrast of the bright blue of the cloudless sky against the many greens of the eucalypt trees, the beautiful birdlife and the peace and quiet. What I don’t miss is the 1000km per week in the car commuting to and from work and to kids’ music and sports events. I don’t own a car anymore. I get taxis and take the bus or the train because everything is so close by, and the services are cheap and efficient. Paradoxically, therefore, my ecological footprint, although still unconscionably high, is a lot lower than it was when I lived in Queensland. A recent article in the New Yorker (republished this week in the Australian Financial Review), entitled ‘Green Manhattan’ tells a similar story (see below if the link doesn’t work).

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The Preventable Cancer Epidemic

13th March 2004

One of my fellow ecol-econ list members tipped me off about a report, recently released by The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, entitled The Cancer Epidemic as a Social Event. The increasingly large percentages of Canadian men and women contracting cancer is quite staggering, and while the medical profession attributes the cancer epidemic to genetic and lifestyle factors, the authors of the report maintain that carcinogens in our air, water, food, and workplaces are the significant causes of cancer. The full report is well worth reading. At the end of it one is left wondering what is going on those parts of the world where regulatory regimes are lax or non-existent. A media release on the report is reproduced below:

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Would you like wholemeal crackers with your wheat grass?

4th February 2004

I’m going back a few years now, but I remember my brother, Dave, in between jobs one time, took up a position as assistant manager at McDonalds in South Yorkshire somewhere (Sheffield, I think). It was a bit of an eye-opener for him, and he struggled coming to terms with certain aspects of the corporate culture, not least of these being the reference to ‘fries’ rather than ‘chips’. Having to say this went against the grain somewhat, but this wasn’t the only problem. Saying the word ‘fries’ in a Brummie accent comes out as ‘froys’. This presented communication problems with some of his Sheffield customers and, on one occasion, he had to resort to saying the ‘chips’ word under his breath. These days, of course, US linguistic imperialism is such that saying fries is ‘cool’ and it is generally understood in any accent. However, an article published in the New York Post recently, Arch enemy, suggests that the good old American fry (and its various complements) may have seen its day.

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The advantages of a beard

27th October 2003

I’ve grown a beard once or twice, largely for the purpose of making a fashion statement and, to be honest, they’ve never been particularly successful. I also feel more comfortable clean-shaven. As a result, like many others, from time-to-time, I stand bemused at the razor blade section at my local supermarket trying to remember (a) which particular brand of razor I use, and (b) which type of blade fits my razor.

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The US power failure

18th August 2003

A piece in the Financial Times today sheds a little more light (pun intended) on the reasons for the big power failure in North America last week. These include low investment in an ageing grid, too much deregulation, coordination problems between states, and last, but by no means least, rising demand.

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