Couple of other thoughts...

Couple of other things on my mind this evening, first of all, Earth Hour, yesterday, which I totally forgot about (doh!) though probably most of our lights were off anyway. I read some stuff afterwards that suggested that turning everyone's lights off for an hour and then on again, would cause a surge that meant that our generally inefficient generating system (at least in the UK) would actually burn more fuel to cope with the swing, than would otherwise have been burnt. But of course, one way or another, if it highlights to people the impact they can make for good or bad, then that's surely no bad thing.

The other thing is that an environmental group is planning to demonstrate outside work tomorrow. No idea why other than possibly that we (the company) invests its money in lots of carbon-creating businesses. We shall see at approx 08.00 tomorrow!

First Day of Summer

In a recent Nat Geographic (well, recently read) there was an excellent article about the permafrost and the tundra. The writer wrote about how the people who lived there were, and had to be, intimately connected with the landscape as they relied on it, intimately, for survival. He advocated that sense of belonging, of being a part of the landscape, as something that is missing from our modern, transitory lives.

Living Simply

Yesterday was Pancake Day and I'd kinda forgotten, given that it was one of those days when you're first in the office and last out. So, having missed out on the pancakes, I was reminded by G that of course you're meant to give something up for Lent.

But it reminded me of the thing with diets is that by focussing on what you're meant to be giving up, you're missing the point that suddenly not eating that mars bar with your eleven am coffee is more likely to make you give up sooner or later as you're just taking the pleasure out of your life.

So rather than giving something up for Lent, I've been inspired by the Live Simply idea, originally found on the Live Simply website, but the concepts isn't restricted to one faith. In fact, if you strip out the whole question of faith, it's still fundamentally about justice and fairnes in our dealings with others.

Which is a lot more positive than just giving up chocolate for a few weeks.

Timing is Everything

On Sunday, we went out and bought low energy lightbulbs, enough to replace all the existing standard bulbs that came with our new house. All good stuff.

Next day, what did I see? This news item on the BBC News site warning of the dangers of low energy light bulbs! It would be great if we could have one answer so that we knew what we did was really going to make a difference, not just shift the problem from one place to another.

In the meantime, I'll keep the low energy bulbs. If nothing else, I should wind up with lower electricity bills.

Pressies

Amazing! According to the Motley Fool (www.fool.co.uk), the average Briton received £90 worth of unwanted Christmas presents this Christmas. This is on top of a figure I heard last year (can't remember where from now) that said the average family in Britain spends £2100 on Christmas, and that by Christmas 2007, most people were still paying off their credit card bills from the previous Christmas. That's a whole lot of pressies.

So, if you did receive £90 worth of unwanted presents, most charity shops would probably be glad of them, especially if they're still in their boxes. Our nearest will be getting a haul fairly shortly.

And Sainsbury's (and no doubt the other major supermarkets) are doing their annual recycling of Christmas cards, with proceeds going to The Woodland Trust. Well done Sainsburys.

Cards for Charity

My annual rant - most so-called "charity cards" give virtually nothing to the charities they're meant to be helping, especially the ones from supermarkets. If you're going to give charity cards, go to Cards for Good Causes where 80p in every pound goes to the charity in question.

Go on, you know you want to.

You Tube...

Maybe I’m a late developer but I’ve only really just discovered You Tube. After a pleasant hour last night of searching out old Beatles videos, I came across some clips from the wonderful film Baraka. Baraka as a film is difficult to categorise: a feature length meditation on the beauty and tragedy of the world set to music. It’s uplifting and thought-provoking in equal measure – the photography is breathtaking and the music haunting.

The clip on You Tube is from the band Dead Can Dance and is a central set piece in the film. I first saw it on MTV back in 1994 and went straight out and bought the video.

The piece is called The Host of the Seraphim, and I challenge anyone to watch the video and not be moved.