Coffee with Jack [3]

Jack will soon be moving into an apartment which has facilities close by for when he is less able to look after himself. We are still having coffee together every fortnight. It will be easier when he moves; there is a cafe in the building and he will not need to drive. Everyone will breathe easy...

Returning after a long absence

Possibly just to clean up the loose ends, leave it in a state that does not embarrass me, and not add much more.

I have had other things taking up my attention for the past 7 months. I have not felt the number of visitors to this blog justifies all the time I have put into it. I had hoped it might inspire a few people. Almost no one leaves comments under my posts - so why bother?

Of course, they say that everything on the internet remains accessible if you really want to find it. So I will at least say how a few things have ended or continue on.

I have continued to feel unresolved about privacy issues on the internet. I am not sure that I want anyone to be able to link together a great deal of information about me. Even though I think I should have nothing to hide. The future is always uncertain.

Merchants of Doubt

I am now the proud owner of this book. I will probably make it a JOAD book.

It explains how a small group of scientists have been undermining the scientific consensus on Climate Change and other earlier issues of concern such as tobacco and cancer, and the hole in the ozone layer.


The Author also published this title:

Decluttering [3]

My round coffee table has been lent to a friend. The old iMac computer is now part of the sound system. The second bedroom is no longer a junk room but still has junk in it.

A local Association [4]

The association was formed and incorporated a few days ago with seven members. We are meeting for the first time in about six hours from now. I am the Chairman (President)

I feel tired again after putting out a lot of energy and not sleeping as much as I need to. I just wrote the meeting agenda from an outline from the Secretary of the Association.

All the other members are new friends, whom I made from running the campaign that I tagged 'nimby' in this blog.

The building that we opposed being turned into a nightclub has been sold to the same interests that we believe were behind the push for a nightclub. So we are not done yet!

Carl Jung speaks...

"The facts of nature cannot in the long run be violated. 


Penetrating and seeping through everything like water, they will undermine any system that fails to take account of them, and sooner or later they will bring about its downfall. 


But an authority wise enough in its statesmanship to give sufficient free play to nature - of which spirit is a part - need fear no premature decline."


(Carl Jung (Collected Works 16:227)


Sent by one of my blog readers - Thanks 'Anon' 

A Local Association [3]

I am tired again because of my many interests. I have met someone whom I would like on the committee of the new association. She has a family and thinks she cannot spare the time but is thinking about it.

I could probably form an association next week but I am trying to approach it slowly after last time. I now have five certain members, of which three are willing to be office bearers. I am turning my thoughts to a website. There are quite a few options and I will seek the advice of knowledgeable friends.

I am already showing the symptoms of burnout again...

Decluttering[2]

Mission impossible: getting rid of the junk at my place. I refuse to take perfectly usable things to the rubbish dump.

I have done a little more since April 1st! Now I am having a 'senior moment' trying to remember what it was.


Oh yes! I lent three pieces of furniture to a friend who has just set up an apartment larger than mine. I also lent him my vacuum cleaner, long term, leaving me without one, which my bachelor friend Len thinks was a stroke of genius.
(One of my fridge magnets says, "Housework never killed anyone, but why take the risk?", so it must be true)

My friend Patience is a keen reader and will take any books I don't want, read the ones she likes and give the rest to charity.

Len will take my tarpaulin and give it to his son.

Because Helen bought my swag and gave me a good price, I plant to give her an inflatable double mattress, if she wants it.

Why am I telling you all this?

1. I discovered my April 1st post on decluttering was popular
2. To help fellow hoarders

I am negotiating the loan of my coffee table to a friend with a larger apartment. I can enjoy it when I visit. 

I am putting my obsolete iMac computer on top of the stereo stand, because it has good speakers and is now an alternative source of music in my apartment. 

I am still holding onto my obsolete laptop. Where do you take them for responsible recycling? In this case keeping it was fortunate. I need to get some data from a friend and it can only be done using (obsolete) floppy disks, because she has an (obsolete) computer too. After that it will go (but what if I need to do that again one day; this is the hoarder's nightmare)

To people with large dwellings I plead: ask your friends if you can make their lives easier by storing their junk for them. 

The Mission Statement:

1. I will not have room that turns into "the junk room" no matter how I rearrange the place. 
2. I will be able to walk around with  ease, rather than around obstacles. 
3. I will know when I have succeeded when I feel a warm glow

The conceptual breakthrough:

You can give the stuff away...

A Local Association [2]

By law one must have seven people, three of which are office bearers, to set up an incorporated association is this jurisdiction. I now have 3 confirmed and 3 maybes. I am trying to get a balance of age groups (going well) and a balance of gender (not going so well, need more men).

Having failed at the last hurdle, in July 2010, to get an association up and running, through my own fault, I am taking a slower and more careful approach this time. "More haste less speed". I felt pressured because someone had tipped off the local newspaper and I had said we were forming an association imminently.

I had no desire to involve the media and was completely inexperienced in dealing with them. So I was anxious, exhausted, becoming sick, and losing the wider perspective after a long, mostly solo, effort on the nightclub issue. Well, I have learnt some lessons...

Milestone [1]

This is my 200th post to this blog!

I have gone through the first flush of interest and excitement that blogging can even be done so easily in this new world of the internet.

Then I lost interest. Mainly because of personal difficulties. But also because I wondered how many people other than two close friends were actually reading it! If you are reading this, please consider emailing me on GreenMaven1@gmail.com and let me know which country you are from, and what you are getting from reading a blog like this.

I went through a frantic time when the (Nimby tag) night club issue took over my life and this blog.

Now I want to get back to the fundamental purpose of the blog: to try to prevent catastrophic climate change. Doing my little bit as one citizen of one country to tackle a global issue, by helping to inform and encourage other individuals wherever they live.

I may not blog every day. Quality is better than quantity. I was hoping that a daily blog would increase the number of visitors to the site. But usually any spike in readership comes from a topical and useful post.

Wikipedia [1]

I have been reconsidering how I can become effective as a Climate Change Activist. At the 'Personal' level I feel I have done all I can at present. Working at the 'Community' level has been difficult of late. 

I have been very preoccupied with Wikipedia since the beginning of November. I have begun being a Wikipedia editor or a 'Wikipedian'. I have realised this might be a way to work at the 'National' and 'International' levels (under the framework I have suggested in this blog; the 'Five Levels').

There is a lot to learn about editing the Wikipedia, and I have begun my work on some non-environmental topics, until I can see an opportunity contribute knowledge on environmental matters.

I wrote another letter to my local newspaper on an environmental theme, but have not seen it published. I may have missed out this time.

A Local Association [1]

I have returned to my usual positive state of mind and engagement with people and projects. So I decided to see whether we could still get 'a local association' registered and running. I contacted my friend "Y" of "X&Y" mentioned on July 8th, 2010. We are edging towards reconciliation but he does not want to be part of the association at present. He plans to live abroad for at least one year, starting next April.

I have a large list of former supporters in the struggle which ended recently (see October 28, 2010) and I spent some money and a lot of time on this project. So I would like to see it continue in some form. Wish me luck!

Merchants of doubt, the initiators of climate scepticism

Where does the campaign against Climate Science have its beginning?

Three leading critics of Climate Change Science, all founders of the George C Marshal Institute, were eminent scientists in the fields of physics, rocket science and weapons systems, but not in fields related to climate science or its biophysical consequences. 

Their institute, before attacking climate science, also attacked the scientific findings around tobacco, acid rain, and the hole in the ozone layer. 

Why would distinguished scientists 'besmirch the reputations' of fellow scientists, whose work had been verified through the normal peer-review process?

Driven by ideology, rather than money, they were Cold War warriors, who passionately believed that the West had been kept safe by their work. When the Cold War ended, in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall, they made their first attack on Climate Science. 

These three scientists had already worked for the tobacco companies, examining the connection between tobacco and lung cancer. One of them was a former president of the US Academy of Science! Why would such a distinguished scientist challenge the overwhelming evidence linking tobacco and cancer?

They began to see a new enemy - Reds under the Beds - environmentalists with a 'communist or socialist agenda'. Their viewpoint was that "environmental legislation will be a slippery slope to Communism". They had a "repugnance of government regulation". 

Initially, in the 80's, the Institute was not working with the Fossil Fuel Industry, but by the 90's it made common cause with the coal and gas industries. 

The institute has two main strategies (1) to 'sow doubt', and (2) to pressure the media to give them equal time (to be 'fair and balanced'). They want equal time even though their extreme views are not believed by any working scientists or government officials. 

The first of these strategies was invented and perfected by the tobacco industry. 

The US Department of Justice found the tobacco industry "guilty of crimes". 

Source:

An interview between the author of the book, Naomi Oreskes, and Fran Kelly on 'Breakfast' on ABC Radio National, Nov 15, 2010. Naomi Oreskes is a Professor of History and Science Studies at the University of California. 

Her book:

Title: Merchants of Doubt: How a handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from tobacco smoke to global warming
Author: Naomi Oreskes
Publisher: Bloomsbury Press

The interview audio file can be downloaded from here

My thoughts:

Anti-communism has been well drilled into the American population. So what better lever to persuade the American public to oppose any new movement? And the Libertarian Right Wing in America is ready to hop unthinkingly onto the bandwagon, believing anything they are told about climate science. 

Coffee with Jack [2]

I have coffee with Jack once a fortnight. He is 86.
A few things have changed. We did not meet for six weeks, during which he was in hospital and then moved to live with his daughter. His grandson lives in his house now.

Jack has decided not to drive his car any more. His daughter Carol kindly takes him to meet me and takes him home again. He is looking stronger than he has for several months.

It is Spring here and the weather is ideal. We sit out in the sun...

My kind of music - Jussi Bjorling

A superb voice and a musical craftsman.

Listen to him here

O Holy Night   (5:04 minutes YouTube)

Una Furtiva Lagrima   (4:10 minutes YouTube)

Pearl Fishers Duet   (4:40 minutes YouTube)

O soave Fanciulla  with Video
Jussi bjorling & Anna-Lisa Bjorling - a duet 
(3:46 minutes YouTube)

Looking for a path ahead. Moving Forward!

My enthusiasm for Green Causes has been diminished of late. I have become weary of attending small meetings which seem to achieve very little.

Several local groups have been focussing on what can be done at the household level to reduce one's environmental impact. This has little interest for me, now that I have done as much as I think possible at home.

At a National Level, I am very disillusioned by both major parties. The Greens have been doing better in the latest elections, but they still find it hard to exert real influence.

I have to think about where to go from here.

Not as original as I thought

I just discovered this site, which calls itself Green Maven!

How can one be unique in a global village?

Celebrate with me

My latest activity is finding music on YouTube

Treat yourself to a song from Ava Gardner

Not in my backyard! [42]

Here is the outcome of the local struggle I have been leading for several months

VICTORY for the local Citizens

My latest email:


"Dear Supporters

Many of you will have received a letter from [local government authority] by now, telling you that the Applicant for the Change to Lease Purpose Clause at the [....] Shops to permit an 'indoor entertainment facility', that we opposed, has now withdrawn his application (DA ....)!

This email is for those who did not submit an objection, and would therefore not have received the notification from [local government authority].

Many thanks to all recipients of this email for your support, whether moral or material. Your efforts were successful in halting this development application. 

I would rather have seen the application rejected by [local government authority], but I think we can assume that the applicant saw that his application was going to have a hard time getting accepted. It also relieves us of the possibility of having to mount an appeal if the decision had gone the other way. So it's a great outcome!

We cannot be sure that the Applicant will not make a new application at some future time, which we may feel obliged to oppose. So I am asking everyone to continue being vigilant on this Block and Section. 

Please email me if you discover any development which is of concern to you, or on any other matter. "

I am very satisfied at the success of the first campaign I have ever led.

Be empowered - do it!

Back at last

I have not posted an entry for about two months. I was sick for a while with a virus.