Broadband - still being driven mad

I am now onto my third supplier. The second one promised me cable and then said they could not do it on the day I was supposed to be connected.

I have lost confidence in all of them now and will get my old wireless broadband reconnected as a temporary fix. 
I am at the start of a 13 day waiting period to get fast broadband from the third supplier.

Not in my backyard! [11]

I have spoken to two schools and two child minding centres today. They are keen to help. I have added them to my emailing list and sent them some old emails. I am gaining confidence that we can win this one. I will soon have to begin writing my own impact statement because I have promised supporters that I will send it to them to help them write their own submissions.

I have been feeling like Paul Revere as I sped around the suburb on my bicycle! (Read "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell)

I have made an appointment to see one Minister of Religion and am awaiting a call from a school principal.

Not in my backyard! [10]

I am starting my day getting ready to make a list of all the people and groups I need to contact to keep this ball rolling. The rain has eased off and the local storage dams are filling up. I am looking forward to this week.

Cradle to cradle

This book is going on my wanted list.

Better ways to manufacture things...

Not in my backyard! [9]

I have had a busy morning talking to supporters, and to local residents and businessmen. There will definitely be plenty of opposition to the proposal to alter the "lease purpose clause" for the property I have been describing. The general opinion is that the intention is to put in a night club.

Someone who lives closer than me has offered to print more of my flyers and letterbox them for me.

Not in my backyard! [8]

Back home. Handed over correspondence and records from acting as Treasurer for six weeks for a community group.

I was delighted to find that the local businessman, whom I had begun to have doubts about, has come out very publicly in opposition to the proposed "lease purpose change". I have not been able to find him but I know he must be very busy. I have some interesting new information about his business, which I will not pass on until I can confirm it.

I now need to begin composing an "impact statement" of my own, which will be signed by some others, or become the basis for their own statements. It feels great to be involved in a community issue. I have had not a single word of criticism or disagreement, and quite a few offers of support.

Not in my backyard! [7]

Autumn leaves and rain. 

Its too wet for putting out flyers in letterboxes so I will have a quiet morning. It's great that most of them are done. I have some reading to catch up on and I will have my customary morning coffee with the newspaper and a book. 

I did not sleep for long, to my great surprise. I slept for three hours and lay in bed for another three. So I am tired at 8am, but not tired enough to sleep. 

I have my strategy well planned for the coming week. 

Not in my backyard! [6]

I am weary after walking much of the day. A friend and I distributed about 400 flyers to letterboxes. Tomorrow we will do the remaining 100. That brings the total to 800.

The emails are beginning to come in; all are supportive. I have had a few conversations on the street and all were supportive.

Next week I will write my submission and get signatures on it. I will begin by approaching schools and churches to get their support. I feel tired but very satisfied. I will sleep well tonight.

Car sharing in Europe

I have followed up on a comment left by a visitor to this blog. I visited two sites in Europe which facilitate a kind of "pre-booked hitch-hiking" in Britain and Germany

I wonder if anyone is doing this in Australia?

A mixed bag today - not in my backyard [5]

I have some bad news but mostly good news.

The local businessman, who had offered to print leaflets for me, did not live up to his promise. He said he needed to get more paper. I am going to wait to see whether he delivers. I must confess I now doubt his real intentions. A friend, who had offered to help me distribute them had to go home again.

My earlier post: "Car sharing is about to happen" received an encouraging comment and a website address, which I will follow up. A friend saw the comment before I did, and offered me a similar car-sharing website in Europe. 

I lost about $100 in a busy cafe. I went back after about 30 minutes not expecting to recover it, and it was on the floor under my chair. I said to the two ladies at the next table, "Thanks for looking after my money!" They laughed and said they had not even seen it. I feel blessed and encouraged. 

I met someone, with whom I have never had much contact, and she gave me $50 to help me out with my campaign. So I will print more leaflets anyway.

I visited an old man of 86 in his home,who offered to help me oppose the 'lease purpose change' in my local shopping centre. "Show me where to sign!"

A child care centre manager offered to help me, when I walked in. I have had several emails supporting me. An amazing day really...

Not in my backyard! [4]

I distributed nearly 300 flyers to residents close to the O'C shops today, with the help of two friends. 

I am delighted to inform you that a local business has offered to print more flyers for me at no cost. Another friend and I will distribute them tomorrow.

I am opposing the lease purpose change because I do not want either a gambling venue or a nightclub in this location, which I believe are the two most likely possibilities. 

We have two weeks in which to make submissions on this application. I continue to research what means may be available to prevent this outcome. 

The rain is welcome, but...

I have ordered 300 flyers and will be collecting them from the printer today. Two friends have offered to help me distribute them and it's raining!

Usually we are very happy to see rain in this country.

So am I. Tomorrow is another day for distributing the leaflets.

Maybe I can catch up on some reading...  "Requiem for a Species" (that's us) on "Why we resist the Truth about Climate Change"

Not in my backyard! [3]

I have written an A5 flyer and sent it out to my mailing list of 38 for comment.
I expect to send it to a printer this afternoon and begin distributing it tomorrow.

I hope to prevent a local "indoor entertainment facility" being allowed in my local shopping centre,

defined as one of:  "Amusement Arcade, Casino, Cinema, Commercial Theatre, Concert Hall, Dance Hall, Discotheque, Music Hall, Night Club" (which is not apparent from the public notice on the building)

I object to this because it does not serve the local community. 

Coffee with Jack

Jack and I had our usual fortnightly meeting this morning. His daughter wants him to come and live with her but he does not want to move out of the home where he has all his books and other possessions. He lives alone.

He likes to hear about all my activist doings and gives me encouragement.

Passed the 400 mark!

I have now had 405 visits to my blog!

Not in my back yard! [2]

I have had less support from my 32 friends than I had hoped for to support me to oppose an application for permission to build an "indoor entertainment facility" in our hitherto quiet suburban shopping centre.

However, I now have 37 on my email list, with only two dropouts!

I will type up a flyer for local letterboxes and I hope to have it distributed by Wednesday May 26th. 

Those who have offered help are doing so in full...

Relaxing for once

I saw a good movie this morning - The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band) - about a German village just before the outbreak of the First World War. I enjoyed the movie and thought it was a brilliant recreation of the period and the attitudes in rural Germany. However, the questions of culpability raised by the movie were all left unanswered. Is this what we get from Post-modernism?

I knew I was right to sit in cafes

The World Café is a flexible, easy-to-use process for fostering collaborative dialogue, sharing collective knowledge, and discovering new opportunities for action. World Café originators Juanita Brown and David Isaacs outline seven core design principles and provide practical tips and tools for convening and hosting "conversations that matter," even with very large groups. Each chapter features actual stories of Café dialogues from business, education, government, and community organizations across the globe, demonstrating how the World Café approach can be adapted to many different settings and cultures. Based on living systems thinking, this is a proven approach for fostering authentic dialogue and creating dynamic networks of conversation around your organization or community’s real work and critical questions––improving both personal relationships and people’s capacity to shape the future together.         (from the Amazon website)

About to crash the 400 barrier!

My blog has received 395 visits now!!

JOAD is back on track

Now I can relax about getting broadband I have caught up on a few things.

I have sent out my JOAD Report No. 2
(The Joad Concept is described in an earlier post)

It includes a spreadsheet containing 40 book titles. I am inserting an ad for one of them here.

I have always admired the writings of George Monbiot.

I would love to get to the stage where JOAD books could be bought several at a time to save freight costs.

“This book is a brilliant and terrifying critique of the crisis of human-induced climate change, and the prospects of stabilizing temperatures before catastrophic runaway warming ensues. George Monbiot brushes aside our rationalizations to maintain the status quo, shallow targets and mechanisms, and the empty promises of political rhetoric and corporate PR spin, to examine the real opportunities and what has to be done to achieve up to 90 percent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by the industrialized nations.”
—David Suzuki
(from the Amazon website)

Car sharing is about to happen

For several years I have been working towards becoming a non-driver of cars, so that I may have a lower environmental impact. A few months ago, I thought I was ready to get rid of my car, but new demands on my time made it too hard again.

Now I have an agreement to share a friend's car. We have agreed on the terms and will try it out in a matter of days. I will use her car and pay her a sum per kilometre to cover her costs. I have bought a logbook to record my usage. If it goes well I will sell my car.

This is not so much a saving for the environment as for my bank account, because most of the cost of driving for me is paying the state for vehicle registration. However, It will give me a strong disincentive to make unnecessary journeys, because our homes are seven kilometres apart.

I tried this arrangement before with someone who lived within walking distance, but we never put it into action once. I was then offering my car to her, because she did not own one. I know it is hard to make these sorts of arrangement work, so I am interested to see how it turns out.

Broadband - the end is in sight (maybe?)

I have cancelled my contract with Australia's largest supplier of broadband internet services, after a fortnight of frustration, poor service and incompetence. I was never able to log on, or download a single byte of data.

I have chosen to stay with my trusted local ISP provider of the past ten years, and through them to access the internet via cable from another local supplier. I know I can go to both supplier's head offices right here to get any problems ironed out. I am paying more but I hope to get a far superior service. I will know by next Friday, after "five business days" have elapsed.

I will definitely tell you how all this turns out...

Not in my backyard!

I have emailed 32 friends in the hope that they will support me to oppose an application for permission to build an "indoor entertainment facility" in our hitherto quiet suburban shopping centre.

This not a "green" issue, and not directly related to Climate Change, however it touches on the citizens' right to oppose activities which may impact them.

It is clear to me that this is essentially a problem about absentee landlords. They seek to maximise their profits, without regard to the impact this has on others. This paradigm can be seen in any number of different contexts other than land use. In this case the owner of the building lives several hundred kilometres away from the property in question.

This will be my first attempt to act politically at the local/community level.

A new endeavour

Yesterday I discovered that a building owner in my local shopping centre is applying to have the lease purpose changed to "permit indoor entertainment". I will investigate this and I expect to oppose it, together with my friends. People Power!

International post gained me some new visitors

Since my last post I posted a comment on an American website (http://www.fouryearsgo.org/question-of-the-week-what-rises-within-you-in-response-to-the-oil-spill-what-will-you-do/comment-page-1/#comment-321), which seemed to result in five new visitors from the United States. Thank you!

I am still so occupied with local activism and my gruelling struggle to get a faster connection to the internet, that I have not posted every day. I continue to be aware that I must focus my energy on what I do best.

A field that is rested grows a good crop

I did not read a word of the book I planned to read today("Why we disagree about Climate Change", see earlier post below). But I am optimistic, there are still six hours left in the day. I might read a paragraph...

Instead I reflected on what I can and cannot expect to achieve on the local scene; "so much to do so little time". Or, more accurately, so little stamina...

I have just sent an email to a local politician, asking for her support in running a seminar/symposium.
called Awakening the Dreamer


We hope to link the event to an international bike tour.

There is an Australian group running these internationally available seminars.

"A field that is rested grows a good crop" The Roman Scholar, Ovid

The Politics of Climate Change

I have just discovered this book. Here is the Amazon product description:

"Product Description

Climate change differs from any other problem that, as collective humanity, we face today. If it goes unchecked, the consequences are likely to be catastrophic for human life on earth. Yet for most people, and for many policy-makers too, it tends to be a 'back of the mind' issue. We recognise its importance and even its urgency, but for the most part it is swamped by more immediate concerns. Politicians have woken up to the dangers, but at the moment their responses are mainly on the level of gesture rather than being, as they have to be, both concrete and radical.
Political action and intervention, on local, national and international levels, is going to have a decisive effect on whether or not we can limit global warming, as well as how we adapt to that already occurring. At the moment, however, Anthony Giddens argues controversially, we do not have a systematic politics of climate change. Politics-as-usual won't allow us to deal with the problems we face, while the recipes of the main challenger to orthodox politics, the green movement, are flawed at source. Giddens introduces a range of new concepts and proposals to fill in the gap, and examines in depth the connections between climate change and energy security.
This book is likely to become a classic in the field. It will be of appeal to everyone concerned about how we can cope with what amounts to a crisis for our civilisation."


'A landmark study in the struggle to contain climate change, the greatest challenge of our era. I urge everyone to read it.'
Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States of America

Good reading and a missed fair

I hope to spend time reading this book today. So far I have found it very good
This description is from the Amazon site:

"Climate change is not 'a problem' waiting for 'a solution'. It is an environmental, cultural and political phenomenon which is re-shaping the way we think about ourselves, our societies and humanity's place on Earth. Drawing upon twenty-five years of professional work as an international climate change scientist and public commentator, Mike Hulme provides a unique insider's account of the emergence of this phenomenon and the diverse ways in which it is understood. He uses different standpoints from science, economics, faith, psychology, communication, sociology, politics and development to explain why we disagree about climate change. In this way he shows that climate change, far from being simply an 'issue' or a 'threat', can act as a catalyst to revise our perception of our place in the world. Why We Disagree About Climate Change is an important contribution to the ongoing debate over climate change and its likely impact on our lives."

Another reviewer says:

"Over the past few years Hulme has bravely spoken out against what some have described as 'climate porn', the tendency of some sections of the scientific community and the media to present climate change in ever more catastrophic and apocalyptic terms. This book elaborates on Hulme's hostility to the language of 'imminent peril' and calls for a different discourse.

This book is so important because Mike Hulme cannot be dismissed as a skeptic yet he is calling for a radical change in the way we discuss climate change. Whether or not people agree with his conclusions - this book is a challenging, thought-provoking and radical way to kick start that discussion." - Fiona Fox, Director, Science Media Centre, London"

Until I get connected to a broadband service I will make sparing use of my dial up connection. I had a quiet day yesterday reading the paper and this book. All my activist work depends on the internet. 

The Inner North Community Fair was a big success on Sunday, but my internet broadband saga prevented me from visiting it.

Broadband - when will I ever get it?

My activist life was brought to an abrupt end recently as I battled to get some service out of a large corporation, with which I had contracted to get broadband connection to the internet. I was emotionally exhausted and amazed at how poorly my problem was dealt with.

Is it smart to get a call centre in another country to deal with technical difficulties? Could there possibly be cultural and language difficulties, which impede clear dialogue on technical matters?

It took them seven days to send me a replacement modem. This worked exactly the same as the first modem. I was a promised a call from a local technician within six hours. It did not happen. The following day, Saturday, I was promised at about 9am that someone would call me that day, before 4pm. It did not happen.

This morning I received a call after leaving home and I arranged to call them back around 12:30pm. Finally I was able to speak to two Australian technical staff. This went very well and easily. It was confirmed that the problem was with the copper line between my wall socket and the local telephone exchange. It had taken the corporation about three hours short of nine days to correctly diagnose the nature of the problem, even though all the necessary information had been available to them on the first service call I made.

Now I have been told that the line will be checked some time between about 1pm today, when I last spoke to them, and 8pm on Wednesday 19 May. Three days and seven hours!

I have identified three courses of action I can take if this does not get resolved soon. Keep you posted...

Tired and resting

Our five hour planning meeting, referred to in my last post, was cancelled at short notice, because of a family tragedy. We have not yet decided when we will meet again.

I have been exhausted by my activities of the past few weeks. Once again I have to work out just how many things I can take on. I am driven by the desire to influence people and our government that URGENT action is needed to reduce the atmospheric pollution that is causing the climate of the world to become warmer.

For this reason I am inclined to say yes to too many requests for help. I have not gone to several meetings because I am just worn out. As I write I feel fairly well rested and I will see what tomorrow brings.

Internet broadband connection

I have not been blogging because I no longer have a broadband connection. I want to make another post today because it helps to keep my blog visible to search engines.



Last night I had dinner at a vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant with the ClimateXchange crew. Today we will have five hours together to plan where we go to from here. We have a website which provides a service to most of the local environment activist groups.

I have now had two modems delivered and still have the same problem. There seems to be no problem with either of the modems. I am now in the eighth day since I first tried to connect to this internet service provider (ISP). Now I am awaiting a call from a local technician to test the quality of the line to the phone exchange. I am no longer angry - just resigned to the stupidity of large corporations.

Last night, at about 6 pm, I was told that a technician would call me within six hours. It did not happen.

Now it is the weekend. I am expecting to be told that the call has only been promised to be within six hours during business hours! In that case I can expect to be called only on Monday.

I shall call this morning to see whether I can get progress before then. I was even told that "a fee may be charged". Well, I have the complaints phone number and I am very close to calling them.

Another book by Julian Cribb

Here is an earlier book. It might be worth going to Amazon just to read a review...

Back again

I have been without any connection to the internet for nearly four days thanks to the incompetence of our largest communications provider. I was so angry I ignored the problem for all of Saturday and Sunday, so I could calm down.

I am now without broadband and have only a 50K dial up connection until at least Friday 14 May. I cancelled the old wireless broadband on Friday and then had a dud modem from the new supplier. The wireless broadband service was so bad on Thursday night I had to ask a friend to email a 750kb document for me from a cafe.
-----------------------
I saw Jack today. He once had a farm, so he is buying a share in one of my 'Joad' books "The Coming Famine", which I will buy on the internet. This book by an Australian is only available in America at present!

I have been pleased to see I am still getting visitors to this blog, even though I have not posted anything for at least four days.

Thank God it's Friday

At last I have a day with very few plans or obligations. I worked late last night finalising the newsletter, so I am up late and not quite ready to walk out. I will ride my bike into the centre of town and pick up the newsletter from the printer.

While I am there I will distribute posters for a local fair the will take place on May 16th. I worked on a team of about eight last year to create the first of these fairs. I think it will probably happen again next year.

I am trying to pace myself. I was definitely doing too much yesterday, but I had a deadline I was not prepared to miss. I was hampered by the extremely poor performance of my wireless broadband service. Today I will be cancelling the service, not because of last nights problems, although that has confirmed I have made the right decision. I had been planning it and I have to do it today or suffer a further cost penalty.

I intend to make one post per day on this blog. Today's post is rather mild but I need to take it easy.
I need to contact a local politician and I will try to do so this afternoon.

No fish by 2048? It seems so, unless we do something

This film is due for release on June 8 in Australia:

We are at The End of the Line as far as fishing goes. 

This movie was reviewed on Fran Kelly's Breakfast Show on ABC Radio National (AM 846kHz)

Even NineMsn gave it some publicity and a write-up.

Have laptop, will travel

I have taken my laptop to a popular cafe today to work on the Community Newsletter I produce every month. I am running late and the proofreader has been on my case!

I wanted to put up posters for a local fair near here, and I needed to have a blood sample taken nearby, and I was having lunch with a friend here. So the solution was simple. Laptop into backpack and jump on the bike and work here.

I also have a meeting here at 5:30 pm with another activist group, so I am settling in for the day!

Scotland: Leading in Ocean Energy

"In 2010, the wind-whipped Orkney Islands north of Great Britain will become a key global testing ground for marine energy.

Ocean-based power systems are already being tested there in Scotland's northern reaches, at the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC) testing facility. Ireland's OpenHydro and the UK's Tidal Generation, Ltd. both have tidal energy conversion tests in the works. But Atlantis Resources Corp. hopes to take the lead in advancing tidal power to commercial scale.

Atlantis Resources, founded in Australia but based in London, is installing its 1-megawatt AK-1000 model turbine underwater at EMEC with a $25 million commitment to see the project through and show it to potential large customers.

With 18-meter rotors, Ak-1000 is as big across as a 5-story building is tall. Yet that doesn't mean Atlantis will treat it with extra care.

CEO Tim Cornelius says that up at Orkney, the AK-1000 will be tested in "one of the harshest environments in the world." That could be a boon to Atlantis and to marine energy in general.

You see, as with wind power and even solar energy, conditions that are intolerable for most humans generally point to abundant natural resources that can be used for large-scale energy production.

Due to a decades-long process of devolution — which means granting more and more administrative powers to the capitals of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland — Scotland's national clean energy targets are separate from London's UK-wide guidelines.

The headline difference is a goal of generating a full quarter of its household energy from renewable sources by 2020, instead of London's 20% target.

With marine energy alone, the Edinburgh-based Scottish Executive hopes to power half a million homes a decade from now. Test projects like Atlantis Resources' AK-1000 in the unforgiving Orkney offshore waves could drive Britain to a far greater share of green energy than was previously thought possible."

Source: Green Chip Review, April 8, 2010

An e-letter from Green Chip Stocks Arizona

Quoted with permission

The Editor's Ramble

I am finding it hard to blog once per day. Busy, busy...

I am the editor for a community based newsletter, which will be printed in exactly three days from now. I expect to make good progress on composing it today and I have no concern about finishing it on time.

I have had to take deliberate rest breaks and limit the hours I do each day, because I am involved in so many things. You can see I was suffering from sleeplessness earlier, because I worked at weird hours to get a good response from my ISP (Internet Service Provider).

When I have finished the newsletter, I will switch to my new ISP and broadband service, but I will not risk it while I have a deadline to meet!

I also like to write to my local newspaper, in the hope of getting published. So, today, as I drank my morning coffee and read the paper, I made notes for my next "letter to the editor". This was during one of my new scheduled rest breaks!!       Incorrigible...

I may write a first draft of the letter this afternoon, if I have made enough progress on the newsletter.
I feel a great sense of satisfaction and well-being in my life at present.

Peak Oil has passed already. Read it before you hear it!

The peak of oil production is passed

Dr Michael Lardelli from the University of Adelaide looks at how the bulk of the world's oil production comes from a relatively small number of very large fields discovered decades ago. The rate of world oil production has been maintained at current levels only by finding and bringing on line an increasing number of smaller fields, but the financial cost and the energy required to find and develop these new fields is constantly increasing. According to Dr Lardelli the so-called peak of oil production was actually in 2008.

Source: ABC Radio National "Ockham's Razor on Peak Oil"