Concerned about refugees and asylum seekers

My attitudes towards refugees and asylum seekers has been shifting over the last year or two. I still think we have the right to control who enters our country, but I cannot support the indefinite detention of people who have been acknowledged as fulfilling the criteria as a refugee. It is against all principles of justice to imprison people who have not committed a crime.

It is one thing to detain people pending an investigation into their status. It is another to hold people in limbo indefinitely as a way of discouraging others from coming. This amounts to "collective punishment". We have always criticised totalitarian regimes for such conduct.

I think Australia is becoming a fascist country.

Climate change is an uncomfortable issue

I read this from the Climate Reality website:

"Keeping up with a constant stream of information doesn’t actually solve the climate change problem. And it takes a huge psychological toll to be constantly exposing yourself to this chronic, intangible, global environmental stressor."

I find this to be a big problem but the source also explains that taking action reduces stress.

Did not go to Texas

The Climate Reality Leaders Training is now in process. I decided to give up my place and did not go. Firstly, I became seriously ill with a chest cold. Secondly, there were obstacles in getting a visa that were frustrating. Thirdly, I was visiting my daughter and would only have two clear days before flying out, and it was not clear I would be ready to go. I don't regret my decision.

Goodbye to JOAD

I had a notion for sharing the costs of bookbuying. In another era it might have worked well. But today I am scarcely able to read a book - not to complete it anyway.

JOAD was "Joint Ownership and Donation". We bought a few books.

Remember: most experiments fail...

Becoming car free

I tried to sell my car to someone in May 2014, but they decided they could not afford to register it, so I took it back and refunded them. I sold it finally in about August, 2015 and gave the proceeds to a good cause. ($600)

Friends have asked me if I miss it. I say, "Not in the slightest".

I love riding a bicycle. I have a "push-bike" and an electric bike.

My friend Patience lends me her car on the few occasions when it really helps.

I also use buses. 

A Local Association [5]

I wish to explain that our local association was wound up, perhaps 18 months ago. It was very difficult to build or even maintain an organisation, once the issue that aroused everyone had been resolved.

People have very busy lives these days. There are so many demands on our attention - not least the internet - that people in cities will not make time for face-to-face meetings. There has to be an immediate pay-off.

It caused me a lot of distress and some still lingers.

I was really glad to lay it down.

I made one very good friend out of the process. I have learned that friendships and groups bond when there is a common struggle. Without a common purpose we relapse back into individualism.

I will be going to Texas this August

I have been accepted for the "Climate Reality Leaders Training" course!
This has been very exciting. I received an email at about 8:30am, while eating breakfast. I mailed back my acceptance at 8:55!

I spent a lot of time wondering whether to apply, making the application, then imagining how I would respond to either possible outcome. I decided that the process of making the application had been a very valuable exercise, that the competition would be strong, and that not being accepted would mean someone more deserving would get the opportunity. This is fine by me because I am fighting for a cause and the long term goal is to prevent a climate catastrophe. "May the best man win". Or woman.

If I were to be accepted, it would be a great honour, which would be highly satisfying. I would then make my final decision. If my concerns about carbon emissions and the cost of it all were too onerous, I could decline the offer. In the meantime, I have thought it through and decided to go. I will offset my emissions. I believe the experience will have great value. A very generous friend has helped me financially.

I have been critical of my friends when they fly for various purposes. Now I must justify my decision to them. I will have more to say on this another day. I have not flown for pleasure for as long as I can remember. I last flew in 2002, for an employer.

Experimenting

I am in a cafe experimenting with linking my iPhone to my iPad as a wifi hotspot, thinking about how to prepare both devices for an overseas trip. Looking for useful apps. 

Waiting to find out

I have applied to do the "Climate Reality Leader's Training" in Houston, Texas in August, which would make me a member of the "Climate Reality Leadership Corps"!

I may know in a few days and I am keyed up, making tentative travel enquiries without wanting to spend too much time on it, in case I don't get selected. 

Al Gore will be there and I expect the three days will be a real buzz. I am concerned to arrive early enough to be rested and recovered from the Tlong journey, and later to have enough time to absorb it and follow up any good contacts I make.

An iPad and now an iPhone!

When I started this blog in 2010, I still had a dialup connection to a laptop. Getting broadband made Internet activity a lot easier, but it also made it feasible to begin editing Wikipedia, which then seduced me shamelessly into becoming one of it's slaves.

I knew my work on Wikipedia was undoubtedly useful, whereas this blog had almost no readers and therefore achieved nothing.

I bought an iPad. Was it three or four years ago? That liberated me from working from home, but seemed to make Wikipedia a bit hard to edit. So I began a new love affair with Twitter.

Twitter helped me focus back onto my original objective - to attract people to the cause of preventing dangerous climate change, and to both find, and disseminate, useful information on climate change and the technologies being developed to replace the burning of fossil fuels.

Now I am returning full circle to this blog, as a way of writing longer pieces than Twitter allows. Maybe some people will enjoy and find useful some of my earlier posts from 2010!
I aim to use Twitter to drive some traffic to this blog. Another experiment begins!

Oh! And I bought an iPhone, so recently that I am still getting used to it. Maybe that will also change the way I work and what I choose to work on.

I should finish by saying that I wrote a journal on paper for many years, and this blog superseded the handwritten journal. I regretted that. It's one of the reasons I abandoned the blog for about six years. It's all about finding the right balance.

Decluttering [4]

Five years ago: "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."

Junk is still a problem! I have learned that hoarders have unresolved grief issues. I accept that I have a mild case of hoarding and some unresolved grief.

My round table has become a permanent gift to my friend. The old iMac computer went to a refugee from South Sudan, together with a vacuum cleaner, dictionary, hair clipper, etc, etc..

A few weeks ago I filled four shopping bags full of books and gave them to a local church for sale. That's huge for me. Truth is: I can't focus long enough to read a book right through, and I calculated that if I read one book a month, I would not live long enough to read them all.

"One day" I am going to go through the place and really clean up.

Hmmm... When will that be? There are so many more interesting things to do!
Sitting in a cafe now, blogging, listening to five noisy Chinese men at the next table, flirting with the waitress...

Wikipedia [2]

How ironic: in my previous post I said I was just getting started as an editor on Wikipedia. Now, about five years later, I have almost stopped editing.
I attained the status of "Senior Editor " and created about six articles. I did most of my work improving existing articles. Eventually my interest waned, although it is a fantastically worthwhile project.
I began to think, "why improve obscure articles, when climate change rages on unchecked?"
I became increasingly occupied with Twitter, which allowed me to focus more on climate issues.
I will always be proud of my work on Wikipedia.

I still visit Jack [4]

It's five years since I mentioned Jack. He's now 92 and has moved out of his flat into a nursing home. He now has dementia, perhaps Alzheimers. He still knows who I am, but will forget appointments within an hour. The conversation is very one sided, with me chattering about my life. Occasionally we visit the national botanical gardens. I have decided to go on visiting him for as long as he still recognises me. He is well looked after.

Perhaps this time...

I have not blogged for a long time because I began to feel I was just wasting time. I have been active on Twitter for several years, on a daily base. I intend to use Twitter to drive traffic to this blog.