Owner: Revolving Doors URL:http://joneri.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:13:14 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: A blog mainly dedicated to the concern of our madly accelerating world, destined to crumble if we don't slow down. Site statistics:Click here
Sign of climate change? 2007-04-15 20:29:00 Yesterday when I visitid my mother we found this fat toad on the living room floor. Could it have been a sign of climate change?
Jambo tours 2007-04-15 16:47:00 Today I passed a travel agency and I just had to take pictures of their signs because of the sad irony I saw in them. "Resor lite längre bort" (Trips a bit further away) and colorful pictures of pacific islands and Alps. Do I need to explain further?What on earth does Jambo mean? It means "hello" in Swahili.
Jambo! 2007-04-17 23:09:00 When I see large vehicles my right upper extremity starts doing involontary ballistic movements. The middle finger extends and gets unbendable due to hypertonus.See www.fuh2.com for more salutes.
Owners of large vehicles 2007-04-17 21:42:00 Here is a study by anthropologist Sarah Waring. In her report she examines owners of large
light trucks (pickups and SUVs). Her points of interest were the following: How does knowledge of environmental concerns affect the purchasing decision of these vehicle owners?How do these vehicle owners understand mileage (or fuel economy) and how does it affect their choice of vehicle?What needs do they have that lead them to choose large light trucks and how do these needs affect their fuel use?How do they use these vehicles and how do they compare with previously owned vehicles?Some of the findings:Many of the truck owners didn't consider mileage an important factor when they purchased their vehicles. The capabilities was the main factor for choosing the vehicle. Post-purchase, many discovered with regret the high mileage that their vehicles had. Many owners considered the mileage one of the worst features of their vehicles. Another negative feature many considered was that it is more di Read more:Owners
Watching cars 2007-04-16 22:23:00 When I bike to work I watch cars. Before I used to listen to Japanese lessons on my mp3 player, but now I watch cars, almost with the fascination of a 2-year-old. I am especially fascinated by the people in the SUVs. Who wants to own a SUV in this world of imminent oil crisis and rising awareness of global warming? Who wants to be looked at with disgust? Who can afford or wants to spend money on this nonsense? It would be interesting to take part of what has been published about SUV in the academic world of anthropology, sociology and psychology. There are probably also loads of studies about people like me who don't own a SUV but have a relationships to them.A growing number of SUV owners wake up and feel trapped with their SUVs and want to get rid of them to buy something more sensible. Some panic and go for the easy way out, laying an arsonist. In California torched SUVs has become a growing problem the last couple of years, read article about it here.Here is a funny site about SUV Read more:Watching
Svante Arrhenius 2007-04-16 21:32:00 Svante Arrhenius, the first one to predict the possibility of man-made global warming. He estimated, back in 1908, that it would take about 3000 years for significant global warming to develop. I guess he couldn't imagine back then the enormous amounts of CO2 that we emit today. Would he believe his eyes if he got to see a glimps of the world we are living in today?
The message 2007-04-16 21:14:00 A classic old school rap song that I used to listen and dance to as a kid. "Don't push meCause I'm close to the edgeTrying not to lose my headHa,ha,ha,ha"
Ugly 2007-04-19 22:50:00 The other day I passed a construction site for a new highway (E4). The scene was so ugly that I had to take a picture. Man leaves horrible footprints.
Being angry, being normal, being freaky 2007-04-19 21:11:00 This fucker was idling for several minutes at the main entrance of a community centre for elders. He was standing in the non parking area. I don't think he was waiting to pick up one of the elderly at the center because if he would he would probably be inside looking for or escorting the person. And if he actually was waiting for one of the elderly he should at least turn of the fucking tractor engine. I stepped out to look at the driver to make him turn off the engine but he didn't see me or bother. I returned to my office down the corridor to bring my camera. I went back to the main entrance and he was still standing there so I stepped out again and fired of some snapshots at him. He still didn't see me so I just went back to my office, once again pissed by a SUV driver.Previously in the morning on the way to work I was also pissed. Every morning on the way to work I pass a school (Sverkerskolan) and I have several times seen a mother stop her car there to let her son off. I have Read more:angry
Hurray Ryanair! 2007-04-19 20:26:00 According to Aftonbladet Ryanair
will during a ten day period give away 100 000 trips from Swedish airports to various European destinations for 1 kr (0,1 euro) each. With taxes included it would be 79 kr for a one way ticket and 158 kr for a return ticket. When I hear Ryanair I see a Sir Montgomery Cecil in front of me. I hate this shit! I hope activist groups like Planestupid and Klimax will get evil and interfere.People need to stay home and and let the planet recover from its fever. Maybe it would be good with some SARS so that people would be afraid again of sitting in cramped plane cabins.Hurray Ryanair!
Doing green stuff at work 2007-04-18 22:19:00 I work at a home rehabilitation unit. We frequently deliver assistive devices like wheel chairs and rollators to old people living in the community. We, or mostly I, have been talking of buying a bicycle cart for a long time. On Monday I finally sent the order to the bicycle company. A big box was delivered the day after. Today I assembled it and it looks beautiful, shiny black coating. Tomorrow I will go for a test run. Read more:stuff
Ad campaigns 2007-04-18 21:45:00 Great ad campaigns from Enoughsenough. Ads like these have been blown up on full pages in British newspapers. Impressive! When will I see these kind of ads in my country's newspapers?See a video with Sir Montgomery Cecil here. Be sure to see it to the end.(Click the pictures for full view)
Shopping centre 2007-04-20 22:10:00 unt: There are plans to set up new giant shopping centre north of Uppsala. We don't need more shopping centres in the outskirts of the city that make people more prone to use cars. The urban sprawl must be curbed. Read more:Shopping
The Revenge of Gaia 2007-04-20 21:45:00 Today I went to to the book store and I found the paperback edition of James Lovelock's The Revenge
of Gaia. It is said to be his testament.Here is a review of the book from The New York Review of Books.
To offset, or not do, that is the question. 2007-04-22 19:04:00 Within Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter a debate is going on between the travel and culture sections. They are arguing about whether carbon neutralizing air travel with companies like Climate Care is good or not. The culture section writes that offsetting trips is bad. Offsetting signals that it is OK to keep on flying and polluting the atmosphere. They also say that there is no evidence proving that offsetting really works. The travel section on the other hand, writes that it is better than nothing to have offsetting for occassions when flying can't be avoided. I find it quite interesting to follow a debate between two opposing sides within the same paper.
Choosing a good wine 2007-04-22 18:29:00 I am not a connoisseur when it comes to choosing good wines. Now that organic wines are becoming more common in the shelves (dn) I have simplified my search routine radically. Instead of picking wines arbitrarily or by price I just go for the green organic signs, quick and convenient.
Meat 2007-04-23 23:05:00 One way to go less is to reduce meat in your diet. The meat industry is growing rapidly and is already causing 18% of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by man. If we don't start cutting down on meat our other climate efforts will be quite useless. We need to go back to the Sunday steak custom. Eating meat twice a day is not good for our bodies or our planet. Read more about the food industry's impact on global heating in the UN-report Livestock's long shadow
Less is more 2007-04-23 20:40:00 Going for less is what our world needs right now. We have to accept that we can't have it the easy way all the time. The easy way will eventually lead us down the drain. Finally people are starting to wake up, a bit...Four Swedes of ten are prepared to reduce their standard of living according to a new survey based on 2500 interviews. 70% are somewhat or very worried about climate change. 50% said they wouldn't cut down on travel. (dn)Saying that you are prepared to do something is one thing, really doing it is something completely different.
Greener cooking 2007-04-29 20:36:00 Today I made an effort to cook green. For lunch I made mixed bean burgers (home made) and for dinner I made root vegetables (red beats, sweat potatoes, carrots, root celery, burdock and turnips) baked in the oven. I cheated a little by making a side dish of two fried chicken thighs, in case the kids would refuse the main dish. My wife was very pleased with my new cooking
. The kids liked the burgers (and the chicken). Cooking vegetarian food is probably not that hard once you get into it, but I am not planning to go totally vegetarian. A shift of focus rather. In western cooking meat is normally the main object in a meal. In Japanese cooking, which I have become quite familiar with, meat often comes like a side dish. You get a set of bowls with various foods, often you get rice, soup, vegetables (from land or sea) and a sensible portion of fish or meat. In this format meat isn't the main component of the meal, it gets a more peripheral role. I think I will try to adopt this way more of Read more:Greener
Flying more and further 2007-04-29 16:24:00 In today's issue of Swedish newspaper DN there is one article about an increasing demand for long distance travel among Swedes and another article saying that scientists require that we fly less. It is quite clear that some sort of regulation is needed to lessen the gap between what the scientists recommend and how people behave. The behaviour of people is most often contradictory to reason. People fly more in spite of the alarm bells ringing around the world. The travel section of DN has a collaboration with ClimateCare, a company that provides climate neutralization. Climate neutralization could be a reason why more people travel when it should be the opposite. Offsetting carbon makes people feel that it is alright to fly.People should be informed and awakened:James Hansen Mark Lynas tipping points Read more:Flying
Sparkling water 2007-04-29 08:10:00 In Sweden we have good drinking water
from the tap, still many buy bottled water. We did too until a couple of weeks ago when we bought a soda streamer. The sparkling water that comes from this machine actually tastes just as good as the bottled water we brought home from the store, can't tell a difference between the two. Bottled water is bad for the climate. Cut it out if you can. I have recently stopped taking bottled water at lunch restaurants even when it has been included.A clip about bottled water, American perspective.A calculation of the true cost of bottled water.
Colony collapse disorder 2007-04-28 22:58:00 Bees are vanishing without explanation in different parts of the world. Another issue to worry about, or is it maybe a part of the bigger climate change picture?Here is some stuff about the problem:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHHF6cbwNwMhttp://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,473166,00.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27bees.html?ex=1330232400&en=3aaa0148837b8977&ei=5088 Read more:Colony
, collapse
, disorder
Earth is close to dangerous climate change 2007-04-28 21:28:00 "Crystallizing scientific data and analysis reveal that the Earth
is close to dangerous
climate change, to tipping points of the system with the potential for irreversible deleteriouseffects."This is how James Hansen opens up a testimony (from april 26th) to Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, United States House of Representatives.Download the testimony.
Temples of consumption 2007-04-28 20:05:00 In the outskirts of Uppsala the land of cars and consumption begins. Here we find samples of the ugliest things man is able to achieve. This is where families go to buy needful things in the weekends. Moving around in this area makes me feel nauseous. Consumerism, is a plague that is spreading around the globe and heating our planet.Click the pictures to see them in large format. Notice that the Biltema (car theme) store has church-like windows. Such bad taste! These shoebox structures are our times temples where we worship consumption. What will future archaeologists and historians think of this madness? Read more:Temples
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