Carnival of the Green #40 August 13, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Environment,Green in the City,Politics , 9 comments
Welcome to the Carnival of the Green on Camden Kiwi. This week, we have a pot-pourri of green ideas, issues and news from using solar energy in Alaska, to greywater in London and wind farms in the Western Isles as well as commentary on the environmental consequences of the war in Lebanon and attempts by climate change deniers to get their message across
The Carnival of the Green was created by City Hippy and Triple Pundit as a weekly round up of the green blogosphere. Last week, the Carnival was hosted by City Hippy, and next week it will be with FrugalForLife.
I wish the London and Camden authorities would take up some of the ideas used in Chicago John presents in Urban Greening posted at A DC Birding Blog. As I also live in the London / South East drought zone, I was very interested to see Tracy’s ideas at Eco Street
for ways of easily reusing your greywater. Most people I know have
water butts, but there has been so little rain this summer that these
are mostly empty now, so using bath and other waste water makes a lot
of sense.
Nick Aster looks at the bizare PR antics
of DCI group who pretend to be amateur videographers making fun of Al
Gore but actually come across as fools. The video Nick’s refering to
(and has a link for) is very poorly done, and the YouTube rating of 1
star after 2722 votes (2723 after I’d put in mine) says it all.
Riversider presents Preston Riverworks – A Guide to the Pro-Ribble Response posted at Save The Ribble!.
The Disillusioned Kid talks about the environmental consequences of the Israeli assault on lebanon
Greener Magazine follows up
on its previous examination of problems with the Alyeska Pipeline and
British Petroleum’s failure to adequately maintain their feeder lines.
Deirdre Helfferich at the Ester Republic is looking at ways of going solar, and in this post talks about providing natural lighting with a brief comparison of two natural lighting systems – the tubular skylight and the hybrid solar light. If people, in Ester, Alaska, can go solar, there’s no excuse for the rest of us.
In another Alaskan post, the Harbour Master at the Port of Valdez has some advice for recreational boaters, saying that clean boating practices will ensure favorite areas remain pristine and unspoiled for future trips.
Sally Kneidel, PhD, biologist and co-author of Veggie Revolution, writes about marine mammals encountered on a recent trip to Washington state and British Columbia. This is the first of several upcoming posts about Pacific coastal and marine wildlife and conservation issues.
City Hippy’s Edinburgh Editor, Katherine, brings us news of the positive effects of a wind farm up on an island off the West coast of Scotland. And if you can’t have a wind farm, Avant News presents a fabulous post showing how livestock and pets can be harnessed as an important new energy resource,
complete with pictures.
Joe Kissell presents Geodesic Domes: Interesting Thing of the Day posted at Interesting Thing of the Day, and explains the history and geometry of these structures.
Don Bosch over at The Evangelical Ecologist has some green thoughts on Jesus’ parable of The Good Samaritan in a post titled “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Everyone’s stumbling upon Camden Kiwi August 12, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Blogging , 1 comment so farOver the last few days, I’ve had well over 1500 visits from people who’ve stumbled upon my post about ways to reduce your impact on the planet. Its the biggest flurry of hits this site has ever had, and rather makes my day to check my stats (Google Analytics and Stat Counter) to see such big numbers.
Although noone’s left any comments, there are a few nice reviews and ‘thumbs up’ on StumbleUpon. Personal blogging is it’s own reward, but its good to know someone’s reading and getting something out of it.
Armageddon is real August 9, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Politics , add a commentWell, maybe.
Have a look at this, and tell me whether you want to laugh or cry. The Comedy Central show takes the mick out of the ‘End of Days’ types, but what’s frightening is just how many of these mainstream American news shows seem to take this stuff seriously.
No war on the BBC
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a commentAs I write, the headline on the BBC is ‘Royal phone-tap probe widened’. Also something about the McCartneys choice of divorce solicitors and the Bank of England contemplating more interest rate rises. Nice summer stuff.
The only piece about the war is about the UN rewriting its draft resolution.
So the UN continues to fiddle while Beirut and Tyre burn and the Israeli government meets to consider moving further North in Lebanon, according to Al Jazeera.
A blog from Lebanon August 7, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Politics , add a comment
Mazen Kerbaj is a musician / artist / poet in Beirut. Go and look – he says it all.
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K Le Guin August 6, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , add a comment
I first read this as a science-fiction obsessed teenager, fascinated by other worlds, and it is still one of the classics of the genre. It’s an eloquent exploration of gender roles, a gripping adventure story and contains the immortal line ‘The King is pregnant’. What more could you want?
