Sunday Highlight

Sadly not in the more common sense of the word, but rather something I feel needs sharing and passed around.

It's about a piece from the BBC site which I noticed and noted. But as I have decided to refrain from most, if not all 'tis/t'isnt (PMWN)CC/AGW arguments for some time I didn't pop up here.

At the time I remember thinking 'O....k, that's a new twist. How long before we get the usual suspects twatting about arguing over this one based on the misuse of the word 'warming' when the climate is behaving damn oddly... both up and down?'.

But at least it was a factual piece, and part of the story. Only, it seems it wasn't telling quite the story some obviously thought it should. And so it seems it was changed.

I am not sure that in so doing, they have helped the cause a lot. And in an era when all these funky archive sites exist, and have legions ready, willing, able and talented enough to trawl them, it makes one wonder just why the BBC thinks it is any different to 'Tricky Dicky' Nixon, and won't get caught.

Here's a wild notion. Tell the truth. Be objective... and let the public think for themselves in trying to decide. That way trust is mainati... oh, heck, who am I kidding? I wouldn't accept a darn word they come out with, at least on anything that involves competing agendas (which is pretty much everything, from CBeebies history lessons to Newsnight twofers'.

Just a shame I am looking at the hiked bill I have to pay to be fed it.

MUFTA - Flaming

It's a new acronym: MUFTA (Metaphor (Unfortunate) For The Age)

And I am not starting off with an enviro one, but just feel like sharing.

I was just watching the news and thought what I saw applicable to kick off.

A minor ex-TV kids' show 'celebrity' gets top billing on Sunday TV through being targeted by a human rights protester whilst participating in a PR stunt first dreamt up by Josef Goebbels, staged by a totalitarian regime feted by a theoretically ethically-driven democratic host country with stuff to sell and its eye on the future.

Welcome to the world in 2008. Now what was/is the Olympics about again?

Addendum - Quote of the day (referring to the, um, minders/bouncers):

'What has Great Britain become when we let foreign government heavies roam our streets beating people up? Do we not have enough of our own home grown thugs in uniform to do that?'

From what I saw I think they were both well represented... and already competing. Faster! Higher! Stronger!

BBC - Newsnight

Gaurdian - This sporting fiasco

Peas in odd pods

An oddity, which I merely share because it highlights the slight disconnect between the various protagonists in the recycling systems: consumer, manufacturer/retailer & authorities.

I repeat I don't mean to pick on Morissons; they just happen to be where I shop. Also they are at least trying.

But this one has me flummoxed. Two packs of frozen veg in two plastic, branded packs. Yet one is recyclable, and one is not. Why on earth would that be the case?

Sorry, this is just soooo cool

Nothing to do with the environment, but I just had to share this: 'Jules Verne' pictured over UK

It's not for the story as much as the image at the bottom, where the satellite is tracked real time (look how fast!) over the globe. Awesome.

I'll add the site to the IT Tools page.

Government & Innovation

I still am unsure they should go together in the same, well, anything, really.

Telegraph - Towards innovation or inertia?

ps: After too many years in the ad game, often working with public sector sloganeering, I have to say that anything that starts with 'Towards...' is shorthand for '...with no intention of actually ever going there, but simply giving the appearance of intending to'.

It's just a pity it seems to cost (us) so darn much to have them trot out this nonsense so often.

I have a simple question: why?

Labour 'killing Britain's renewables industry'

It really seems to defy logic, if nothing else.

And I don't mean the enviROI aspects, I mean what really matters: political, PR, green-spin, etc.

Why are the government in power, seemingly so keen to look green ( at least), being so utterly vague on their support for the hoem alt-eng industry?

At the very least, they have presided over the encouragement of a nascent industry that now, through a bunch of goal-post changes, looks in real danger of collapsing, taking a bunch of decent folk trying to deliver some real alternative options with it.

And with hardly any sensible commentary from anywhere on the reasons, and certainly near zero from the horse's mouth. Bizarre.

Gold in green guilt

I am doing something wrong. I am not charging enough. Well, anything would be a start.

It started so well. It's not often that something whacks you right between the eyes, and this really spoke to me, at least initially:

Green sweep
Oliver Bennett is a devoted recycler with a problem - a surfeit of plastic bags, bottles, cans and 'spare' kettles cluttering up his life. Until he calls in an expert ...

'A surfeit' hardly starts to describe the store of bit 'n bobs the Junkk.com warehouse (ie: our loft, basement, outbuildings... I keep making 'em to cope, and they are not pretty being mainly out of reused materials), so this seemed like a godsend.

Trouble is, turns out the piece doesn't really answer my problem... or the one posed above.

And the solutions all seem a bit trendy... and expensive. In fact buying even more things seems high on the list.

A few useful websites, but I think all are on Junkk.com or this blog already. And none, as far as I can see, help you deal with a surfeit of plastic bags, bottles, cans.. etc. The kettle maybe, but only if it works. I have 4 that don't.

So I head for clutterclinic.co.uk. More of the same really. Plus book, plus consultancy fees.

I think I'll stick with Junkk.com, but to help you find uses if you can't bear to throw things out, it looks like my mission to help this 'physician heal thyself' needs to keep searching for solutions. One thing I will concede, from personal experience, are the dangers of letting too much tat build up, and get on top of you.

But not at £60 an hour on top. That would just add to the stress.

Inside the green mind

A piece in the Guardian (where else?).

It's costly having a carbon conscience

And if one of their own can't seem to sort it sensibly, then I despair the rest of us (with a lot less money, connections, etc) doing so.