IN THEIR OWN WORDS - John Prescott, MP (Lab)...

..eco champion.

Councils should be forced to set aside land for wind farms says John Prescott

There's a lot in there to ponder deeply, especially bearing in mind how ecologically beneficial the aftermath of enforced traveler hospitality usually is.

Doesn't he have an entourage he needs to fly to Barbados for winter?

Whatever the merits of wind power (and there are many), them being advocated by such a person and his notions of state force seems hardly encouraging.

QUOTE OF THE DAY - It's cruel to share but...

Bearing in mind my dealings with, and opinion of, certain quangos... this from a job board:

'XX has just started a new discussion entitled - 'Head of IT and Business Adviser Available!' in the xxx Information Technology forum.

Hi all,

I am a Head of IT and former Business Link Business Adviser who finds himself a victim of the economic climate!

If anyone needs someone like me on a permanen or interim basis, give me a shout! :o)'

Reminds me off my first BusinessLink adviser visit (£300/d to the taxpayer?). During the coffee preamble chat I asked what his background was.. The answer from the bloke here to advise on how I spruced up my IT/media company's business model: 'Ohh, I was FD of a manufacturing company that went bust'.

Addendum:

A bit more fun from the same board, evidently using the same swear filter we do on Junkk (try finding 'scrapstore')

I am a dedicated, hardworking individual with over 5 ye*** *xperience in web management and online marketing.

- Use of ****ytics programs to increase and drive sales (Webtrends and Google ****ytics)

CATEGORY - CARBON CALCULATOR CALCULATOR

Every time I come across a new ad for and/or a new Carbon Calculator I'll add it here.

ActOnCo2 - still a triumph of budget expenditure over result
Carbonify - via a link - the site is, however, powered, it says, by wind, making it well noble.
Go Blue -
Google - I think it uses the data from ActonCO2
The Guardian's quick carbon calculator - NEW - and very 'visual'. Via here I was more interested in the tips to actually DO stuff to save. However, currently, with certain irony: Safari can’t open the page “http://www.guprod.gnl/environment/green-living-blog/2009/oct/21/quick-carbon-calculator-tips” because Safari can’t find the server “www.guprod.gnl”. Update - Fixed now. Or... was it ever broken? Maybe broken my end? I guess we'll never know, as I have noticed (esp. with the BBC) that when you point out a bad link they seldom acknowledge, so when it's fixed your advice post looks daft. Ta, guys. Update 2 - Credit where due... they have given me one (glows:)
energytariff.co.uk - Hat tip Ecologist - this looks more practical and useful too
H2O Conserve -
igogreen
Indy
Little green blog (via MyZeroWaste) - NEW - Online Carbon footprint carbon calculators review
pasture2plate -
realtimecarbon.org - Via the Guardian. Actually, this'un looks of more value
Repak - For Eire
Sky

Treehugger - The Carbon Footprint of Carbon Footprint Calculators - Might just have made this page redundant (though I do claim a prize for seeing the irony of the plethora of the things). But why do I sense there will be more.

'LOL. But seriously... think of the awareness!!!

We also need to save all we can to send pols and journos and celebs to Antarctica to report back on the damage being done by... all those pols and journos and celebs going...

You're either in the business of green, or up against it.

Tell you what, pedalling while you type keeps you fit, mind!'

Waterfootprint via planetgreen

WWF via Indy -
The only problem is going back and finding all the others. But I'm confident that with enough ad COI budgets to blow, PR fees to expend and compliant editorial, they'll soon crop up again soon.

If you come across any, let me know.

What'll be fun is to see how many are funded to compete with each other by the same bodies we pay into. On top of all those duplicated servers running. Bless.

GOOD PACK, BAD PACK - It's a warp

Creative Cloud - 10 Absolutely Pathetic Packaging Fails

Hard to fault the selection.

Now, to the solutions...

The sound of a distant bandwagon being drummed?

Business Link: Lord Sugar is on the warpath!

How!... er... How?

How! was one of my favourite programmes; it showed you how to make things.

Warpaths are good. But other than saying the two sides are lacking, I'd be a tad more interested in the how of making things, and better.

With luck, one indeed hopes we might get to learn this too, in due course. Otherwise, it's just finger pointing, and for all the use of that, I have another way it might be directed.

And speaking of rubbish, I have an app for that... one that suggests it need not be a dirty word:)

Are we being served?

A climate of...?

A few points about my article

Biases, U-turns, and the BBC's climate coverage

If you can be bothered to read these, and the comments generated as a consequence, I'd be interested in how you feel afterwards.

Here is my 2d'worth:

Coming in at this juncture one risks feeling rather like some poor non-com who has been ported into the dead centre of a no-person's land. And one between two mighty armies (if comprising about half a dozen, running along the trenches firing away to look extensive) shoveling ordnance into artillery pieces with no real concern as to where the explosion is, so long as it is big enough to raise a cheer from the 'home tribe's' reserves. So I have to say that I have a certain empathy with the image conjured (at least) by this analogy, as one kindly served a few before trying to help with my education in the past....

564. At 09:28am on 20 Oct 2009, rossglory wrote:

errrr, no. what i have noticed is the following exchange over and over again:

denier: can you explain why the sky is green?
alarmist: the latest science shows it's not green but blue.
denier: can you explain why the sky is green?
alarmist: the latest science shows it's not green but blue.
denier: can you explain why the sky is green?
alarmist: i think i'm wasting my time
denier: has anyone noticed alarmists refusing to answer questions?

But, in the spirit of 'balance', I just wonder if it might not be a tad more reflective of the situation(s) (literal and figurative) as follows....

'extreme pessimist': the latest science shows blue skies will turn green unless man stops turning it that way

'extreme optimist' that many 'extreme pessimists' like teasing... and deserve to be: No it's not

'Still neutral': You're right, but I'm unsure how much man really is involved to the level demanded and need to be convinced more before committing the whole farm to serve 'solving' things in the rather selective ways advocated by some.

'Some pessimists' (to any not conforming) : the latest science shows blue skies will turn green unless man stops turning it that way, and by even having doubts you are not with us, and thus need to be shut up or dealt with.

...etc...

Anyone noticed some folk (if from all various 'corners') see things only their way and will not even grant the possibility that there is another view that at the very least deserves to be explored and/or heard?

'If only God the gift hae gae us, to see ourselves as others see us'

Let the bombardments recommence (with, I suspect, the odd frag grenade arriving in my shell hole from various trenches)!

My reply was mainly prompted by this post rather twisting the argument to suit from the off. There was a status quo which has been challenged for change by some who have taken a very absolutist view. Many, myself included, are not comfortable with this, or the methods chosen thus far. Especially to find myself targeted as a 'denier', which makes me feel 'resistant' to this grouping holding sway. I hope my innocent suggestion will be appreciated for laying that conceit bare.

I also stand ready to be accused of being in the pay of someone or other, or at least in league. Which is kinda funny as the ones throwing such accusations around seem to be mostly from the crew cheerfully suggesting they all meet back in the forum they have created to deal with 'wrong thinking folk'.

Lions lead by Mynah birds

Just tweeted this. Decided it warrants a post.

Obama could go to Copenhagen, but only if the talks go well

Statesmen? What are they...11?

'In other words, if everything goes well, and it is clear that a historic climate agreement can be reached, president Obama will be prepared to turn up to share in the glory. If the meeting looks like being a horrible mess, ending up in acrimony and recrimination, we should expect the president to keep several thousand miles between him and the smell of failure.'

Mind you... 'Mr Brown said he would definitely go to Copenhagen, and urged other leaders to do the same.'

If any other 'leaders' learn from history, they'll keep several thousand miles from the smell of failure, too.

Newsnight - Ethical Man - Climate conference 'set to fail' (at least the headline is the less dramatic way round this time)

Is 'set to' the same as 'will'?

Anyway, interesting, as I read this the same day, coincidentally in the FT

Obama could go to Copenhagen, but only if the talks go well

I'm guessing that might mean a 'with regrets' RSVP then?

No photo-op, no President? All those Nobel gestures in vain, too.

When expectations get pre-managed too much, the outcome seems seldom optimal.

I am sure that if he passes he will be sorely missed, especially by our PM.

Enjoy the trip to America.

I forgot to add... 'again... and it's such a pity the BBC has no US-based reporters', as there is a certain irony in the sheer number of times a BBC employee ethically flies in the name of green 'awareness', especially in the name of get upwards of two readers... often.)

RE:VIEW - BIS Show - inspiration vs. perspiration

Captions:

1. Lights, camera... cancel! My 15seconds of fame dropped as footage of a reality star comes in.

2 & 3. Big media draws.

4. The BBC surveys a major exhibit.

5. I decide an empty stand deserves the Junkk treatment.


I once wrote a song entitled 'The Buffet of Broken Dreams'.

It was when we were at a music event in the USA, and I came across a table strewn with CDs and tapes that various attendees hoped an A&R guy or radio station would snatch up.

In reality, they were either ignored or merely taken by others vaguely interested in what the 'competition' was up to.

All the choice stuff was already long on its way, pre-determined by the needs of the organisers, the dark arts of paid promoters, and the need of the media for something interesting and, outside of radio... 'visual'.

Don't mess with the FO

It all didn't start well. Not for me, I hasten to add. I was on a little to lose mission at worse, though events did manage to conspire and collate as the days progressed.

For a start the stands were not ready to take their charges until the last minute, which resulted in much scrabbling by many. Fortunately my design was free-standing and so I had it up and active to insert when ready. But one huge aspect blighted the whole hall, and throughout, and that was the empty stands of those from overseas who had failed to gain visas in time. Some visitors did ask me why they were coming if it was 'The British..', but I really didn't have a problem. So long as the ideas were solid and as well displayed as travel restrictions impose. However there was a certain sense of 'you scratch my show's back, and I'll come to yours..' that tended to shape the way folk were treated. Money talks. Not great, therefore, being a charity case.

Quantity vs. quality?

But soon we were off. The weekdays were a bit disappointing. Few punters, and not many media, who seemed to be more guided by the time-honoured investigative technique of going to the press room and being told who was worth looking at. I lost count of the times various peripheral stand Morlocks like me would try and rugby tackle a passing camera crew or scribe with a notebook, only to have determined PR Eloi ladies run very effective interference.

But breach defences I did, and when I managed to do so the signs were good. Even if luck was not often with me.

The weekend was much more fun, if potentially useless business-wise. But I did meet many, many nice members of the public who did go round all the stands and ask for a demo. None had a problem with RE:tie, understood its function and potential and wished me well as guaranteed users once on the shelves. With luck a few have relatives in high places.

The Gong Show

Awards are great. If meaningful they can be a hell of a boost, both personally and in certain influential places. Even if not so meaningful they can still be used, if with a certain amount of creative licence, to drive some PR.

I had/have no axe to grind this time. I have one of the top awards from an International Show, and have merely added some functionality to that base design. Though I have to say most public visitors were much more interested in that over the 'green' aspects, maybe due to the age ranges that comprised the majority of visitors (quite mature).

But I did find the judging system a bit odd. Basically you needed to be assessed by 3 in total. However, it was just who happened by your stand first, and with no tilt to expertise. And as one judged loved the idea I was at first quite encouraged, until at the end he produced a flyer for his funding service and asked me to sign up. Not, IMHO, the most objective or disinterested way to be judged by your peers.

Hence I was as intrigued as much by what won small (everything won something) as won big. And I really felt for those who had paid a lot, from money to time to emotion, behind some truly great, innovations/inventions, who had lost out to what was often either just a reworking of an old idea, nice prototypes or, frankly, stuff that has been done better by a lot of folk who really have better things to turn up to such shows to promote their wares. And are working in hugely complex areas with decades of research behind and ahead of them, all leading to peer reviewed papers at truly international levels.

One thing I have to give the organisers full credit for was the gala dinner... quite stunning, from venue to layout to food to entertainments.

Concluding

Would I do it again? Doubtful, at least with the kind of invention that really excites me.

But I do have a few that I think may see value in the possible exposure this can lead to. Namely forking out for a stand to stand a better chance of having a tabloid crew swing by to stick a blonde (if I do not supply one myself) next to it and pen 'Cop a load of that' in a jaunty piece about barmy ideas to fill a page. Or to possibly tickle the fancy of Dragon's Den producers looking for fresh meat to throw to their ratings-above-all 'professional' employees.

In short, pretty disappointing, though I did meet some nice folk , some of whom my prove helpful as well. And one is all it needs. It's the digging for the gold dilemma... when do you stop, as that rich seam may just be a few feet further?

The trick is not to invest too much... time, money or emotion... unless you have fully appreciated how the game is played.

Not a lesson I have yet fully mastered, but I am getting better. Or is it just more world-weary?

For all those who suffered at last week's BIS show's 'media day'

Greenbang: We’re all about news, not nonsense

And here's some other thoughts on that:

Gordon Kelly (via ShinyKatie) What pompous anti-PR self important journalist crap: "If it’s not news, we’re not interested" [thx genius]

As one who can see both sides of the coin, especially having been at and trying to promote a show, I tend to err on the notion of 'if you can't say anything good, shut the heck up', but will try and be more productive with : 'If it grabs you, great. If not, there is always the delete key'.

What I mostly witnessed last week by way of the great and good of the media world at 'work' was enough to reduce one to tears, and not just in frustration.

Our 4th estate is mainly just in a state, and for one to try and presume they have a higher ground above others, especially those simply trying to work with them in the cause of sharing a story with a potentially interested audience is... 'quaint'.

I can see Greenbang are trying to correct the fact that most 'news' is anything but, and most reporting is press releases rebranded or tat that will get ratings, and all with near zero thought from 'reporters' or 'editors', but I'd say they have chosen the wrong targets and in the wrong way.

And are now reaping the 'benefits'.

Addendum:

Didn't take long for the first example of our highly professional modern 'news' media at work to arrive:

Girls and Boys were not so alone in Channel 4 reality show

Junkk - ANSWERS

You may know that Junkk.com has a prominent 'Answers' section.

It occurs to me there may be value in listing as they come along (and I am reminded to upload from the archive) various sources of potential information...

Times - Green and Confused - via Environment - accessed via greenandconfused@thetimes.co.uk

Treehugger - Ask Pablo - Send your questions to Pablo(at)TreeHugger.com

CATEGORY - POOH CORNER

There has been one waiting on the site since its genesis.

Can't believe I haven't added a blog complement to collate them 'til now.

Warning - Eat lunch afterwards.

Articles

Greenbang - Dung: It’s not waste, it’s fuel

Hepune - NEW - The Scoop on Poop

Suppliers

Ellie Pooh

Talking the talk, walking the dog

A few decades back, a Unipart commercial scrolled up my TV screen and then, at the end, proudly exclaimed: 'The answer's yes... now what's the question?'.

Now I return to these shores after a career spanning the world, it would be 'The answer is no, as it might go wrong and I'll be blamed'.

And after waaaay too many sessions (funded by the taxpayer) with various quangos and their employees, despite their being in an ideal position to matchmake complementary talents, they all still give me 5 half days just to drop dosh on me so long as I tick a box, and totally fail to understand that what makes innovation pay is a team that takes creation to sale; and not every good idea is generated by a person capable of, much less skilled in drawing up 10 year projections that suggest targets that need to be set but never met once signed off.

RP - BOGOF (later)

SIR –

Tesco wants to help prevent food wastage by allowing customers to collect their “2 for 1” offers on separate days (report, October 17). Why not just reduce the price of one packet?

Marketing, my poor Ms. Lamb, marketing. It's all about selling, not saving. And if looking like you are saving sells more, then so be it.

That said, I grudgingly concede this 'BTN' (better than nothing) status.

Too many rotting apples at the bottom of our BOGOF barrel.

RP - Junkk Male reposts Junk Mail

SIR –

Ninety-four per cent (by weight) of the mail I receive is unsolicited junk. I am threatened with fines and a criminal record if I do not spend my time correctly sorting this rubbish, which adds enormously to landfill and recycling.
The Government could easily require all junk mail to bear a mark, so that those who do not want it could “opt out” from receiving it, while still receiving genuine mail. Of course, the Government won’t do this because the Royal Mail depends on junk mail for its survival. It is one vast, ecologically unfriendly rip-off.

Which is why what comes out of the mouths of most of our pols and WUVI media remoras in their thrall, is hardly worth the paper it's wasted on.

BLESS

Patrician Scotland

Truly, a 'Government Of All Talents'

I guess we get what we pay (though the nose) for.

It... was... good to be back

Gordon Brown to warn of heatwaves and flooding if climate change deal fails

I already have a problem with this new reporting trend of telling us what folk 'will say'.

And hence, when I switched on a wee while ago to hear him saying it, I was even more crushed by the clunkiness of the message than its mere delivery managed.

The man is the kiss of death to any decent message on any worthy topic.

Telegraph - Forget Al Gore: Gordon Brown is the new Scaremonger in Chief - at least Al Gore has been concerned consistently for decades. As opposed to the last few sound bites.

Ch 4 - NEW - an email intro: CLIMATE CHANGE

Having saved the world from economic disaster, Gordon Brown has set forth to save the climate change summit in Copenhagen.

He has hijacked an economic forum of leaders gathered in London to deliver a speech in which he declares "there are 50 days to save the climate".

It comes at a time when the possibility that America might just manage to come up with some serious measures in time for Copenhagen, is becoming stronger.

Tonight, the chances that Copenhagen will either be scuppered or succeed. We will be talking live to Washington for an assessment of where the critical votes in the US senate now lie.

PM warns of 'catastrophic' climate future: http://bit.ly/1OZ0MB
Copenhagen: deal or no deal?: http://bit.ly/1nYnM8

QUOTE OF THE DAY - One man's...

"It's only funny if someone else laughs along"

Me (again... until suggested otherwise... again)

QUOTE OF THE DAY - Last rights:0

"It's always good to have a laugh. Especially when it's the last one"

(Me... until suggested otherwise)

The things we do to get noticed

I'm learning lessons still.

Expensive ones.

The drive in to Ally Pally was smooth enough, thanks to the Sat Nav.

So I arrived at about 11am. But it took me to gone 2pm to set up.

Yet another Junkk stand high on reuse but low on ease of use.

I'll post a picture if I can get this lappy to find the drivers for my ancient mobile/camera.

Still, it could have been worse; come media time half the stands were still bare. Seems the visa guys had not smiled on most of the overseas exhibitors.

So you might imagine that would have given me a clear shot at the London media.

Not a bit of it. These guys do not arrive and find out. They arrive at expect to be guided.

Hence... next time hire a local savvy PR.

The number of times a promising opportunity got missed as a brisk, brusque lady in a black suit arrived with a clipboard and told the journos where to go next.

But I did my best. A BBC guy (I think) called Graham Satchel gave me a few minutes, but didn't 'get it'.

A reporter from The Sun took some samples and promised to come back with his photographer, but didn't. I really wanted a slot in a tabloid.

Next lesson of PR: don't let them escape!

My best shot is with GMTV. The upside is a possible understudy slot during tomorrow's Breakfast Show. The downside is being there at 5am... 'in case'. That has meant finding a local B&B (£65!) and a 4am alarm call.

Ah, well, it's certainly not 9 to 5 in the conventional sense I guess!

Play it forward

Hope I got that right.

Not sure if I will be able/have the time to blog over the next few days, so as I head out into the still dark morning (and a series of rush hour nightmares) I share this:

The best shop in London

Here's to those who do, and do so in the best of ways, with the best of intentions.

Next stop... Ally Pally, London!

Do come and visit.