in the USA, graduates from the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (FES) at Yale University have been entering the Carbon Credits Trading industry - actually helping to build this industry.
the only place I've seen clear skies whilst in India this trip has been whilst flying above the clouds. often when you're above the clouds you can still see glimpses of the ground whislt there's still light - but the Delhi - Mumbai flight I took 14/11/2008 had a constant thick blanket of smog.
another thing to be lucky for - back home the skies are so clear and blue. this is going into winter in India so there's usually less blue skies, but the smog seems heavier than I remember from 2006 - perhaps I've been away too long.
Mumbai airport is really nice - I thought I'd taken a video but can't find the clip. the hotel I'm staying at is not far from the airport and has an amazing, grandiose foyer - each room opens to the foyer. it's the Intercontinental "The Grand" Hotel. owned by a wealthy, prominent Indian family / company - when you turn on the tv you see a documentary about the owner's life & the story of how he built hotels, and manufactured cars + more.
Protestors gather under the tree of life as bulldozers approach. Televisions vomit endless waterfalls of information. A disembodied totem of animal, vegetable and mineral world stares at you in profile. The city speaks in confusing angles where we lose perspective. The world tree is burning while man meditates under its shade.
"The World Tree" is an exhibition of new paintings by Melbourne artist Tim Parish, co-founder and art director of Undergrowth.org at Open Studio
The opening night will include music from Kafka and performance artist Si on Sunday the 15th of June at 7pm.
Details:
Opening Night:
7pm Sunday the 15th of June
with music by KAFKA
and spoken word performances by Si and Verbatim
Exhibition Dates:
15th - 29th June 2008
Address:
OPEN STUDIO (review)
204 High St, Northcote
(86 Tram Line opposite Northcote Town Hall)
I love watching the TED Talks. it's great they publish the videos as it's REALLY expensive to attend the conference. tonight I've watched a few :
Sir Ken Robinson : Creativity and Education
his talk was very entertaining - he's quite funny!, and he raised some good points and examples of how modern education system is designed towards getting people jobs, since it was formed since the introduction of industrialisation. as we don't know what will happen in the future, how can we educate children correctly to prepare for the future. and how creativity has a lesser importance in the education system of today. I liked a couple of comments he raised - listed below. the full transcript is on the TED blog page
"creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status"
here's a video from Propaganda & his friends - he's been in a couple of the online MLA courses I've done. I really like it - the message, the music, the whole thing!!
episode features four underground hip hop artists -- Naada, Propaganda Anonymous, 2HL, and iLL SpoKKinN -- and producer euphAmism in an animated music video packing lyrical and graphical punch in a call for global awakening.
from 2007 : http://environment.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329758811-121568,00.html
If we want to save the planet, we need a five-year freeze on biofuels
- Oil produced from plants sets up competition for food between cars and people. People - and the environment - will lose
George Monbiot
Tuesday March 27, 2007
It used to be a matter of good intentions gone awry. Now it is plain fraud. The governments using biofuel to tackle global warming know that it causes more harm than good. But they plough on regardless. In theory, fuels made from plants can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by cars and trucks. Plants absorb carbon as they grow - it is released again when the fuel is burned. By encouraging oil companies to switch from fossil plants to living ones, governments on both sides of the Atlantic claim to be "decarbonising" our transport networks.
Salon Mazal was established in 2001, in Tel Aviv, Israel, by a group of social-environmental activists. Salon Mazal is a non-for-profit registered charity that serves as an information distribution center for social, environmental and political change The place functions as a store (including books, magazines and fair-trade products), a lending library, an artist gallery, a vegetarian bar and a community center where movie screenings, lectures, workshops and meetings take place.
The place is run in line with anarchist ideology and values, which encourage an egalitarian, non-hierarchical community. Salon Mazal is run by a group of volunteers. Consensus decision-making is used to promote the expression of individual voices within the group in daily meetings.
As part of Earth Hour in Sydney & the fight against Global Warming, WWF have created a useful screensaver that counts the Kw a computer monitor uses when left on and asks the user to turn it off if it's not being used. Visit http://www.usefulscreensaver.com.au for more details and to download the screensaver for PC/MAC. Ask your work IT dept if they can install it on your work pcs & try it out at home - every little bit helps!
I've just bought this book so I can read it when I get back to Aus for holidays. the World Changing site has heaps of useful articles so I'm hoping the book will too!
[quote]
"Worldchanging: A Users Guide for the 21st Century is a groundbreaking compendium of the most innovative solutions, ideas and inventions emerging today for building a sustainable, livable, prosperous future."
"From consumer consciousness to a new vision for industry; non-toxic homes to refugee shelters; microfinance to effective philanthropy; socially responsible investing to starting a green business; citizen media to human rights; ecological economics to climate change, this is the most comprehensive, cutting-edge overview to date of what's possible in the near future -- if we decide to make it so."
[/quote]
The screening of the documentary film, The Last Valley will take place at the Capitol Theatre Melbourne, 113 Swanston St (Opposite Melbourne Town Hall) on Tuesday 14th November 2006 from 8pm. This is the only opportunity to see the film prior to the Victorian state election. ABC have yet to announce a screening date.
The film is about the collapse of the East Gippsland logging industry after 50 years of unsustainable logging and the consequences of that for the local communities and environment. The film includes the controversial attempt by the Victorian government to log the iconic Goolengook valley.
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