Earlier this year I mentioned that while walking the Derwent Walk I stopped to film two chapels at Blackhill cemetery. The footpath runs alongside and I was just struck by the beauty of the Gothic structures. However when filming I realised that one was Christian and the other Jewish. What was surprising is that there is no discernible Jewish population I Consett any more. In Gateshead there is a sizeable Jewish quarter, thus it seemed strange that there was a Jewish cemetery so far from the main Jewish centre of population. It was clear that something had changed.
Therefore I decided to investigate, but that was not the only aspect of the puzzle as the cemetery at Blackhill is also quite large, much larger than you would expect for a town the size of Consett.
As my British reader may know, Consett was once a steel town, the Blast furnaces used to dominate the skyline and even from my village eight miles away the glow of the blast Furness could be seen at night. Also the whole area was covered with a red dust, including my village, as partials of Iron would oxidise in the air before settling.
My initial enquires did validate my early hypothesis that the reason why the cemetery was so large was the high numbers of deaths that occurred in the area from direct industrial accidents at the Iron works and as a result of the pollution by the red dust from the foundry. Also, because of the deaths at the blast furnaces and the associated mines, workers were brought in from all the local populations and especially the Jewish community in Gateshead.
Even my village was once owned by the Consett Iron Works, almost all the houses here were built to house the miners so that the blast Furness could be powered. That doesn't mean that they were good employers, far from it, in fact they were regarded even at the turn of the twentieth century as one of the worst. This was when mine owners were regarded by the general population in the same way that oil companies are today.
While the Mines and the Steel works did provide jobs, it was a really terrible industry to have been in and the deaths at the steel works left a lasting scar on this community.
When the steel works closed in the 1980s while it did cause a lot of unemployment and that legacy still remains today, the effects of the industrial injuries are still with the population. Since the closure of the steel works though, the environment has really benefited, The River Derwent now has a healthy fish population and associated species, the air is much cleaner and Consett is no longer a place that is avoided by walkers, cyclists and horseback riders.
Also the steel works has left some fantastic stone buildings like these chapels.
One of the comments left on a previous posting, raises a serious point. And it is one of the problems with and for anyone who keeps a web log, that of accuracy. I really do try and ensure that everything I post it accurate, I am human (well a mouse! Thinks; does that make me Chimera?) and I can make mistakes, but on the whole I do work very hard at getting the facts right.
I have in fact got over a hundred postings that I have written where because I can not verify the facts, I just have not posted them. Although some may see the light of pixel if I latter get details the show the accuracy. Also while I mainly talk about the environment, one of the aspects of the way I try to post is to show just how important the Natural History, the Ecology and the Environment is to all aspects of our lives.
I could just as easily post purely on Human Rights, another aspect of the worlds injustice that I am passionate about, but aspects of the Environment would creep into that as there is a strong link between Human Rights, poverty and the Environment. Just as Politics, the Economy and Food are all linked to the Environment too.
But I choose to write mainly on the environment as if I were to write mainly on human rights, I would end up making myself very depressed. At least with the environment even when I am posting about bleak topics or issues I can step outside and I can see what I am striving to save. When I meet others that also care about the environment and are prepared to make the effort to try to make the planet better, equally I am uplifted.
Thus it and will remain the environment that is at the lynch pin of my postings here. Yet even stating that raises another aspect that I personally find amusing more than anything else, when someone disagrees with the mouse they normally dismiss my comments as being ill-informed or that I just don't know what I am talking about. It happened when I was talking about the economy. A comment was made that I had jumped on the band wagon of condemning hedge funds and short selling. Well not just here, I have been in disagreement with these practices for years. The person that made the comment followed up when I said that we should agree to disagree with a statement that made me smile. He was saying that as this was an environmental blog I should stick with the subject and not talk about what I did not know about. That made me smile as I studied Business and Accounting at University and even there I challenged many of the assumptions that Economics are based upon. Wood Mouse was not a popular student, but I did get people to think for themselves. Assuming that is the way it is or that is is the way things have to be just leads to us all repeating the mistakes of the past.
Then there is the most recent comment that inspired this posting. I was talking about the fact that by raising quotas for fishing Blue Fin Tuna, the EU (European Union) were likely to cause the extinction of this species. I have to say to be totally fair and accurate that America and Canada have better conservation measures in place than does Europe. Anyway in a pessimistic response the person more or less said that there was nothing that could be done. I pointed out that there are actions that can be taken. Further, I quoted examples where the purchasing power of the consumer has effected change. He however quite rightly pointed out that the poorest peoples have little money to effect change. But I am not talking about the poor and the very poor in these situations, I am talking about the richer west and northern countries. I was asked directly if I knew what the average wage is in Africa. While I don't know the exact figures, I do know that millions are having to live on a Dollar a day or less. While most of these people will have never seen a Dollar Bill, this is a measure of the extreme poverty used by the United Nations and NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations). Thus I say quite clearly, I do try hard to stay informed.
Often I am not on top of the news in my postings here, simply because of the fact that I do check the facts. As the mainstream media often rush to judgement, I prefer to ensure that I am accurate rather than first. That's something that most Newspapers need to learn. The day after the 9/11 attacks, here in Britain on Sky News (The Rupert Murdock Satellite channel) falsely claimed that there had been eight aircraft high jacked and that five were shot down by the US Air force. Now the attacks were shocking enough but even the thought that the American Military had been forced to kill US civilians just added to the sickening news that was emerging. I still meet people that tell me that this was true and is now part of all the conspiracy nonsense that is associated with that terrible day.
That brings me to an important aspect of why I blog. While there is some good Media here in Britain, The Guardian and the BBC to name a couple, the vast majority here and around the world are Right wing in nature. Often just pampering to the political agenda of a few powerful men. When it comes to “Green” issues this media is just down right hostile to issues like Climate Change and will and have done all they can to spout the lie that it is not happening. These rags have done more to slow down reasoned rational attempts to stop and reverse the effects of climate change.
At least here in cyberspace, another prospective can be placed in the public domain. If I can get at least one person to look at a topic in another way then it may well be worth the effort. I just think that its a shame that the lies and political propaganda of News International reaches so many. Here in Britain, News International is strongly anti Europe. In the past there were a series of reports that several foods were going to be banned by the EU This included Prawn cocktail potato crisps (I think Americans call them potato chips), and that bananas were going to have to be straight. All were just made up. That is one of the benefits of the Internet, as people can now check for themselves and discover for themselves that these are untrue.
Just as on the Environment the majority of the mainstream media has an agenda in relation to Europe. For example I understand that News International was and remains against the introduction of the Euro in Britain as the business that is News International makes significant monies from the fluctuations in currency values. Even though some of their major advertisers were and are in favour of Britain adopting the Euro. Also News International has been anti environment to support the car companies and the oil companies who are major advertisers. It is one of the reasons why so much of the media is now full of the dross of celebrity culture rather than real news. At the moment there is a genocide going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Zaire. Yet this gets scant reporting, in fact while this is going on even supposedly serious news programmes on the BBC were full of the nonsense that a former journalist had resigned from a dancing competition. This followed hot on the heals of a couple of childish presenters that were rude and offensive on the radio. Yet real news was ignored. This includes the news that a comedian in Burma has been sent to prison for forty five years for making fun of the generals that run that benighted country. If only the papers would kick up a stink over issues like that, what a better world we could have.
This is another reason for posting on this web log, to raise issues that the mainstream media just seem to ignore. As I have said previously I could write this blog about Human Rights all the time, but as well as making me depressed, I just do not have the time either. If I didn't have to go out and earn money for luxury items like food, then perhaps I could do more on that aspect of the world.
The reason that I write with this electronic quill about the environment is that it is central to everything. In Indonesia when the forest dwelling people loose their part of the rainforest also loose their means of sustenance. So while selling the timber will generate a short term income for the nation, the long term cost to Indonesia is that these people add to the unemployment there. That's without even thinking of the environmental factors that this legal logging has. I could quote other examples but I would rather leave those for latter postings.
One of the major problems is simply that far to many people have been influenced by the right wing press into assuming that their agenda is the only way of doing things. Yet by protecting the planet and supporting people around the world we can feed the hungry and safeguard the diversity of species that are essential for our existence too.
When one of the local buses altered its route, I made a much needed discovery, a Laundry. While I have been saving for a washing machine, the washing machine fund kept on getting raided, that was how I paid for the camera. Thus I have been doing my washing by hand. But with the weather turning colder, my washing was coming off of my solar powered drying device, frozen solid.
Thus, yesterday I took a load of washing to the laundry. I had expected to do it myself but this is not a self service facility. After enquiring after the cost, for two loads it was fifteen pounds ($25), I decided to go ahead and let them do my washing. In some ways that was a relief as I had plenty of other jobs to do. Also in the Wood Mouse Dictionary DIY stands for Destroy It Yourself. That job out of the way, I was able to get other chores done. I still have housework to do over the weekend, but by getting ahead a little today I was able to do something I wanted to.
Over a year ago, in a pub in town I was overheard talking to a friend about conversation work, and this man, a complete stranger asked me about what I did. A question I have been asking myself for years. Anyway he was part of a voluntary group near Durham that were looking to regenerate some land. Mainly for public access, but they also wanted to make it “Good for Wildlife”
Anyway, I gave him my email address and we have been talking about what they could do. While it has taken time, these things usually do, they are now ready to start making firm plans. Thus I was invited along to make a site visit. This was what I did on Friday afternoon.
I was quite impressed by the depth of their ambition. The site is a mess at the moment, it has been used as a fly tipping site and the local council seem to be fully on side too. They can see that with the community taking ownership of the site, it may be that the council will no longer have to keep paying out to clean up the site. Also, as the site is very marshy I suggested that a pond could be a good idea. Well talk about people being positive, the chap from the council was in favour and said they could donate drainage pipes to help with the drainage. Then another member of the voluntary group said that he worked for a small building company, and because of the credit crunch they have two young men that are training to do their Digger licence. But with a lack of work they were likely not to be able to complete this. However, if they donated their time then they could complete their training and the work could be done.
Further, was the problem of fencing. Now I suggested that rather than build a fence they plant a hedge, again I was really pleased that the idea was supported, and even before the group left, some were collecting hawthorn berries so that the seeds can be grown on for this. Also I said that they could probably get some of the plants they need from the Great North Forest project.
It was really uplifting to be with so many positive people. Well it makes a change from proclaiming Were Doomed!
As I am on a positive role here is some film of Redshanks
When I heard the News yesterday that an MP had been arrested, I was in the kitchen. I had to stop what I was doing to listen to the news. Beyond some scant details, the news was shocking and it made me wonder what the real story was. As surely an opposition Member of Parliament had not been arrested over a political issue? This is Britain after all and not Zimbabwe.
It has not been until this evening that I have been able to look into the matter and I am shocked. There have been a series of leaks from the Home Office, the British Interior Ministry, that have been politically embarrassing So the police were called in to investigate. That part is understandable to a point, as the Home Office deals with the Police, Prisons, and of course Anti Terrorism However, the leaks were politically embarrassing and not a threat to our security. And lets face it it was the government that lost folders of Terrorist Intelligence, they were left on a train.
But a senior opposition MP was arrested using Anti Terrorist powers.
Now I will not comment on anything the MP Damien Green may or may not have done wrong. At this point I just do not know. However using Anti Terrorist laws in this matter is a serious nail in the coffin of democracy. That is the sort of behaviour that is supposed to only happen in failed states, in places where there is no democracy.
This Labour Government has form on this, it was first used to silence a heckler at the labour conference some years back. Also when one of the Icelandic banks went bust, the Government used
Anti Terrorist Laws to freeze its assets. Well we all know that Iceland is a hot bed of Terrorism, I nearly posted a comment at the time on that.
We must guard our democracy from power hungry politicians, no matter what their political hue.
In the 1970s there was a comedy series called Dads Army, it was based on the antics of a Home Guard platoon during the second world war in Britain. The series has become a classic and sparked many catch phrases. One from an old Scotsman was “Were Doomed, were doomed”
There are times when I almost feel like I am reciting that catch phrases almost like a mantra. As while I really do believe we can stop and reverse the environmental degradation that is impacting us all, all the science is showing that we really are in serious trouble.
In research carried out by Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, on the Cod population in the Northern Atlantic, shows that it is in terminal decline. In fact the research shows that the cod is facing extinction in twenty years.
The Grand Banks, a major fishery off the coast of Newfoundland collapsed in the 1990s. That put forty thousand people out of a job. While this was a wake up call and did directly lead to the setting up of the Marine Stewardship Council and its members do operate sustainably, MSC fish only represents seven percent of the global catch. In the last fifty years the volume of fish caught has increased by five fold. Not all of that is for human consumption as about twenty percent, a fifth of the fish caught is used as crop fertiliser.
At the moment there are a billion people that are reliant on fish protein as their main or only source of protein Therefore if we loose the fish that's a billion people that will face malnutrition. As usual it is the people that are poor that will loose out the most.
Yet again the problem is and has been a lack of political leadership here. I cant help but think of the way that the US government was able to find seven hundred billion dollars of tax payers money to bail out the banks, and other countries have instituted similar policies and similar sums of money to save their banks, yet much smaller sums of money would have saved the fishing industry. By paying the fishermen not to fish then around the world fish stocks could have been allowed to recover. But as this new research shows, as published in the Journal Science, this is one fight that it looks like we have lost. That will mean that there will be millions of jobs lost, across the world when the fishing industry inevitably disappears.
The only way we can now save the seas is to stop all commercial fishing and only allow the sustenance fishing by the peoples that are reliant on fish to sustain life. In much the same way that indigenous peoples are allowed to hunt whales to sustain their populations.
We have to move away from the quick profit economics, we have already seen the effects that has on our economy via the credit crunch and the recession. We have to move towards an economic model that is sustainable. By raping the seas in the way we have been, we will loose this valuable source of food. As well as the beauty that feeds our soul.
Just as with climate change we ignore the science at our peril.
There is one good thing to be said for the cold and wet weather, it has given me the time to get more of my video footage sorted out. I am making real headway with it too and as I have learnt more about how the editing software works, I am able to get it done faster. While I do have the manual and reading the procedures of what I need to helped a lot, there is nothing better than hands on experience.
Talking of experience, my regular reader may remember that last year I helped the Forestry Commission Ecologist when he was carrying out a survey of Bat roosts in my local woods. The technique is quite simple you have to walk through a patch of the wood in a methodical manner, and mark on a map the possible locations. Returning latter to check for the animals actual habitation. In the case of bats that's using a endoscope, but as the method is the same for most animals or birds, the real trick is being methodical. Well a few months ago I was talking to someone about the technique as they needed to do something similar. However they did not know how to even start, so I explained what myself and the Ecologist had done and he was pleased that this made the whole process straight forward. Just a lot of hard work.
Anyway out of the blue I get a call today, it was this same chap. Although it took me some minutes to remember who he was, he was calling as the charity that he works for is applying for a grant to fund this survey. While it will not be until February or March next year till they know if they have got the grant, I was being offered a job. The Job of conducting the survey. Well I could have been knocked down with a feather.
The job would be in Scotland in a very remote area, and while I would get a cottage to live in while the work was carried out, I would twenty odd miles from anyone, in fact I would only really have midges for company. Now as much as I love where I am, I had to say yes! So while it is dependent upon the grant application being successful it looks like I have a job for the next two years. Bugger me I was trying to avoid work.
While the pay is nothing spectacular, I should be able to save some money while there. Also I will get other fringe benefits such as a clothing grant to ensure that I have the right gear for the weather as it can be extreme at times. As well as getting new good quality boots, better than I could afford myself, I will also get my own laptop, one that I get to keep once the job is finished.
On the down side, I will not have access to broadband, so I will be joining my two readers that are on Dial up! Therefore, I doubt that I will be able to upload much video, but I will keep this web log going as and when I can.
Once I was off the phone, I did think that was the first job that I have ever got where I did not have to suffer an interview. However, I also thought about my friends dog. Previously I was reluctant to take on her dog for her while living here as it would be difficult to keep my cat happy and them separated. However, with the new circumstance I would be able to take the dog with me most of the time, as I will have a lot of walking to do.
However when I telephoned her with the news of the job offer, she told me that just this weekend a chap that lives near her daughter has agreed to take the dog. So I don't know if I should contact one of the rescue centrers now, or wait until a latter date. One thing I will need to do though is start saving for the move, as while it will be subsidised, it will still cost me to move.
Well it has been a surprising day in more than one way. When I was uploading some of the video earlier, there was a clip of two women and their Husky dogs, I may have mentioned it at the time when I met them. But I was talking to the women and the camera recorded my voice. When I was younger I had a stammer, and while its no where near as bad now, it was quite a shock to hear just how much I still so stammer. Well now I know that I have the perfect voice for silent films. LOL
Anyway, one of the things that I have been able to do today is get some of the clips of the Red Kite(s) together so here it is. And I hope that one American friend here is able to take time out from her thanksgiving feast to enjoy it. That's what using dial up is good for, you can download a video to time cooking the Turkey!
A few weeks ago I mentioned spotting a Common Frog in my back yard, well it was the Owl that drew my attention to it first. Well I film her and I have finally got the film sorted out and here it is.
A female Common Frog Rana temporaria, at night and hopping away.
When I lived in North Shields, a fishing port the the North East of England, I was careful not to get involved in potentially heated debates with the men who worked in the fishing industry. However, I was interested to talk to these men to discover what their problems are too. As while I do hold strong views on the way that our seas are being over fished, it is only by discovering the reality and detail of an industry and community that relies on fishing can solutions be found. At that time the government were paying fishermen to decommission their boats and leave the industry. But the real problem was and still is the fact that boats from other nations have free access to the United Kingdom waters. Therefore it is only via Europe wide agreements that any action is taken. That unfortunately leads to the science being ignored and economic need to retain jobs being given priority.
Therefore, for years the European Unions Common Fisheries Policy has been a complete mess. With the long standing quota system setting limits on the numbers of a particular species that can be landed, this inevitably lead to the sickening sight of dead fish being thrown overboard as the boat did not have the quota to land the fish.
This has added to the decline of important fish stocks such as Cod, Herring, Place, to name but a few. Further this has all added to the decline in the breading stocks of these species preventing any real recovery in the stocks the measures were intended to create.
Following the second world war, as fishing had been all but impossible, the numbers of Cod and Herring were very abundant and this greatly helped feed the starving peoples of Europe following the war. Now had there been a moratorium on fishing back in the 1980s when the problem first became acute then we would not have the difficulties now. But as with so many of the really difficult problems, governments refused to take the difficult decisions for fear of being unpopular.
Thus we have the current situation where on the important food species of fish the stocks are ninety percent gone. Even ten years ago when I lived in North Shields the fishermen were saying that they never see any of the big mature fish. Yet it was these fish that fetched this best prices in the market. By taking the smaller fish the fishermen acknowledged that they had to catch a greater volume of small fish to earn the money required to pay wages and the costs of running the boat. What's more the older fishermen agreed that this was completely unsustainable.
As one retired fisherman told me, the younger men never saw the abundance of fish there was in the past so do not realise just how depleted the stocks are. Also with the advent of technology such as fish finders, it is possible to hover up the fish leaving nothing for tomorrow.
A major aspect of the current problem is that the boats are much larger now, and the fishing industry has become nothing more than a business. If we could see the losses of fish in the same way we are able to see deforestation on the land, I have no doubt that there would be a serious out cry.
All this also has a serious effect upon the rest of the ecology of the seas, creating imbalances. Off the coast of Maine in the US, there is currently an abundance of Lobsters. So much so that people are being asked to eat Lobster instead of Turkey for thanksgiving. This imbalance is a direct result of overfishing of species like Cod in the Grand Banks where the fishery has collapsed. As Cod feed on Lobster Fry, more young lobsters are surviving to maturity and hence the current glut. But this glut is not all good news, as for the fishermen the price is falling, making it harder to make a living. Also environmentally this increase in the lobster population is seriously impacting other species in the natural food chain.
My thanks to one of my readers for alerting me to that one. Also I need to thank another reader for alerting me to the plight of the Orca Whale. Often called the killer whale, populations of these whales appear to have collapsed all along the Pacific's coast. While the exact cause has not been highlighted yet, the evidence strongly points towards over fishing yet again. In one report that I heard from a Canadian radio station, one pod of thirty six was now only six individuals. And similar numbers are being reported as lost all down the coastline of Canada and America. In the first episode of the Oceans programme (A BBC Discovery Channel co Production), they were in the Sea of Cortez looking for the Hammerhead Shark, but were unable to find any. As this sea off the California Coast was a real hot spot for the Hammerhead Shark, it shows the effect of overfishing. The sharks are hunted for their fin, and just their fin, for shark fin soup. The rest of the fish is discarded. As well as being an environmental waste it is shear criminal destruction.
Just yesterday the European Union agreed to increase quotas on fishing the Blue Fin Tuna. Against scientific advice. Thus another seriously endangered species will become seriously endangered or even extinct. As it is the fish that are being caught are only about 500lbs and are not sexually mature. A mature Blue fin Tuna is 1000lbs or more. So we fail to learn any lessons from the past and are hell bent on fishing out the seas until no fish and almost no life is left in them.
If we were to stop fishing for ten years then there will be a fishing industry, if we continue as we are, in ten years or less there will be no fishing industry at all.
When we have extinguished life from the seas what then? It will not be the case that we can shrug our shoulders and say we should have done more sooner. As without life in the oceans and the complex ecosystems they have, we will have an even greater effect from greenhouses gases. Plankton in the oceans absorbed more of the CO2 than do trees and plants on land. If we loose the life in the seas then it will be like a doubling of CO2 emissions overnight. We are already seeing a cascade effect from climate change. The loss of the summer Sea Ice in the Arctic is just one of the obvious signs. The loss of the Mountain Glaciers is another. Yet its clear that politicians are shirking their duties by allowing and increasing the very activities that have resulted in this mess we are in.
I personally long ago stopped eating Tuna and Have now stopped eating any fish as there are no sustainable fisheries in the world now. I genuinely wish that it were not this way, but we will see some major environmental shocks in the next few years that make the economic one seem like a walk in the park. Unfortunately it will take those shocks to get the majority of people to realise the folly of ignoring the environmental degradation we are causing.
Last night (Sunday through Monday) I went out to check on the Badgers. As I was walking down towards the river, I bumped into the Labrador owner that I had met while trying to film the otters. After a brief chat about what I was up to she told me that I was a real Richard Attenborough. Now as he is the film director that made the film Gandhi among others, I was not sure if she meant his brother David, who has delighted so many with his wildlife films. Well I will have to ask her the next time I see her. When we talked though I discovered that her Otter watching was impromptu, and had only seen the Otters by chance when walking her dog. She admitted that had she wanted to really make the effort to see them then the dog would have to stay at home.
The main reason I wanted to check on how the Badgers are doing is since the flooding of the main sett in the September flood, the dynamics of the groupings have changed. The main sett however has not been abandoned and two young males (at least) have reoccupied the sett. They were two males from another Sett that I called Itchy and Scratchy (what does that reveal about my cultural references?). Between them they are showing quite a remarkable degree of cooperation, re digging tunnels and collecting bedding. But what is unusual is that unlike most young male badgers they are not engaging in the play fighting that is a normal feature of badger behaviour. Now I am not saying that its not happening, just that I am not seeing it. It could be that they are just to busy to play, or play as much.
While I have not seen a female there, yet, I suspect that this effort is because of a female. But as they are still to young to be mating themselves, they are just nine or ten months old, I am finding the activity rather perplexing. As while I do think there are or will be other more mature badgers there too, it is strange to see young males so intent on the task of rebuilding the sett.
When I got home and started typing up my notes, I started playing one of the podcasts that I listen to. Birds and Nature from a Pittsburgh radio station, via I Tunes. Well the writer of one of the Web Logs that I follow, and I told my regular reader about was a guest on the show, Ba Rea, the writer of the Monarch Chaser Blog. It was quite an entertaining interview too.
Thus, my note making got left a little but I got them done before getting on with sorting out more video footage. I am aware that the best way to get it all sorted out would be to stop filming until I have got my backlog catalogued and backed up, but that would be no fun. I just seem to like giving myself work to do.
I had a rare lay in today. While I had half a mind to get out early and down to one of the nature reserves that are dotted around the area, I was just to comfortable and warm. Also I needed to catch up on my sleep. Therefore I was rather surprised to see that a light dusting of snow had settled. Now normally at this time of the year, early winter, when we have snow it goes as soon as it comes. In the past it was different and that is the effect of a changing climate over the last fifty years, thus settled snow in early winter is now rare.
Yesterday I had got some more seeds for the bird feeders, and I had topped them up. But even I was surprised to see that they were empty again. Because of the cold the birds are relying on this source of food. As well as the seed feeders I have a peanut feeder and half a dozen fat balls (no sniggering at the back) and my yard must have been fall of birds all morning. Even now I can see a steady flow of birds dropping into my café for lunch.
Talking to my supplier of bird seed, she told me that she has seen far less people buying bird seed in the last few months. So I presume that the reason why so many birds are visiting my feeders is that other people are not feeding the birds or feeding them as much. Now while I can understand that people are feeling the pinch, personally I will always put something out for the birds as seeing them gives me so much joy.
On the subject of the credit crunch and rising costs, the other day I got an Electricity bill. Now I am paying by direct debit, a monthly payment that should even out the cost through the year. But this bill said that from my last meter reading I had used more power than would be covered by my payments. I was going to just pay this but today on the news I hear that one MP (Member of Parliament) is saying that the energy companies are increasing peoples Direct Debits and over billing to increase their cash flow. So I checked the meter and I discovered that my bill was showing that I had used a thousand units more than I actually had. My current reading today is much lower than the billed amount. Had I not heard the news that the MP was questioning the actions of the energy companies I would have just paid it. Knowing that it would get ironed out latter. But now I am feeling a little aggrieved by this.
At the moment there appears to be a lot of actions by business that is being blamed on the Credit Crunch. While the effect is real in some areas of commerce, the reality is that most businesses are not suffering as badly as the media would have us believe. For the last eight years in the run up to Christmas the media has been saying that its going to be the worst Christmas on record. Yet each year the retail spend has broken records once the figures are released. This year there will be an effect as in the past few years much of retail spending has been funded by credit. With the banks being more careful about who can afford that credit there will be an effect on spending. But I don't see locally the effect of lower spending. In fact by the way that some people are buying toys for the children you would think that Christmas was next week and not next month.
Now I am not saying that everything is fine or much better than is being reported, but I am saying that the problems we are seeing have been there for a long time. The problems in the retail sector are almost all based on the over inflated property market. Firstly retail rents have been ballooning. That has meant that only businesses that can make vast profits have been able to survive. Often this has been only by cheap imports from places like China. All this obviously has an environmental impact as it increased the carbon footprint of the good we bought.
There is also the problem that these retail rents, and we are talking about rents of one hundred thousand per year for city centre shops, have forced socially important businesses to stop trading. This is one of the reasons why most town and city centres are full of the same homogeneous shops and why the traditional food shops have disappeared from our high streets.
The other aspect of the impact of the property market on retailing is that when a business did own their building(s), many used a method where they sold the building to an estate company then leased them back. That boosted the profits for the year the deal goes through. Great for the shareholders that year, but seriously damaging for latter years. Like Now!
The other aspect of the credit crunch and the recession that has been casting doom over the media is the sector of deflation. It has been reported as though it is a fate worse than death. But hang on, in Japan they had a banking crisis more than ten years ago and Japan has suffered “Deflation” since. Now no one seems to be suggesting that the Japanese economy is a disaster, and one of the effects of more than ten years of falling prices in Japan is that they have two trillion dollars of savings. It is these savings that the US and the UK are relying on to fund our banking bailout. I had wondered if Gordon Brown was going to those well know lenders of Mako, Hammer Head And Great White for these loans.
But being serious though, as the major component of the global economic collapse has been borrowing rather than saving, if the effect of deflation is that people save then that will strengthen the economies around the world rather than be the disaster that conventional economists believe.
To go off on a relevant tangent, one of the problems with most pension pots (the pool of money that pays peoples pensions) is that conventional economics don't like to see cash sitting around. They prefer to see that money working in some way. Thus the money from these pension funds have been invested into all sorts of higher risk investments. Had they stayed in cash they would have been much safer and the values of these funds would not have fallen leading to the short fall that many funds now have.
Therefore, deflation is not the bad economic state that many are trying to paint it as. Saving for the goods we buy is not only cheaper than buying on credit but we also are more likely to buy wisely. One of the problems that the western economies have in their structure is that we rely far to much on businesses that require us to keep on spending. The moment we stop there is panic.
In America the car manufacturers are going to the government with their begging bowls for loans to keep the industry going. As the auto industry is important to the US economy I can understand the temptation to do this. However, the major problem with the US automotive industry is that it has not been innovating, all of the models are variations on a theme. Moreover they rely on oil. While in Japan Toyota has a two year waiting list for its hybrid cars. Remember Japan is the economy that is supposed to be in such a disastrous state after over ten years of deflation.
Yes the American car industry needs help, but they need to start making cars that are less dependent upon oil. The technology exists to do that today. For two hundred dollars each every car in in the US can have a device fitted that means it can run on a hydrogen petrol mix. Effectively the cars are partly running on water. The cars own battery electrolysis the water to create oxygenated hydrogen, also known as Browns Gas, and this supplements the petrol. That will also reduce the US imported Oil bill by forty to fifty percent. It could cut in half the CO2 emissions from transport in less than a year too.
But equally, the same technology can be used to make cars that run on oxygenated hydrogen completely. There would be a cost in performance as the fuel tank would need to be very robust so that it would survive a crash, hence thick and heavy, but that dream of a car that runs on water is possible today. Therefore, I think the American government should only provide the loans if they stop enslaving Americans and the rest of the world, to oil.
Equally here in Britain we really do have a great opportunity to resolve many of the problems we have. If Britain and or America were to go down this route, we could create so many manufacturing jobs and generate the income both our countries need.
There is another problem that we in Britain can use the present economic difficulties to resolve. In Britain we have a problem of a shortage of affordable housing. As Gordon Brown has said that he is willing to borrow to provide a fiscal stimulus (I still think that sounds like a band), then by building sustainable social housing it will prevent the building sector from collapsing. Further, properties that are repossessed from the Buy to Let defaulting mortgages need to be bought by the government and placed in the hands of local authorities for social housing.
The economy is important not just for financial reasons, but for social and environment ones too. The economy has to change so that it helps people and the environment. There will be people that will not accept this change easily. Even though we have seen the current system doesn't work there are many that think we just need more of the same but better. This economic shock is only the first of a series of world shattering events that we will see. In the next five to ten years we will see the total collapse of fish stocks and the end of the fishing industry. Also we will see, and I do mean see, the levels of the sea rising.
Just as we have had a financial binge and are feeling the effect of that, we will see the cumulative effects of the destructive binge we have had at the cost of the environment. The challenge is and will be the society we create latter.
It is the ordinary person that suffers from the excesses of businesses and governments, but it will be us, the ordinary majority that will shape the future.
I was up and out very early this morning. I went down to the river to see if I could see and film the otters. Even though it was very cold, with all my layers I reasonably comfortable. This was important as I wanted and needed to stay fairly still. I have realised that part of the reason why my attempts to film the otters have not been successful is that I have been too easily distracted by other wildlife and my reacting to that and trying to film or focus on the other wildlife has alerted the otters to my presence.
The other factor has been the fact that my old video camera took seven or eight seconds to power up. With the Sony it is about two and half seconds, also I can start recording the moment I switch on. All be it with the chance that the exposure and the focus will be incorrect at the start. Anyway I was sitting quite still when a big black Labrador came and sat next to me, she (as I later discovered) looked at me as if she was saying “I can see you”. I remained still as did the dog and she looked out on to the river as though she was keeping vigil as well. It would have made an interesting picture.
We were like that for about ten to fifteen minutes, all the while I was wondering where the dogs owner was. I did not want to move to look around as this would break my cover, and while the dawn light was growing, I was still getting some good data from the Infra Red spectrum, and to move myself I would have to move the tripod. Then there was a splash off to my right, the dog stood up and was all but pointing in the right direction. As I swung the camera around I had to move a little, this brought a shriek from the bank behind me and over my head. As I turned round the woman whose dog it was quickly apologised and told me that she just had not seen me there. Even though I was only ten feet from her, so my cover was reasonably good. We both turned our attention to the river, just in time to see one otter dive and then another four feet from the diving otter entered the water and disappear. While I was pleased to see the otters, I was disappointed to miss filming them. However it would have been a very short clip.
I talked with the dogs owner for a while and it turns out she lives very close to me and has seen me wandering about. She to had come down in the hope of seeing the otters, but had just been deeply surprised by what she had thought was a pile of leaves moving like that. Well half the fun is watching and trying to get close to the wildlife. After she and her dog left, I continued there but no further sightings were made.
I had to get back home as I had left before the milkman had delivered and my milk would be sitting by my back gate. When I got back I had only time to switch on the kettle and open the back door before I was grabbing my camera again. Just yesterday I had bought a large plastic dog bowl to use as a bird bath. What I had spotted was the Common Frog that has taken up residence in my yard, it was making for the dog bowl bird bath. I got some film of it too. I would have filmed it further but the post woman arrived and by the time I had signed for my package the frog had disappeared.
Later I had to go out shopping in Consett so I was getting ready to go out when I spotted a column of birds down the hill. I grabbed the binoculars and it was mainly Jackdaws and lesser black backed gulls, who come inland in winter, but something was causing them to rise like this. I continued to observe and spotted that they were harrying a sparrow hawk. It was to far to film this and I would miss the bus if I went down to film it.
As I finally left I had missed that bus so I could have gone out with the camera. I know I missed the bus as it went by the end of my road as I was trying to lock my door. Therefore I had an hour to await another. When I went down for that bus, I was standing listening to the sparrows squabbling in a privet hedge where they nest and roost. When all of a sudden they went silent. I looked across to see a sparrow hawk, probably the same one I had seen earlier, glide out at the level of the roof tops, it had a sparrow in its talons. With only a few beats of its wings it flew overhead and off into the distance. None of the other adults had noticed but a little boy of about three was watching wide eyed in awe. When he realised I was looking at him he beamed a grin. Once the bus came he was sitting in the seat in front of me and was chatting away to me all the while going in to town. The grandmother was sorry that she had not seen the bird, but was pleased her grandson had seen it.
As I mentioned in my previous post, as I tried to watch the Natural History documentary last night my viewing was interrupted by the telephone. I had just let it ring and let the answering service pick it up. But as soon as it stopped ringing then it started again. By the time I had pursued the cat to vacate my lap and allow me up it was ringing for the fourth time. Therefore, I thought it must be something urgent. It turned out to be the Estate owner where I was caught hanging around (Literally) at the weekend. He was still rather miffed that I firstly had not removed my commentary on the incident from cyberspace and he was still insisting that I had no claim against him. When I told him that I was going to see a solicitor today, well his whole manner changed from one of a bully to being very chastened. I hope he remains that way when he gets the letter from my solicitor.
It was not because of that incident that I had booked an appointment to see him, but I mentioned it to him while I was there as I strongly suspect that I have not been given the truth regarding what was going on and I am wondering why everyone seems in denial that they were at fault. It has lead to my solicitor asking me to do the strangest thing I have ever had to do, and take pictures of my genital area. No I will not be posting it here, let this mouse have some dignity.
After going to the solicitors, I had to get back my stills camera. I had leant it to a local library group. It was reaching the point where I was not sure I was going to get it back. But I did, although the person I retried it from admitted that she liked using the camera so much that she would have preferred that I allowed her to buy it off me. I suggested she looked on Ebay for the same model. I am glad to have it back as I can start taking and posting still images again.
The real reason I had gone to the solicitors though was related to the food and cooking video podcast that I am planing to do. I had a couple of legal questions that I needed answers to and I wanted to copyright the format. While I hate having to do something like that, I have in the past put a lot of effort into projects only to see other people pinch the ideas and make money out of them. Anyway I have my questions answered and I have the legal protection of my ideas. So I can now start moving forward with doing the podcast. My solicitor also thinks its a great idea, but as I am paying him, he would say that.
As I already have quite a bit filmed already, I hope that it will not be to long before I can get that rolling. Already I am seeing doing this subtly adjusting my shopping habits. In a previous posting I talked about the way I knew that my food shopping had gone up. Well last week I got my Tesco club card points and my food spend for that quarter was up by one hundred pounds. Now when you also take account of the fact that I have been shopping more carefully anyway and have made sure I buy my fruit and veg from the greengrocer and meat from the butchers, had I relied on the supermarket then I would have been even further out of pocket.
I think this is where this podcast could really help people as by shopping more carefully and buying what's in season and hence cheaper, everyone could benefit. Well that's my hope, but as with this web log it could just be one human and three cats that watch it.
While I was a bit rushed I did make the free bus to the supermarket today. If only my cat could have done this shopping run as the main things I needed was for her. But when I ask her all she can do is roll over and go to sleep. Thus, her trained human had to go. As I have been cooking for the camera, I knew what I needed. While I am repeating some dishes, I have had ensure that the recipes are mine and not just copies of other peoples. Also with some techniques, I am realising that I need to film the differences so that folks can discover that there is more than one way to prepare the dish.
It is all rather fun though. I do enjoy cooking and while I cant do everything straight away, it makes a change to be doing something in a warm place, rather than being out in the cold. Also I am being inspired by things that my friends are saying. For example last week I got some Blueberries as I am going to do some Blueberry Muffins. But as I love Blueberries so much I kept on raiding them until I had eaten most of them. So I had to get some more today, and they were half the price.
One last thing, when I went to catch the bus to go to the supermarket, I saw that one of the branches of two big oaks that are in the goat field (my name for it) had snapped. It was laying in the field and it did make me wonder if this is what the Blogger Goat Correspondent calls goat wood? I hope to go and get some pictures tomorrow. Then on the way back I saw my neighbour. I wanted to have a word with her as I had not seen her friend for the past four weeks and wanted to check that she was okay. Well she had seen her and was fine when she last saw her. But my neighbour also gave me some good news. Her grandsons partner was in hospital giving birth to their great grandchild.
Well as there is snow forecast I think the baby will want to go back where it came from.
Yesterday evening I sat down to watch the second episode of Oceans, the new BBC/Discovery Channel co production. I had my viewing interrupted by some one calling persistently on the telephone, but that's another posting.
This week they were in the Southern Ocean, and the first dive they made was on the Kelp Forests off the coast of Tasmania. Except it is no longer a forest and there are just a few scant patches left. In the past, and we are only talking ten years ago, these Kelp forests stretched for miles and were an important habitat for a whole range of creatures. The reason for this change is simply the warming of the oceans. The seas at the poles are warming faster than the rest of the oceans and this is having a devastating effect upon the ecosystems at the poles.
Now I remember seeing a programme several years ago that showed what the kelp forests were like, thus I was genuinely shocked by what I saw. However, this new production is not a pessimistic one, and it showed what is being done to correct the problem.
As the water is warming this has brought sea urchins into the area of the kelp forests. They are eating the new growth kelp long before they can establish themselves. So what is happening is that full grown lobsters are being reintroduced. They previously disappeared because of over fishing. As the sea urchins are food for the lobsters, this reintroduction should reduce the numbers of the urchins that are eating the kelp. Thus the balance should be restored.
While I am pleased that this work is going on, it really is a sorry indictment of the way we have treated the planet. While I have been and will continue to be involved in reintroductions and habitat regeneration, it is work that we should not have to do. Had the lobsters not been over fished to extinction in the southern ocean kelp forest, then the sea urchins would not have devastated the kelp.
All around the globe we are over fishing, emptying the seas. In recent weeks I heard of the collapse of the Pollock population in one important fishery, I don't know where as I didn't hear the full report. Also I hear that the tuna fishery in the Mediterranean is close to collapse and all that fishermen are catching are small juvenile fish. Then just yesterday there was a report that the EU (European Union) are close to an agreement on increased fish quotas for cod. Yet the stocks are so depleted that there is little or no breading population left.
We really do need to stop thinking about the environment as a factory and learn to utilise our seas, land and forests in a sustainable way. There will be a complete collapse of all the fisheries around the planet soon. Therefore all this effort to maintain jobs in the fishing industry will end up being futile in the end. But I guess that until we have that shock of a seriously wounded planet, most people will not take the issues of Climate Change and Environmental degradation seriously.
Back in June and July when the price of oil was rising, I was rather perplexed and puzzled about what was driving this increase. The actual increase in global demand was only rising by one percent per year. Also there is an slight over supply of about three to five percent. That means that there is slightly more production than demand. Therefore, that was not the cause of the increase.
Also it was stated that there was an increased demand for diesel. Now while this could be a factor, this also made me puzzled as from each barrel of oil you will get a fraction used for Jet Fuel, a fraction that is used for heating oil, your petrol and your diesel and some for plastics. Therefore, if there is an increase in the demand for diesel, about 27 percent of a barrel, then the petrol fraction, about forty seven percent of the barrel should fall in price. But the price of petrol went up and up.
Then there was the speculators. Here there was an aspect that was driving the price up and one hedge fund alone lost one and half billion dollars when the price fell. And as Lehman brothers lost twenty billion dollars on oil futures trading, then this obviously was part of what pushed the cost of oil to such levels.
However, the story doesn't end there as while the price of oil has fallen because of the collapse of the global economy, speculation alone is a to simplistic and convenient explanation. To really understand what was happening we have to look at the way the oil companies are structured. The oil companies have long argued that they need large profits to finance the capital expenditure required for the exploration of new oil. And this is true as it is expensive to drill for oil. Further as all the easy to reach oil has already been tapped then it is in places like off shore fields where any new sources need to be accessed.
Once oil has been found though the cost of extraction is only about fifteen dollars per barrel. While there are taxes and duties to be paid even at fifty or sixty dollars per barrel that's quite a good gross profit margin. Thirty five to forty five Dollars on each barrel. When you consider that in the US alone two hundred and twenty four thousand barrels are used each day it is no wonder that the oil companies make multi billion dollar profits each year.
That's just the production side of their businesses, they also own the refineries and the petrol stations. This really is the business to be in. However, this is where the poor oil companies suffer, as at seventy dollars a barrel, refining actually costs them money. It costs the poor oil companies a twenty dollar loss to produce the fraction that is heating oil and a two dollar loss producing the fraction that is petrol. The only profitable fractions are Diesel and Jet Fuel. The fraction that goes into plastics is just a waste product and that is why plastic bags are so expensive at the supermarket, yes those ones that are free.
The retail side is even worse, as the retail margin is only two percent, and most filling stations loose money selling petrol. In fact there is more profit selling sandwiches than there is in selling fuel. Now if only we could power cars on sandwiches we could solve global warming and save the oil companies from poverty.
Now you may have noticed a mildly cynical tone there as it is the way the oil companies have structured their businesses that means they make these losses. Losses that reduce their tax liability. Well its only fair as they do provide such a great service to the public selling us cheap fuel, fuel that because of the way they do their accounting, they are selling at a loss.
Well all this is true and it has taken months to calculate all this from the financial reports of the oil companies. All the figures I was able to verify from other sources too. However, it was via the dense details in the annual reports of the oil companies that the real reason for the hike in the oil price occurred. It is because the oil companies have been deliberately manipulating the market. That way they could change US public opposition to drilling for oil in the Alaska Arctic Refuge, and reverse state bans on offshore drilling. All by manipulating the price of oil. By stating their intention in their annual reports they avoided breaking the laws regarding price fixing.
So while the speculators jumped on that band wagon it was the oil companies that were the real culprits. What's more they nearly got what they wanted too. Had there not been the banking collapse where McCain looked panicked and lost, it was likely that he could have won the US presidential election.
However hindsight is such a wonderful thing as while the global economy was already weak and would have collapsed anyway, it looks as though it was the price of oil that cost us all. Had it not been the oil price that broke the economy then it would have been something else, but it shows the arrogance of these multi national companies that they would even do this. The price we all now pay is the economic one.
On the bright side, the increase in oil was the equivalent to a six hundred dollar carbon tax. The one thing that the oil companies have done that is a real benefit is that a carbon tax under the cap and trade system that is proposed in the US and we already have in Europe will not harm most people. As the price hikes were twelve times higher than anything the cap and trade system will bring.
At the end of July I spotted a crane fly on the kitchen celling vibrating as if she were dancing. It brought to mind a song from the eighties called “Dancing on the Celling”. I did want to film that but there was no way I could get up there to film her.
It is one of those aspects of behaviour that can be misinterpreted. As if it were outside, most people would assume it was just the wind or air movements that was causing the vibrations. When in fact she does this to waft her pheromones out to attract a male and mate.
Well about a week later I had just come back from the supermarket when I noticed a crane fly out side doing the same. It may be the same one, but I just don't know. Anyway, I got the camera out and filmed her. Once I had got some footage I went back and unpacked my shopping and put it away. As she was still there I was able to get some really good close up shots of her. As I always lean something new from watching wildlife, this time I got to see just how beautiful she was. I also leant that I needed to clean my kitchen windows.
Well here's the film of this female crane fly Anisopus fenestralis
Last week on the BBC started two new natural history programmes. Something to keep me indoors, well if it was not for the I player then yes. But last Tuesday I was out checking on the Badger setts. So when I got back after having a bath, I was busy trying to cook and listen to, and watch when I could, last weeks episode of Natural World. As I don't have a video recorder, I will be watching latter this week via the computer.
This weeks programme, again I was only just back in, so was cooking while trying to watch. The TV is in another room. This week it was on the Whale Shark and there was one scene that really brought a lump to my throat. But I will come to that latter.
In this programme a scientist, Mark, was trying to tag some of the Sharks with satellite tags so that data could be collected regarding their movements so that we know just how to conserve them. Near the start of the programme he said that as the largest are not seen these days that is a classic sign of over fishing. Now it just defies logic that with everyone saying that we are over fishing why governments don't take actions to stop this beats me. Conserving fish stocks now is the only way that there will be a fishing industry in the future. However, I don't want to make this posting about the desperate state of our seas. I am working on a posting that I will be making latter once I have done the research.
The moment that brought a lump to my throat was when the scientist took his five year old son with him to swim with a Whale Shark. Now even though this was just a small shark at six meters, it was an awesome sight. But what struck me was if only every child, every parent could just do something like that, how much better our world would be.
The other programme was called Oceans. I watched with fascination this and I may well be making postings inspired by this series. I still need to inwardly digest some of the amazing scenes in this first programme. The second is tomorrow (today by time this posting is on line), and I am putting up the do not disturb sign.
While I do apologise to my American reader that you can not share these programmes. But I guess they will be shown over there at some time. However, I am jealous of you Americans, as via I tunes I get a preview podcast of Nature that is shown on your Public Broadcasting Service. This week it was about Bald Eagles. Well the photography in the preview was really stunning. It was so good that I had to watch it again straight away. Now we don't get those shows over here, so while we share our good stuff, you don't send your great stuff over here.
One of the advantages of my current situation is that I have had some more time to get on with dealing with my video back log. And here is a film of another of the fungi from my local woods, Stinkhorn, Phallus impudicus.
The Stinkhorn is quite unmistakable with its thick white stalk and black honeycombed cap, covered with a sticky foul smelling jelly. You will often smell the rotting flesh odour first. The jelly contains the spores and it uses flies to disperse the spores. The stalk rises from a jelly filled papery egg shaped sack. Quite common in deciduous woods in late summer and early autumn, quite inedible.
While on the subject of video, I understand that a couple of my videos on You Tube have gone Viral. When I heard that I thought it meant that the files were corrupted, but apparently it means that people are emailing them around. Work must be boring. Actually it just came to mind that if the bankers had spent more time on You Tube...
My new video camera is delighting me the more I get to use it. One of the problems with many is that the auto focus struggles to cope with obtaining a sharp focus on a flying bird. The manual focus normally being operated by pressing buttons is just not fast enough and often requires the videographer to move attention from the subject to the camera. However my pre owned Sony has a ring on the lens that makes it much better for wildlife photography. Another aspect that has pleased me is that the batteries that power the camera also fit the IR light. As these often are brand and model specific, it can cost an arm and a leg to buy the batteries. As well as adding weight to the equipment I have to lug around.
The other function that I am pleased to discover is that the camera can use a wired remote controller. This is something I have seen on top end professional cameras, and well out of my reach, but the controllers are obtainable. Again for wildlife filming this makes the camera ideal. While I did do some research before hand, even I could not have guessed that this really would be so suited to my needs.
Yesterday, I spoke of an experience that I would not want to repeat. Today I got a telephone call from the warden of the estate where this incident happened. His initial concern was that I could take legal action over this. However, I have better things to waste my time on. Once that barrier was out of the way, he wanted to know what actually happened. I told him and he asked if I could put this all in writing. This I did.
Well he called back latter and I discovered that the archaeological group had been told that they could not access that area. This was to protect the bats, and as they are legally protected any disturbance would be illegal. That it seems is why they were keen to have someone like me from outside of the group do this. But as I told the warden they all went down first. Thus their subterfuge failed.
It also explains why it took them so long to organise a rescue of the dangling mouse. The warden has climbing equipment and they could have called him. But had they done so they would have been caught doing something they should not have been doing. Well the warden has fully revoked their permissions to carry out their activities on the estate, so their foolishness has cost them.
It also turns out that their insurance would not have covered me or their activities anyway. The warden only discovered this from the centre manager of the climbing and activities centre where they borrowed the equipment from. He had called the warden and told him what had happened, otherwise the warden would not have known.
Anyway, while my injuries are just chaffing and bruising, it is rather inconvenient as well as uncomfortable. I am going to play couch potato for a few days. As long as it doesn't lead to me watching day time television I can live with that.
One possible benefit of all this though is the warden is going to talk to the owner of the estate. As while they have no shortage of people who take still pictures of the wildlife, they have been looking for someone to film some of the wildlife on the estate. So I may end up with some privileged access. Also as the warden knows the locations of many of the habitations of the wildlife, I would not have to waste time seeking them out. However, the owner of the estate is furious about what the archaeological group did. Thus I may be excluded by the owner because of my inadvertently helping the group. I will just have to wait and see on that one.
It is a good job that I am not involved with anyone at the moment. I did joke with the warden that the archaeological group could have been hired by my ex. But while I told him that I could make him laugh he could not do the same.
One last thing the footage that I shoot in the cave will prove very useful for the conservation of the bats that roost in the cave. So while I would wish it had happened differently, there are real benefits from my hanging around yesterday. Also I have learnt another lesson, apparently the harnesses are gender specific and the ones that were borrowed were designed for females, had I been wearing one for a male I would have been more comfortable. Well I have a better suggestion, not to do that again will be far better.
This was where I was going to end this posting but as I was checking the spelling the telephone rang, it was the owner of the estate. I recycled all my jokes, just as a good environmentalist should, and assured him that I was fine and no I wasn't going to sue him. He told me that he had seen my previous films on You Tube and liked some of them, and his agent/game keeper/warden had told him that I was not totally responsible for what had happened he wanted to see if he could offer me some help. Did I want to come and do some filming on the estate? I told him yes, but he attached conditions that I remove my previous posting. This I refused to do. It is after all factual and accurate and avoids naming names.
So it looks like I will not get the chance to film the wildlife there. The estate owner is obviously a man that is not used to not getting his own way. He even threatened me with an injunction to have the posting removed. When I pointed out that a few minutes ago he had been worried about me taking him to court, that would be a stupid action to take, he calmed down.
Its amazing that a few stupid men can cause so much trouble. Not just to me but everyone involved. What is most stupid is that had they not over egged the pudding and claimed greater skill than they had, its unlikely that I would have agreed to abseil down to the cave. Further, had I known the person who was acting as the safety person had only done abseiling a couple of times himself then I would have ensured that someone competent was watching the ropes. As it is I am safe, but getting increasingly annoyed by all the avoidance of responsibility.
Well personally I am just going to chalk this one up to experience. One to be avoided.
My ex wife, in common with most women, could tolerate hot water in a bath that would cook a lobster, that is just one of the differences between the sexes that I have discovered as fumble my way though life. It is strange the thoughts that enter my head, especially as I gingerly lowered myself in to a nice relaxing hot bath today. At the time I used to joke that my ex must have an insurance policy on my life and was just trying to cook me. Latter I discovered that she did have life insurance for me. Well today I was placed in a situation where that policy could have paid out. Don't worry I am safe, but very shaken by the experience.
As my regular reader may remember, I made contact with a chap who works for the local water company. He is also involved with an archaeological group. Well he was interested in cheep ways of doing some aerial photography. Because of a posting on a Web log, I suggested using helium balloons after reading of a chap that had flow across parts of America in a lawn chair using helium filled balloons All that was needed was a good platform for the video camera and a tether. And apparently it worked for them. Not always steady, but its so low cost they can keep going back to get the shots they need.
However on the last run they hooked the tether to a tree and damaged the camera they were using. So I was asked if they could borrow mine. I agreed but for this task they were not looking to float the camera but to lower it and the operator down a crag to a small cave that had got them interested.
While they were interested in the Archaeology, I was interested in the natural history. And it was as much for my skills here that they wanted my help. Now I was quite happy to review the film for them as I don't do dropping over cliff sides on ropes. Well I didn't until today.
The other reason they wanted to use my video camera was its Infra red capabilities. But even filming in IR requires a light source and I also have two Infra Red lights. The chap who went down first on the harness lines and climbing gear, again borrowed, brought back footage that made it look like he was preparing a Martini for James Bond. So reluctantly after two others tried and failed, one had forgotten to press record, I agreed to try and do the filming myself. The harness was not comfortable and I am sure I talking half an octave higher as I went over the edge and down to the small cave.
I took it very slowly and once at the entrance to the cave, this was half a meter high and about a meter wide, I braced myself leaning back my feet on the rocks and filmed the entrance. I could see that there had probably been bats in there and at the back was another chamber about a meter and a half back from the entrance. I could see why they were interested in the cave as there was a piece of broken pottery hidden in the gloom there. I called up about what I had seen and asked if they wanted me to get inside. This they affirmed and I had to climb back up a little to access the cave. I was feeling quite fine about all this, I had the line that I was using, the one taking my weight as well as a safety line. Also one of the other men who had been down is a good three stones heavier than me.
I climbed into the cavern, and had a good look around and the place is a summer bat roost at the back but but I could not determine if it was a winter roost too. The pottery I think was modern though, I think the words dishwasher safe was the clue for me, but I am no archaeologist. Well my main line was still attached but to get out of the cave I had to use the safety line as the main line had been allowed to catch on the rocks. The safety man was not doing his job. I let the safety line take my weight and dropped six feet. As well as now talking three octaves higher the safety line had snapped. I genuinely had tears in my eyes. I hung there painting the sky blue, as I was told not to try and climb down. I dropping the line I was on had severally frayed on the sharp rocks. Anyway I was advised to try and get to a tree that was growing out of the rock face, to let that take my weight. It couldn't.
I did finally get down after nearly three hours as one of the men had to drive a round trip of over a hundred miles to get other ropes. The ropes that had been brought, it turned out, were ones destined for the rubbish as they had failed the safety checks by the centre they were borrowed from. The centre manager from that outdoor centre came too and helped me down. He effectively read the guy who had borrowed the equipment the riot act as he had been loaned the equipment on the understanding that some else, who was qualified and competent, was there to supervise. The most experienced had only done a weekend course himself and he was not even acting as safety officer.
I even got it in the neck myself, but he apologised when I told him that I did not know that the others were so inexperienced. I also got apologies from the others too. But I got the film they wanted. I however am suffering from chaffing. For reasons that are obvious the harness around a moist crotch does chaff a bit.
I had hoped that I would have a picture to add to this posting but I have not been sent the pictures I was promised, maybe latter.
But I think that I will try something much safer next time, Skiing? White water rafting? Or just trying to go drinking in Newcastle on a Friday night? All far more safe than my activities today.
Just ahead of the G20 economic summit in Washington DC, I saw that GW Bush made a statement that there was nothing wrong with Capitalism. Now it would be far to easy to ridicule or satirise this, and am I tempted. However, the reality is that George W, like so many other people who have been winners under a capitalist system are driven by ideology rather than the facts. The recent events show that Capitalism is a great idea, but just fails to work in practice. It is a good job that GW is leaving soon, well perhaps after a few months of unemployment will bring him back to reality. After all even amongst republicans he is not well liked, so I doubt that anyone will let him control anything. Unless they want and need someone that only got the job because of Daddy, is capable of starting Illegal wars, And can run up an eye watering deficit.
However, all joking aside, it was astute of the President elect not to attend the G20 summit. As the US system has the election nearly three months before gaining office, it would have been like having two Presidents. Barack Obama does have an observer there, so it will be possible for the new US administration to act once he gains power, but for now this is a GW Bush show. I have spoken before that we need to create a green economy. That is not just about using renewable energy, or stopping pollution, but is about ensuring that every cost of an economic activity is taken into account. For instance when something is manufactured it produces waste, Carbon Emissions, uses and pollutes water. All these costs need to be incorporated into the cost of making that product. Often these are costs burdens that lay outside of the cost of manufacture. Also for each product there has to be an understanding of how the product will be disposed of and recycled.
Now under conventional capitalist thinking this adds costs, and in the short term that could be true, but in the long term the hidden costs are greatly reduced. As with a green economic system the item would be made to last longer. Thus the capital cost of the original purchase price is spread over a greater number of years. Unlike the current situation, items like washing machines or refrigerators are discarded rather than repaired. As this cost is often paid for by the community via waste collection taxes currently this should lead to lower costs. Further, this greening of the economy will help to create jobs, the man (or woman) that comes to repair the appliance.
Already I can hear people saying but what about the loss of jobs from the shops selling all these appliances, well yes that will mean smaller sales volumes, but if people don't have to keep replacing a washing machine every three, four or five years then people over all will be wealthier. That is an important principal of Green Economics that it benefits everyone not just a few.
Equally important will be using science to to asses the impacts of products. As science moves forward and discovers more it is inevitable that products that we thought were beneficial will be discovered to be damaging. That will still happen as the economy greens, but there will be fewer scandals where a company knew there was a likely problem but covered it up for the sake of profit.
This is even more important in the areas of food and water. Many of the chemicals that are used to provide increased yields do have a serious effect upon the environment. But it is not the chemical companies that foot the bill but the government and the community. Equally, all of these chemicals have a health effect. Some may not be discovered for years and again in the current situation it is not the manufacturer that bares the cost, but the individuals, the community or the government.
With water the problem is even more acute. Even in developed countries water bares the traces of the chemicals used in agricultural production to a greater or lesser extent. Here in Europe that was recognised as a problem twenty years ago and the problems have been tackled more comprehensively than has occurred in the rest of the world. However, with a green economy the costs would move from the consumer to the chemical companies and the agri businesses, thus making sure that the people creating the pollution are the ones that will actually pay the costs. That will lead to the farmers that produce food without pollution will be cheaper and make greater profits. This could also reduce the subsidy costs of agriculture. There will never be a time when agricultural subsides will end, as every nation will have to ensure that it maintains some ability to feed its people.
On the subject of subsidies, I really did think that I was in a dream when I heard of the bail out of the banks in the US. Had Bush had a converted to Socialism? Not at all, no matter what the complexion of a particular administration and its Ideology, all governments have to support various sectors of the economy from time to time. This time it was the banks, and while I think the way it was done was wrong, the economy in America and the rest of the world needed that support. As quite simply no system is perfect, not even a green economic system. However, it is and will be better than what we have at the moment.
Just this week on the local news following a story of how the economic crisis has lead to an increase in unemployment, was a story regarding a shortage of people following engineering apprenticeships and that there is a steady demand for these skills. Then was a further story that renewable technology companies are expanding. Now if this is not a clear sign that greening the economy provides real benefits, then I don't know what is.
With green economic solutions, the greater good has to be at the core of any economic activity. Far, to often current economic activity benefits just a few. One of the aspects of policy that Gordon Brown is talking about doing is to provide a Fiscal Stimulus (Why does that sound like a tribute band?) is to ensure that the poorer get more cash. As the poor will spend any cash they get this goes straight back into the economy rather than when the upper middle classes or the rich get tax cuts, they tend to save the money. Thus the British government is thinking about taking the right actions.
While at the moment there is still an emphasis upon the old style economic thinking that has got us into this mess going on, this economic crash has provided the planet the opportunity to really find the solutions to climate change and environmental degradation by adjusting the way that the economy is run.
At the moment everyone is still talking about growth as the solution. But an ever expanding economy is just not possible as we have finite resources. Growth is only appropriate to developing nations, what the developed nations need to do is develop an economy that is steady and stable. While growth is the appropriate measure for a developing economy as a way of calculating the base line of economic activity, it lacks the sophistication needed for a developed economy.
Further, as this base line of economic activity measures spending on all the things we want to get rid of as a society, then as a measure it is useless. For example in Britain there have been various incidents of flooding. This caused extra expenditure on renting other homes by those effected, the extra spend on hotel rooms, the costs of cleaning up and rebuilding all add to the way the growth in the economy is measured. Had there not been the flooding in the first place then that expenditure that counted towards growth would not have occurred. Surly it would be better not to have the flooding in the first place? Yet the other side of that coin is the flood mitigation. One of the known factors that is enabling flooding to happen is the loss of trees and hedges. Yet the economic activity of removing the trees, either for timber or just to enlarge fields for agriculture is counted towards growth. But leaving them in place to act as rainwater sponge is not.
Equally an example could be a coal mine that pollutes the water supply. While the coal extraction operation keeps polluting the water company has to spend more to clean up the water both add to the measure of economic activity that is growth. Yet stop the pollution the water company spends less on providing safe water that leads to a fall in the economic activity that counts towards growth.
The measure is far to simplistic to be of any real use in a developed economy. But it suits business as an easy way of making short term profits and politicians as a way of deceiving us that things are getting better. For a minority their economic status did improve, but for the majority that was an illusion. While property values were apparently rising, people felt as though they were better off. However, they misunderstood that while the value of their home had risen, so had the price of any they wanted to move to. Thus if they wanted to move it was likely they would need to borrow more. This in turn meant that to earn more people were having to work longer hours, or do two jobs or any number of things to effectively stay still economically. All very good for the over simplistic growth in GDP, but quite bad for the poor folks having to work their socks off.
As property prices continued to rise then ordinary working people had to buy or rent further away from their place of employment. The increase in traffic and journey times all contribute to the measure of economic growth via more fuel sales, more cars and the capital expenditure on the infrastructure of roads. Yet again the negative aspects of this activity actually counts towards the growth of the economy. The increases in medical expenditure for treating respiratory problems, treatment for the injuries of road accidents are all measured as an economic positive.
Therefore, any plan that the G20 comes up with needs to be much more sophisticated than just going for growth, it needs to be ensuring the growth is in the areas that are most needed for a sustainable future. That will be different for each of the twenty nations, but just following old outdated and failed methods will not work. Equally, there needs to be a major reform of the international financial systems like the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Both institutions were formed as part of the way the world needed to rebuild after the second world war. Well that was sixty years ago when economic growth was the order of the day. Just as when building a house you stop when the walls and roof are up, the WB and the IMF needed to change decades ago and stop being puppets of the western developed nations.
The WB and IMF have been environmentally disastrous for many developing nations. Often telling everyone to plant and grow the crops that the west will buy, like coffee, until there is a total collapse in price and these developing debtor nations then need to borrow more money to repeat the cycle all over again. To me it is no wonder that in some nations there is such a resentment towards the western developed nations.
We all have to think in the long term, beyond any period that a politician is in office. With all the talk of the history that was made by America having elected Barack Obama president, it struck me that the real history will be made quietly if we can find a truly fair and sustainable global economic system.
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