Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Another very enjoyable run through the woods, as the trees begin to change colour.

This morning the Bishop of Norwich talked on the radio about Tripoli and how, 2000 years ago, that part of North Africa was a very important centre of commerce and culture, as part of the Roman empire. His point was that it takes more than brute force to maintain a civilisation, making an admonishment to Gaddafi and a warning to the new regime. 

The wider point, of course, is the impermanence of our centres of cultural and commercial gravity and the need to accept the waning of power with dignity and good grace. The title of this post is a quote from the visionary poem by the English poet Shelley, written at a time when the British Empire was  at its peak and perhaps even more relevant now as we all face huge tectonic shifts in the global centres of power & influence.

Addictive Tendencies

Back to the city, for a fine run through the woods and a rapid scan of the news sites.

The Guardian has a succinct article about the damaging addiction of consumers and corporations to energy in developed societies (and, by implication, the aspirations to the same addiction in developing societies, like children admiring the cool older people who smoke cigarettes or use other drugs).

The addiction model seems to be a key to understanding a wide range of self-destructive human behaviour - obsessive economic growth, excessive consumption of material goods, food, information  - even foreign holidays. All these things seem symptomatic of species dysfunctionality, and an indication that, notwithstanding the cultural and scientific achievements of the last 5000 years, most of us don't know what to do with ourselves when we no longer have to spend our time growing or hunting food, collecting firewood, or fighting off sabre-toothed tigers.

Too much consumption - again

A beautiful clear morning, and a lovely run. The birds seem very active just now, presumably responding to the closing days of summer and leaner times ahead.

The Lancet has just published a revealing set of articles about the global rise in obesity, which is happening at an alarming rate across most societies, rich and poor, despite the billion people without enough to eat. The first article seems to summarise the situation very clearly: The simultaneous increases in obesity in almost all countries seem to be driven mainly by changes in the global food system, which is producing more processed, affordable, and effectively marketed food than ever before. This passive overconsumption of energy leading to obesity is a predictable outcome of market economies predicated on consumption-based growth. 

So it's official. Capitalism is bad for your health. No surprises there - we’ve seen it all before with tobacco & alcohol.  The Lancet is calling for higher taxes and clearer health warnings on such food, which seems eminently sensible, as does a vigorous campaign of naming & shaming the worst offenders, such as Nestlé & PepsiCo.

Victory for vultures ?

A cool, misty start to the day and a good warming run.

This morning the various news-sources make interesting comparative reading.  BBC news is uncomfortably full of action-movie images from Libya as the rebels move closer to defeating the loyalists. According to the Daily Telegraph, British SAS troops are "leading the hunt for Gaddafi", in a purely advisory way without putting their NATO boots on the ground, presumably.
The New York Times is dominated by the resignation of Steve Jobs as Apple's CEO, which probably shows the relative importance attributed to a corporation with a cash flow bigger than that of the US economy, versus the troubles of a marginal North African country. However, they do include a comprehensive account of Gaddafi's erratic time as leader. Meanwhile the News International-owned Sun, with a scarily high daily UK circulation of around 2.7 million, leads with a crowd-pleasing "I played on mad-dog Gaddafi's teacup ride".

The Independent takes a slightly more measured view, and includes an essay by the excellent Robert Fisk in which he makes a convincing argument that many of the lies and mistakes that followed the Iraq war are about to be made again, as Western diplomats and oil companies circle over the wreckage.

Looking beyond the bubble

A noticeably darker morning as the equinox beckons, but a fine early run.

The Independent carries an intriguing report today about the Dark Mountain project, which is a network of people trying to find an honest cultural language with which to confront the unravelling of our so-called civilisation.

At a time when governments pontificate about growing out of debt, and currency speculators run amok in the background (ref), as the whole bubble of our capitalist-materialist society shows every sign of looming collapse, any collective attempt to puncture the myths with measured realism is to be applauded.

Business as usual

After a few days of running break for logistical reasons, this morning was back to a delightful run along the silvery loch side.

Today's news is dominated by events in Tripoli, as events on the ground finally offer some apparent success for NATO's lengthy & costly aerial campaign of regime change. The real success will be measured by the way in which the very disparate anti-Gaddafi factions can work together, and by the extent to which oil-hungry Western governments can respect the power vacuum, but meanwhile we should expect a lot of statesman-like rhetoric from Britain & France. Always assuming that Gaddafi is actually finished which, at the time of writing, has not been confirmed.

What comes naturally

A cool misty morning, and a fine early run along the lochside, where the recently cut grass margin is already blossoming again with wild flowers, which leads to a relatively positive posting as a break from the endless litany of mayhem and corruption. 

The UK Native Seed Hub at Kew Gardens in London has just been established, with the admirable aim of providing seeds and advice to encourage the growth of diverse habitats full of native flowers (ref).

Since the 19^th century, gardeners in Europe have been avidly collecting non-native plant species, leading to a horticulture which has not only introduced plants which are difficult to grow and sometimes harmful to the balance of biodiversity, but has also led to a crucial devaluing of what grows naturally – a powerful metaphor for the way in which we are steadily screwing up the planet.

Of course, a whole industry has grown up to sell us the materials and equipment to grow these exotic species. Not content with that, garden centres, at least in the UK, have become bizarre “lifestyle emporia”, selling scented candles, rattan furniture, self-help books, birthday cards, over-priced snacks – anything in fact which will distract us from standing quietly and appreciating the beauty of what will grow without our interference – because obviously there’s no profit in that. 

Blame game

A brighter morning, with a slightly premature autumnal chill, and a very enjoyable run.

In the aftermath of the UK riots, some 2700 people have now been arrested. Many of them are facing very severe punishments as the government enthusiastically finds culprits for our amoral, selfish and dishonest society. Whole families of some rioters are being evicted from their homes. Someone who handled a stolen television is jailed for 18 months. Two people are jailed for 4 years for trying, unsuccessfully, to incite a riot via Facebook (ref).

In this surge of retributive “justice” it will be very interesting to see what happens to the Murdoch family, and to David Cameron’s ex-media adviser Andy Coulson, and to Cameron’s neighbour Rebekah Brooks, as it emerges that they lied comprehensively to the UK parliament when they denied knowledge of the phone hacking (ref).

We can probably assume that a prime minister who tries to incite warfare by selling arms to Middle Eastern despots, or indeed an ex-prime minister who led the UK into war on the basis of lies about weapons of mass destruction, will somehow be immune from this form of justice.

RBS do it again

Back in the Highlands, and a damp & peaceful run along the lochside.

The sense of peace was rudely interrupted by a shocking report about cluster bombs in today’s Independent. These appalling devices contain multiple smaller bombs (sub-munitions) which can lie unexploded for decades after being dropped. 30% of victims are children, 60% are civilians. 108 countries have agreed to ban them – though not the USA, China or Russia, who continue to manufacture them.

Although the UK has signed the ban treaty, a legal loophole has enabled several high street banks to continue to provide financial support to US manufacturers of these weapons, such as Lockheed Martin and Alliant Techsystems. The worst offender in the UK is the largely state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland . Given that the UK government commissioned Lockheed Martin to help with the recent population census, this isn’t altogether surprising. No doubt Lockheed Martin will soon be invited to run our health service too.

Meanwhile, in the spirit of naming & shaming, other UK banks involved include HSBC, Barclays, & Lloyds TSB, as well as banks from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Only Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and New Zealand have had the moral courage to ban their banks from supporting these weapons.

A respect thing

A damp morning but a good run spent reflecting further on recent events.

The original meaning of the word respectable is, obviously, that which is able to be, or worthy of being, respected. In the 1960s in the UK, and probably elsewhere in Western society too, the term came to be a synonym for repressive and repressed – the opposite of the liberal values which were sweeping through that era like a fresh broom. This broom has led to a very healthy legacy of questioning tradition & authority to keep it accountable to society, but has also left something of a respect-vacuum in its wake, or so the prevailing narrative would have us believe.

A certain measure of respect is a fundamental human right – actually I would argue that it is a right shared by all sentient beings, and many non-sentient ones too. From that perspective there is undoubtedly a respect-vacuum, and one which affects all levels of society and which impacts on the full spectrum of life on the planet. Breaking shop windows and stealing television sets really barely registers on that scale of damage, compared to what we are doing to the environment and to each other on a daily basis in the name of "growth".

The value of values

A damp morning but a good run. 

A very interesting piece in Spiegel Online today (ref), discussing the rise of secularism – currently running third in world belief systems at a estimated 1 billion, behind Islam (1.6 billion) and Christianity (2.3 billion). Describing secularism as a belief system is maybe misleading, since there seems to be very little commonality between atheists except perhaps belief in the value of scepticism and rationality, and perhaps a more worked-through grasp of ethical issues than people who unquestioningly follow a religious script. “Rise” is also questionable. The perceived rise may be more to do with a higher profile of existing non-believers rather than higher numbers, just as the apparent rise of Christian fundamentalism may be more to do with a small number of people making a louder noise than before. Nevertheless, in the aftermath of the rioting, and in the much wider context of tensions and violence between different belief groups across the world, this is a very good time for individuals and societies to be re-examining and reaffirming their ethical values, from whatever source.  

Cause or effect

After 36 hours of rain, this morning’s run was more of a splash, across flooded fields and tracks. 

The rain also seems to have dampened the riots, and attention is turning to why they happened. Colonel Gaddafi has apparently suggested that the unrest shows that the UK government is illegitimate, and should stand down. Saner but less witty fingers are being pointed variously at parents and state being too soft, at chronic racism, at social and economic inequality, at an amoral, selfish & materialistic society. All of which is probably true, and not unique to the UK although we may currently be at the top of the league table. 

The real question is what, if anything, can be done about it. The answer, as with the question of how we can live more sustainably, will probably be a pluralistic mosaic of small steps across the whole of society, by which, if we are lucky, a critical momentum will be reached before it’s too late.

Follow the leaders

A refreshingly wet run through the woods reflecting on another violent night in England.

"Butch" Cameron has come home and sorted out his own back yard, for now at least, but rioting and looting continued in other cities last night. Opportunistic theft, belligerence and destruction, vandalism of major institutions – the example of recent governments, banks, and captains of industry is clearly being followed by disaffected young citizens. This is probably not what the prime minister meant by his “Big Society” but, after so much materialistic greed, corruption and war-mongering at the top, it really isn’t surprising that people lower down feel free to help themselves too.

Urban but not urbane

A beautiful tranquil morning, and a fine 25 minute run.

Less tranquil in London & some other cities in the south of England, where the rioting seems to be spreading.

The New York Times, with the objectivity of distance, presents a very measured account of the trouble, juxtaposing the impact of recent social spending cuts on the urban poor with the looming extravagance of the Olympics.

Interestingly, even the normally rabidly right wing Daily Telegraph seems to be confronting the issue honestly, with an essay on the rioters as the rejected underclass of a crumbling nation, tucked in the midst of the more predictable posturing about mob rule and mindless thugs.

I haven’t seen mention, among the explanations, of the continuing rewards diverted to bankers as they float around without noticeable paddles in the turbulent creeks of the global economy but then, once you start looking for reasons to take to the streets, the list could become quite lengthy.

Maybe tomorrow will be better

Back in  the city, a fine bright morning and a fine muddy 25 minute run.

The news is particularly bleak today, as brutal violence continues in Syria, the global financial markets continue to panic, and rioting continues in London after the police shooting of an apparently unarmed man in Tottenham. Meanwhile Prime Minister Cameron, clearly a man with his finger on the political pulse, makes headlines in the right wing press by being photographed with a pretty waitress whilst on holiday in Tuscany (ref).

Memo to D Cameron: Silvio Berlusconi is not a good role-model.

When the voting mice are away the fat cats will play

A grey morning and a gentle run, musing on economic matters again.

The world financial markets seem very uncomfortable, with the US facing a possible 2^nd recession, the euro possibly collapsing, and the Asian stock market becoming very nervous about the oceans of debt. Here in the UK we are being told repeatedly that the economy isn’t escaping from its debts as fast as had been predicted by the government.

All of this gloom may be the first signs of puncturing the global bubble of expansionist consumerism, and thus not altogether a change for the worse. Nevertheless it does seem an extraordinary time for Prime Minister Cameron and Chancellor Osborne to be considering tax cuts for the wealthiest sector of the UK population in order to attract more “wealth generators” to the country (ref). On reflection, there are maybe some positive aspects to the idea. Such blatant disregard for the views of the other 99% of the population serves as a valuable reminder of how farcical our so-called parliamentary democracy has become. And a policy of bribing the very rich to come to the UK in the hope that they will invest their money here must surely lead some people to doubt the sanity of global capitalism – but perhaps that’s being too optimistic.

Enough is enough

An utterly beautiful morning and a lovely lochside run.

The narrative regarding the global distribution of resources often divides the world into two realms – developing and developed. The subtext is that the developed world is ripe & mature, and the developing world aspires to get there too, which is only fair. Another taxonomy would be wealthy world and wanting world – terms used by Peter Tertzakian in his The End of Energy Obesity.

Unfortunately, as Tertzakian points out, this neat division doesn’t match the reality.  Not only do many developed societies include grotesque disparities between rich and poor, but even the wealthy are, in Maslow’s words, ”perpetually wanting” (ref).
Psycho-analysing the entire human race is probably too ambitious a project for a single blog entry, but this perpetual want could explain why the world waited with bated breath whilst Obama was compelled to increase the US national debt by yet more trillions of dollars in order to keep the economy growing, like addicts needing anther fix.

Green spin

After a weekend of heavy carpentry and a bit of wild swimming, back to a good 25 minute run up the misty lochside. The route passes a small hydro-electric project, built by the owners of a “sporting” estate, to take advantage of the Feed In Tariff (FIT) scheme. This scheme is essentially a government bribe to induce the affluent to invest in renewable energy generation and to sell surplus power back to the national grid.

Superficially, any scheme to encourage the use of renewable energy sounds good. Here in Scotland there are a lot of opportunities for hydro-power. In over-populated & drier England the focus is much more on photovoltaic (PV panels). At a time when bank interest rates are so low, FIT is being seen as an attractive opportunity which will bring a return of maybe 10% interest to anyone with a few thousand pounds to invest. However, critics of FIT, such as George Monbiot (ref), argue that the government money would be much better spent by developing more effective renewable technology, especially in the case of PV panels.

There also seems to be a more fundamental flaw in such commodification of energy. The planet’s energy, like its air, is a resource to be nurtured and shared fairly, and shouldn’t be promoted as an opportunity for the rich to become richer.