Toxic Trauma

I just got used to the idea of replacing the spoonfuls of sugar in my coffee with copious amounts of milk given all the negative press sugar has been receiving over the past years.  

Already I had cut down on my chocolate caramel shortbread consumption after the bad fats hype, so I was  quite confident to be on a healthy track.

But helas!  Apparently more than 300ml of milk a day is likely to kill you prematurely as well....!  Go figure.

So I cut out coffee altogether as of two weeks ago and redirected my hot drink addiction to spiced tea, preferably cinnamon, the tasty cholesterol lowering bark that makes a cup of watery brew halfway enjoyable.

But it seems like I can’t win.  

Apparently now cinnamon has become the new baddy -  especially the cheaper Chinese variety one would find in a tea bag or Christmas cookie.

  

What’s next?  

Water.  

Wanta bet?!

Would you mind....?

As long as guys keep inventing more stuff and keep us going with the next super gadget to solve our environmental, resource and conflict issues, we are not going to get anywhere!! 

Fracking is not going to solve our energy supply, high tech arsenals will not solve our conflict issues, nor will geo engineering reduce our climate problems.  

All this is nothing but a pathetic manifestation of our humanity’s blind belief that technology is the way forward!  

Granted this way of thinking may appeal to the male brain, but it hasn’t worked!  

No, sorry, it really hasn’t guys!!!  

From the horrors of battlefields and mass migrations, it has moved us several notches up the scale to the possibility of imminent mass extinction.

Overpopulation, a result of mad breeding practices imposed on women has produced considerable stress on humanity.

Nowadays, as consumerism is spreading around the world and mountains of rubbish in oceans and the skies testify of our short sighted approach to life quality, it is becoming quite clear that STUFF is not going to save us!  

Sorry guys!  Mind giving it all another thought...?

Nein !

There are bounderies that I set at times where I may find myself alone on the other side - but that has never bothered me.  

In fact, I don’t believe that majorities are right.  Nevertheless I usually respect majority decisions, even if I don’t necessarily let them dictate my life.  

When George W. Bush decided to terrorise the good Americans and send their children into battle unter false pretense, I gathered our belongings and moved our family to Costa Rica. When George W. was re-elected, we decided to stay away and later on moved everyone to Europe, where life seemed less volatile.  

For a few years we came to enjoy the benefits of a state health care system and a generous yearly leave as well as affordable child care.

Life seemed more secure and with the abundance of cultural events and endless trails and sprawling natural beauty for everyone to enjoy, life quality also got a considerable boost.  For a while, the hair raising deals of Wahington lobbyists seemed a thing of the past.  The NRA, Halliburton & Co., Texaco et al., they all  seemed to recede into the background.  

In the meantime, England was getting rid of its airplane carrier and, in the wake of the financial crisis, it went after banker bonuses.  All seemed good.  

But of course, no honeymoon lasts forever...and now, once again, I find myself googling after everyone else has gone to bed.  

Once again, I am looking for an escape route.  But in this gung-ho winner-takes-all euphoria of our post-industrial age, is there really anywhere to go?

Standing Firm

After my level of cynicism threatened to reach a new peak, I am relieved to report that the High Court in London ordered that the eviction notice had to be withdrawn and the protector camp can remain in place until further notice.

As a celebratory gesture, trays of orange juice were delivered to the site together with other goodies and the mood swung to light on this sunny late September day.

How much does it take, though? How many to stand up against a few?

No Way Bobby!

In the kerfuffle that ensued at the site, the coppers clamped down and arrested our barde, Simon Welsh.  As he was bellowing the Fracking Anthem (by the same Simon Welsh), they came down on him - he didn’t have a fighting chance.  Poor guy, but where he left off an ad hoc mom’s choir took over.  

This clearly is not a one-man show.    

Holding the Fort

I am off to Balcombe again first thing in the morning. Despite the positive national and international press coverage and media attention it has received over the past seven weeks, the protest camp is suddenly under threat of eviction. Time and date: September 10th, 9am. 

So off I go, Jules with me - another day in the life of a home educating family.

Fracking Crazy!

The drilling rig is to arrive at a site in East Sussex today with drilling to commence on Saturday.

Follow this live Facebook Note for updates: https://www.facebook.com/notes/frack-free-sussex/cuadrilla

What are they up to?  Drilling in the London Banker belt, destroying fox hunting grounds, horse paddocks and sweeping views from hill top mansions is not the obvious course of action when a country is faced with pensioners’ plight in the face of rising energy costs.

So what is on their mind?

Fracked !

                                       

Fracking - the process of drilling deeper and deeper into the Earth and using more and more invasive methods of extracting methane gas from shale rock is symptomatic of the MALE approach to coping with fear: 

Impose yourself - control by all means - focus on ensuring survival of the species at all costs. 

 Frack!

Hand me those Shoes!!

After years of married life with children, I have, despite my most fervent determination to the contrary, morphed into a doormat. I am seeing everyone off in the mornings and welcome them back at night. I patiently attend to the grubby side of family life - the underbelly of a well-tuned family saga of clean sheets, matched socks, starched shirts, and folded laundry (most of the time anyway). I am on the scene before anyone else and I rest only once all is as it was before the little steps and clunky big ones have all passed through my gateway. Unnoticed in the corner I sit and reflect on the tenacious nature of gender based inequality and its manifestation in an age that has brought forward the atomic bomb, climate change, hydraulic fracturing, mass shootings and record number genocides, as well as ubiquitous digital images of sexual domination and an unsustainable population growth. Oh well, but luckily when the mood tanks, there is always another pair of shoes to dote on...

To the Right and Honourable

The Right and Honourable David Cameron 

MP Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 

10 Downing Street,
London SW1A 2AA.

Tuesday, 27th June 2013

Dear Mr Cameron,

We are deeply concerned about this government’s approval of shale gas exploration in vast areas of the UK, including Sussex.  

Hydraulic fracturing, the technology used the process of extracting trapped methane gas from deep subterranean rock, has a well known history of potentially far reaching negative effects on surrounding areas, including toxic ground water contamination, radioactive contamination from radioactive isotopes released from shale rock during the process, as well as causing seismic shocks such as witnessed in Lancashire.

In addition the process would destroy the character and appearance of our communities and spoil Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB) by pockmarking it with shale gas wells, condensate tanks, waste fluid pits, pipelines, compressor stations and frequent heavy road tanker traffic.

As residents who are raising families in this area, we are concerned about the short sighted approach of your government.  Hydraulic fracturing for methane is not only an irresponsible attempt to address our energy needs, but it is also uneconomical as this capital intensive approach draws resources from the development of renewable safe energy.  

Fracking for shale gas and coal bed methane is not an intelligent response to Britain's energy needs. It would provide gas for the next fifteen to twenty years, after which Britain would be in exactly the same energy predicament it is in now, except that our landscape would be destroyed, water courses irreparably contaminated and we would have poured countless tons of methane and CO2 into the atmosphere.

By hand of

Residents of Sussex

Frack Off !

At some point investment banking became so complicated that the very clever guys at the top were having a hard time remembering the rules themselves.

Instead they invented new ones and applied them rather selectively as they went around on an ever faster spinning carrousel of profit margins, lending practices and back office deals.

The rest is history.

All of us groaned and some camped, but eventually most of us picked up and moved on in order to give our national GDPs a good push, because surely that’s what’s needed - a sturdy growth index! With more of us working at lower rates and many of us working basically for free, this should not be too difficult, right?

But then, those very clever guys are also working away hard - at the next back office deal! With governments desperate for capital and jobs, they see their chance to secure permits, licenses, and subsidies.

Riverstone, a private equity firm that invests in oil and gas exploration, determined that now is the time to invest in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the new gold rush in gas exploration. Their money is causing a great deal of damage in the UK where Cuadrilla Resources, the drilling company sponsored by Riverstone, is pumping chemicals into the ground to release trapped gases, causing seismic shockwaves and burning faucets.

They have moved into Sussex now and the locals joined them for a tea party next to the drilling hole. Our turn this time:

Frack off and go home, guys!