Friday 30 October 2009

Self improvement

I have a confession to make... I'm not as good as I used to be. "In what way?" I hear you cry. Well, it struck me today that I've not done a serious piece of exercise since I moved to Brighton 7 weeks ago.

It's true, I've brought my bicycle along and I use it to get around every now and then, which does go some way to maintaining some level of fitness, but considering how active I used to be I've reached a new low.

I have, inevitably, come up with a theory (read: excuse) why this has happened. It's because I don't feel threatened. I don't feel like I have any competition, therefore I do not try to match/better another athlete.

For example, when I lived in Somerset I liked to think of myself as rather fit and active, but along came a new member of staff who competed at a national level in cycling, the sport I considered to be my forte. Needless to say I got back on the bike more often once I discovered that I was no longer the queen bee and benefited greatly from it.

A similar situation occurred this summer. It had been a while since I went for a swim (dreadlocks didn't lend themselves to aqua-dynamic performance) but I was a reasonably strong swimmer in my youth so, when asked by a friend if I wanted to join them on a morning session in the pool, I didn't think much of it. How the years have been unkind to me and my lungs! My friend, who I considered an equal back in the day, swam circles around me.

The pattern holds true for my work too. At the start of the course I knew I would be on the back foot having no previous experience on journalism, save this sporadic outpouring into the ether. So I tried my hardest, studied every night and kept on top of the work. However, now I have established myself in the top sector of the class (based entirely on test results) I no longer feel the pressure to perform, ergo I slack off.

This resulted in a rude awakening when I got my dates mixed up and arrived unprepared for a major test earlier this week. Not a surprise, then, that I flunked it and as a result self esteem is back down to early course levels. Needless to say this has restored my energy with regard to work and will hopefully pay dividends in the exams which are less than a month away!

I hope that the bruising of my ego will be a lesson to me and all who follow me (that's you!)

On a positive note this method of motivation has inspired me to play the piano and trombone more and I will give my first public solo trombone performance since my first year at university the day after tomorrow. Every cloud...

Thursday 29 October 2009

Finally, proof!

Thanks to a recent tweet I was linked to this article from the LA Times. I've pasted it below for your benefit:

GREENSPACE, LA Times
August 07, 2009

Environmentalists tend to avoid the topic of population control. Too touchy. But the politically incorrect issue is becoming unavoidable as the global population lurches toward a predicted 9 billion people by mid-century. Will there be enough food? Enough water? Will planet-heating carbon dioxide gas become ever more uncontrollable?

Now comes a study by statisticians at Oregon State University focusing on the elephant in the room.

The findings: If you are concerned about your carbon footprint, think birth control.

The greenhouse gas effect of a child is almost 20 times more significant than the amount any American would save by such practices as driving a fuel-efficient car, recycling or using energy-efficient lightbulbs and appliances, according to Paul Murtaugh, an Oregon State professor of statistics. Under current U.S. consumption patterns, each child ultimately adds about 9,441 metric tons of CO2 to the carbon legacy of an average parent -- about 5.7 times a person's lifetime emissions, he calculates.

Given the higher per-capita consumption of developed nations, the study found that the impact of a child born in the U.S., along with all his or her descendants, is more than 160 times that of a Bangladeshi child. And the long-term impact of a Chinese child is less than one-fifth the impact of a U.S.-born child. But as China, India and other developing nations hurtle toward prosperity, that is likely to change.

-- Margot Roosevelt

Study by statisticians at Oregon State University.


I have for a long time thought that we're breeding too much. Overpopulation, although not a sole cause, can be attributed to problems in unemployment and lack of housing, two issues rather close to my heart at the moment.

It doesn't take a genius to realise that with fewer people on the planet the net quality of life for us would improve.

The long term solution is obvious: have fewer children. But a short term solution isn't clear. Mass genocide isn't looked too kindly upon nowadays and far be it for me to wish another World War to happen.

The hippie in me thinks pandemics like bird-flu and swine-flu are natures way of keeping us in check: Survival of the fittest etc. If we keep extending our life expectancy there'll be no room left on this little planet for us to enjoy a quantum of solace every now and then.

Now, I'm not saying that we should just let nature take it's course, but we must realise that we can't have lots of children and live forever.

Balance must reign supreme. Yin and yang; black and white; 0 and 1... life is full of things that work only because there is balance.

To address this balance we can either try to come to a happy medium ourselves as individuals, living truly carbon neutral lifestyles (ha!) and agreeing not having children until we've sorted the problem, or we can work together and agree on certain principles.

However, now we get onto questions of freedom and moral rights: Do we prevent people breeding purely on the basis of their social status, wealth, race or skills? No, we can't. What, then, is the answer?

It's at this stage where I fall short of the mark. Obviously I wouldn't deserve to breed in my twisted Orwellian world. Probably a good thing, then, that I don't want kids for the reasons suggested by the LA Times.

Thursday 22 October 2009

A watched kettle...

... contrary to popular folklore, will invariably boil. An obvious statement, you may say, but so obvious is this statement that many people take it for granted.

I could go and praise the amazing work of Lord Weir and the existence of the National Grid, but this is a call to arms for Eco Warriors everywhere.

My green aspirations are nothing new and I have been through the dreadlocked-hippie-university-student phase. Nowadays I am less dogmatic about Green Living and will not scorn others at the drop of a hat for not recycling their paper (Shock, horror!).

However, recently I have moved to Brighton, a city popular with the Green vote. I am shocked at the number of the people I meet who are oblivious to their impact on the environment and still boil a whole kettle of water to make one cup of tea. I even live with a man who boils a whole kettle "so that whoever uses it next doesn't have to wait as long"!

I implore everyone with a scrap of common sense and decency to think very carefully about how you can help us make this world last a little longer. It is well documented that abusing the grid in the way mentioned above wastes a expletive huge amount amount of energy.

Do those of you who still boil a whole kettle for one mug of Ovaltine not feel the sting of guilt that you have slapped Mother Nature in the face every time you do this?

I remember the moment when I realised that although I may be a small fish in a 1,400,000,000 km3 pond everything I do has an effect on the environment. 'For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction'. Twisting Netwon's laws to fit my analogy may be a little pretentious but humanity must realise that we affect the world we live in. The laws of nature will not overlook the stray wrapper and she will count every single one as an act against her survival.

Can we not see that once Earth is made uninhabitable we have nowhere else to live?

So, please, make it your life's goal to protect our habitat in whatever you do. Recycle your paper, buy fair trade products, only boil as much water as you need. Vast and varied as our world may be, we only have one chance to get it right.