tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-335267062024-03-24T05:14:40.102+11:00ideas for changeworking for that day when the air is filled with the euphoria of participatory democracy ... and when local communities bloom like the jacarandas in Novemberanneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-6922951194901485522017-04-17T13:19:00.002+10:002017-04-17T13:37:01.721+10:00Response to SBS article on "Orthorexia"See article "<a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/life/health/article/2017/04/13/orthorexia-when-your-desire-clean-eating-turns-obsessive">Orthorexia: When your desire for 'clean eating' turns obsessive</a>"
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<i>Posted as a comment, and unexpectedly it became an essay, processing thoughts I've had over the last few years regarding diets undertaken to address particular medical conditions.</i>
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A related issue to obsessive consequences of "clean eating" is that certain diets for particular health conditions are extremely difficult to undertake rigorously, sometimes requiring careful control of variables, and causing significant side effects that can temporarily derail work and family commitments.
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A large proportion of people who begin difficult diets will drop out because of the sheer effort of adhering to them properly. See for example, this 2012 article, "<a href="https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1745-6215-13-111">Long-term dietary intervention trials: critical issues and challenges</a>."
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I was very lucky that my worst health problems arose at a time when I was writing a thesis so I did not have a strict employment schedule, I was able to experiment with diet based treatments, undertaking them methodically and staying in bed when I was wiped out by them.
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In particular, undertaking a low carbohydrate diet such as the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD), for inflammatory bowel disease, or the Low FODMAP diet for fructose malabsorption, or detecting a food intolerance through the elimination diet, will certainly cause several days of exhaustion due to bacterial die-off (Herxheimer reaction). [I have experienced this with all three].
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As a result, and sometimes as a result of inadequate nutrition, I have occasionally experienced excessive weight loss and worry from family members, despite their overall positive lessons for me, leading me to reduce my inflammation levels: I am now able to control my symptoms mostly without drugs.
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Our families [and perhaps employers] should understand that they need to give the right kind of critical support to our efforts to understand our food intolerances and the dietary aspect of our medical conditions. Many people are frustrated in their messy attempts to know their own food needs in ways that may yield long term benefits to their health, especially since the science behind some of these diets is underdeveloped.
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We need to distinguish between obsessive behaviour that requires intervention, and the valid careful and dedicated adherence to a particular diet until it yields results.
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However the difficult truth is that sometimes there is a fine line between the two because when we are trying to find a food culprit for our symptoms we can become invested in our particular hunches, and become almost superstitious, noticing every negative symptom or mood swing and demonising particular foods as causing it when they in fact have not.
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To reduce this confusion and worry from family members, I undertook the low FODMAP diet with a dietician's supervision. Part of the reason was that it had more peer reviewed studies backing it up than SCD for example -although SCD now has some peer reviewed support - <a href="http://pulse.seattlechildrens.org/novel-diet-therapy-helps-children-with-crohns-disease-and-ulcerative-colitis-reach-remission/">see here</a>.
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Yet I do not think that Low FODMAP was necessarily more effective for my situation. While I have benefited from excluding wheat from my diet for 15 years, suggesting the validity of the category of "wheat fructans," the category Polyols including mannitol that mushrooms are part of in the FODMAP framework does not seem to be an issue for me: I can happily eat sweet potato and sweet peas, yet I cannot eat mushrooms or chewing gum sweetened with mannitol. I have now excluded mushrooms and chewing gum permanently, reducing my headaches, digestive distress and exhaustion.
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Working with the dietician did however help me in being more rigorous, keeping a more methodical food diary and also being less absolutist in my adoption of some aspects of the diet.
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I also later found that some other foods cause problems for me. Legume-based additives such as guar gum and carragenan cause terrible side effects for me, while lupini beans and lupin flour make me sick. Perhaps this is due to particular plant chemicals that function as defences against herbivory, with some legumes having higher concentrations because they do not have long histories of domestication that other legumes such as lentils (which are fine for me) have. Some emulsifiers as well as brewers and bakers yeast also cause problems for me.
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None of these diets has in itself produced the magic cure I was after, yet each has taught me something new that I have carried forward that has benefited my health greatly. Each has also taught me to be attentive through practicing a food diary.
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The trouble with the diagnosis of “orthorexia” nervosa is that is can lead doctors and other authority figures up the familiar path of psychologising , of saying “it’s all in your mind,” which today we have a name for: gaslighting.
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Now as we are in the revolution of the microbiome, we simply cannot say "it's all in your mind" anymore. As neurology has given us the extended model of the brain, and shown how mind and body are connected, we no longer accept reductive explanation, and the medical practitioner has to at least admit that they do not know the extent to which food is part of our maladies of chronic disease, and that they cannot moralise about healthy eating when what is healthy for one person may not be healthy for another.anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-38205395255253567182016-10-14T16:45:00.003+11:002016-10-14T16:51:51.872+11:00Why support light rail and the electrification of transport.
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If we want to address climate change with the seriousness it deserves, we should electrify transport. The ACT Light rail project shows leadership in this direction: it will be Australia's first zero-pollution public transport system.
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In a recent article in Vox, <a href=”http://www.vox.com/2016/9/19/12938086/electrify-everything”>“The Key to Tackling Climate Change: Electrify Everything,”</a> David Roberts cites a growing expert consensus on what is called “environmentally beneficial electrification.” He says that there is a two-pronged strategy for deep decarbonisation:
<p>
1. Clean up electricity<p>
2. Electrify everything.
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The ACT is well on the way to doing (1). It is leading Australia in the effort to decarbonise the electricity supply, with a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2020. We know how to do this. What we don’t know how to do is how to decarbonise engine fuel. You can buy offsets, which have <a href=”https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/sep/16/carbon-offset-projects-carbon-emissions
“>problems in themselves</a>, but you can’t make the fuel itself greenhouse-friendly. Even if you make biodiesel from the waste oil from takeaway fish and chip shops, you are still emitting CO2 and other nasties.
<p>
If you electrify transport, the job of reducing greenhouse gas emissions for transport is much easier: you can plug into the 100% renewable energy of the ACT grid by 2020, and you immediately decarbonise a considerable part of Canberra’s carbon footprint, in one of the most car-dependent cities in Australia, making the new ACT light rail line Australia’s first zero pollution, zero carbon emissions public transport system.
<p>
<a href=”http://newsroom.unfccc.int/lpaa/transport/the-paris-declaration-on-electro-mobility-and-climate-change-and-call-to-action/“>The Paris Declaration on Electro-Mobility and Climate Change</a> states that "Limiting the global temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius requires changing this transport emissions trajectory, which involves the development of an integrated electro- mobility ecosystem encompassing various transport modes, coupled with the low-carbon production of electricity and hydrogen, implemented in conjunction with broader sustainable transport principles."
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Currently Australia's transport emissions trajectory is not reducing at the pace needed for a safe climate. Transport in Australia emits <a href=”http://climatechangeauthority.gov.au/reviews/light-vehicle-emissions-standards-australia/opportunities-reduce-light-vehicle-emissions”>16 per cent</a> of Australia's polluting greenhouse gases per year, over 90 Megatons. Diesel vehicles- such as conventional buses, trucks and 4WDs - are the <a href=”http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/9309.0main+features131%20Jan%202016”>fastest growing fuel type</a> for all vehicles in Australia. Yet diesel fumes emit CO2 and CO, and have the added problem of being a <a href= “http://www.cancercouncil.com.au/86083/cancer-information/general-information-cancer-information/cancer-questions-myths/environmental-and-occupational-carcinogens/diesel-fuel-emissions/”>Group 1 carcinogen</a> according to the World Health Organisation.
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There have been many promising developments in electric bus technology that are prompting rapid adoption of this mode of transit due to <a href="http://cleantechnica.com/2016/05/17/great-electric-bus-takeover-begins-proterra-launches-new-battery/">vast fuel savings</a> over the lifetime of the bus. The Greens policy to transition ACT's bus fleet to 100% electric is a good step in the right direction. Internal combustion engines are less than 30% efficient. Add to that the energy cost of transporting fuel from the other side of the world.
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Yet buses do not have the transformative network effects that light rail has. Light rail has become the "backbone" of systems <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/five-million-people-jump-on-board-gold-coast-light-rail-since-july-2014-20150506-ggviij.html">such as on the Gold Coast</a> and Glenelg extension (SA), where in both cases there was <a href="https://www.railexpress.com.au/opponents-hate-light-rail-and-then-they-try-it-broad/">much scepticism</a> before their construction. Light rail <a href="http://www.actlightrail.info/2016/10/why-rails-instead-of-rubber.html">attracts more people out of their cars</a> than buses: there is a section of the population that simply will not use buses whereas they will happily use rail modes of transit. <p> Energy is also lost from friction between rubber tyres and the road. It's smoother and more efficient to have tracks connecting steel and steel. This is why many people find rail-based journeys more comfortable and preferable to road-based transport, especially if they spend their commutes reading or working on handheld devices or a computer.
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While some have argued that to address environmental concerns, Canberra should focus on improving cycling infrastructure, my experience riding my bike each day to work gives a strong hunch that this is necessary but not sufficient: for most people cycling is not an all-weather mode of transport: less than half my colleagues who cycled did so during the Winter. Furthermore, cycling is less inclusive than light rail for elders, disabled people and young children.
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I am very proud to have been part of community campaigns in Canberra for the ambitious climate change targets that it has today. The ACT has shown what a pathway to renewable energy looks like that doesn't break the bank, being the only jurisdiction in Australia where electricity prices decreased by an average of <a href=” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-15/canberrans-to-pay-less-for-household-electricity-bills/6546038“>$80 per household</a> in 2015. These targets dovetail very well with an ambitious public transport policy of light rail that both Labor and the Greens have adopted, which several environmental groups advocated for.
<p>
In 2008, the Conservation Council of the ACT advocated for light rail for the ACT election, commissioning <a href=” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzcjfs_XnfE”>an animation</a> of what a light rail journey down Northbourne Avenue would look like. I helped build a 3 metre-long light rail model, which members of Climate Action Canberra would carry above our heads and take to climate change protests in 2008-10. We would get many appreciative honks from passing motorists as we walked down the median strip towards Parliament House, prefiguring a future in which light rail formed a backbone of Canberra as Walter Burley Griffin intended.
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We are now much closer to that future than we have ever been for a very long time, and I hope people register the significance of what the ACT government is doing. Canberra will be the first in Australia to have 100% renewable-powered public transport, showing other cities a pathway out of their smog: it is clear that electrification holds a similar kind of promise of a brighter future as it did for my grandparents’ generation.anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-82013366201381385702016-05-07T00:20:00.001+10:002016-05-08T10:16:24.408+10:00Meeting my local federal member about the Trans Pacific Partnership
Meeting with politicians in my opinion is a bit like debating. In moderation, it's worth doing because it sharpens up your thinking and communication skills, refreshing your understanding of an issue. Yet if you do it too much you can come to accept the internal assumptions of the activity, encouraging you to become more scheming in your methods and beliefs about people, thinking that the instrumental goal of moving people's position is more important than anything else.
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It's been over ten years since I've seriously sat down and scrutinised /campaigned against free trade agreements, so preparing for this meeting revived some of the old passion. I was reminded of the importance of educating and mobilising the public and holding politicians to account on these extremely important issues. Hopefully this blog post explains a little of what I learned when I did a bit of research for the meeting.
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Julie Owens, Labor member for Parramatta and my local member is a very approachable person, and someone who is less of a hack than many politicians.
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As a former spokesperson for the independent record industry she also is familiar with the issues surrounding copyright laws and the impact that demands to extend copyright can have on creativity and innovation (such as those in the US Free Trade Agreement which allowed drug companies to <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2015/202/6/costs-australian-taxpayers-pharmaceutical-monopolies-and-proposals-extend-them">extend patents to 25 years</a>, increasing the cost of drugs shouldered by the Australian government pharmaceutical benefits scheme by delaying generics manufacturing).
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Owens expressed considerable concern about the investor-state provisions in the TPP. She said that after the election Labor will be reviewing Australia's participation in all trade agreements that include investor-state provisions. [I find this surprising as the tone of Penny Wong's media statements on trade agreements tend to be upbeat in relation to trade agreements, endorsing their broad intention, giving an impression that she thinks they are generally good and only need minor tweaking around the edges. Also I wonder about the exit clauses of these agreements and whether there are penalties for exiting]
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This is great to hear but it also reveals a weakness in Australian campaigns against the multilateral and bilateral trade agreements: they have been lopsided in focusing critical analysis on the danger of corporations suing governments (investor-state dispute provisions), to the detriment of broader analysis of the agenda of these trade agreements since the 1990s, which is about tying governments' hands fiscally and politically from initiating broad reaching policies that seek to limit, direct or restrict the activities of corporations, or to preference the local scale or to government-owned industries in procurement or similar government decisions. <p>
While Australians rightly celebrate the successful defence of Australia's plain packaging tobacco laws after a challenge brought by Hong Kong via investor-state provisions from a bilateral 1993 Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, the win was obtained at great cost to the Australian citizen, engaging a small army of lawyers, and may still cause a "chilling effect" in which policy makers may think twice before implementing legislation which for example limits the power of the sugar industry over advertising or dietary guidelines. Furthermore, this victory - while an important symbol as Australia's first in investor-state disputes- appears to be a drop in the ocean in the broader scene of trade disputes.
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The more common enforcement mechanism in trade agreements is a tribunal in which governments make a complaint about another government's laws.
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There are four other countries that have similar complaints in the works against Australian plain packaging legislation via state-state disputes processes: As <a href="http://croakey.org/never-mind-the-budget-what-is-the-tpp-going-to-mean-for-health/">Croakey reports</a>: "Currently Australia is facing disputes by Honduras, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia over tobacco plain packaging, using the state-to-state dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization." Australian citizens will again have to shoulder the legal cost for this defence.
<p>The US Trade Department has a large section entirely devoted to initiating international disputes on behalf of their corporations.
<p>
In February the US won a dispute versus India on solar panel manufacturing, that will potentially <a href="http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/india--wto-ruling-could-deliver-100bn-hit-to-solar-manufacturers_100023577/#axzz47qd0CuhY"> cost the Indian solar industry</a> US $100 billion, and will cost the Indian people jobs which are being generated on the back of a Domestic Content Requirement that requires the solar panels to be in part manufactured in India.
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India currently has a similar installed amount of solar capacity to Australia: almost 5000 MW, and is rapidly expanding capacity as part of their "Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission" policy: Their ambitious 2022 target (decided in 2009) was previously 20000 MW, but now they have supercharged this target, <a href="http://pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/revision-of-cumulative-targets-under-national-solar-mission-from-20000-mw-by-2021-22-to-100000-mw/">aiming for 100 000 MW</a> (or 20 times the current installed capacity) by 2022.
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We can see in examples such as this ways in which the goal of addressing climate change in a way that prioritises generating local jobs can conflict fundamentally with international trade agreements. Thus movements seeking transformative change in solving climate change or other deep-rooted social issues must prioritise also analysis and mobilisation against international trade agreements in order to pursue their goals.<p>.<p> [I also heard from a friend yesterday that recently leaked information about the TPP suggests that the disputes mechanism will apply retrospectively to any legislation- not just new laws- I haven't had the time to check up on this.]<p>
** At the end of the meeting, Julie Owens agreed to come along to an election forum on June 14, 7pm at the Commercial Hotel in Parramatta.**anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-7391089061191988742016-03-02T22:07:00.000+11:002016-03-02T22:21:13.293+11:00Affordable public transport to Sydney Airport<a href="http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/0268233faf19bc4798ca8005bfe78878?width=650" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/0268233faf19bc4798ca8005bfe78878?width=650" height="225" width="400" /></a><br />
A Melbourne friend recently asked me how to get to and from Sydney airport cheaply by public transport. If you don't mind a ten minute walk, there are regular bus services along Botany Road to Redfern, where you can easily transfer to trains to other parts of Sydney. Botany Road is located to the East of the Domestic Terminal, and as long as you walk towards the East (preferably NE), you will hit it, then you can catch a bus heading North to Redfern:<br />
<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@-%3Cwbr%3E%3C/wbr%3E33.9334997,151.1922736,17z">Here is google maps</a>
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Preferably buy an Opal Card beforehand, which you can usually purchase at convenience stores and news agents.<br />
Catch the 309 or 310 or the Metrobus M20 (M20 ends up on the Pacific Highway, North Shore via the city, and as it is limited stops you need to go to the bus stop at the intersection with Elizabeth Avenue for this one- only catch this one if you have an Opal Card).<br />
These buses are very regular.<br />
Timetable for 309, 310: http://www.sydneybuses.info/routes/309_20151004_tt.pdf<br />
Timetable for M20: http://www.sydneybuses.info/%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3E%3Cwbr%3Eroutes/20_map.pdf<br />
Please download the most up to date version <a href="http://www.sydneybuses.info/routes">here</a><br />
Make sure you ask the bus driver to let you out at either Redfern or Central. In both cases, you will be located East of the train line so you can find the station by walking West.
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You can also catch the 400 from Burwood, which arrives directly at the airport, better for disabled people, but it takes much longer.<br />
Happy travels.<br />
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<br />anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-82655610479764235112015-01-31T18:28:00.001+11:002015-01-31T18:32:32.930+11:00Speech from last year's earth hourThe speech I gave in Parramatta for Earth Hour 2014 is relevant to our upcoming <a href="http://walk4water.net/" target="_blank">walk for water,</a> and is <a href="http://parracan.org/article/parramatta-eels-feel-climate-change" target="_blank">only partially available now</a> on the ParraCAN website, so here are the words in full. And the flyer we handed out along Church street, being received with excited engagement by kids and parents alike, many of whom had just been at the Eels game.<br />
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I'm going to talk about the Parramatta eels. I'm
going to tell you about the journey of the eel and how that is affected
by climate change.<br />
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I think eels are a powerful symbol of our region- people identify
strongly with the football team which is playing tonight- I believe that
the score was 12-8 last time I checked- Parramatta is winning against
Penrith. Later on this evening, we're going to walk down Church St with
lanterns and give out flyers about the situation of the Parramatta Eels
and try to engage a bit with people about that. You're welcome to come
and walk with us.<br />
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Eels also are the reason for this place. "Parramatta" means "Where the eels lie down in the Dharug language. The eels lie down in the upper reaches of the Parramatta River and
Lake Parramatta where they quietly rest amid the rocks and reeds during
the hotter part of the day- and are more active in the night.<br />
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Who here has seen an eel - a real eel- near Parramatta?<br />
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Local Dharug artist Leanne Tobin tells us that:<br />
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"This place [Parramatta] is where the river meets the saltwater. It’s a place where the adult eels following their age-old cycle, lying down in wait for the full moon, fat and ready for their epic journey up to the Coral Sea to spawn. Their young then return eventually back to the rivers of their forebears to continue the circle of life. For the people living around the banks of the river it was a time of great feasting and clans traveled from far away to share the eels. Corroborees and song of the different clans celebrating together could be heard along the sandy river banks". <br />
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Long finned eels in Sydney reproduce once in their lives-at their life's end. The journey they take to breed in the Coral Sea is quite incredible. When Autumn arrives and when conditions are right - nice and rainy like the last few days, eels leave their watery homes -dams and ponds - where they have lived for a few decades- and travel through densely populated suburbs and across the Golf Courses, even down big Dam walls, they slip into the brackish water of Parramatta River, and then into the salt water of the harbour and the open ocean. As the long-finned eels get closer to Sydney harbour, their gills change in preparation for saltwater and their eyes increase in size.<br />
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From there they undertake a 2000-kilometre swim to New Caledonia. The eels breed in deep tropical waters in the Coral Sea, with females laying up to 20 million eggs. Then the exhausted adult eels die once they have spawned their offspring. When the eggs hatch they begin to float south on ocean currents. Driven by instinct, the baby eels go right back to the exact place their parents used to live- so these lakes are literally 'ancestral homes'. European settlement has put some obstacles in their way, but they still find their way, even slithering their way up the wall of the Warragamba Dam. They swim back up the Parramatta River, across the golf courses, through the drainpipes, across backyards and then into permanent water sources to live for a few decades and start the cycle again.<br />
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In some parts of Australia- such as near Melbourne, researchers have verified that Aboriginal people farmed the eels through an extensive aquaculture system. It's possible that this could have taken place in Parramatta.<br />
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So why might we care about climate change with the eels of Parramatta?<br />
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Research has found that baby eels migrating upstream show a preference for mild water temperatures between 12 and 20C, Water temperatures above and below these levels almost completely stop migration, thus warmer temperatures associated with global climate change could have a detrimental impact on baby eels. The sea is also becoming more acidic as it dissolves more Carbon Dioxide, so we need to be concerned about the entire marine food web. The calcium skeletons of shellfish and other sea life break down in acid conditions. Combined with the issue coral bleaching, tropical marine ecosystems are becoming very vulnerable.<br />
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So what can you do to protect the reef?<br />
-We are demonstrating our concern this Earth Hour by walking through Parramatta CBD<br />
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-You can become more aware of where the eels migrate in your local area. What are the permanent sources of water. What are their food sources? How many eels do you think are there?<br />
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-You can advocate for improving the water quality of lakes and dams in this area, so that more eels thrive there. There are many ways we can particularly encourage greenskeepers to shift to more sustainable and less chemical intensive methods of caring for golf courses and other sports grounds. I can tell you about these if you are interested.<br />
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-You can join Parracan and work to address the causes of climate change, which is our continued reliance on outdated fossil fuel technologies, and speed up modern renewable energy technologies. <br />
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Campaign groups such as ParraCAN work to encourage our political leaders to speed up the shift to a low fossil carbon future. It's sometimes a thrilling and challenging journey to learn about these issues in a community group like Parracan. Almost as thrilling as following the journey of the Parramatta Eels. <br />
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<br />anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-20646525364086756002014-05-10T21:42:00.003+10:002014-12-14T12:56:46.830+11:00Posting after a hiatus of 7 years: on gluten!<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }A:link { }</style>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This month there has been a flurry of commentary on gluten. The Facebook group Food Inc. on 7 May posted <a href="http://www.takepart.com/video/2014/05/07/defense-gluten?cmpid=foodinc-fb" style="color: #1155cc;">an article</a> on what many see as the 'gluten free fad'. I thought about it for a while.</span></span></span><a href="http://www.takepart.com/video/2014/05/07/defense-gluten?cmpid=foodinc-fb" style="color: #1155cc;"><span style="color: #0025e7;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u></u></span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> It is of a recent episode of an American comedy show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel which canvassed vox pops of health-conscious LA residents, asking them if they eat a gluten free diet. When they each answer in the affirmative, the interviewer asks "what is gluten"? They each go on a few tangents about grains, but do not directly answer the question, failing to satisfy the standards of Kimmel and his giggling studio audience. More recently on 27 May in the <i>Sydney Morning Herald</i>, Sarah Berry <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/a-grain-of-truth-to-gluten-intolerance-20140527-zrpb3.html" style="color: #1155cc;">covered some of the scientific debate</a> on whether gluten intolerance is in fact FODMAP intolerance.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I sympathise with these jogging, vague health enthusiasts, in a similar way that I sympathise with anyone bumbling their way through the world and trying to listen to their bodies adequately and form convictions based on gut feelings (in my case, literally). Unlike some of the people on the video, I can tell you that gluten is a protein that seems to react with many peoples' immune system - but I don't believe this technical understanding alone validates my use the concept. I think knowledge of one's body is valid in its own right. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;">I have avoided wheat for 12 years, and now I avoid more than that. Back then I was constantly fatigued, and felt less tired than usual after eating a lunch of rye bread and vegetables, and my friend Dom who had prepared lunch suggested I try eliminating wheat. This helped, but many other problems persisted. After being diagnosed with Crohn's disease last year, I avoid many </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FODMAP" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: arial;">FODMAPS</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;">- forms of carbohydrate that apparently ferment in my inflamed small intestine. This diet is based on peer reviewed evidence from Sue Shepherd of Monash University. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;">[<b>Update</b>, after working with the dietician, I have reintroduced most FODMAP </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">groups</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> into
my diet, and mainly avoid wheat fructans and mannitol (mushrooms), eating other groups such as beans/ galactans in moderation, taking
lots of probiotics such as home made sauerkraut, home made SCD yogurt,
home made fermented buckwheat pancakes, spelt sourdough,
anti-inflammatories such as </span>turmeric, apple cider vinegar, green leaves, gelatine<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> and chicken bone/ cartilage broth].</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;">While my current belief about what is going on in my body is supported by my dietician, my GP and my gastroenterologist, I haven't always had supportive doctors, and I've had plenty of sceptical friends and acquaintances. My current understanding is that the thing that is reacting with my small intestine is not gluten, but wheat fructans which along with some other forms of fructose, galactose and other sugars that my body cannot digest. But it is much easier to say to people "I eat gluten free" because now there is an awareness in broader society- particularly in restaurants, of what gluten is, so long-winded explanations about wheat flour are no longer as effective as asking whether a food is gluten free. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lampooning adherents of Gluten free diets has certainly stirred the hornet's nest. One comment on a similar meme on the “I fucking love science” Facebook page says "And all the hippy earth children revolt. Comedy". Another comment on the Jimmy Kimmel link posted to the </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Food Inc</i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Facebook page makes an analogy between gluten and smoking: </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"Gluten affects more than celiacs. Good for those people for not eating it, who cares why they are doing it. I don't smoke for health reasons but I can't name you the hundreds of chemicals in it, nor even 1! If you want to be healthy eat fruits and vegetables, lots of them!"</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This person argues that people don't need to know the intricacies of the science behind a principle in order to follow it: we don't know all the chemicals in cigarettes, so why would that disqualify any convictions we might have about the problems with smoking? </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As a proxy for a whole range of different concerns that arise from wheat and grain-based food problems, 'gluten' is a simplification. We tend to reason according to models of identity and causality that are simpler than the real thing. The concept is what Bruno Latour might call 'a black box'. Sometimes, black boxes are necessary for strategic reasons- as heuristic (educational) devices, to create clean edges and a general shape of a scientific concept where there is a lot of internal debate. But sometimes they should be broken open and science should be debated. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Latour argues in his book </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>Pandora's Hope </i></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">that processes of scientific deliberation should be broken open by the public to see the contestations within- and to even participate in that contestation where they have something to say. This is one of the ways we can encourage people to see the vitality of science and the importance of the interactive processes of testing hypotheses and generalisations from evidence. As his allusion to </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>Pandora's Box </i></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">suggests, there is danger in exposing scientific contestation to the public, but ultimately we are all better off for it, as such contestation can assist in encouraging the general public to gain critical thinking skills in learning about and participating in the scientific process.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The reality is that scientific concepts such as 'gluten' travel into popular use and popular currency when they are successful. Since science serves as a midwife to the birth of new ideas in society, new words are created through the interaction between science and the resources and limits of our current language. Scientists do their best to nominate gatekeepers to regulate the use of scientific concepts, and make sure there are not the same problems of fuzziness, of figurative and colloquial use, that marks the dynamism of most natural language. While I accept that some people illegitimately use scientific language, to make themselves seem smart- and need to sometimes be quizzed and taken down, and that spokespeople of the alternative health communities often speak with too much confidence and authority over science, and overstep their expertise in doing so, it is impossible to keep the vocabulary of science pure from influences of the outside world, and to stop ordinary people using scientific concepts such as 'Gluten' for their own ends, their own experimentation. Scientific language cannot be easily protected from general use. Science is a social realm. All such realms are creative, and generate new language, words that are then adapted and used to facilitate fluency and sense-making in other spheres of human life. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The connection between cause and effect for the problems of complex biological communities such as human bodies is rarely simple to definitively trace, unless the problem is caused by a single pathogen (then subsequent detection of pathogens through microscopic examination is adequate): it is nearly always mediated by the interpretation of seemingly conflicting signals- and often- especially with autoimmune conditions, the problems vary from person to person. To interpret these signals according to scientific standards, we would need to become experts in human biology - particularly microbiology, and read peer-reviewed journals (which often require special access through institutions), practice properly designed dietary experiments on sufferers of similar conditions, as well as weigh up of the various possible contributions of different causal factors. </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In tracing the effects of diet, our experience of causality is not a simple deductive exercise. We often act on the basis of incomplete information, hunches, yes, trends, and tentative hypotheses. But even if our embodied information is not strictly systematised, it can get pretty close to that. Veteran marathon runner Robert De Castella- who has advocated for grain-free diets, and has run a grain-free bread chain </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>Deeks </i></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">in Canberra for many years, may not qualify as a scientist, but his embodied knowledge of sports nutrition and what his body needs for optimum performance would be among the most detailed of Australian athletes. I would like to emphasise the particularity of embodied knowledge, and the difficulty in particular of understanding autoimmune conditions. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I think that scientists should not be too protective about an exclusive access to testing evidence, to innovation, even to knowledge breakthroughs in the area of diet and health problems. Scientists can't control the growth of experimental alternative diet communities. There is a necessary feedback process where scientists can gently clarify and comment on popular use. That feedback process will only be successful if there is mutual respect with ordinary people who take risks in trying to grapple with scientific concepts in relation to their own embodied understandings. Both information and experience- properly integrated- are able to inform understanding. This is best developed within an open-ended, experimental approach to the world that some call praxis, that can be cultivated in cultures and institutions. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There are now millions of citizen-learners, guinea pigs or dabblers, who are undergoing some version of the gluten free, paleo, low FODMAP, Specific Carbohydrate, elimination or 'clean eating' diets, who are sharing their results with friends, yes at their yoga classes- it's true, in hair salons, or on the internet, perhaps not in the most rigorous or systematic ways, but they are making generalisations from real experience. There are also numerous people with chronic disease experimenting with probiotics, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27503660" style="color: #1155cc;">with faecal transplants</a>, with other treatments for diseases such as Crohn's disease, sometimes furthering science in the process. They need to know the risks of these self-experiments and make decision in full understanding of those risks, with information about peer reviewed evidence-based diets and treatments. However, b</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">y ridiculing those who can't explain what gluten is scientifically, and demanding a form of logical justification in the form of correct scientific knowledge, those quizzing joggers on gluten and the joggers' critics such as Kimmel deny the distinctness and validity of the embodied knowledge of interpreting our bodies and the world. Such sceptics hear a technical scientific word such as 'gluten' or 'carbon', and put on their 'belligerent hat': they fire questions at the person using it, demanding that the person have a detailed and expert scientific understanding. I think such an attitude is unfair in the case of carbon, and it is unfair and misplaced in the case of gluten. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Of course some 'fad dieters' treat their bodies poorly- as many diets practiced by body-loathing people can do, while others practicing the elimination diet occasionally risk malnutrition. But in the vast majority of cases, people attempt such diets out of concern for their wellbeing- a 'trial and error' attempt to improve the quality of their lives, and in many ways out of frustration that their ailments have not been adequately addressed by the medical profession. Many I have informally spoken to, who like me, altered their diets to gluten free, came from a place of pain and confusion about why their body is acting the way it is. Whether it is the pain of obesity, of foggy headedness, of stomach cramps, these are problems that are modern problems, and it is an important task to examine the factors that contribute to such immense losses in the health and wellbeing of so many people, and it's important to recognise the genuine efforts, sincerity and knowledge of the people involved.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Scientific standards are often not enough: doctors need to become better listeners and more patient at following up possible leads, and the general public needs to become more tolerant of popular dietary experimentation. In my opinion we need to bring together the subjective and the objective: the experience of people with health problems, as well as the systematic evidence generated through medical research. There are numerous stories of doctors who suddenly gain a new fervour or a new perspective on understanding disease once they are afflicted by this disease. I believe the medical profession has been unreasonably complacent as well as patronising in its relationship with sufferers of chronic autoimmune conditions who have taken it upon themselves to try dietary methods of dealing with their disease. I think there is a related scepticism in the public with regard to the concept 'gluten free' - and embodied knowledge is discounted in the name of science.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So the status of embodied knowledge seems to be at stake in these controversies. I have thought of a few related questions that I can't answer here, but I feel are live in this discussion:</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">1. How can doctors and broader society recognise the work of patients or health enthusiasts in learning about their bodies and experimenting with dietary interventions? </span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">2. How can doctors and science-minded people encourage such dieters to be better citizen-scientists, while listening to their voices including both systematically and non systematically compiled information?</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">3. What is the standing of embodied knowledge especially on health? What kind of recognition is possible and what validity can be ascribed to the informal knowledge of patients and health enthusiasts?</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thanks to all who have helped give pointers on my dietary journey, particularly Mika Lodsman, Charlie Wood, Maureen Fitzhenry, Simon Dougherty, Jane Matheson, Chris Wiseman.</span></span></div>
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anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-33330230685711480742007-08-29T16:17:00.000+10:002007-08-29T16:24:53.163+10:00Here are some photos from the last few weeks:<br /><br />at the environment collective cake stall at sydney university:<br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt3uo1O_PfwzVoSQw22XCjG5ADLa3aDgjg9GdsskpFgkBme9UgIUq2amfgmhVEzhjWsd5DHFADl2rVR6w2TFsF210rVSobObMNOcdajqpdkSYzXS7oBl5IwsA8UvMtjIJmeVVB-A/s1600-h/DSCF6681.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt3uo1O_PfwzVoSQw22XCjG5ADLa3aDgjg9GdsskpFgkBme9UgIUq2amfgmhVEzhjWsd5DHFADl2rVR6w2TFsF210rVSobObMNOcdajqpdkSYzXS7oBl5IwsA8UvMtjIJmeVVB-A/s320/DSCF6681.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5104002992295842690" /></a><br /><p><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrmv09v1AW1jOlhVBtHoAxXlJCOBvBjvwkfaNIRatg-vSrhdb7G_H4nEm5gzxiT5T6mAFvxPRh9zFAVgdhXVhk3iUhOAIl7gBZtGaodsiN-kY-lGssjIDRHpQO5uxxDFm_ha9AxA/s1600-h/DSCF6673.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrmv09v1AW1jOlhVBtHoAxXlJCOBvBjvwkfaNIRatg-vSrhdb7G_H4nEm5gzxiT5T6mAFvxPRh9zFAVgdhXVhk3iUhOAIl7gBZtGaodsiN-kY-lGssjIDRHpQO5uxxDFm_ha9AxA/s320/DSCF6673.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5104003782569825170" /></a><br /><p><br />In the SRC:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEmi4kQiiKNQJgn4il027sASCOCIKuHnLvDLTQxWyUuot8lLhuC0t82XrQQOiUryqK0VAivQ2DZ7V1SY1MkImCBvSAqoRZb2p7t03j1bnJAp6vvTRpzbkg51zP0_0y7rKcMx1DCw/s1600-h/DSCF6693.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEmi4kQiiKNQJgn4il027sASCOCIKuHnLvDLTQxWyUuot8lLhuC0t82XrQQOiUryqK0VAivQ2DZ7V1SY1MkImCBvSAqoRZb2p7t03j1bnJAp6vvTRpzbkg51zP0_0y7rKcMx1DCw/s320/DSCF6693.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5104003791159759778" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7VN3r3eDmZnH7nbG_KbOzhecY9k2KTmPUqFekAR3_0qXHysLE9KEe6QOZB1oPV8JeX1vN65rqxUOMsjdkBdg7IrrrntW9nzEBPhGGjRZ7b-xeQ4n2l4pWPnDa_rL9IIyAG9DACA/s1600-h/DSCF6690.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7VN3r3eDmZnH7nbG_KbOzhecY9k2KTmPUqFekAR3_0qXHysLE9KEe6QOZB1oPV8JeX1vN65rqxUOMsjdkBdg7IrrrntW9nzEBPhGGjRZ7b-xeQ4n2l4pWPnDa_rL9IIyAG9DACA/s320/DSCF6690.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5104004272196096946" /></a><br /><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP60MeTmkSGdrSZzvK5x9148wBJpuy34msaN7kB_XJpm0Q8eqwtPZaVbdBB_FlpXRIdcmeGSRA7LD1iJ6AaDnn2kmReqZdhJmeDqILSXbEPYTgQ7jIqOQihj-fcrAgJAp7NaqelA/s1600-h/DSCF6699.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP60MeTmkSGdrSZzvK5x9148wBJpuy34msaN7kB_XJpm0Q8eqwtPZaVbdBB_FlpXRIdcmeGSRA7LD1iJ6AaDnn2kmReqZdhJmeDqILSXbEPYTgQ7jIqOQihj-fcrAgJAp7NaqelA/s320/DSCF6699.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5104004285080998866" /></a>anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-39194498316600865682007-08-11T17:54:00.000+10:002007-08-11T18:33:31.692+10:00The ties that bind<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHTaFMFmiAsOtiy3-I-ENcAwOcs8UlxTlEQsNsgRmAx83VFCiMwniFVFhYi9JYZdKTF8jrDjIj9mn9q2H58c31f3j5lju3YP2s-xQ8Bzy1Fhts6VG_pfHpxjOBEYdqqLR-35cNlg/s1600-h/DSCF6664.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHTaFMFmiAsOtiy3-I-ENcAwOcs8UlxTlEQsNsgRmAx83VFCiMwniFVFhYi9JYZdKTF8jrDjIj9mn9q2H58c31f3j5lju3YP2s-xQ8Bzy1Fhts6VG_pfHpxjOBEYdqqLR-35cNlg/s320/DSCF6664.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097354960832787266" /></a><br /><br /><br />This advertisement in today's <i>Weekend Australian</i> illustrates the uncomfortable ties that the mining industry forges between itself and affected communities.<br /><br />In this case, it is art: one of the main alternative sources of economic development for remote Aboriginal communities other than mining that does not compromise the integrity of Country, and often encourages self-determination.<br /><br />Note the language used: "Emerging young artists": does this fit into the cultural role of art in Aboriginal communities? who is emerging, and who are they being judged by? Is it the Western Romantic figure of the unique and inspired artist-individualist, detached from their communities, and climbing that precarious ladder to fame?<br /><br />For me, its funny that the word 'emerging' carries associations of 'entering into the light': like a miner does at the end of a shift (the old fashioned form of board and pillar coal mining, that is). Funny that a coal company is doing this.<br /><br />Like so many other 'community projects' that mining companies facilitate, the prize increases the <i>dependence</i> of Aboriginal communities on mining companies. (to play on words, it binds them to the mining underworld, and prevents their emergence into other more diverse and sustainable economies).<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJmpYvNHYQqeLuziLUsGbWVOs7J6WPgLOHLcoV8TAZI98V99nTjTAxtUH76hxYAekY3K_YWqZzIBnN37AfQ2P4fD-HGI-cM2-PAP6Z4VFtNsj4H9SIapRHXFVEG7DdEjDi3hE_w/s1600-h/7.2-.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJmpYvNHYQqeLuziLUsGbWVOs7J6WPgLOHLcoV8TAZI98V99nTjTAxtUH76hxYAekY3K_YWqZzIBnN37AfQ2P4fD-HGI-cM2-PAP6Z4VFtNsj4H9SIapRHXFVEG7DdEjDi3hE_w/s320/7.2-.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097351945765745458" /></a><br /><br />(graphic from the <i>Sydney Morning Herald</i>, 2006)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When I studied the role of companies such as Coal and Allied in Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter Valley, I saw the role of the companies in 'conspicuous generosity'- sponsoring the local sports teams, the local school gifted and talented program, the local rotary branch- and before long, the company has created a dependent relationship- at least, psychologically- in which it is unthinkable to imagine the town without the donations of the company- all the institutions would collapse, because they have forgotten how to sustain themselves independently!<br /><br />Such dependence presents extra challenges for planning just transitions towards more sustainable economies.anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-39430682370448149532007-07-25T18:45:00.000+10:002007-07-25T18:46:06.984+10:00beds are burning- thanks Rawan!<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/10BbpGKLXqk"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/10BbpGKLXqk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-67811294875607338622007-05-30T15:44:00.000+10:002007-05-30T15:50:20.409+10:00Rabbi Michael Lerner, speaking about Cindy Sheehan's resignation from leadership of the US Anti-War movement:<br /><br /><tt>People tell me that they believe most of my generation "sold out" after the 60s because they wanted the material advantages of the society. But in my experience the most talented, caring, sensitive and creative people I met in movement activities, particularly those who were willing to take the extra personal risks involved in becoming leadership and spokespeople for peace and justice, left the Left not because of a desire for material success, but because they felt abused by others on the Left and in the liberal world who, while agreeing with their ideas, nevertheless found ways to be inhumane, insensititve, and put-downish to others in their movement.<br /><br />Rumors were spread that claimed that the most idealistic of these people were "really" just out for power, fame or ego-gratification of some sort, and that undercut the effectiveness of these leaders because others responded to them not by listening to their ideas, but by treating them as suspect because of "what they had heard."<br /><br />Few of those who spread these negative stories really bothered to get to know the people about whom they gossiped, and few ever bothered to acknowledge how destructive this behavior was. But for those who were the objects of this kind of abuse, the feeling of being undercut by people who should have been allies caused personal pain and eventual despair that anything really could ever change. A few of us hung in and remain involved, in my case at least sustained by a personal spiritual practice, but for each 60s activist still involved, there are thousands who are not, who could not stand this way of being treated, and who, when they stick their nose into the dynamics of the present movements of the first decade of the 21st century, quickly discover the same kind of dynamics operating in the Left and in the liberal world. </tt>anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-12771393535387966932007-05-14T21:19:00.000+10:002007-05-14T21:21:12.011+10:00A relevant poem from the Open Spaces e-list:<br /><br /><br />this is an excerpt from a new work just completing, "Conscious Becoming".<br /><br />Whether we like it or not, <br />Whether we approve of it or not,<br />whether it makes sense or not,<br />things are the only way they can be<br />given all that came before.<br /><br />And if in the process we realize <br />that what we do right now<br />is what will come before next, <br />we discover our power, and dwell <br />in a calm sense of possibility.<br /><br /><br />Jack<br /><br />-- <br />Jack Ricchiuto<br /><br />Facilitating learning & engagement with organizations & communities<br />Author of the recent "Mountain Paths: A Guide On Our Journey Toward Discovering Our Potential" <br />www.DesigningLife.com /anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-25277793661413981692007-05-08T21:43:00.000+10:002007-05-15T17:00:27.034+10:00social change.... how does/can it happen?how can activists stop being the dull noise in the background?<br />or the 'squeaky wheel' - that always complains when given an opportunity...<br /><br />You know, I think there is a massive disconnect between the public image of activists and their self image. <br />And i don't even know which one is more accurate. <br /><br />The self-image of activists is constructed by the urgency of the situations they find themselves in.<br />"I am holding the fort: I am holding the dam wall to stop if from bursting; I am the one who makes the difference."<br /><br />This is the kind of motivational talk we give ourselves all the time:<br /><br />"If i just do one more task, one more meeting, ten more leaflets... <br /><br />And i clicked into that frame of mind again yesterday. I had been avoiding it for such a long time!!<br /><br />I sat with Diana in the cafe, and she offloaded all her troubles and challenges onto me. She is organising BUSES to PERTH, and fundraising for poor students to get there! and whilst doing this, she is also grieving for her deceased father!!! <br /><br />And i really felt the weight of all her troubles (I had to organise buses to Perth a few years ago). And it all came flooding back- the feelings of hopelessness (i was slightly incompetent)- and desperation that desirable social change would happen soon.<br /><br />and all of a sudden i felt so tired.<br />i came home after being in the SRC for a few hours and mumbled something to my mum - and she got all worried about me, and gave a defensive speech to me, thinking i was annoyed at her. it's all so dysfunctional!!anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-66355397544897545242007-05-05T17:27:00.000+10:002014-12-14T11:08:56.824+11:00Analysis by anecdoteWhat is reality? A lot of it is relational. I think we can gain a good understanding of everyday interactions through thinking about relationships.<br />
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This is through thinking through our interactions with others, and gaining insight through interpreting what this means about society, relationships and our place within these.<br />
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I am very interested in embodied knowledge: in the knowledge that people can gain through a thoughtful approach to everyday life, that prompts questions and deeper intellectual inquiry.<br />
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This knowledge becomes manifest through people skills: in being able to listen to and engage with other people in their difference and incompletion.<br />
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There is so much that is revealed by body language!! i just wish i knew how to enter into dialogue better with people about their beliefs, anxieties and values, based on their body language.<br />
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The closest intellectual discipline i have encountered that values this approach is phenomenology, a discipline within philosophy, that sees 'reality' as something dynamic, constituted through intersubjective interaction.<br />
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(this was prompted by speaking to <a href="http://www.philipmcshane.ca/">Phil McShane</a>, an Irish philosophy professor (who writes books about economics), who teaches by anecdote. Mum convinced us to go to his talks at which we were among the only people in the audience... he had some pretty hilarious anecdotes, made funny through his sharp observation skills. He spoke about the example of a man who invited a woman on a date, but conveys his disinterest through having three beers by the time she meets him. Thus, he is not sensitive to how she is : he does not listen to her: all he wants is to come across as relaxed and not to betray his anxieties- which is really a very self-centred approach, that cannot result in a deeper connection- rather it builds barriers!!)<br />
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and another thing...<br />
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Reflecting on his wonderful, very human (what a funny adjective) way of educating, It is a constant puzzle for me to understand why such large sections of the Left have such authoritarian educational methodologies, when for many decades a major project of liberatory people has been to create liberatory methodologies, such as this man. I guess some people think that commitment and discipline precludes the possibility of non-authoritarian educational practices.anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-31584192199862892932007-05-05T16:18:00.000+10:002007-05-15T16:54:58.073+10:00Militarism and government policy<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4C70UQQZdtWM15FgsIWgak-iqU3URyN8syhzPpV_ojkf9a2lEXqlfuA17TWaFNHnFYLiSrMSh2bOPoucBdzlTya_pQpJ1ovPeNp4r_bfuhgxeZCcNrGQn5OZtbgRyqe736esGaw/s1600-h/future.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4C70UQQZdtWM15FgsIWgak-iqU3URyN8syhzPpV_ojkf9a2lEXqlfuA17TWaFNHnFYLiSrMSh2bOPoucBdzlTya_pQpJ1ovPeNp4r_bfuhgxeZCcNrGQn5OZtbgRyqe736esGaw/s320/future.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060957502094207218" /></a><br /><br />here is an ad for recruiting British Aerospace employees from <i>The Australian</i> newspaper that says a thousand words! <br /><br />It is within the domain of military that the parameters of foreign policy debates are defined. You can see this working by comparing different policymaking institutions in the US. The US congress is underfunded. It only has around 600 employees, who deliberate on policy. The place where the bulk of policy deliberation takes place is the Pentagon, with tens of thousands (i think 30 000 employees).<br /><br />BAE (British Aerospace) is one of the largest military companies in the world. It influences global geopolitics through providing military capability that supposedly stimulates economies, in a way that is beneficial to the broader big business corporate sector. <br /><br />The ad depicted above implies an even more concerning dimension of the above situation of underfunded policy development: that policy innovation in 'determining the future' is in several ways 'outsourced' to military companies themselves.<br /><br />US government representatives often make it clear to companies that their operation is on their behalf. For example, the Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen was quoted in the magazine <i>Covert Action</i> as saying "The prosperity that some companies such as Microsoft enjoy could not occur without having the strong military that we have". (see <a href="http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/Expansion.asp">Anup Shah</a>'s article).<br /><br />Noam Chomsky has a lot to say about this kind of thing, explaining the relative benefit of social spending and military spending to corporate and political elites: here in the <a href="http://www.montrealserai.com/2000_Volume_13/13_3/Article_2.htm">interview on morality and humanism</a>, Chomsky talks about war as the preferred means of stimulating economies, rather than public spending:<br /><br /><b>Social spending vs. military spending</b>. 1998 (you can see that it's dated by the hypothetical talk of war!!!!!!!!!)<br /><br />TOR WENNERBERG: Given the risk that the world economy might spin out of control completely now, and considering that last time, in the 1930s, it took a world war to overcome the depression, how worried do you think we ought to be about the prospect of war?<br /><br />NOAM CHOMSKY: "The prospect of war is much less, but for other reasons. Europe is, in modern history at least, the most violent part of the world. One of the reasons why Europe conquered the world is that it created a culture of war, based on centuries of mutual massacre and slaughter -- both a culture of war and a technology of war. But that largely came to an end in 1945, and for a very simple reason. Everybody could understand that the next time we play this game, we're all dead. The techniques of destruction had reached such a point that war is simply not an option for rich and powerful countries. If they try it once more, that's the end. Now, somebody may be irrational enough to do it anyway, but within anything remotely like the domain of rationality, where you can at least begin to talk about prediction, there isn't going to be war among the powerful countries. And this is understood.<br />"For example, right in the middle of the Gulf War, somebody at the Pentagon leaked to the press -- which buried it -- an interesting document. When any new administration comes in, the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency and so on give them a kind of intelligence assessment of the world, a strategic analysis of the world. Someone leaked part of the Bush administration strategic analysis (this would have been from early 1989), and one part of it dealt with war. Here is approximately what it said: <br />"In case of a conflict with "much weaker enemies" (implication: that's the only kind of conflict we're ever going to get into), we must defeat them "decisively and rapidly," because anything else will "undercut political support."<br />So no more bombing of South Vietnam for fifteen years, and certainly we don't go to war with any major power.<br />This was well before the Gulf War. In fact at that time Saddam Hussein was a great friend, so he wasn't contemplated as a target -- but that's what you can do. You can invade Panama, kidnap Noriega and get out in a couple of weeks, bomb the Sudan, bomb Libya, bomb Iraq from a distance, very fast, and don't get involved in more than a few days of fighting. That kind of thing you can do with a much weaker enemy, rapidly and decisively, but nothing else. So as long as you're within the domain of rationality, the chances of war involving major powers I think, are extremely slight, unless they're fighting a much weaker enemy. And even that's not so simple anymore.<br /><br />"But to return to your other point, what actually overcame the depression was not so much the war as the semi-command economies. The British economy started to pick up in the late 1930s, when it semi-deliberalized and became a kind of semi-command economy. The U.S. was barely at war. But the wartime economy not only overcame the depression, it flourished as industrial production tripled, and so on. But that was a semi-command economy, highly coordinated from Washington, run by corporate executives, with wage and price controls, industrial policy deciding what would be produced, and so on. And that worked like a charm. Just like it worked in England -- England in fact out-produced Germany and came close to the United States.<br /><br />"So the mobilization of the economy did overcome the depression. The war was taking place and that was the justification for it, but the war was not what overcame the depression in itself. This was pretty well understood. The consensus among American economists and businessmen and others in the mid-forties was that with the government-coordinated economy declining, after the war, they were going to go right back to the depression due to market failures. And so there was an interesting discussion in the late forties, quite open. It's on record in the business press, and I've quoted from it at times. There was recognition that we've got to do something to get the government to stimulate the economy again or else we'll go back to the depression.<br /><br />"It was understood -- you didn't have to read Keynes to figure it out -- that you could stimulate the economy in a lot of different ways. You could stimulate it with social spending, or you could stimulate it with military spending. There was a perfectly sane discussion, in Business Week actually, of which to do. And the conclusion was: social spending is not a good idea, and military spending is a great idea. The reason is that social spending has a downside. Yes, it can pump the economy. But it also has a democratizing effect, because people are interested in social spending; they want to know where you're going to build a hospital or a road or something, and they become involved. They have no opinions about what jet plane to build. Social spending also gives people more security and better conditions, better education, more means of communicating, more ability to withstand threats of unemployment. It makes people, workers, more powerful, that is, and thereby better able to win higher wages and better conditions.<br /><br />"So social spending has a democratizing, redistributive effect, and it's not a direct gift to corporations. Military spending, however, has none of those defects; it's non-democratizing -- on the contrary, people are frightened and they shelter under the umbrella of power. And while it aids corporations it doesn't directly improve the lot of workers; it rather tends to reinforce workplace discipline. So it's a direct gift to corporations. It redistributes upward. And it's easy to sell if you terrify the public. So what emerges is a Pentagon-based industrial policy program, one which is now buckling a bit, due to the excessive liberalizing of capital movements, and thus, one which has to be repaired a bit, so that it once again benefits the rich, as intended."anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-59251839290137927862007-05-02T19:29:00.001+10:002007-05-02T19:29:56.417+10:00Ethical dimensions of climate change<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i-faBHqVu04"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i-faBHqVu04" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-7901542260762481222007-04-27T21:40:00.000+10:002007-04-27T23:18:22.248+10:00For Lou MicallefLouise, <br /><br />You were alway curious, <br />but i never thought you would find out what lay that side of death<br />until many years hence.<br /><br />so it feels peculiar to talk about you as one lost<br />from this moment, this world, this biosphere<br /><br />i know that you meditated often, but you were always present here in the 'now'.<br />it feels so wrong to speak about you in the past tense.<br /><br />Can't we meet up again?<br />I want to see you. and talk.<br /><br />I want you to come, and we can watch the ducks<br />and marvel at the blades of grass <br />and the coincidences of life.<br /><br />I want you to embody that joy that i see in you everywhere you go<br />closing your eyes, holding the precious moment in your embrace of the world.<br /><br />You died, a sheet of metal wrapped around a tree. A victim of that which you love, and the drudgery of long country roads.<br /><br />That image is too much one of cruel finality. i can't leave it there- I can't accept that to be true.<br />You left your trace- spreading your spirit like glitter everywhere you went.<br />I'll retrace those steps, and try to spread it all further, so that the world glints like wet pavements in the sun.<br /><br /><br />---------------------------<br />I have a story. <br /><br />Last month, I sat in the Fair Trade Cafe in Glebe with Lou, - we were wet from rain and had taken shelter from a thunderstorm that had evicted us from sitting beside the pond in Victoria Park.<br /><br />Lou was telling me a story about their work with farmers in the Hunter bioregion (as the BeansTalk co-operative obtains regional fresh food.)<br /><br />Bek Spies and Monique Wicks came in to the cafe, so I asked Lou to repeat the story to them. <br />It goes like this: <br /><br />The BeansTalk food co-op has established such strong links with farmers, that they know when farmers are in distress. <br /><br />With the drought, there was an organic strawberry farm in the Hunter that was in crisis, to such an extent that they could not afford to employ strawberry pickers to take the crop.<br /><br />So what did the BeansTalk co-op people do? They piled in a minibus and brought everyone up to the farm. They picked the strawberries themselves, and paid the farmers for them.<br /><br />The farmers were soooo grateful.<br /><br /><br />isn't that beautiful???<br /><br />(maybe someone else knows the details of the story better, so fill in the blanks!)anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-4681632653536220062007-04-12T18:59:00.000+10:002007-04-12T19:26:49.041+10:00If you wanted any evidence that the unrestrained market is forcing us to sleepwalk to the edge of a cliff (like that crazy drug stillnox), this photo on the front page of <i>The Australian</i> is it.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7VpgSgW6o_Xs44qlsI98mFKyu6NzR5-jlfEM2ZiQ7QaJ0IJ0WfZWpKIbxEAospcEwk-M1KxtuXO81bOxIXC47jXUM2KkT5_b8lqk4s7CgiSzznj4EBUC5sKPtCLXgZWAcVtZ5Vg/s1600-h/DSCF5461.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7VpgSgW6o_Xs44qlsI98mFKyu6NzR5-jlfEM2ZiQ7QaJ0IJ0WfZWpKIbxEAospcEwk-M1KxtuXO81bOxIXC47jXUM2KkT5_b8lqk4s7CgiSzznj4EBUC5sKPtCLXgZWAcVtZ5Vg/s320/DSCF5461.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052464270872476626" /></a>anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-12789095605373116032007-04-12T09:26:00.001+10:002007-04-12T09:26:47.254+10:00action alertDear Global Solidaridadders,<br /><br />URGENT ACTION ALERT: Write to Tony Burke and Kevin Rudd!<br /><br />+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br />LABOR KEEPS CHRISTMAS ISLAND GUANTANAMO<br />+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br /><br />In just two weeks time, the Labor Party will have its National Policy<br />Conference at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney, and while<br />many good policies will be promoted and hopefully endorsed during that<br />weekend, Labor will maintain the horrendous Christmas Island Detention<br />Centre and the Orwellian Excision Zone amongst its policies, because it<br />supports a policy of "stopping the boats" - as if this is the "normal state<br />of affairs".<br /><br />Australia, in signing the UN Refugee Convention, has promised to keep its<br />borders open to unannounced asylum seekers, also those arriving by boat.<br /><br />See http://www.safecom.org.au/alcatraz-downunder.htm<br /><br />+++++++++++++++++++++++++<br />LABOR KEEPS EXCISION ZONE<br />+++++++++++++++++++++++++<br /><br />By maintaining the Excision Zone, people who land on one of the 4,600<br />islands inside the zone, do not have to be treated in accordance with the<br />obligations Australia has under the Refugee Convention. They do not have to<br />be provided with independent lawyers to help them with their refugee claim.<br />They can be deported by Australia to "anywhere", such as Nauru, Manus<br />Island, Indonesia, or any other country that does Australia's bidding.<br /><br />See http://www.safecom.org.au/alcatraz-downunder.htm<br /><br />Even while Labor promises not to do that, and says that they will process<br />everyone on Christmas Island, we should not feel too relaxed about this. The<br />new Christmas Island detention centre is a maximum-security Guantanamo-style<br />prison, microwave controlled, with doors and compounds remotely lockable -<br />wait for it - from Canberra!<br /><br />See http://www.safecom.org.au/alcatraz-downunder.htm<br /><br />This is the reason we at Project SafeCom have launched our biggest ever<br />e-campaign from our website. Through one of our familiar "form pages" you<br />can now compose your own letter to the Opposition leader Mr Kevin Rudd and<br />Immigration spokesman Tony Burke MP.<br /><br />+++++++++++++++++++++++++<br />500 LETTERS within 36 HOURS<br />+++++++++++++++++++++++++<br /><br />Since our campaign started 36 hours ago, almost 500 people sent their letter<br />to the ALP via KEvin Rudd and Tony Burke - please join them!<br /><br />Several paragraphs have already been written, and while we recommend you<br />include all these paragraphs also in your letter, you can preclude them from<br />being added to your own writing. For both MP's you can add your own<br />additional paragraphs in the two boxes provided. We have provided a<br />background page also to inform you why it's so important to write your<br />letter.<br /><br />See http://www.safecom.org.au/alcatraz-downunder.htm<br /><br />+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br />LABOR WANTS TO "STOP THE BOATS" - WE SAY "THEY MUST COME"<br />+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br /><br />We embarked on this campaign to help Labor see that mandatory detention<br />seriously undermines several International conventions, and to help them<br />undo the horrors we created during "the Howard years" when we punished<br />"boat-arrivals" for the way they come to our country.<br /><br />Australia, in signing the UN Refugee Convention, has promised to keep its<br />borders open to unannounced asylum seekers, also those arriving by boat.<br /><br />See http://www.safecom.org.au/alcatraz-downunder.htm<br /><br />This e-campaign is the largest one we at Project SafeCom have launched in<br />our 5½ year history, and by participating you can help it grow even more. At<br />Project SafeCom we are fully prepared for this fight, and we cannot stop our<br />work before Australian social justice policies and asylum seeker policies<br />are fully compliant with the United Nations Refugee Convention and all other<br />conventions.<br /><br />http://www.safecom.org.au/alcatraz-downunder.htm<br /><br />Please help us to end these shocking laws. Since the 2001 "Tampa stand-off"<br />we have seen, heard and read thousands of awful stories of the suffering of<br />asylum seekers and refugees on TV, Radio and in newspapers, magazines, and<br />even at the movies. We do not want this kind of Australia any longer.<br /><br />++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br />No more Horror Stories of the Howard Years under Kevin Rudd!!<br />++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br /><br />Australia, in signing the UN Refugee Convention, has promised to keep its<br />borders open to unannounced asylum seekers, also those arriving by boat.<br /><br />Please visit this web page and click on the red button to write your letter:<br /><br />http://www.safecom.org.au/alcatraz-downunder.htm<br /><br />best regards<br /><br />Jack H Smit<br />Project SafeCom Inc.<br />http://www.safecom.org.au/<br />P.O. Box 364<br />Narrogin WA 6312anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-17286859396207957742007-04-06T23:06:00.000+10:002016-05-07T00:37:38.446+10:00anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-84391569680513394172007-03-26T21:18:00.000+10:002007-03-28T21:35:07.436+10:00interesting person : William Hazlitt.Since I first read about Hazlitt in <i>Heat 12</i>, in James Ley's wonderful essay, I've been wanting to learn much more about him. <br /><p><br />Hazlitt was part of the English Romantic Movement, inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution, and was a committed Radical all his life, in contrast to his friends Coleridge and Wordsworth. He wrote essays that were widely revered as the best of his time.<br /><p><br />As Ley states, 'Although he was a believer in objective truth, Hazlitt saw truth as an active principle. 'The mind strikes out truth by collision', he wrote, 'as steel strikes fire from the flint'. He argued that pure rationality was, in fact, a form of irrationality, because it was lifeless and inhuman. In this he is quintessentially Romantic: he valued energy and spontaneity; he lothed any attempt to deny the importance of the emotions as a vital, defining part of existence.'<br /><p><br />later Ley writes:<br />'he was fascinated by the way character informed opinion. When he addresses his subjects he is looking to understand not only their ideas but also their psychology.' <br /><p><br />In other words, a very interesting person.<br /><p><br />So here are my first attempts at discovering more:<p><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hazlitt">wikipedia article</a><p><br /><a href="http://www.williamhazlitt.org/">The Hazlitt Society</a>anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-42747160299224147182007-03-24T18:16:00.000+11:002007-03-26T21:17:59.728+10:00sacrifice and the climatei think that the majority of people in Australia care about climate change to the extent that they are willing to make sacrifices and take austerity measures to prevent the worst of it from happening.<br /><br />We as a society need to take such measures stoically and determinedly, pouring our resources and support together. There is a beautiful <a href="http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/1260">call to action here</a>, that uses the urgent words of Martin Luther King as its point of departure.<br /><br />However, many people are, understandably, wary of making sacrifices alone, especially where they cannot be assured that it will make a difference, and when freeloading has been made acceptable by the actions of Australia and the US. <br /><br />In the words of Nicholas Stern (in the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au">SMH</a> on the Weekend) Kyoto "was an important symbol of international collective action and responsibility, and any one country not signing - particularly a big country like the United States or a respected country like Australia - encourages others to think freeloading is unavoidable". By freeloading he means getting the benefits of slowing climate change without signing up for the costs.<br /><br />Take for example, voluntarily reducing household emissions, or buying green energy. If an economic unit (say a company or a household) decides to buy clean energy (in the absence of a bigger plan to reduce energy use), of course they are setting themselves back economically, in a market that is based on spending on investments that grow. But if everyone does it, there is a collective ethic of 'this is the right thing to do'.<br /><br />Unless there is a broad, society-wide consensus on a plan of action, and punishment measures endorsed by many (both formal, eg fines and informal eg public shaming), it will feel pointless to take individual action.<br /><br />On the same token, there has to be the same commitment by the corporate world to reducing emissions as there is among society. For too long, society has borne the burden of 'externalities'- all that bad stuff (such as pollution) that economic activity generates. Company directors should no longer get away with taking ever-rising profits, whilst spreading out the losses to society and the environment.<br /><br />Everyone has to be willing to shoulder similar economic burdens from the adaptation and mitigation of climate chaos.anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-5771213049178503892007-03-12T23:19:00.001+11:002007-03-12T23:32:36.576+11:00Russ Grayson from the <a href="http://www.communitygarden.org.au">community gardens network</a> has a great <a href="http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5538">article about relocalisation</a> on <i>Online Opinion</i>...<br /><br />Here is an extract where he talks about <i>peak oil</i> (the proposition affirmed by many energy experts that in the next few years, the global rate of consumption of oil will outstrip the rate of supply):<br /><br /><br /><tt>Four qualities needed for success<br /><br />Peak oilers act in a competitive marketplace for ideas, and to be successful they will have to carefully craft their key messages to have three qualities.<br /><br />First of all, they need to distance themselves from apocalyptic thinking, from the doom-and-gloom messages associated with past pseudo-disasters. Going back to the late-1960s, these include Paul Erlich’s “population bomb” scenario, nuclear winter, environmental collapse and the Y2K computer glitch. Being seen as yet another disaster scenario does little to empower citizens to act in their own lives and to take the kind of collective action necessary to make positive changes.<br /><br />Another quality is that of not putting full responsibility for adaptation to peak oil and global warming on the shoulders of households and individuals. It is unlikely that peak oil and global warming will be successfully dealt with without concerted government and industry action. To put responsibility onto individuals and the community alone is to ignore the reality of policy and international accords and the responsibilities of government and industry.<br /><br />The third quality is that the ideas relocalisers propagate need that difficult-to-define property that makes them “sticky” enough to capture the public imagination and adhere to it. In this, the relocalisers have done reasonably well so far, given that they are really only a proto-social movement at this stage. Their message now needs to be taken further into mainstream society. </tt><br /><br />Oh, and also, I found <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/news/world-story">the official website</a> of open spaces!! yay for that!anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-26984391099640957762007-03-09T13:33:00.000+11:002007-03-09T13:48:22.416+11:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyB5W7LyWxBBbYUmot4QlUoUpobopIn0tzYCJ1EGtd5NQVVrLrxGocCS09uBVi7qIBRdLv14zfWtxHQjUsoeOi6wU8P_nxMDKOx97o0CQRJ4Ixv9XvP-WyTyXNXal4w8gk7OxMQw/s1600-h/group-with-cuttlefish-798263.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyB5W7LyWxBBbYUmot4QlUoUpobopIn0tzYCJ1EGtd5NQVVrLrxGocCS09uBVi7qIBRdLv14zfWtxHQjUsoeOi6wU8P_nxMDKOx97o0CQRJ4Ixv9XvP-WyTyXNXal4w8gk7OxMQw/s320/group-with-cuttlefish-798263.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5039747383830782482" /></a><br /><p><br />i had to reproduce a picture from <a href="http://www.greencampusnow.org">the greencampusnow</a> website. It's just so cute!! its of greenies in the quadrangle at Sydney Uni saying that <i>Research, that sacred cow,</i> won't stop climate change. shock and horror!!<p><br />and i can't help thinking that the white thing dangling from the umbrella is a lightening bolt!<br /><p><hr><P><br />here are some more greenies, at O-week for Sydney Uni last week. Fifty people turned up to the first environment collective meeting on Monday, apparently, which is extremely exciting!<br /><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibcSU1HvjkrX0ibPDm8K3lyjqx2xH7etXzNvagvUBQSHOOvHpHIjPTFpTIV50OVykRxjsOisLel6c_LvBHS-pgDjEheM2uceXciVmcoX_PgWFsRiCL_XtS5U_99Zgv5SaHFbkjCw/s1600-h/O-week!.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibcSU1HvjkrX0ibPDm8K3lyjqx2xH7etXzNvagvUBQSHOOvHpHIjPTFpTIV50OVykRxjsOisLel6c_LvBHS-pgDjEheM2uceXciVmcoX_PgWFsRiCL_XtS5U_99Zgv5SaHFbkjCw/s320/O-week!.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5039749977991029282" /></a>anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-66449034999177445412007-03-06T22:36:00.000+11:002007-03-06T22:47:29.124+11:00Newcastle Rising Tide and the Gotan ProjectI feel like crying with joy for the brilliance of <a href="http://www.risingtide.org.au">some climate activists</a> in Newcastle, whose <a href="miningnsw.com.au">parody website</a> of the NSW Minerals Council <a href="http://nswmining.com.au/">advertising campaign</a>has just been<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/green-group-seeks-afghan-refuge/2007/03/06/1172943416664.html"> resuscitated (SMH article)</a> by an Afghan webhost.... or maybe i'm just overcome by the beauty of music, because I just came back from the <a href="http://www.gotanproject.com/">Gotan Project</a> at the Opera House!!anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33526706.post-31884477795937722772007-03-03T21:27:00.000+11:002007-03-10T18:46:06.759+11:00the delicate activist flameOne of the most common topics that seasoned environmental activists talk about is burnout. <br /><br />It's related to something that Don Alexander writes about in <a href="http://newcity.ca/Pages/citizen_learning.html">this article</a> - that activists, (if they've got a martyr complex), sacrifice more than they get back from activism.<br /><br />A good analogy of the difficult side of activist experience is being dumped by a wave, and struggling to reach the surface to breathe- that kind of disorientation that comes when the pace of change is fast, and everything in your worldview is questioned and turned on its head. <br /><br />I guess that's why i've been treading warily amid the student activist milieu since i've come back from overseas- wary of committing to anything that will consume me and drag me under.<br /><br />So i've been a bit of a contemplative for the last few months- valuing time alone to think- especially walking long distances (eg sydney uni to town hall), and the commute to work and from uni...anneennahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13302376496075351748noreply@blogger.com0