vobiblog

It is one of those weekends where you are left wondering if politicians really are a lower species. The missing link between man and ape even. Regardless of which side of centre they came from, or the party the run with, no matter what they do, they always seam to act in a counter intuitive manner.

Take for example the latest summary from the upcoming IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. If the news wasn’t bad enough before, now  they are suggesting that the great barrier reef is going to be all but gone by 2020. Australia is going to get drier. Droughts will be broken with floods and more destructive cyclones. The Murray-Darling will be totally screwed - with or without us. A point on contention in the report was the statement that most of the effects of climate change will be borne by the worlds poorer people. It is hard to imagine how long Australians can remain “rich” without a reef, water, rain forests and some kind of agriculture.

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Everyone keeps on telling me what a great guy Bill Gates is. He is filthy rich, owns a large stake in the worlds most profitable software company and more recently, has been known for giving away massive amounts of money for the greater good. Most notably, he has pumped hundreds of millions into HIV research. All good so far, right?

I think he is an idiot, not just because I hate Microsoft and all their products, but because he seams captive to the popular dogma that technology will solve all societies ills. Supporting HIV research would give you the impression that he actually cares about the welfare of the average peasant in Africa. After all, Africa is the continent that is suffering the most from HIV. This is compared to western countries where walking down the street probably poses more threat to ones health than HIV. Yet his charitable body The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have donated large amounts of money towards a program that is at best going to work over a vast number of the 3rd worlds most vulnerable. (more…)

Is there such a thing? It is arguable that there isn’t. Yet who am I to judge, I am just another crazy West End cyclist. However, a lot of people have been saying that they want to do their bit for the environment by buying a Toyota Prius. I have always thought that hybrid cars are more green-wash than anything else, so I decided to investigate. Before you fork over $37,400 of your hard earned, you should find out the facts.

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On Tuesday, we spent the afternoon at university in the workshop. Six of us were trying to work out the best way to make a 1m cantilever platform with 6 x 2m lengths of wood, string and duct tape (please, no jokes about hamsters). Anyway, due to the tightass nature of QUT, we were not able to store the wood there, and it had to be taken home. Everyone else in the group had an excuse as to why they couldn’t take it home. Three of them were catching the bus, fair enough I guess. One was catching the train. They have been getting a little squeezy during peek hour. Also fair enough. Another was driving and said it wouldn’t fit (What are you driving dude! a mini?). It was up to me to be a hero and save the day. Armed with duct tape I taped the wood to my bike and rode home.

How elite am I? Faster and less smelly than public transport, less effort carrying shit than walking, more carrying capacity than a Mini, more looks than Anna Nicole Smith walking down Queen Street Mall topless. To all those who saw me, I hope I made you commute home on Tuesday a little more amusing than usual.

I know I can hardly talk about sustainability. I am writing this from seat 33A on SQ377 to Singapore. That said at least I understand that this kind of lifestyle has no future. Unlike these dickhead Texan’s as reported in The Economist (6/1/2007): (more…)