I have just caught an episode of Simon Reeve's new Indian Ocean TV series. This episode was the Madagascar to the Seychelles leg - and boy was it good television!
As usual, his kind of jovial, Louis Theroux-like approach manages to expose the bare naked truths behind the places and people he visits. But, perhaps unlike Louis, the impact of these facts are clearer to see on Simon's face - and in his presentation. He is not interviewing bad people and letting them hang themselves on their own words, more, he is exposing the world, and its bones, and letting us diagnose the diseases found therein for ourselves.
There's no denying, for example, that Madagascar is in trouble. A poor nation, with an exhausted landscape and tired economy, we might all know (or think we know) about the plight of lemurs, etc and the pressures of farming and deforestation... but Simon's up close, and sometimes personal, perspective in some ways gets the messages through even more clearly than any grandiose natural history programme, or cold, hard-facts political documentary.
Anyway, for those of you in the UK, it is available (for a while) on iPlayer from this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00pqbfg
Saying that, I guess it doesn't make for good viewing really. Who'd've thought a TV programme that includes showing its presenter snorkelling in pleasent clear blue waters of Mauritius and The Seychelles would make for such a depressing and sour 'after-feeling'?
I felt bad for myself as a consumer watching this programme. And then I felt bad for my country as a western, so called 'First World' state. And then I felt bad for Humankind full stop.
I struggle on most days to be a glass half-full person, and I know that is a bad way to go about living your life. The world is full of people trying hard to think of 'The Answers' and many others go about their daily lives doing good things for their fellow species.
But we can't avoid the plain fact here... we are over working this Island Earth of ours - and it is struggling to cope. And that makes me sad.
This world really is doomed unless some kind of wonderful miracle happens soon so that everyone is brought together to work for mutual benefit - for ourselves, our families... and our planet.
I want this miracle to happen before there is nothing left worth saving.
Basically, I wish I lived on the amazing Moyenne Island shown in the programme... but then again, that would be only hiding from the truth. And there is nothing to say that place isn't going to avoid the bad times coming in the future.
Jeez, Am I still suffering from Seasonally Affected Disorder?
Sorry,
Zeeox
Sunday 29 April 2012
Saturday 21 April 2012
Hosepipes Utd Nil, Buckets Town Nil.
So... after a nice, wet April day - sorry, week, my thoughts turn to the upcoming UK summer of low reservoirs, dry streams, hosepipe usage debates, miserable farmers and overall drought conditions...
Which inevitably leads me to predict we're going to have a horrible cold and wet summer! Hurray!
But, regardless, I recall hearing an interesting 'fact' on the radio the other day where someone pointed out that by banning hosepipes for the use of washing cars, far more water will actually be used by resorting to buckets instead. Something silly like twice as much water is used this way.
But I guess it must be a bit like showering instead of bathing. If you use power showers (or shower for longer than 15/20 minutes), it's obviously going to cancel out the savings.
But not the time.
Will people find the time to bother with using loads of water-filled buckets to wash their cars if it takes ages to actually do?
Perhaps we'll find people using carwash machines at garages again? (A habit that has surely declined these past 10 or so years?) Apart from the pure vanity and silliness in most cases of wanting to regularly wash your automobile in the first place, perhaps some clever bod will be able to work out a way of recycling the water from garage carwash machines more efficiently and offer a great alternative to doing it at home? (or in Sainsbury's car parks!) It would then probably reduce the cost of the service too.
Which brings up my concern about water retention in water and sewage services in general....
The UK's decrepid and leaking water pipes account for far more lost water than the water we need - and can't afford - or aren't allowed to use - in times of drought.
We should be concentrating on a nationwide upgrade project so that these holes are plugged!
Which of course, won't happen in these austerity-hit times. Even if we'd probably all agree in a referendum that would be a good idea.
Instead, things like this are starting to happen:
http://www.stwater.co.uk/conWebDoc/3010
And so, whilst our resevoir levels go down... our water bills will continue to go up.
God help us.
Which inevitably leads me to predict we're going to have a horrible cold and wet summer! Hurray!
But, regardless, I recall hearing an interesting 'fact' on the radio the other day where someone pointed out that by banning hosepipes for the use of washing cars, far more water will actually be used by resorting to buckets instead. Something silly like twice as much water is used this way.
But I guess it must be a bit like showering instead of bathing. If you use power showers (or shower for longer than 15/20 minutes), it's obviously going to cancel out the savings.
But not the time.
Will people find the time to bother with using loads of water-filled buckets to wash their cars if it takes ages to actually do?
Perhaps we'll find people using carwash machines at garages again? (A habit that has surely declined these past 10 or so years?) Apart from the pure vanity and silliness in most cases of wanting to regularly wash your automobile in the first place, perhaps some clever bod will be able to work out a way of recycling the water from garage carwash machines more efficiently and offer a great alternative to doing it at home? (or in Sainsbury's car parks!) It would then probably reduce the cost of the service too.
Which brings up my concern about water retention in water and sewage services in general....
The UK's decrepid and leaking water pipes account for far more lost water than the water we need - and can't afford - or aren't allowed to use - in times of drought.
We should be concentrating on a nationwide upgrade project so that these holes are plugged!
Which of course, won't happen in these austerity-hit times. Even if we'd probably all agree in a referendum that would be a good idea.
Instead, things like this are starting to happen:
http://www.stwater.co.uk/conWebDoc/3010
And so, whilst our resevoir levels go down... our water bills will continue to go up.
God help us.
Tuesday 3 April 2012
I was travelling along a road in my home town of Cambridge, England, on a sunny day last week and saw the wonderful Springtime pink cherry blossom on its newly planted trees... and it got me wondering about that specific road, and the use of trees in enhancing urban landscape in general.
It's a well known 'trick' that planting trees along roadsides enhances landscape values, both spiritually, physically and economically... but this road in particular has an interesting story.
It is called Milton Road, and has bus lanes along its wider stretches. In early 2002, it was proposed that trees be removed so that Cambridge's newly planned Busway could get buses in and out of the city centre to connect to it without seriously affecting existing traffic. After a solid debate and changes of plans and budgets, the road where the trees was not dualled and most of the trees survived.
However, it is not to say they will stay safe forever... councils are always changing their minds... and, at least as it appeared to me, the trees in blossom that I saw were new trees anyway (complete with original nursery planting bags at their root bases). I take this to mean there must be a short term plan at least to keep the road at its current width.
But what annoyed me a touch later was the fact I passed by happy - and forgot that cherry trees are not native plants, and are ornamental trees with a short lifespan and, apart from their role in providing pollen to bees in Spring and berry-eating birds in Winter, not particularly beneficial to urban wildlife.
What other urban trees should we planting?
I like Oaks. Pedunculate or Sessile, no bother. They are the tree we all know first from childhood (barring the Christmas Tree), and the one where we learn about the lifecycle of a germinating seed and acorn that then matures into a tree with a beautiful shape and crown, with gnarly limbs, millions of leaves and the provision of house and home for numerous other animals beyond count.
Fact: Oaks support the highest levels of biodiversity of any native tree in the UK.
Near my flat there is a simple terraced area of housing where there are three wonderful large, and old, Oaks that the road (Oak Tree Avenue) is presumably named after. And in immediate vicinity, there are other roads named after various tree species, although it is not so easy to see the specific trees that were presumably planted/incorporated along them in comparison.
....
It is true that 'woodland' trees such as Oaks and Ash do not provide much in the way of Spring colour and the major point is that they can take a long time to grow and get established. They are also much more expensive and can get so massive that their roots and height can become a danger to house foundations in later life.
Alternatively, blossoming trees such as Hawthorn, are more hedge-like in appearence and do not always look so good as a stand-alone 'standard' tree. They also have rather nasty thorns that are hard to tolerate by some people living in urban areas.
When I start thinking about decent large trees that suit urban areas, I always start with the (London) Plane tree. Not only does it look good when established, but it also has attractive, continuously peeling bark that is well known to tolerate pollution - and absorb it. I guess its main faults are the same though: it is also slow-growing, does not bloom in Spring and looks a touch fragile when small.
So... is there a native tree out there that can provide that Spring blossom, grow quickly but also live for a reasonably long time and not bankrupt a council with high planting or maintenance costs?
Suggestions please!
If there is: then I'd say that that is the tree that should be planted down roads like Milton Road, Cambridge... and not Ornamental Cherry Trees, however pretty they may be at this time of the year.
Cheers.
It's a well known 'trick' that planting trees along roadsides enhances landscape values, both spiritually, physically and economically... but this road in particular has an interesting story.
It is called Milton Road, and has bus lanes along its wider stretches. In early 2002, it was proposed that trees be removed so that Cambridge's newly planned Busway could get buses in and out of the city centre to connect to it without seriously affecting existing traffic. After a solid debate and changes of plans and budgets, the road where the trees was not dualled and most of the trees survived.
However, it is not to say they will stay safe forever... councils are always changing their minds... and, at least as it appeared to me, the trees in blossom that I saw were new trees anyway (complete with original nursery planting bags at their root bases). I take this to mean there must be a short term plan at least to keep the road at its current width.
But what annoyed me a touch later was the fact I passed by happy - and forgot that cherry trees are not native plants, and are ornamental trees with a short lifespan and, apart from their role in providing pollen to bees in Spring and berry-eating birds in Winter, not particularly beneficial to urban wildlife.
What other urban trees should we planting?
I like Oaks. Pedunculate or Sessile, no bother. They are the tree we all know first from childhood (barring the Christmas Tree), and the one where we learn about the lifecycle of a germinating seed and acorn that then matures into a tree with a beautiful shape and crown, with gnarly limbs, millions of leaves and the provision of house and home for numerous other animals beyond count.
Fact: Oaks support the highest levels of biodiversity of any native tree in the UK.
Near my flat there is a simple terraced area of housing where there are three wonderful large, and old, Oaks that the road (Oak Tree Avenue) is presumably named after. And in immediate vicinity, there are other roads named after various tree species, although it is not so easy to see the specific trees that were presumably planted/incorporated along them in comparison.
....
It is true that 'woodland' trees such as Oaks and Ash do not provide much in the way of Spring colour and the major point is that they can take a long time to grow and get established. They are also much more expensive and can get so massive that their roots and height can become a danger to house foundations in later life.
Alternatively, blossoming trees such as Hawthorn, are more hedge-like in appearence and do not always look so good as a stand-alone 'standard' tree. They also have rather nasty thorns that are hard to tolerate by some people living in urban areas.
When I start thinking about decent large trees that suit urban areas, I always start with the (London) Plane tree. Not only does it look good when established, but it also has attractive, continuously peeling bark that is well known to tolerate pollution - and absorb it. I guess its main faults are the same though: it is also slow-growing, does not bloom in Spring and looks a touch fragile when small.
So... is there a native tree out there that can provide that Spring blossom, grow quickly but also live for a reasonably long time and not bankrupt a council with high planting or maintenance costs?
Suggestions please!
If there is: then I'd say that that is the tree that should be planted down roads like Milton Road, Cambridge... and not Ornamental Cherry Trees, however pretty they may be at this time of the year.
Cheers.
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