Can the Can

The G20 and space-toilets

I can't imagine why this didn't end up extremely graphic and somewhat disturbing.

Apocalypse when?

This was much funnier in my head. Never mind. What d'ya want f' nowt?

Here's the link

The "revolution" gets underway, and we'll all be first up against the wall. The revolution will not be televised.

Peak

Can't stop....busy!

Idea from Dwight Towers

Technobubble

Biochar arguments are batted about, technofixes bite the dust and market stalwarts call for state intervention in the energy markets to ensure renewables targets are met.

Meanwhile, borders go missing in Europe

Socially unacceptable

Ed Milliband seeks to shame NIMBYs into following the cuckoo into silence, while German researchers tell us that money is a drug. Who knew?

Bear essentials

While humans concentrate on launching an "affordable" car for billions of bicyclers, and prepare to meltdown the amazon for palm-oil, the incredible shrinking polar bear seeks protection where it may

More on the Polar bear here.

Water and space are at a premium

Manchester Climate Fortnightly (McFly) Number 20 is now available, and , if you live in Greater Manchester, you are cordially invited to the launch of the "Call to real action" to make real progress in decarbonising the city.

Comic Strip Violence

No cartoon today.
I went for a long walk in the hills with friends today (which was blustery and exhilerating, despite my left knee protesting loudly for the last 5 miles) and came back to peruse the comments on Andy Revkin's DotEarth blog on the New York Times website - wherein he was kind enough to link to my Bang Bang You're Dead cartoon. I appreciate the exposure and his kind words. But I was surprised by the amount of vitriol coming my way in the comments stream. Apparently some people object to cartoon violence. As you can imagine, I was dumbfounded by this revelation and naturally whipped myself mercilessly before falling to the floor in a horrified swoon.
What can I say? I cannot undo the evil I have done, but henceforth Frank will employ only the medium of fluffy bunnies to make his points. We wouldn't want to upset anyone, would we? Or... maybe I could conduct a poll to find out what acts are appropriate to depict in a cartoon. Your participation would be appreciated

Should Frank primarily rely upon:

a) fluffy bunnies?
b) kids saying the funniest things?
c) hilarious misunderstandings?
d) embarrassing visits from clergy?
e) golf related accidents?
f) knob gags?

I'll do some urgent rummaging through old Gambols annuals to see how it should be done. I'm sorry. I'm a very bad man.



Or, on the other hand- fuck 'em (in a deeply caring and consensual fashion) if they can't take a joke.

Following Orders

More than 7 million quids worth of police will be ensuring that protestors don't contaminate the G20 summit with any new ideas, thus making the world safe for inadequate investment, climate chaos, dehydration and myopia, with some open-ended blank cheques thrown in.

So, all in all, a nice little inheritance for the kids. But Nil Deperandum. The revolution starts at home.

Bang bang, you're dead.

Frank is a cartoon character. Shooting people is wrong. Of course Frank would never actually DO anything like this. It's probably just a dream. We'll all wake up soon.

The great ice sheets may not be set to completely collapse overnight, but the processes being set in motion today will make that collapse unstoppable.

With our current "democratic" processes falling short, and road traffic increasing 25% in just 15 years, it looks like we're grabbing the shit end of the stick with both hands

Thanks to Andrew C Revkin and Susan Anderson for this

Baby, you're a rich man too.

Opportunities abound for those who dare, as China asks he who calls the tune to pay the piper, and we are all cordially invited to Cap the rich

Elsewhere, both Shell and the UK government go into bat for the opposition

The Third Chimpanzee

Lots of
climate related
stuff
in the news

...but I'm still musing on poor old Santino - the chimpanzee who is too human for the zoo - who has had his oh-be-joyfulls removed in the interest of gawping safety. He's no longer preparing for war. The implications are staggering

It sometimes seems that we are a species hamstrung by our sexual selection habits. Evolution has primed us to select for maximum resource control - whether that be orchards, water or ferraris. Conspicuous consumption gets you laid.

Age of Stupid - People's Premiere

Not a cartoon as such, just an earnest suggestion that you all drop whatever you're doing tomorrow and seek out a cinema that's showing the Age Of Stupid. Click on the widget to the right. No excuses now.

...and a little reminder about Earth Hour

Equal Rights and Stern Warnings

Stern warnings followed by stern warnings, as drought pushes up grain futures

At least the handle is one of us.

The
steady
drum-beat
of
increasingly
bad
news

with a syncopated back-beat

The title of course refers to the old joke; An axe wielding lumberjack sets about hacking down a forest. One tree turns to another and says... "At least the handle's one of us!"
Cold comfort

Media Friendly

All the usual stuff.

You know the drill

Cognitive Malfunction

Our closest cousins show definite signs of being... well... our closest cousins, while the Heartland Jamboree keeps churning out the misinformation. There's a lot of it about

I'm not sure whether I'm contravening RealClimate's "Advice to Climate Bloggers" number 6, or adhering to number 13 here. It's a complex situation

Oh, and this story sums us up nicely, don't you think?

A question of taste

Readers from beyond these shores might like to insert the finance minister and business troll of their choice. Suggestions welcome. Thanks once again to Roy Bailey

While the Big Polluters hit the campaign trail and scientists warn that there's only a 50/50 chance of avoiding the shitstorm even under politics' best projections, the UK chancellor opts to pull the rug out from under any chances we might have.

Oh, and the police decide to bust the phantom custard flinger

The new McFly is up and about and doing its thing

Human Sacrifice?

I may be being a bit previous here, as I have only one source for this story. Any confirmation or rebuttals welcome.

We in the west are so swamped with Christian and Islamist fundamentalisms that we spare very little media space for their Hindu co-delusionists.

As ever, the sea gets more toxic, and there's going to be a lot more of it, whilst clocks are cruelly turned back in DR Congo and the North of Ireland

Text is a verb

Here is a video

Today's stolen punchline comes with apologies to Roy Bailey who I saw today with Tony Benn at the Salford Lowry - inspiring as ever.

Still nothing to fear....

Another repost (plain lazy, me) to celebrate the Guardian's uncovering of what everybody already knew - that the police keep information about anybody and everybody who pops their head up to exercise their democratic rights. They maintain an extensive database of personal details. Its all terribly selective and contains only absolutely everything they can get on absolutely everybody. Far be it from me to suggest that they do this in an effort to intimidate the citizenry into accepting whatever comes their way.

We've - got - a - file - on - YOU!

News Corpse

Yes. It seems that Uncle Rupert will henceforward be using the unfathomable might of his media empire for good rather than, well, ...the other thing

meanwhile...In the spirit of quantative easing I went down to my local gargantmart with some freshly minted banknotes of my own design, in order to stimulate the economy. They didn't seem to appreciate the sound financial wisdom of my actions and there was an ugly scene involving a lot of shouting, some custard and a security guard. There's no helping some people.

In the news - there's a lot of stuff about Rainforests
and a lot of stuff about biofuels

Conditionality

The expected punch lime was unfortunately a victim of structural adjustment.

This was sparked off by watching this video (which I must admit I abandoned half way when the flying saucers appeared) and reading this interview with Uncle Noam.

Holiday on Ice

Bits crack off and bits fade away until the doo-doo is as deep as a philosopher's nightmare. Ho hum.

Birds of Prey

Birds - forever the canaries in our coalmine -are first off the blocks in the race over the edge. Our own migratory upheavals will not be far behind.

Meanwhile - The EU bottles out of Climate Funding for poor nations whilst the media call for it all to be left to the philanthropic urges of uber-capitalists (who have been doing such a bang-up job lately)

Summer of Rage

Whilst the US goes to Washington to protest Dirty Coal, senior UK police officers set up a self fulfilling prophecy by predicting mass outbreaks of middle class wickedness in reaction to recession/depression etc.

How long must we sing this song...?

I saw somewhere that a minor celebrity spat had blown up over something of nothing, and saw it as an opportunity to introduce Frank's grand-daughter, Judi, (who we shall be seeing from time to time) and to have a pop at St Bono
I'm not suggesting that Bono is one of (Swiss Astronomer) Fritz Zwicky's "Spherical Bastards" (it is clear what they are whichever way you look at them), but from certain angles.....

The Only Planet 'toon below originally appeared in this month's New Internationalist