Havin' a cheeky punt!

We all await the coming together of thousands of purely selfish short term choices in the wonderful miracle of classical economics. What a glorious day it will be.
I always enjoy the reporting on the markets. The market is portrayed as this great willful beast whom none can oppose. It's never spoken of as a collection of well heeled individuals making personal choices that place their own agrandisement above the very survival of thousands - millions - of others. Why should the elite contain their greed? Ordinary folk may become poor folk and poor folk may die, but the rich must not become ordinary. That would never do.
In defense of this arrangement we organise our entire global society. In defense of the fantasy that this is inevitable we speak in terms of institutions rather than individuals. And I don't mean the meaningless sideshow of personality politics. I mean the personal as political, (that old chestnut).
So the people who opt to (knowingly and with indifference of forethought) push up the price of food beyond the means of the most vulnerable - so their investment returns may afford them an extra (whatever) -are excused ethical censure. It is, in fact, deemed the highest good - the cornerstone of free market capitalism.
Criticism is waved away with false dichotomies and meaningless comparisons. The central immorality is sacrosanct. Get rich whilst the others die tryin'.... (and don't get me started on that shameful traitorous shite...)

I wonder why so many people hate us?

As you may gather, I'm not a betting man...but... I have backed Spain in 2 world cups and 2 previous Euros, without success. So - even though it's all a meaningless distraction and a ghastly waste of money - I hope the Germans lend their cup to someone else this time.

Northern Slush-Cap

The North Pole is set to be ice-free in summer henceforward, and ripe for exploitation. There could be all sorts down there that we could set fire to!

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-no-ice-at-the-north-pole-855406.html

whilst plant life takes to the hills

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jun/26/scienceofclimatechange.forests

On the upside, Spain has given rights to our ape cousins - those that are left.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4220884.ece

InterNational Insecurity

The US National Security Assessment warns of a host of risk magnifiers stemming from climate change - and an urgent sense of self interest may now focus the next administrations on the need for action. Let's hope it's not the same sort of action that so many previous administrations have been so keen on.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h4ESkJBTHkEvhYeMB82nkbM9XDBQD91HDV4O0

Stern warnings again of accelerating change and increasing costs, whilst the green energy revolution has got as far as the costing stage.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/26/climatechange.scienceofclimatechange

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080626/tpl-uk-britain-energy-renewables-

02bfc7e.htmlhttp://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article4215085.ece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jun/25/gordonbrown.greenpolitics

Re-Externalising the externals

There seems to be a lot of backtracking in the air as people who should really know better consider selling their own long term futures for the sake of a pleasant afternoon in the sun. Maybe we're just not that bright.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-ecocrunch-can-britain-still-afford-to-go-green-853415.html

Oxfam confirms that the food for cars movement is pushing the food for people movement back 30% whilst the carbon market is criticised by Stern and others for being something of a curate's egg.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080625/twl-uk-biofuels-oxfam-bd5ae06.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/25/carbonemissions.fossilfuels

Meanwhile the UK sells off its welfare system to anyone with a big stick and a filing cabinet - and those good people in the platinum mining industry go to the aid of poor Robert Mugabe.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article4207971.ece
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4855c04e-421e-11dd-a5e8-0000779fd2ac,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F4855c04e-421e-11dd-a5e8-0000779fd2ac.html&_i_referer=

Plus - a blast from a previous post about jellyfish - making the news on a beach near you - from now on...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/25/climatechange.fishing
http://throbgoblins.blogspot.com/2008/02/lifes-beach.html

SMIIIIIIILE!

The Kenyan government is over-riding opposition from local people and international agencies to destroy 80 square miles of rare wetland habitat - not for the food needs of its population, but for the fuel tanks of western consumers. So a sustainable lifestyle will be bulldozed for short term contingency.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/24/biofuels.wildlife

In the USA the desert states are realising the potential of their climate.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/24/energy.energyefficiency

and the UK government tries to sidestep any democratic process in an effort to push through whatever they feel like pushing through via a selected quango of friendly peerage-hungry specialists.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/not-in-our-backyard-852824.html

The market will provide...?

Barack Obama is, apparently beholden to the big US ethanol market and people are worried about the possible impact on the price of food.
A German town makes Solar panels compulsory and people are worried about the cost.
James Hanson calls for oil industry chiefs to be put on trial, and people are worried that this would set a dangerous market precedent.
Free-market fundamentalists call for the total deregulation of all trading apart from the state bailing out of their own failed institutions.

Money, eh? Everything - time, food, heat, law -is reduced to its theoretical value as measured in a system of shifting exchange-assumptions. The system is an analogy. It refers to reality but has no direct relationship to the world of objects as we experience it. It exists within, and only within, the agreed beliefs of a particular culture. It seems odd, to me, to base all our real world decisions on the internal logic of this metaphor. The metaphor could easily be derailed and entirely done away with by world events, whereas the real world will remain the real world, come what may. Without abundant cheap energy to power the transport of global trade, the logic of global trade collapses, and yet we plan for it to continue indefinitely because the urgent logic of our common delusion allows for no other interpretation of reality. The economic case is made and reality is expected to fall into line. But the price of a thing is not the thing itself. C'eci n'est pas un pipe!

A rather tortuous and poorly made case for a cartoon that questions the logic of tinkering with consumption patterns (essentially niche consumption cleavages) rather than challenging the entire edifice of consumption itself as a basis for human society.

Any suggestion that I picked on Hair-gel because I am a slap-headed baldy-man will be dealt with in the courts by Messrs Reedham and Wheape. Here are the links.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/23/fossilfuels.climatechange

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/23/solarpower.greenbuilding

http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/us/politics/23ethanol.html&OQ=_rQ3D2Q26hpQ3DQ26adxnnlQ3D1Q26orefQ3DsloginQ26adxnnlxQ3D1214216133-bzjdpW2CVJ2aZADQ2FC7ikFA&OP=77aed384Q2FiWH,iQ5DQ2FRmKQ2FQ2FsEiEQ60Q608iQ60ZiEfihmiQ27Q2F!PsPRmiEfHsFopQ2F!Q3BFsk!

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/73a4f9fc-4063-11dd-bd48-0000779fd2ac.html

Evolution in action

A MORI poll suggests that the British public are paying even less attention that I thought they were, but Nil Desperandum:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/22/climatechange.carbonemissions

whilst plans are afoot to provide at least the microgeneration infrastructure to enable a power-down:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4187635.ece