JG Ballard

Great writer. Intelligent, provocative and thought-provoking stories. A sad loss.

Rossinisbird's rubber rage

This is one of those small things that wazzes me off. It shouldn't, but like shitty Ocean Finance adverts it does. These red rubber buggers are an elastic litter on pathways and pavements, like little red worms kissing their own arses.

But now the authorities are planning to make posties pick them up under fear of a short stretch, or a fine at least.

My plan for the rubber band ball world record is now in jeopardy.

From the mouths of babes

Sixteen years ago this impassioned plea was made at the Rio Earth Summit. Judging by the G20, the leaders still aren't listening.

How fucked are we?

The geniuses at the MIT Global Change Program have looked at the scenarios for climate change - what kind temperature change we can expect if we do something and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, or what we are looking at if we don't.

Take a gamble on the wheel of misfortune here.

An interesting analogy used on the site is one of taking personal responsibility to mitigate risk:

Human-induced climate change is a problem of risk management. It can not be proved that the outcome will be dire or shown with certainty that it will not. As with other problems we face in private life and public policy, from controlling your cholesterol level to defense against epidemic disease, uncertain dangers can warrant reasonable measures to reduce risk.

The answer - take care of the biospshere, like taking care of your heart - do something about it.