Archive for category News
Good News! But It Was Well Hidden Amongst The Bad News
Posted by Gareth Eynon in Climate Change, News on November 14, 2011
You may have read an article in the Guardian this week (or elsewhere) telling us that greenhouse gas emissions are up to the levels predicted in only the IPCC’s worst-case scenarios. So despite the decades of warnings, it appears that we’re still ploughing headlong into self-destruction. Oh well, no surprise there.
Normally, I would relish writing a post on this and why it’s going to be the death of us all, and how the planet’s doomed, etc, etc. However, I am not feeling too good this week, and being in such a fragile state, I don’t actually want to linger on the bad news. Instead I want you to read a more uplifting paragraph from the same article. (Plus, I am using this as an excuse to be lazy and just settling for a little re-blogging).
First of all, just to keep you up to speed, here is the crux of the original story: The latest figures that show the levels of greenhouse gases humanity is chucking into the atmosphere are way up there with the worst case scenarios forecast in all the climate models and predictions. In other words… we’re buggered. But like I said; I can’t be bothered with that right about now.
The good news I wanted to share with you is this:
“The developed countries that ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas limiting treaty have reduced their emissions overall since then and have achieved their goals of cutting emissions to about 8% below 1990 levels”. (I personally think this should be front-page news, but the media doesn’t do happy stories, does it?)
So you see? We can do it. There is a ray of hope. Enough said. That’s it for this post… I’m off now to suffer in the throws of my man-flu. Peace.
GR
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Photo courtesy of Max Blain
Why Do Some People Seem to Dislike Steve Jobs So Much?
Posted by Gareth Eynon in News on October 7, 2011
With the death of Steve Jobs yesterday, it was surprising to see so many negative comments aimed not only at the man himself, but also questioning the amount of praise heaped on the him. Why is this? What has he done to these people?
The thing I can’t understand is why people appear to begrudge him not only his success, but also fail to see the massive impact that he had, not just in the technology/media sectors, but also in the wider environs of society itself. Admittedly, he didn’t cure cancer (obviously) and Apple wasn’t without its own controversy, but you must be blind to not see how far he pushed the digital revolution and thus the way many of us live our lives today.
Steve Jobs gave us the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad; all of which became outright market leaders and the technology for others to emulate. These integral components are partly responsible for fuelling the digital revolution that we are so privileged to be living through today. Not to mention his role in the creation of Pixar, iTunes, the mouse and the Macintosh computer.
Some people were on facebook and twitter yesterday saying that all we have lost is a man who drove consumerism and just wanted to sell us stuff. Well, duh! Hello? That’s what businessmen do isn’t it? He wasn’t Ghandi or the Dalai Lama – he was out to make money and did so with diamond encrusted cherries on the top. What I find ironic here, though, is that many of these people were using their iPhones to post these messages.
Is this the end of the innovation? I hope not
A concern for me about Steve Job’s death is that we have lost a true visionary; a man who gave us what we wanted before we even knew we wanted it. His audacious decisions to hold back certain features on new products and his meticulous focus on exactly how he wanted things done were not only legendary among the industry, but also helped Apple make more money than the US government.
As far as IT is concerned, Apple’s biggest rival, Microsoft, only seems capable of copying Apple on everything that it does: Windows is still just playing catch-up with MacOS, and the Microsoft stores are exact copies of the Apple store model (with some extra comfy sofas admittedly). While there’s nothing wrong with this, I just hope that Job’s mantle at Apple can be carried forward by his team and we will continue to witness the originality in concept and design we’re now so used to from the Californian company – at least until someone else can step up to the plate and take us further forward.
Don’t get me wrong here; I love Apple products, but only because they work so well (and look so cool). If they are usurped by another company, I am not so much of an Apple loyalist that I won’t go for a better product if they do end up taking their eye off the ball. I just hope the new ideas will continue to flow from somewhere.
Apple is currently the second biggest company in the world, behind only Exxon-Mobile. This would never have been achieved without the charismatic, inventive, forward-looking CEO at their helm. Let’s hope we will continue to witness the levels of innovation we have seen over the last decade and are not entering a dark period of lack of imagination.
RIP Mr Jobs; you will be missed (but not too much I hope).
GR
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Changes to UK Planning Law Sparks Concern For Our Beloved Countryside
Posted by Gareth Eynon in News on August 8, 2011
The National Trust and The Campaign To Protect Rural England (CPRE) are about to come to blows with MPs over proposed changes to the planning law. They both argue that the changes will make it too easy for new developments to go ahead, consequently threatening green belt land.
This developing argument has led to a war of words between the charities, who claim the countryside will suffer as a result of the changes, and the government, who claim this just is a smear campaign by the left.
Of course changes by the government will usually have somebody or other up in arms; but when The National Trust – that most sensible and venerable of British institutions – throws off the gloves, then you know something is truly wrong.
The government reassures us that Green Belt land, National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSI) will remain protected. However, this then raises concern about the rest of the country’s green field sties and wildlife habitats that do not benefit from this security.
Part of what concerns The National Trust and CPRE is that our cash-strapped government is putting short-term financial gain ahead of robust countryside protection. It is feared that this will clear the way for more housing estates, power stations, roads and supermarkets. Conversely though, it may also make it easy for developments such as wind farms to get permission – although that will not please everybody.
The National Trust is due to mobilise its 3.6 million members for the first time in its history by asking them to sign a petition against the proposals, which shows how worried they must be about this change to the planning laws.
The reason for the change is to reduce the current planning policy from 1000 pages to 52, thus making the whole planning process more simple and transparent. While this appears to be prudent in principle, the government seems to be getting it wrong, yet again.
CPRE say that this is the biggest change to planning policy since 1947 and will allow local referendums to overrule current protection for rural areas.
As a member of The National Trust I am looking forward to seeing what they will do in regard to this spat with the government. If you too are concerned about this issue please can take action via the CPRE website, or The National Trust website.
You could, of course, sign both petitions, just like I’m going to do right now. Go on: get involved and make a difference.
GR
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Photos courtesy of Davidmartyn. Thanks.
