Podcasting since 2004; Conversations, conflicts, adventures and monologues from around the world.
The latest report on the state of the world’s fishing stock doesn’t get much press. Despite the fact that the extinction of various fish species would be an ecological disaster worldwide, people seem to just go about their regular fish eating practices. This vlog is about the report and its connection to invidual choices that have global implications.
The Guardian Article I refer to.
The agency (ICES) that does the research.
There are few projects on the internet, that make me stand up and say — see.. this is what videoblogging is for! And while I’ve mentioned this particular one before, as I watched their latest video I was once again reminded of how great they are.
The project is called Swajana, a videoblog which started around the time of Jay and Ryanne’s visit to India. It is about people in India. More specifically, people and their jobs. What they do, why they do it, how much they make, how they manage their lives, their hopes for the future, their hopes for their children, their concerns in general. It is a fantastic collection of snapshots, video capsules of life in cities like Pune, India.
Watching the tailor and the tailor’s wife and the tailor’s son, I’m reminded of what life is like outside of this first world disneyland known as Amsterdam. I love living here, but the standard of living is so high, It makes me need to have reality checks, reminders, of how a majority of the world lives. That means poverty. That means jobs that many of us would not do. That means struggling for the bare essentials. While I often say I struggle, my struggle is nothing in comparison. And in my humble opinion, this is the true power, the true significance of what videoblogging and personal publishing could be used for when it comes to global understanding, reporting about reality, and learning from each other. So on this fine friday, I recommend you re-check out and subscribe to Swajana.
Just over 1 year ago Lebanon and the city of Beirut were under siege. After the July war the mainstream press seemed to lose interest in reporting about what was happening to people beyond the stories about political violence. In this podcast I bring a wonderful friend of mine to talk about her visits and experiences in Beirut in the past year and beyond. We talk about how people are living their lives, the challenges they face, and what might the future hold if things continue as they are.
Last week my friend Caroline got us tickets to see Naomi Klein here in Amsterdam. Some of you will have heard about her new book, the shock doctrine. It is all about how the government, in this case I believe the US government, uses traumatic events and tragedies as an opportunity to push their agenda’s of privatization and private contracting for the benefit of the corporations that support them. We can surely talk about the doctrine itself in a future post, my focus is slightly different today.
Over drinks at the bar, following the talk, there were people everywhere debating the shock doctrine and who agrees or does not agree with Klein. One particular guy walks up to me, recognizing me as the guy who raised his hand but was not called on, and strikes up a conversation. During that conversation he mentions the Marshall plan.
What about the Marshall Plan? It seems like it was a huge success? In the four years following WWII, the US spent some 14 billion to support many European countries in their rebuilding. Four years later almost all those countries had managed to kickstart their economies to a higher level than ever before.
Yet nowadays we have the shock doctrine. We have blackwater shooting innocent people. We have disappearing palettes of money. A post war rebuilding that never seems to really rebuild anything. What makes the Marshall Plan so different? This is something I want to look into and I would actually like to speak with someone that knows the plan well.
In her talk Klein talked about how what happens after a major traumatic event depends not only on money but also, ideas that are lying around. What were the ideas lying around in post war Europe, and how do they compare to the ideas lying around in Iraq? Or are there more powerful forces than ideas on the ground that prevent a new Marshall Plan from being laid out?
Until I can answer these questions, I’ll keep searching. I’ve also got some audio of George C. Marshall speaking in 1947 at harvard. Perhaps it will help.
Quick question to all readers, frequent or infrequent… do you find the comment system to be adequate? I’m considering switching to the native wordpress comments, which means some additional features that would be good for me and you, including being able to respond to individual comments as a sub thread.. that way you know whos talking to who.
If I do it, you wont see the old comments anymore. I have them saved, but the public will not see them.
Leave a quick comment to say if you think the current comment system isn’t good.
UPDATE: OK, Ive now moved comments to the wordpress native system. Unfortunately several years of spam were sitting on the system. Now cleaning them up and losing many hours of sleep to them. But from now on you can not only comment directly below, you can also respond to individual comments OR leave a comment to the original post. watch below and you’ll see an example.
It really doesn’t matter who wins the nobel peace prize, the fact is the type of societies we’ve developed around the planet are not prepared and doing relatively little to truly counter their excessive energy use and polluting. While I realize some parts of the world are better than others at preparing, today I’m thinking of my homestate of New Jersey.
Mom called a few days ago and mentioned how unbearably high the power and heat costs are just to keep our family home going. She and dad still live in the house I grew up in, which happens to be in an area of New Jersey that pays amazingly high property tax, and mind boggling energy costs. Of course these homes are built in such a way that they cost alot to just maintain basic utilities.. the wonders of suburbia.
So mom says she’s interested in solar power for heating and hot water. Which of course reminds us both of grandma and grandpa’s house in Portugal.. located in a tiny village. Even as far back as 1989 I remember that they had solar panels on the roof, which were for hot water. Amazing to consider that my grandparents weren’t even environmental activists, it was just a relatively common practice, almost 20 years ago, to get solar panels to heat water throughout Portugal.
My mother’s fear, of course, like many working citizens throughout the world, is if changing her energy system to solar is affordable? She worries of the costs for solar panels, that they might bring a tremendous financial burden. Word amongst her friends is that its too expensive. Once again note the problem with such street wisdom, it is 2007 and we know enough about the planet to know we should use less energy, and yet in a state as modern and populous as New Jersey… the average person writes off getting solar energy because of the cost? This should not be so.
I’ve begun the process of researching what the steps would be, and even as a relatively smart person, I’m getting confused already. Apparently it takes 60 days, for example, to actually get solar panels that are approved by the state and ready to be used. You would figure, considering the state of the world, that the state or local government would have some kind of tax break or financial assistance to help people go solar. So far it seems, THEY DO. If you can figure out the system and fill out the right forms, and indeed, put up the money for the system… the state of New Jersey will cover 40% of the costs.
Still I’m not convinced about the process if a government, be it national, provincial, or local, is serious about reducing the amount of energy people use and helping citizens use alternative sources. And without the support of government, it will be even more difficult to change the mentality of a population that always comes back to the issue of cost in the form of money. But let’s see what more research can dig up, maybe my mom and dad will be able to go solar sooner rather than later.