Archive for politics

Environmentalism is the new religion?

November 9, 2006 at 10:28 am · Filed under economics, environment, politics, propaganda, religion

“Environmentalism is the new religion in this post modern world and like all religions you have an ”end times” senario to believe in.”So us sinfull humans must be punished for our love of the fossil fuel and motorway and overseas travel.And the penance we must pay is carbon tax.And we all await a fiery future with global warming for our sins!”

Something that shits me at the moment is the frequency with which I’m seeing comments like this – that environmental activism is just a new religion. I’ve seen it on blogs, in newspaper Op-Ed pieces, and on Usenet. Often it is combined with a view that market forces will avert problems or provide the best solutions.

Yes, it’s true that environmental activism may be a religion to some. But to others it is just cold, rational, thinking. It is simply not in our interests to severely disrupt an environment that our comfort, economies and lives are deeply entwined with, in complex ways that we sometimes have a poor understanding of. ‘End-times’ scenario’s are often the realistic consequences of not changing our behaviour to acknowledge this.

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ExxonMobil letter – part two

October 25, 2006 at 11:17 am · Filed under Big Oil, environment, Peak Oil, politics, propaganda, transport

I’ve gotten a reply to my letter which I sent to ExxonMobil recently, and posted here on the 16th of October. The Public Affairs Manager, Samantha Potts, went through it point by point and expressed ExxonMobil’s position on each. I will give them credit here, as my expectation was no response at all, or a form letter response. (Though as GP pointed out, it merely says that they are well-organised and skilled at PR.)
Having said that, the reply dodges issues. For example, she writes:

However, it is important to point out that it is both false and misleading to suggest, as the Enough Rope program and the Royal Society have done, that in providing financial support to such organisations [she is referring to the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), in this case], ExxonMobil controls their views and messages.

While it may be true that ExxonMobil does not control the views and messages of organisations that it funds or is a client of, it surely has some influence over those views and messages. And it can choose to end its relationship with them, citing their views and messages as a reason for this.

She points out that ExxonMobil has not funded CEI in 2006, but there is no indication that this won’t change again next year. Also the reply suggests that ExxonMobil funded them only in 2005, whereas the reality is that they had been funding them for several years.

I’ve scanned and linked the reply here. I will probably reply to this – feel free to leave a comment if you have a suggestion!

Incidently, here are some excerpts from Andrew Denton’s interview with Al Gore:

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Racism and outside food not allowed

October 20, 2006 at 4:56 pm · Filed under India, politics, Shimla, travel

at a cafe in Shimla.

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At the border

October 17, 2006 at 11:23 pm · Filed under India, politics, travel

At the border (3)

At the border (2)

At the Indian-Pakistan border, during the border closing ceremony.

In India there are many occasions when it is appropriate for guys to spontaneously burst into song and dance.

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ExxonMobil letter – part one

October 16, 2006 at 5:25 pm · Filed under Big Oil, environment, Peak Oil, politics, propaganda

I recently wrote a letter which I will send to ExxonMobil soon. Don’t like the first couple of sentences – really weak beginning, so I think it needs some more editing. It was orginally all friendly and wordy, then I made it terse and and somewhat agressive. This is the current compromise. I do of course realise that it will go straight to the circular file, or maybe their propaganda department to help them market themselves better.

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The new science

October 15, 2006 at 8:16 pm · Filed under education, politics


[originally posted May 26th, 2006]

There is a bit of an overhaul of high school teaching going on in Western Australia, along the same lines as what is happening in other Australian states. We’re moving to an “Outcomes Based Education” system, which incorporates more of a ‘values’ and ‘cultural awareness’ component into all teaching. Some people feel that science teaching may suffer because of this. Here’s a quote from “The Australian” [1] yesterday:

The South Australian curriculum states: “Viewing experiences, ideas and phenomena through the lenses of diverse cultural sciences provide a breadth and depth of understanding that is not possible from any one cultural perspective. Every culture has its own ways of thinking and its own world views to inform its science. Western science is the most dominant form of science but it is only one form among the sciences of the world.’ The Northern Territory science curriculum adopts a similar approach; it speaks of a “social-constructivist perspective” and one where “science as a way of knowing is constructed in a socio-cultural context”.

The WA curriculum appearantly says:

“People from different backgrounds and cultures have different ways of experiencing and interpreting their environment, so there is a diversity of world views associated with science and scientific knowledge which should be welcomed, valued and respected. They [students] recognise that aspects of scientific knowledge are constructed from a particular gender or cultural perspective.”

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BTA

October 15, 2006 at 8:09 pm · Filed under bicycles, politics, transport

[Originally posted April 28th, 2006]

I’ve renewed my membership with the BTA, which I let lapse a couple of years ago. The Bicycle Transportation Alliance is a Perth based advocacy group for cyclists – it lobbies the government on bicycle issues and provides useful information, discounts, and third-party insurance to members. My receipt and first copy of Australian Cyclist arrived in the mail yesterday. I was impressed, having only posted them my application two working days before.

Caught the bus in today – don’t want to overdo the cycling… May bike in again on Monday.

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