Nature and Literature

"For the British have long specialised in a disconnect between their nature romance and their behaviour as consumers. Many of those people who coo over back-garden woodpigeons happily eat battery-farmed chicken. Many of those who hurrah at the vernal spawning of the natterjack toad order Thai king prawns in restaurants. Many of those who diligently fill their bird-feeders drive to work in a 4x4.

The problem is a failure of connection. King prawns - those thick pink commas of antibiotical muscle - are intensively farmed in vast PVC-lined prawn-pools in south-east Asia, and millions of hectares of fabulously biodiverse mangrove swamp have been gouged out to make way for these pools. A profligacy of carbon emission has led to climate change which may cause future screenings of Springwatch to fall in March, then February, then January - until finally spring is abolished altogether as an event...

In 2003, the first report from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) - an inquiry board consisting of 1,300 experts from 95 countries - was released. Its dark conclusion was that 60% of the ecosystem services that support life on Earth are being degraded or used unsustainably. If these trends are not reversed, the report observed, the consequences will include 'the emergence of new diseases, sudden changes in water quality, creation of 'dead zones' along the coasts, the collapse of fisheries, and shifts in regional climate'."


Full article here.

Kevin, if you are reading this, DON'T READ FURTHER!!!!

It's Kevin's birthday tomorrow and he is turning 30! I'm taking the day off so we can hang out, go to the movies (he wants to see Charlie and the Neverland Factory), eat, drink and be merry. At night, probably a chocolate cake with his favourite fruit (strawberries.) We had originally planned on going to Hampton Court (year in, year out, this plan ultimately fails) but, because we are doing a daytrip to Dover on the weekend, decided to save our money and stay in London instead.

I wanted to get him an iPod but I couldn't afford it, so I got him a book (The Rough Guide to Cult Fiction) and I'm paying for his activities tomorrow (and perhaps throwing a CD into the mix.) I wish I had planned this earlier, saved some money, because I know how happy he would have been to get an iPod -- I have this image in my head of boxes within boxes, stuffed with newspapers, giftwrapped, and the tiny iPod in its centre. Still, I'm thinking that there's always Christmas, isn't there? Turning 30 is not the end of the world.

This morning, before I left for work, I hugged him and said "enjoy the last day of your 20s." He started laughing/crying like a baby and shaking me, which just made me realize how evil I can be sometimes. I have the knack of saying the most awful things (it's the Scorpio Ascendant in me); it's my sense of humour running away with the baby's bathwater; it's the challenge I leave at people's doorsteps and which is rarely taken in. Sometimes, I'm the most misunderstood wannabe genius in the world.

Finally, I have this strange feeling that if I applied for Big Brother next year, I'd get in!