EcoWarriorMe

On the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. Simple cause and effect is not enough to explain a chaotic world. A single action seldom result in a single reaction. More often, it triggers a chain of reactions, a wave of perturbations through the fabric of reality, like ripples on a pond. Some are obscure, like dropping a small pebble in a big ocean while others stand out like a large rock dropped in a mill pond with long lasting ripples reflecting back from the edge generating complex interference patterns.  It may sound philosophically abstract but here are two examples of such complex interactions in nature.  The first involves the smallest primate, Madame Berthe's Mouse Lemur and the second involves the largest land mammal, the African Elephant.

I received the following e-mail from Greenpeace on a very important topic: the UK's commitment to reducing greenhouse has emissions in electricity generation. The draft Energy Bill does not yet have such a commitment so read on to find how you can help ensure it makes it into the final bill and please spread the word:

Two headlines caught my attention this week, both about animals attacking children.  One article went into the details of the attack, how an infant was attacked in his home , had a finger bitten off which was then re-attached by surgeons and there are still doubts over whether he will regain use of his hand.  The other was a much shorter article about a toddler being attacked in the street and suffered severe facial injuries. The former made national headlines with follow up articles and politicians demanding action to prevent a similar incident happening again while the latter is confined to history, no one is interested in reporting on how she is recovering. What is the difference? The former attack was by a wild fox ( vulpine vulpine ) and the latter by a domestic dog. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, has called on action to curb the number of foxes living in the city: a cull by any other name. But why not the same outcry and demands for culling pet dogs? The answer...

We are told not to buy counterfeit Louis Vuitton handbags or DVDs from down the Barras or from e-bay because they fund criminal gangs  that are often involved in other unsavoury activities such as human trafficking and drug smuggling.  What we aren't told is that is we keep on the straight and narrow using legitimate brands and widely respected retailers we could still unwittingly fund the same criminal gangs.  As the story of the horse meat sold as beef scandal  develops it is becoming clearer that that is what is happenning: Polish and Italian criminal gangs using intimidation to get the horse meat signed off as beef before exporting to traders in Cyprus and the Netherlands before reaching producers in France which then process it before finally sending it to the UK.   On reflection, it is not a surprising outcome of the way the food system works: a combination of globalisation, long supply chains and a constant pressure to reduce costs.  The big f...