copenhagen - our impression

Many people asked us why we were going to copenhagen and what we hoped to achieve out of it. obviously we weren't going to change the course of the discussions but i think most people like us wanted to go there to raise our voice, join the group and meet other people with whom we can share ideas. So that, while the politicians bicker about carbon footprtins, we can start doing our own things and making our own progress.

That's pretty much what we did. We went on the march and, as it happened, we were near the front of the crowd so we were basically walking in front of hundreds of photographers for most of the journey. The press were clearly waiting for a riot so they can take that prize-winning photograph. They got their chance later in the evening, after the march, when a bunch of people threw stones at the ministry of foreign affairs. The police charged in, arrested everyone in sight, and the press were happy. When we looked at the newspaper the next day, it seemed like a war had taken place. It was quite the opposite. We walked quietly to the conference centre where we were then lulled into boredom by a dj who played buddha bar lounge music instead of some energetic metal or rock to get things going. We didnt see the people throwing stones and as far as i know they were protesting about deportation.

So we went to christiania instead. Its a cool place but its not what i expected of an alternative town. Its more like the Tacheles in berlin, which means its quite punk and you can see the squater influence.

On the way back, in the metro station, we bumped to someone we recognised from nora's uni. They missed the march because the bus got held up (probably deliberately - which would be unsurprising). We told them about the march and... they asked how we got to copenhagen. We said we flew. That didn't go down well at all.
We were travelling on the same metro so they asked us if were staying in accomodation with them (i.e. a matresses in a school hall). No thanks, we were hosted by a friendly couple in awesome flat and there was actually a surplus of hosts so they could've done that too. Then they started getting really ratty and self righteous about everything. By implication, we should've asked them why they were taking the metro - they should've walked back to their accomodation!

Sharing ideas:
There are plenty of eco-villages around europe that are doing the right thing: growing their own healthy food, living self-sufficiently, sustainably and happily. People were sharing information, tips and advice. We also watched a video about totnes being a "transistion town".

Copenhagen:
We stayed with jan and john who had an awesome flat and just what we expected a danish flat to look like: spacious, minimalist yet cosy and comfortable. They hosted us for three nights and we got on together like a house on fire. We cooked for eachother, talked about languages and all sorts. Both spoke ridiculously good, accent-free, english as well many other langauges. They were a pleasure to be with and we had a good laugh.
We saw plenty of copenhagen. I think the one thing that struck me the most was how many independent shops there were. Its refreshing compared to the same streets throughout the whole of england. In fact, the whole city is refreshing, really. Its spacious, uncluttered, clean, quiet and beautiful!

Here are a few photos from Oman

A small omani village in an oasis near the Wahiba Sands. It was very hot and very quiet. Only a few crickets chirped in the long dry grass.

A desert camp just inside of the Wahiba Sands. We stayed in a Beduin hut. We spent most of the evening lounging about in a communal sitting area filled with carpets and floor pillows. An ideal place to drink chai, eat dates and listen to desert's silence.

This is a wadi - essentially, a rather dried-up river bed where warm water springs out of the mountain.

Arabic cligraphy.

The grand mosque with confident elegance.

in-house compost

I really enjoyed reading about sustainable dave's mission to not throw away any rubbish for one year. An interesting blog for people who live in cities where there is no recycling scheme or recycling possibilities. Provides plenty of inspiration and tips.
Among other things, I was really interested in the worm composter - which can be kept indoors. Best to let him explain it...

what are you eating?

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) are, in my opinion, one of the most important predicaments facing us today. The issue is never reported so it has become quite esoteric and not many people know much about it.

Pessimistically, GMOs, in the form of GM food, could one day affect everybody. To avoid this scenario, it should concern everybody to know more about the health risks, environmental damage and the cynical politics that pushes and sponsors the growing of GM crops throughout the world.

I have been reading and researching this for roughly half a year and it’s about time to write some stuff…

Part 1 - The “science”

How are GMOs developed? Although the GMOs are developed in the laboratory, there is nothing scientific about it. By this I mean, the process is not calculated, controllable or even safe.
Scientists will look for certain characteristics in animals, plants, insects or even bacteria and identify a strand of DNA responsible for this unique (evolutionary) characteristic.

A particle gun is then used to randomly fire this strand at another organism’s DNA, in the hope that new organism will adopt the strand’s characteristic. This process will be done hundreds of times until the desired outcome (usually a plant) morphs out the test tube - which will be a new organism and immediately patented.

This process is random, so the scientists have no idea what else may have happened to the DNA - for example, the modified DNA could be ever so slightly damaged, or new proteins are unknowingly created - with unknown health consequences. The modified DNA turns out to be about 2-4% different from the original DNA - which doesn’t sound like much. But, to put this into perspective, the difference in DNA between a human and a monkey is less than 1%.

This is the same science behind GM crops, such as wheat and rice - both increasingly and forcedly grown in the developing world to feed millions of people.
The countless health and environmental risks as well as political ramifications from “owning the seed” will be mentioned later:

Part 2 - Your health
Part 3 - Our environment and how GMOs are spreading.
Part 4 - The politics: “control the oil and you control the countries. Control the food and you control the people”.

Binta y la gran idea (Javier Fesser 2004)

A beautiful short film that turns what may be our idea of development completely upside-down.
Who said that the western way of doing things is the right one? It's about time we start questioning that!
The film is in French with Spanish subtitles and it is part of a collection of short films produced for Unicef titled "En el mundo, a cada rato".

Watch it here