Posts Tagged ‘consumerism’

Do drink the water

Friday, October 15th, 2010

This year’s Blog Action Day topic is water. So I thought I’d take the opportunity to share how grateful I am to have access to some of the world’s best drinking water.

But first, I want to talk about phones. Have you noticed the disappearance of public telephones? And how the remaining ones are falling into serious disrepair? This is a direct result of the migration to cel phones for those who can afford it. The fact that more and more of us don’t use public telephones allows them to vanish and fall into disrepair. As we use them less, the phone companies uninstall them to save money, while our lowered awareness of the remaining phones leads to less maintenance.

The ones who lose out are the economically disadvantaged. If you can’t afford a cel phone then you get to use the public phone a mile away if it wasn’t destroyed or barfed on by the last user. Complaining won’t do much good either as the phone company doesn’t see them as much of a profit opportunity anymore. Economic disadvantage leads to communication disadvantage while the wealthy move on to greener pastures.

What, you may wonder, does this have to do with water? It’s simple, the best way to protect the water supply is to drink from it. (more…)

Olympic follow-up

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

I’ve been wanting to do a follow-up for some time to my posts on the Vancouver Olympics. I realised that I came off sounding pretty radical and I want to share some of what I saw and felt during and after the event.

Prior to the games I was quite cynical about what they were about and what they would do. Overall, I think I lost a great deal of that cynicism but I can’t exactly say it was replaced with optimism. Except for the conspicuous commercialisation I enjoyed what I saw happening in Vancouver. People were out taking over their streets, celebrating their homes and their heroes. To the average Canadian, the Olympic games were just plain wonderful and I had the privilege of walking amongst those good vibes on my downtown streets.

That’s not to say that everyone was happy and joining in. Just down the road a homeless awareness demonstration worked to shine a light on the problems being ignored and pushed aside so the games could take place. What do you do?  I know I’d rather live in a society where both of these things can happen than one that stifles dissent with force. (more…)

Vegetarian shoes

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
Vegetarian Shoes - Apollo Black

Vegetarian Shoes - Apollo Black

My new shoes have just arrived from UK-based Vegetarian Shoes! They make high quality footwear using no animal products and this is the 3rd time I’ve bought from them. I’ve got no affiliation with the company, just one satisfied customer.

Part of my lifestyle includes an effort to avoid actions that directly require killing other creatures. This has mainly led to me being a vegetarian and choosing not to use products made from new leather and other animal remains.

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Canadian Copyright Consultation Submission

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

I went out to see Michael Geist talk at the WISE Hall in Vancouver last night. He’s incredibly articulate and has a great grasp on the wide variety of issues that modern copyright reform lays at the feet of citizens. I especially appreciated his focus on the protection of the freedom of citizens within the new digital paradigm.

He also reminded me that I hadn’t yet posted my submission to the Canadian Copyright Consultation.

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Responsible computing

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

An article over on WorldChanging discusses whether purchasing “green” options can help us stem the current global waste crisis. It points out the necessity to develop environmentally responsible computers and other electronics.

But another thing to consider is whether the latest and greatest is really what we need at all, and even whether alternate economic models may encourage us along greener paths.

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