New Zealand Celsias

One of the most valuable things my parents ever taught me was to question and to think. I remember my mother reading us fairy tales when we were quite small, then asking us to think about the behaviour of all the people in the story. Could they have resolved their conflict in a different way? Was there some solution which would have been better for all of them?

Mum didn't like Grimm's fairy tales or a lot of the TV shows we were exposed to, but rather than trying to stop us watching them, she would simply ask us to think about them.

I remember Mum ruining the Six Million Dollar Man by asking us whether there was a way Steve Austin could have used his talents to help people, without resorting to violence!

Thanks for teaching me to think, Mum!

in August 2009

I've kind of done this, by leaving maybe 100 DVDs at various schools, and I occasionally still drop one in to a school if I'm passing, I'm on first name basis with a few headmasters ... not that it does any good.
I asked the govt for 30 k so I could get 5 DVDs and an info pack into every secondary school in NZ ... but nothing came from it http://oilcrash.com/articles/concernd.htm despite the lying bastards having millions to spend on so called alternative energy, and as we all know the best way to slow down the energy crash is to use less and the best way for people to survive the energy crash is to get use to living with less, and ..... the best way to do that is to bloody educate educate educate, but as our so called leaders, educationalists, judiciary, and media are so absolutely dumbed down as the rest of society, and just as scared to look at and understand the truth, the children are going into this shit storm with their eyes and ears firmly wide shut. We have let the next generations down just as much as out parents and grand parents have let us down, like I've said before we now sit down to a feast of consequences, and at this stage (1,000 people losing there jobs per week) we haven't even opened the menu ... that would be to scary.
I feel like a breakfast chef from Windows on the World at around 11 am on 9/11, do I jump or go down with the burning building?
Everything on Earth crust is toast )

in August 2009

This is a great one. Children love learning. What's more interesting thought is when a child starts asking the 'why' question. This is when you suddenly forced to stop and think a bit more the everyday things that we do and/or take for granted. I know I have had to re-frame some of my own thinking after my own kids started asking!

in September 2009

I gave a workshop on Energy options for students from Secondary school environment groups. They hadn't heard of Peak oil and firmly believed that technology would fix everything. And these are the one's interested. I've also been involved in offering adult courses on gardenning that don't go ahead for lack of interest. There is no sense of urgency for the vast majority of people. If they are worried, they do their recycling and unplug their cellphone charger and feel better. I've heard alot said about how good it would be if people had to get a parentinglicese before they had children. It would be good if we had consumer licenses before we could spend money inshops and household licenses to live in a house with fewer than six other people. If it were compulsory to act responsibly (i.e. you would lose your licence for notmaintaining the insulation in your ceiling) then people would be more responsible.

in October 2009