ECOCLUB Blogs™

a thought: animals spend most of their time foraging, while humans spend most of their time working, allegedly so that they can indirectly forage (buying food with money), but also so that they can be seen from their peers that they forage, as idleness is taboo. An evolution leftover? How about leisure & free time management in primates? Precious little can be found online on this.Somewhat related research:http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalog...isbn=0521858372http://www.unisci.com/stories/20021/0218021.htm

A consultant friend sent this as a holiday greeting SEASONAL GREETING MEMORANDUMFrom us ("the wishor") to you ("hereinafter referred to as the “wishee”), please accept without obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all...and a financially successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but with due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures or sects, and having regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform or dietary preference of the wishee.By accepting this greeting you are bound by these terms that:1This greeting is subject to further clarification or withdrawal2This greeting is freely transferable provided that no alteration shall be made to the original greeting and that the proprietary rights of the wishor are acknowledged.3 This greeting implies no promise by the wishor to...

Shame to the Austin-Texas disco that decided to install a concrete shark tank in the middle of a dancehall lounge, for the 'pleasure' of its patrons, supposedly to 'raise environmental awareness'... Sea Shepherd is rightly protesting about it.The video struck me as something right out of the decadent stages of the Roman Empire. Sharks dancing with sharks.

It may not come as a surprise to university professors butit's really funny - watching 3 videoswhere young chimps outperform university students http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7124156.stmWhile humans exterminate each other with ever greaterefficiency, and argue over the names of teddybears,our cousins are already learning to count.Maybe they should take over at some stage,making Darwin and Pierre Boule proud.

40 years ago, at the height of the cold war, the lonely foreign revolutionary on a quixotic quest to overthrow the status quo was betrayed, and then cowardly & hastily executed, probably by remote control. Yesterday, a democratically elected, progressive and indigenous president of that same country visited his grave and paid homage to his ideas, while castigating the 'great satan'. There is an irony somewhere in all this. What is certain however, is that there is much less fear nowadays & much more information available to the common man, which is positive, as people are able to think for themselves. But they should study too, including history so that it may stop repeating itself.

BBC has today acquired Lonely Planet. I always have a feeling of sadness when founders feel inclined to sell, invariably recognising that it is for the common good, that they are certain that their ideals will be respected etc etc. This is rarely so of course, and a few sales down the road (a bought company rarely stays in the hands of the buyer) you are dealing with a wholly different beast. This of course may not be the case here, as travel guides carry sociopolitical & geopolitical clout, and at the hands of a state-owned agency they can work 'miracles'...A look into the ownership of other major travel guides would surely reveal interesting things.

maximum respect to the Japanese video journalist, who while mortally wounded was still taking pictures of his killers, the Myanmar junta soldiers. Humanity is always stronger and smarter than inhumanity.

The Survival International Announcement said "Indigenous peoples around the world are today celebrating the UN General Assembly's approval of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. " I wonder of course if anyone saw any indigenous people actually CELEBRATING. My guess is that they have stopped celebrating about such things long ago, fed up with the weasel words of the international community. And their victories are usually moral, and posthumous...The vote was far from unanimous, it would take a unanimous vote to at least psychologically, begin to ameliorate centuries of injustice. As expected countries built through the usurpation of indigenous lands, would oppose any move to recognise rights over vast, resource-rich territories...And we are not talking about any poor, underdeveloped nations, but some who claim to enjoy the highest standards of living, human development indices and the like, of course only as far as their non-indigenous population is concerned. Thus, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States voted against the declaration, while 143 countries voted for (and 11 abstained.)

Anita Roddick, a pioneer of eco products and fair trade, died yesterday at the young age of 64. From the humble & mischievous beginnings of 'The Body Shop' right next to an undertaker - who complained - to the sale of its 2,000+ stores to still-testing-on-animals L'Oreal, Dame Anita Perella Roddick, both outspoken and active in favour of environmental and social justice, and consequently against the Iraq war - never failed to spark controversy and annoy the powerful. To the rest of us, she proved that nothing is impossible if brains are combined with imagination and noble ideas. In recent years, she was also an enthusiastic patron of responsible tourism. A very eco journey to her!Read her very last blog posts at: http://www.anitaroddick.comAlso read tribute by responsibletravel.com's Justin Francis at http://responsibletravel.blogspot.com/2007...ta-roddick.html

A nice little (not so little) chart, revealing that the company owning your favourite newspaper, channel or magazine, may be one of just 6 sisters. Not owning your thoughts of course, but certainly influencing them, in ways you will probably never find out:http://www.mediachannel.org/ownership/chart.shtmlYour best defence? Read online, independent media! Harder to control, harder to censor, harder to armtwist (oouch, don't do that