rachel.blog

insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman

  • The economic benefits of tackling climate change

    Last week I wrote about the health benefits of ditching fossil fuels for carbon neutral fuels but now I want to highlight the economic benefits of doing so. A University of Massachusetts publication – The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy –  finds that investment in clean energy creates about three times as many…

  • Silliness

    There’s a fair amount of silliness in our household. I blame these two:

  • Who is really being alarmist?

    People who accept what the scientists are saying which is that human carbon emissions are causing global warming are often called alarmist. But I think it is the people who protest the shift towards a low carbon economy who are being alarmist. I read a very biased article in the Washington Times this week –…

  • Global warming predictions spot-on

    Climate scientists have been getting a lot of flak. Something I repeatedly read is that their prediction of temperature rises have been wildly inaccurate and so therefore we shouldn’t believe anything they say. This is simply not true. One forecast made in 1999 by Oxford physicist, Myles Allen, has proved to be impressively spot-on. WottsUpWithThatBlog…

  • Great speech on climate change from President Obama

  • Dental anxiety

    I went to the dentist this morning. All was fine as it pretty much always is. But that doesn’t stop me from freaking out. What is it about the dentist that does this? I blame the school dental nurses of my childhood with their set of torture tools and creepy schadenfreude.  The thing I hate…

  • Questions from my son

    I had a couple of questions from Daniel – who is 6-years-old – yesterday afternoon. One of the questions is quite profound, the other, profane. I’ll let you guess which is which. NB: Freud is our dog. Question 1: What would happen if I put my finger in Freud’s bottom and took it out and…

  • Wind turbines and birds

    Yesterday I wrote about the nocebo effect in wind turbine syndrome and a comment was made in that post about how windfarms kill birds. It is true that wind farms kill birds when they collide with the spinning blades but it is also true that the total number of deaths associated with wind farms is…

  • The nocebo effect and wind turbines

    You’re eating fish at a restaurant. Someone at the table next to yours starts complaining of nausea and fever. The person slips into delirium. You notice they were eating fish. You feel your forehead and think it feels hot. Suddenly you’re feeling nauseated. Chances are you’re not sick at all but suffering from a phenomenon…

  • Best ever hazelnut ice-cream with cointreau (and it's VEGAN)

    I gave up dairy products earlier this year for a variety of reasons – environmental, health, animal welfare – and I haven’t missed them in any way except for ice-cream. I love ice-cream. There are some reasonably good dairy-free ice-creams out there but they’re expensive and so I’ve been experimenting with making my own. Most…

  • A high-five is worth gold

    There’s a great TED talk from the “That’s absurd!” playlist which is delivered by comedian and creator of Improv Everywhere, Charlie Todd. Improv Everywhere is a New York-based group of individuals who go about creating “scenes of chaos and joy in public places”, one of the most famous being the no-pants subway ride which is…

  • Incivility on the web

    A recent post on the blog, Watching the Deniers, raises an important issue that I think is worth passing on. In February 2013, a paper was published in The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication which examines the effect of uncivil discussions in the comments on blogs and the impact of those discussions on the people who…

  • Bethells Beach

    My sister left early this morning after a wonderful week for all of us. I wish we didn’t live so far apart. Yesterday we took her to Bethells beach on the west coast. I have visited most of the other west coast beaches – Piha, Muriwai, Karekare – but not Bethells. I like the west…

  • Auckland: city of sails cars

    I often complain about Auckland’s car-centric culture and a couple of recent events have emphasised just how dire the situation here is. A friend of mine was cycling to her home a couple of weeks ago when she was struck by a car from behind. Apparently the driver did not give way but will not…

  • Devonport

    My very lovely sister is visiting us from Brisbane. I haven’t seen her for two years so it is a big deal for all of us. Today I took her to Devonport which is a quaint village on the North Shore. I know I complain endlessly about Auckland but my complaints are related more to…

  • Bill McKibben and 565 gigatons

    Bill McKibben – journalist, author and environmental activist – is currently touring Australia and New Zealand with a very simple message: We can afford to emit no more than 565 gigatons of carbon dioxide if we are to stay below 2°C of warming, but fossil fuel companies have enough fuel in their reserves to emit…

  • Rewilding

    I thought this short video about rewilding was rather lovely and so I want to share it. Rewilding is about restoring natural ecosystems – reintroducing missing plants and animals and letting nature take over. If you think the idea of elephants roaming Europe is odd, apparently biologists are already considering restoring Britain’s lynx population. Maybe…

  • Marvelous Freud, should he visit the Queen?

    We are going to spend the latter half of this year in York, England. It is a trip we’ve been planning for a couple of years but we’ve only just booked our flights. I am very excited about the prospect of living in York for 6 months but my excitement is marred because it meant…

  • Climate change and weather-related disasters

    Climate scientists have suggested that we will see more extreme weather as a result of climate change. Are there more weather-related disasters than there used to be? I have been wondering this recently but haven’t had the chance to verify it. The insurance industry ought to know the answer to this. So rather than trawl…

  • Insects, anyone?

    When my sister and I were little, our Thai nanny fried up some grasshoppers for us to eat. I can’t remember what they tasted like but I remember the experience well: it was fun and exciting. We caught the grasshoppers and she cooked them. There is a word for the practice of eating insects. It…