Celebrating Colchester's City Status

Jumbo on the Hill

The people of Colchester are so proud of their one and only hill that they have named it four times: from the south it is Headgate, from the west, Balkerne Hill and, from the other two compass points, it is North Hill and East Hill.

the price of oil

A barrel of Brent crude oil is about 159 litres and costs about $86.50, or £62.85. It sells for about £227. Roughly, then, it costs 39p a litre and sells for 143p a litre, 3.6 times (that is, nearly quadruple) the cost.

Bernard Jenkin and climate change

Bernard Jenkin, MP for Harwich and North Essex, has generally voted against measures to prevent climate change according to theyworkforyou.com and source data on PublicWhip.org.uk.

Committee on Climate Change

The UK Gov Committee on Climate Change (CCC) July 2019 report states

Eleven years to limit climate change catastrophe

As reported in the guardian one year ago, the October 2018 report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that we had 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe, that is, to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5C.

Does #XR have specific, winnable demands?

Does #XR have specific, winnable demands?
Extinction Rebellion has posted a Declaration at rebellion.earth/declaration and Demands at rebellion.earth/demands.

Peter Matthiessen

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen tells "The story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI's war on the American Indian Movement." Peltier was convicted of murder for the 1975 killing of two FBI agents after a trial which, the author alleges, involved government misconduct. The book portrays the violent turmoil on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation during that time, including the 1973 'Wounded Knee Incident'. 

Matthiessen (1927-2014) was an American novelist, naturalist, wilderness writer, zen teacher and CIA agent. He also wrote The Snow Leopard (1978). 

All above from Wikipedia so check for reliability. 

intentional communities - why most fail

Good essay at aeon.co looking at why, like most start-ups, most intentional communities fail. Conclusion is that:

art from plastic in the sea

Making art from plastic debris in our seas and oceans is a common theme among various artists today. There is plenty of source material to work with, after all. Two such artists are Fran Crowe and Hannah Scott -

world population peak about ten billion

In this brilliantly clear video Swedish statistician Hans Rosling uses boxes to explain why the world total human population will never reach 11 billion.

Carmageddon hubcap sculpture

Carmageddon – the hubcap sculpture. Is there anyone with artistic inclination among my friends who would like to collaborate with me on making a sculpture? I call it Carmageddon and it is basically a large sphere covered in hubcaps. Thinks of it as a rollerball coming down the road to crush cyclists, pedestrians and any other kind of non-motorised traffic. The sculpture is a protest against car culture, obviously.

Arc Boxford eco home

The Arc in Boxford was on Grand Designs Season 5 Episode 10 on Channel 4 in October 2010. 

COP21 climate change agreement

Was any binding legal agreement reached at the COP21 climate change summit in Paris?  

Quaker Testimonies

My take on the Quaker Testimonies (or Quaker Values)

​Colchester Orbital Route Project

​The route is around 13 miles. View it at www.walkcolchester.org.uk. 

Electric Vehicles 18/9/2016 Firstsite

Electric Vehicle (EV) workshop with presentation from Nissan and opportunity to drive an EV: Sunday 18 September at 3pm at Firstsite, meeting hosted by Colchester Green Party. My friend WB writes:

growthism

In economics, a recession is a negative economic growth for two consecutive quarters. Anything less than annual three per cent growth in GDP, however, is traditionally also viewed with concern in our times.

Rethinking Capitalism edited by Mariana Mazzucato

Rethinking Capitalism: Economics and Policy for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth, co-edited by Mariana Mazzucato and Michael Jacobs, (published by Wiley / Political Quarterly, 2016) is another recommendation from Friend RNP, reviewed here on marianamazzucato.com:

Lexden Road Bus Stop

Following my blog on 24 June, here are various objections to the proposed scheme for a bus lane along Lexden Road, edited from various sources.

Air pollution in Colchester

Letter to Essex County Standard, Friday 4 March 2016