TROUBLE BREWS

Image left is me at the Black Eagle Brewery. The pitcher of water was poured out as a way to get people to pay attention to what is happening to our resources, water included. Most of the audience was receptive, though a couple young girls sat in the back and giggled; but more soberminded people took note, and the recent headlines in the press, inluding yesterday's dour announcements that petrol could reach $250 a barrel, drove home my points. We need to curb our water use, ration how much land can be used for non-food items, and develop alternative energy. However, this means getting some of the trendy journalists to listen to science. For anyone who read the previous post, the name Lucy Siegle might come to mind. She sure sent me a less than happy email, reminding me that some of her work is based on votes from Observer readers. Very good, 50 million people can't be wrong...but science does not do democracy. It looks at facts, and when people have facts to back up their stance, they are confident in discussing them. So far, we do not see this confidence from my more outraged blogreaders - none has ever left a comment to rebut my findings. They would if they could but they don't. Other tactics prevail. More sensible blogreaders can see beyond the Observer.

On the issue of land use, today let me propose one more part of the solution. So far I have singled out cotton, and I do not think even the likes of Lucy Siegle can disagree with that, she informs me she commissioned the Dan McDougall expose on cotton culivation in Egypt. So then she ought to take note. But on to another plant that is not worn by fashionistas and guardianistas, let us take a harsh look at sugar. The other day I was squeezing my way through the aisles of my local mini Tesco, hardly able to find anything edible, when I noticed a whole aisle devoted to one kind of food - sugar. Six aisles and one just for sweets, plus two coolers with ice cream, lots of fizzy drinks, and other assorted sugary items at checkout. Not to mention all the other foods which contain sugar.

Now, sugar cultivation is destroying rain forest land, it is a monocrop, and it can be quite exploitive. Why do we allow so much land to be used for it? We consume on average in the West four ounces a day, so some 38,000 tons a day for the US alone. This substance causes bone and tooth decay, hyperactivity, ADF, etc. We need to look at crops like this and decide whether we want to waste our land on sugar, cotton and tobacco (not to mention cocaine, opium, etc.) or whether we want to eat.

Hemp is not sweet. For all the things I can say about it, I cannot sell it as candy. But I can make a scienific point about its use as a food, textile, paper, medicine and fuel plant and hope that someone listens. I do not have the money to place ads in papers or hang out with trendy people, but I can confidentally state the facts. Speaking of hanging out with trendy people and stating facts, a friend of mine went and found out last night that these two ideals do not always happen in tandem. He went to the screening of the new Oxfam movie on climate change in Leicester Square. But when he asked about hemp, he was given no answer. Guess who was there to give no answer? Lucy Siegle. Later in the evening she went ballistic when he mentioned my name; he told me that she hates me with a passion. He also informs that the climate change propaganda was forced on us once again by using images of starving people and maybe some polar bears - but no one there wanted to take on board facts that disprove their trendy theories. Mention Piers Corbyn and you do not get a smile from Lucy Siegle. Ask her about the sun spots and the similar climate changes on Mars and Venus, obviously not due to SUVs, and she does not seem to have any answer. But then again, she has 50 million Observer readers and they cannot possibly be wrong... So do not worry about my abrupt manner, find someone sweet and trendy and let them set the agenda - but don't look at me when that agenda ends up in terrible unemployment, food riots, lack of energy supplies - I will turn around and tell you I told you so. Facts are facts and they are meant to be listened to. We do not have time for fools.

COOL HEMP

Robbie Anderman (pictured right) of Cool Hemp in Canada just sent us a link to his You Tube video, click here to see it. He also has a song about hemp, archived earlier this year (17 Jan) on this site, use the keyword search for the site to bring it up or click on archives for January.

On a not so cool note, I just talked to James Randerson of the Guardian, he is their science correspondent, or 'churnalist', as fellow Guardian writer Nick Davies might call him. When asked if the paper was reviewing the hype surrounding climate change, as they at least partly did earlier this week in an article by Randerson (also discussed on this site, 12/March/08), he said that it was a definite conclusion. But when challenged with the evidenece from hundreds of scientists, including Piers Corbyn, he did not seem to know of a single one of them. He challenged Corbyn's accuracy not by rebutting data, but by asking if Corbyn was a billionaire; the answer to which is "I do not know." And if I did, what relevance does it have to the issue? Is that what the paper considers a mathematical equation? Formulate weather patterns based on someone's bank balance?

I had thought that Randerson was going to voice some needed dissent, but no, his piece only noted that certain data was not conclusive, but he asserts that is only that data and he does not notice that other legs of the table are falling off. And I bet that he is sitting there writing on tree pulp paper and wearing mainly cotton clothing. Not cool. If anyone wants to send him some informatoin on hemp, you can address it to: james.randerson@guardian.co.uk

SIGN OF THE TIMES

The image above was taken by the undercover reporter at schmoo the run at the Climate Change Rally on 8 December. A lot of people there were smiling at the sign, as they were wearing hemp, but a lot of people were also turning away sheepishly. Al Gore did not bother to attend, he was somewhere else making lots of money and annoying the press with his attitude. As he, and other climate change salespeople are unable to answer questions about Piers Corbyn, sunspots, the earth being closer to the sun, previous warm periods, and other issues that poke holes in their agenda, they often try to minimise questions. Hit and run is the technique, but not before taking a good deal of money - $50,000,000 in Gore's case. Monbiot does not live cheap either. And both do a good deal of travelling to preach to others that they ought no to travel.

Whilst assembling this sign, which was held up by hemp stalks, and bordered by the same, I could not help noticing that they were still green, after having been harvested in August 2006. Perhaps they were the stems of the Chameleon variety, but I cannot be completely sure.

For those wishing to join the ranks of real environmentalists and wear hemp, here is a list of some suppliers:

http://www.minawear.com/

http://www.geomio.com/

http://www.thtc.co.uk/

http://www.thehempshop.co.uk/

http://www.braintreehemp.co.uk/

http://www.puresativa.com/

GOING GREEN

It seems everyone these days is going green, or am I just wearing my Oz glasses? Perhaps the wizard is about to pop out and make the world a better place, but even he will not remove my cynicism.

Some things however are hard to knock, and I have only good words for a new book out by Sheherazade Goldsmith, wife of Zac, who is known for his work at the Ecologist. The cover is featured right (so I could save time typing in the lenghty title). It is very spot on, though it seems to have greatly upset George Monbiot last week in his Guardian piece. Methinks he did protest too much, as there are 90 projects here and whether someone lives on a sheep farm or in a bedsit there is something for everyone in this tome. Maybe even he could roll up his sleeves and get to work instead of inundating us with innacuracies. He also tried to sneak out the back door on the global warming issue, rather than saying he was wrong, or listening to Piers Corbyn, whose letter appeared the next day in the same paper. Corbyn gave us his previous predictions, facts on which they were based, and future predictions. According to him, this year and next will get colder, and there will be more storms this summer. The Big Green Gathering will be mostly spared these storms, if he is correct, and I hope he is as sloshing around in the mud with the madding crowd in Somerset is not my idea of fun, or even how to save the planet. I am to hold forth on hemp on Friday, 8:30 pm in the Moon Marquee, so if Corbyn is spot on we will be high and dry.

When I called around to the environment editors in the UK to invite them, they all seemed to know nothing about the Big Green or Mr. Corbyn (except for John Vidal of the Guardian). So tens of thousands of people will be speaking in the woods, but there will quite likely be a mainstream press blackout, with the left trying desperately to ignore anyone who questions global warming, just as they did when they were all global cooling experts. From the right, expect lots of stories about drunk rich kids and journalists killing each other in helicopters as they try to follow drunk rich kids, and from the left, expect lots of know-it-alls claiming that we are freezing this summer due to global warming.

Somewhere in the middle there are a number of people who just want facts and are working on growing hemp and using electric cars. The next political movement may well be the Centrist Party, fed up with all the nonsense on the far left and far right. They will be carrying copies of genuine peer reviewed articles on hemp, climate change and sustainable living. The 'Green Party' ought to take note and expect a rebuke from me this Friday. Unless I get thrown out first for speaking the truth by the hard core global warming Nazis.