Shelter after floods in Pakistan. Part 1. Sabina's story

This is Sabina, who I met during one of about 30 field trips I made in Sindh, Pakistan during my time working there, chatting with Mustafa from the local NGO, HANDS

Mustafa and Sabina.  I think they were talking abotu that solar light she's been using every night for over a year.  And the price of vegetables on the market if I remember rightly.  She said she can afford to buy veg only twice a month and grows none around her house.  She could absolutely grow food in raised beds outside her window.  That has to be (already is) the next addition to the way we work...

HANDS had found Sabina's family and community, displaced and in desperate need of help, after major flooding in September 2012. They brought it to the attention of DFID - the British agency for international development - for whom I was working as a humanitarian advisor.

Ecological economics

Great talk here by long term Greenpeacer, Rex Weyler. If you have an hour, watch. Interested to know what you think

Google vids don't seem to link across. But try this link:
http://video.google.com.br/videoplay?docid=8161951635313858596&ei=BSt4S8LPK4iOrQLiw8TcBw&q=ecological+economics&hl=pt-BR&client=firefox-a##

Copenhagen climate conf: best videos so far

They say it's the most important meeting in history, so much at stake, tens of thousands of people there, millions like me here and can't go. How do we keep up with what's going on?? BBC and all the usual media sources provide slim pickings, not much radio or video worth mentioning, or just interview the senior politicians or advisors (eg Nicholas Stern).

However, the Stupid Team (who made Age of Stupid) have the best show ever, covering each day, intereviewing heaps of key people and dealing with the rising tide of climate change sceptics. Why is it that more and more people are starting to believe the rubbish dished out by the climate deniers camp? Anyway, these videos say it all.

1. The Stupid Show



2. Desmond Tutu's speech to the crowd (that guy rocks)



3. President Nasheed of the Maldives (what a President to have?!)



4. Ambassador Lumbumba chair of the G77 group of nations (this one a bit longer and more serious, but his points are classic)

Our 350.org action

So, 24th October has finally been and gone - the big day for what they are calling the "biggest climate action ever" for 350.org. Together with José and Bugui, and other friends from both sides of the Minho we helped out with a small event at the old bridge between the Portuguese and Galician towns of Valença and Tui, though we failed to attract the hoardes to fill the bridge with balloons mexican waves of people holding up enormous signs about climate change and all that.

Great to be part of such a global action nonetheless: pictures of the thousands of events that took place that day are here, and were beamed to folks somewhere in New York city, we are told. Not exactly sure where our pics are. Must be a glitch in the system...

You may be asking why is everyone on about 350? Bit of an obscure number possibly? Why not say something like "fight climate change" and so on. Maybe, but it makes sense when you read a bit about it. So here is a link about the climate scientist, James Hansen, who first raised the alarm bells, and the science behind 350.

And a short film (take ten minutes out for this one) that explains what climate change is all about without any numbers, graphs or technical stuff. If you don't do anything else, watch this...