this is just spooky - my boss just inadvertently referred to me as tom good from the the good life. hmm...
Monday, November 08, 2004
Thursday, November 04, 2004
earth from the air
mrs hope and i are planning to visit this exhibition at some point as it is in town. in addition to some stunning photography, monsieur arthus-bertrand has collected some fascinating (if not sobering) statistics.
the website also contains some excellent advice on how to make a difference. i say it is excellent because a) it doesn't cost much; and b) is achievable by most people.
Water
A pledge such as "putting a 'brick' in the toilet cistern" would save a third of the average family's water use that is flushed down the toilet. Every flush uses 12 litres of water - with a water filled plastic tub in your toilet cistern, you will save over 3,000 litres a year. Imagine that 30 million litres can by saved by 10,000 people! A pledge such as "using short bursts of water from the tap when brushing my teeth" could save 80% of the water you would normally use.
see more pledges here.
mrs hope and i are planning to visit this exhibition at some point as it is in town. in addition to some stunning photography, monsieur arthus-bertrand has collected some fascinating (if not sobering) statistics.
the website also contains some excellent advice on how to make a difference. i say it is excellent because a) it doesn't cost much; and b) is achievable by most people.
Water
A pledge such as "putting a 'brick' in the toilet cistern" would save a third of the average family's water use that is flushed down the toilet. Every flush uses 12 litres of water - with a water filled plastic tub in your toilet cistern, you will save over 3,000 litres a year. Imagine that 30 million litres can by saved by 10,000 people! A pledge such as "using short bursts of water from the tap when brushing my teeth" could save 80% of the water you would normally use.
see more pledges here.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
death of death, and hell's destruction
i echo mrs hope's comments on yesterday's service and the atmosphere in general. i will add that the reading was from ecclesiastes 3, but the more popularized 'time for everything under the sun' bits and not the bits that i blogged earlier. 'guide me o thou great jehovah' was edited to omit the reference to hell. despite stating that one should refrain from canonising the deceased, the vicar went on to refer to my friend as a 'saint' anyway. it was a peculiar service in every respect. the congregation shuffled uneasily in the face of the family's obvious grief, and the diluted humanistic reassurance that my friend was present in each of our hearts and memories did little to comfort. instead the issue of everyone's mortality was, more or less, edited out of the entire day.
it was good to say goodbye though. she was an incredibly generous person, and good fun to be around. i found it interesting that she picked the church and planned the service a few months ago, and wonder again where she is now.
"When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing -- they believe in anything."
gk chesterton
i echo mrs hope's comments on yesterday's service and the atmosphere in general. i will add that the reading was from ecclesiastes 3, but the more popularized 'time for everything under the sun' bits and not the bits that i blogged earlier. 'guide me o thou great jehovah' was edited to omit the reference to hell. despite stating that one should refrain from canonising the deceased, the vicar went on to refer to my friend as a 'saint' anyway. it was a peculiar service in every respect. the congregation shuffled uneasily in the face of the family's obvious grief, and the diluted humanistic reassurance that my friend was present in each of our hearts and memories did little to comfort. instead the issue of everyone's mortality was, more or less, edited out of the entire day.
it was good to say goodbye though. she was an incredibly generous person, and good fun to be around. i found it interesting that she picked the church and planned the service a few months ago, and wonder again where she is now.
"When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing -- they believe in anything."
gk chesterton
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