This book review of Tim Flannery’s “Throwim Way Leg” was written for The Sustainable Future Institute (http://www.sustainablefuture.info/) which is an independent think tank specialising in research and policy analysis that is based in Wellington, New Zealand.
What an intriguing and enlightening adventure that Tim Flannery takes you on in “Throwim Way Leg”. While Tim’s personal experiences covered in the book are during the 1980’s and 1990’s New Guinea, the pace of change he saw during that period is similar to what other countries have experienced over much longer periods, if not centuries.
The finding of new species almost daily makes great reading, however it is particularly poignant to note that the local helpers just want to eat these new wonders, even if it has taken days or months to find just one specimen. During his travels, Flannery is introduced to new concepts of viewing the relationships between people and the planet. The different groups of people that Tim lived with while working in both the Papua and Irian Jaya parts of New Guinea could well be teaching the people of the “developed” world how the “modern” world could live.
From reading one gets a sense of how little we actually still know of our fellow planet’s inhabitants, whether they be flora or fauna. The grandeur of the Papuan landscape with towering cliffs, glacial capped mountain (at the equator) and raging rivers that disappear down what Tim describes as possibly the largest “plug hole on earth” are all part of a wonderfully wet and forest clad landscape. This landscape is slowly being removed through “modern progress” such as forestry and mining. Tim encounters very different approaches to the way locals are involved and treated by the large corporations.
The Tree Kangaroos are a strong part of the story, as they were the focus of the 15 trips Tim made primarily to research them. Tim’s discoveries are amazing. No wonder these tree dwelling Kangaroos are on the verge of extinction, some being so friendly that they would walk up to people! A very easy meal they then become.
Those fortunate to experience the forests and highlands of New Guinea obviously obtain new perspectives on the sustainability of our planet, as fellow writer-scientist and thinker Jared Diamond also explored the this region of the world. So enjoy another perspective on the great writing talent that Tim is. While having only read The Weather Makers before Throwim Way Leg I am now off to explore more of Tim’s writings!
My thanks to Robert Gibson in Hong Kong for bringing this wonderful book to my attention.
The publisher details of the book can be found at http://textpublishing.com.au/books-and-authors/book/throwim-way-leg/
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Throwim Way Leg
Saturday, March 13, 2010
The Top 50 Sustainability Books
Discovered this interesting book that I am yet to read, certainly would like to read the books it reviews.
As described on Amazon:
This title draws together in one volume some of the best thinking to date on the pressing social and environmental challenges we face as a society.
It includes profiles of the Top 50 Sustainability Books, as voted for by the University of Cambridge Programme for Industry's alumni network of over 2,000 senior leaders from around the world. In addition, many of the authors share their most recent reflections on the state of the world and the ongoing attempts by business, government and civil society to create a more sustainable future.
Many of these authors have become household names in the environmental, social and economic justice movements - from Rachel Carson, Ralph Nader and E.F. Schumacher to Vandana Shiva, Muhammad Yunus and Al Gore. Others, such as Aldo Leopold, Thomas Berry and Manfred Max-Neef, are relatively undiscovered gems, whose work should be much more widely known. The profiled books tackle our most vexing global challenges, including globalisation ("Globalization and Its Discontents", "No Logo"), climate change ("Heat", "The Economics of Climate Change") and poverty ("The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid", "Development as Freedom").
Some of these featured thought-leaders are highly critical of the status quo (e.g. David Korten, Eric Schlosser and Joel Bakan), while others suggest evolutionary ways forward (e.g. Amory Lovins, Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken and Jonathon Porritt). Some place their faith in technological solutions (e.g. Janine Benyus, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker), while others are upbeat about the potential of business to be a force for good (e.g. John Elkington, Ricardo Semler, William McDonough and Michael Braungart).
By featuring these and other seminal thinkers, "The Top 50 Sustainability Books" distils a remarkable collective intelligence - one that provides devastating evidence of the problems we face as a global society, yet also inspiring examples of innovative solutions; it explores our deepest fears and our highest hopes for the future.
It is a must-read for anyone who wants to tap into the wisdom of our age.
Contents
Introduction
Polly Courtice, Director, Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership
THE TOP 50 SUSTAINABILITY BOOKS
1 A Sand County Almanac Aldo Leopold (1949)
2 Silent Spring Rachel Carson (1962)
3 Unsafe At Any Speed Ralph Nader (1965)
4 The Population Bomb Paul L. Ehrlich (1968)
5 Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth R. Buckminster Fuller (1969)
6 The Limits to Growth Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers and William W. Behrens III (1972)
7 Small Is Beautiful E.F. Schumacher (1973)
8 Gaia James Lovelock (1979)
9 The Turning Point Fritjof Capra (1982)
10 Our Common Future (‘The Brundtland Report’) World Commission onEnvironment and Development (1987)
11 The Dream of the Earth Thomas Berry (1988)
12 A Fate Worse Than Debt Susan George (1988)
13 Staying Alive
14 Blueprint for a Green Economy David Pearce, Anil
15 For the Common Good Herman Daly and John B. Cobb Jr (1989)
16 Human Scale Development Manfred Max-Neef (1989)
17 Changing Course Stephan Schmidheiny and Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) (1992)
18 The Ecology of Commerce Paul Hawken (1993)
19 Maverick Ricardo Semler (1993)
20 When Corporations Rule the World David C. Korten (1995)
21 Biomimicry Janine M. Benyus (1997)
22 Cannibals with Forks John Elkington (1997)
23 The Hungry Spirit Charles Handy (1997)
24 Banker to the Poor Muhammad Yunus (1998)
25 The Crisis of Global Capitalism George Soros (1998)
26 Factor Four Ernst von Weizsäcker, Amory B. Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins (1998)
27 False Dawn John Gray (1998)
28 Development as Freedom Amartya Sen (1999)
29 No Logo Naomi Klein (1999)
30 Natural Capitalism Paul Hawken, Amory B. Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins (1999)
31 Business as Unusual Anita Roddick (2000)
32 The Mystery of Capital Hernando de Soto (2000)
33 The Civil Corporation Simon Zadek (2001)
34 Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser (2001)
35 The Skeptical Environmentalist Bjørn Lomborg (2001)
36 Cradle to Cradle William McDonough and Michael Braungart (2002)
37 Globalization and its Discontents Joseph E. Stiglitz (2002)
38 The Corporation Joel Bakan (2004)
39 Presence Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers (2004)
40 The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid C.K. Prahalad (2004)
41 The River Runs Black Elizabeth C. Economy (2004)
42 Capitalism as if the World Matters Jonathon Porritt (2005)
43 Capitalism at the Crossroads Stuart L. Hart (2005)
44 Collapse Jared Diamond (2005)
45 The End of Poverty Jeffrey D. Sachs (2005)
46 The Chaos Point Ervin Laszlo (2006)
47 Heat George Monbiot (2006)
48 An Inconvenient Truth Al Gore (2006)
49 When the Rivers Run Dry Fred Pearce (2006)
50 The Economics of Climate Change Nicholas Stern (2007)
Conclusion
Mike Peirce, Deputy Director, Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership
About the author
About CPSL
Friday, February 19, 2010
Walking the Dog (How it could be)
I love animals and I love helping people out when they are going away on holidays by giving their pets a great time. Louise and I have helped many friends of ours by offering house sitting and pet minding services. Yes we look after dogs and cats (and plants). It is while taking dogs for walks around Hong Kong that I really got frustrated at the type of walk that most dogs get.
For those of you not from Hong Kong picture this. The dog spends most of its day in an apartment, which if the dog is lucky has a balcony to get out on. The exercise for the dog will probably consist of being lead down the road by the domestic helper until the dog goes to the toilet and then home again. This may happen 3 or more times per day though very rarely do the dogs get the chance to go for a run. I thought this was sad until…
One day when walking a friend’s dog up the trail to The Peak we passed a couple pushing a pram/pushchair/buggy. Once in front, I turned to look at the child which turned out to be an overweight dog! Yes this dog did not even have to walk during its exercise outings. Then I noticed its paws, well actually I could not see them, as it had shoes on!!! So even when little precious was let out of the pram it was not even going to get the joy of feeling the earth below its paws. At that point I realised that a real dog days out (like running along a path, jumping in some water or rolling in the mud) was so foreign to many dogs in Hong Kong. When I think of what our farms dogs got up to then I can now appreciate why so many dogs here in Hong Kong are so snappy – they are very frustrated.
I love seeing dogs exploring and playing along with getting dirty. For the few minutes it takes to clean the dog down once you get back from a walk it makes for a very happy dog (the wash is another way to have fun and play with the dog).
If you want to see what some of the dogs get up to when we go to the beach then check out Lulu, a 1 year old Labrador we looked after for 4 months while her owners we back in Japan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo3cfjpI1Sc)
So if you know of anyone looking for someone to take a dog for a walk, a run or even a swim then get let them know their dogs will have superb day out with Louise and I.
Grow well
Dr Merrin
P.S. There is a whole different story to be told about cats though in short if you need someone to entertain your cat then lets meet!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Tiger Year Wish List
I discovered this great little item in the newsletter from
Hong Kong Social Entrepreneurship Forum (HKSEF) http://www.hksef.org/
It certainly applies to all businesses not just those in Hong Kong!
what HK business can do
Tiger Year Wish List
• Profit making is a legitimate goal for all business enterprises; maximizing profit is not.
• Fulfilling Corporate Social Responsibility is not an option; it is a must.
• Every business should have a social mission; otherwise it does not deserve to exist.
• Every business should have a policy of buying from social enterprises -- as long as their products and services are competitive in quality and price.
• Every business should ‘adopt’ a social enterprise and do whatever it takes to enhance its social impact.
• Every business should start a business unit addressing a major social issue.
• Every business should make its employees proud of its contribution in making the world a better place to live.
Grow well
Dr Merrin
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
How to increase your brand exposure in Hong Kong & China
If you - already have a brand presence in - are now wanting to expand your organisation into Hong Kong, Macau and then - advertise in Connectionz Connectionz is the leading business chamber publication in Hong Kong promoting trade between The next publication of Connectionz is coming out in March 2010 to coincide with the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement signing between Hong Kong and Contact me today (mpearse@coordinate4u.co.nz definitely before mid-Feb 2010) to find out about this great opportunity for your company to expand it presence in the ever expanding Merrin A Kiwi based in 
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Environmental Films
I am sure you are one of the thousands of people who have watched the Al Gore film, An Inconvenient Truth (http://www.climatecrisis.net/an-inconvenient-truth.php). If not check out the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAK8Cd4t0WA
It is movies like “An Inconvenient Truth” that get people excited and probably scared. Scared to a point of not being able to see how they can take action that will make a difference.
So I was really excited when friends started saying to me that I must watch the movie Home. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/user/homeproject as it has some superb scenery.
Though when I was half way through the movie I got this concern that the movie was going to leave me once again in a place of being paralysed to take action. Thank goodness it did finish with some positive news and ways people are making a difference. However, after the 1h30m I was left thinking what are really positive movies I could be sharing with people to give them the courage and inspiration to know that we all can make a real positive difference to our climate.
Well a good friend of mine said check out the 22 minute film called “Hope in a changing climate” (http://hopeinachangingclimate.org/). Well I did and I was very impressed. It is about ecological restoration projects of huge scale happening across China and Africa that are producing superb results for their communities in terms of food and water security.
If you are looking for a boost on what you can do then I do encourage you to watch this short movie at http://hopeinachangingclimate.org/.
The programme documents the remarkably successful efforts of local people to restore denuded, degraded ecosystems – transforming them into verdant, life-sustaining environments which enable people to break free from entrenched poverty. The film contains breathtaking before and after footage of large-scale restoration projects. Presented by John D. Liu, founder of the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP) and creator of the film Lessons of the Loess Plateau, the new programme is directed by Jeremy Bristow from the BBC, the award-winning producer of the acclaimed David Attenborough series The Truth about Climate Change.
The area of restoration on the Loess Plateau in China is the size of Belgium and thousands of years of subsistence farming had made it barren and unfertile. In 1995 The Chinese Government, with support from The World Bank, took drastic action to rehabilitate the plateau, and local people – seen as both perpetuators and victims of the devastation – became part of the solution.
Looking forward to hearing about similar films that give us solutions not just problems.
Grow well
Dr Merrin
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Climate Change and Blogging
I love communicating with people especially when it involves great ways to help us all understand better the sustainability of the human population on planet earth.
I am regularly involved with community awareness raising projects whether they be online using social media or personal events where people really get their “hands dirty” by being connected. Whether that is planting trees, making compost or picking vegetables at places like Ark Eden (www.arkedenonlantau.com) on
To me taking action is far more important than talking about it. However communicating the message so that more people become aware of the issues is really an important step so hence I am involved with groups such as Green Drinks (www.greendrinks.org), Earth Champions (www.earthchampions.org) and Clean Air Network Hong Kong (www.hongkongcan.org) which give people the ideas and support to take the action they are most comfortable with. A superb format for getting to know what issues you are passionate about is the Pachamama Alliances – Awakening the Dreamer Symposium. Check out where a symposium is near you at www.awakeningthedreamer.org
Now that you are sitting in front of your computer reading this, how about responding to this blog with your thoughts or start your own blog and help more people understand what climate change means to us all.
I wrote this posting on Blog Action Day ’09 Climate Change (www.blogactionday.org). Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. I hope my contribution to Blog Action Day 2009 will help it be one of the largest-ever social change events on the web.
Check out this suggested list of Ways to get Involved from www.blogactionday.org
- Sign the Tck Tck Tck campaign's "I am ready" pledge supporting an ambitious, fair and binding climate agreement in
- Register for the 350.org International Day of Climate Action October 24: www.350.org
- Join the UK Government's "Act on
- Learn and act with The Nature Conservancy's Planet Change site: change.nature.org
- Watch and help promote Current TV's green-themed video journalism at: current.com/green
- Support strong climate legislation in the
- Put yourself on the Vote Earth map and upload your photos, pictures and weblinks to show the world future you want to see: www.earthhour.org/home
- It was a repeat of Number 7 so I suggest you stop and take a break with either a nice fresh juice or an organic beer!
- Join the Greenpeace cool IT challenge campaign to turn IT industry leaders into climate advocates and solution providers: www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change/cool-it-challenge
- Add your personal story and tell the world what you will miss the most when you lose it to climate change with the United Nations Foundation Climate Board: www.unfoundation.org/global-issues/climate-and-energy/its-getting-personal
- Find the latest and most popular climate change actions online at globalwarming.change.org
- Join the Causecast community and find new ways to get involved with organizations working to end climate change. Watch videos, read news and support one of the many environmental nonprofits on Causcast. www.causecast.org/environment
- Post to your blog or Twitter account about the impact of climate change on the world's poorest, and then take action with Oxfam International: www.oxfam.org.uk/climate
Enjoy your day of blogging and taking action on climate change everyday.
Grow well
Dr Merrin Pearse
P.S. who said blogging cannot take place with your mates!
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