Monday, September 22, 2008
Millennium conference in NY
Who has the Financial Times got blogging on this week’s Millennium Development Goals conference at the United Nations in New York? None other than Bono and his sidekick, Professor Jeffrey Sachs.
Bono describes his week ahead as follows: “A sleepless cocktail of rabble-rousing, meetings with politicians, chief executives, faith leaders and NGOs. People such as Nicolas Sarkozy, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Gordon Brown.” It seems that not only does he regard himself as extremely important but senior politicians, businesspeople and religious leaders do too.
A few things to note about this week in relation to the conference:
* The Clinton Global Initiative looks like it will play a prominent role. Clinton - Bill rather than Hillary - will be appearing on the Daily Show on Tuesday to promote the campaign. It is billed as: “the almost first husband talks about the Clinton Global Initiative”.
* According to Bono there will be a “historic and innovative announcement on malaria on Thursday”. I would guess it probably has something to do with anti-malarial bednets.
Bono describes his week ahead as follows: “A sleepless cocktail of rabble-rousing, meetings with politicians, chief executives, faith leaders and NGOs. People such as Nicolas Sarkozy, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Gordon Brown.” It seems that not only does he regard himself as extremely important but senior politicians, businesspeople and religious leaders do too.
A few things to note about this week in relation to the conference:
* The Clinton Global Initiative looks like it will play a prominent role. Clinton - Bill rather than Hillary - will be appearing on the Daily Show on Tuesday to promote the campaign. It is billed as: “the almost first husband talks about the Clinton Global Initiative”.
* According to Bono there will be a “historic and innovative announcement on malaria on Thursday”. I would guess it probably has something to do with anti-malarial bednets.
Labels: America, celebrities, development, economics, health
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Brookings initiative on development
The Brookings Institution, a think tank based in Washington DC, is organising interesting-sounding events and publications on development. These include an event on how the world’s poor can deal with climate change and a book on Global Development 2.0 including a look at the new philanthropists. The latter looks at how: “The fight against global poverty has quickly become one of the hottest tickets on the global agenda—with rock stars, world leaders, and multibillionaires calling attention to the plight of the poor at international confabs such as the World Economic Forum and the Clinton Global Initiative.”
Labels: celebrities, climate, development
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Sports stars back degraded development
The United Nations Development Programme is recruiting sports stars to promote the Millennium Development Goals. It is running full page ads in prominent newspapers featuring a large picture of Maria Sharapova (photogenic Russian tennis player) and LeBron James (basketball player). The campaign is evidently also backed by two footballers: Zidane and Ronaldo (the Brazilian one rather than the Portuguese player with the same name).
At some point I would like to write an expose of how celebrities are used to win support for campaigns which embody such low horizons.
At some point I would like to write an expose of how celebrities are used to win support for campaigns which embody such low horizons.
Labels: celebrities, development
Friday, August 22, 2008
Water, water, every where
Yet more articles on the wet stuff to coincide with World Water Week:
* New Scientist (23 August) has a cover story on water by Jonathan Chenoweth of the University of Surrey. It makes some useful points including the argument that “virtual water” (a term evidently coined by Tony Allan of King’s College, London) can be an efficient way of distributing water resources around the globe. For example, fruit can be grown in a wet country and exported to a particularly dry one. It is probably easier in most cases to ship fruit around than move large quantities of water. Therefore trade allows for the more effiicient allocation of water resources at a global level.
Chenoweth also makes the point that desalination is falling in price. It can now cost as little as 50 cents per 1000 litres. “All but the world’s least developed countries can afford to supplement their water supplies as long as they have a coastline,” he says.
* The August issue of the New Internationalist has several articles on the debate about toilets in the developing countries. Some are in favour of flushing toilets others (perversely) see them as wasteful of scarce resources in developing countries and therefore undesirable there. One article makes the point that celebrity campaigns for clean water by the likes of Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Matt Damon and Chris Martin fail to mention sanitation.
* Brendan O’Neill, the irrepressible editor of spiked, makes the point that demand for humans to be “water wise” is underpinned by shame at our existence.
* New Scientist (23 August) has a cover story on water by Jonathan Chenoweth of the University of Surrey. It makes some useful points including the argument that “virtual water” (a term evidently coined by Tony Allan of King’s College, London) can be an efficient way of distributing water resources around the globe. For example, fruit can be grown in a wet country and exported to a particularly dry one. It is probably easier in most cases to ship fruit around than move large quantities of water. Therefore trade allows for the more effiicient allocation of water resources at a global level.
Chenoweth also makes the point that desalination is falling in price. It can now cost as little as 50 cents per 1000 litres. “All but the world’s least developed countries can afford to supplement their water supplies as long as they have a coastline,” he says.
* The August issue of the New Internationalist has several articles on the debate about toilets in the developing countries. Some are in favour of flushing toilets others (perversely) see them as wasteful of scarce resources in developing countries and therefore undesirable there. One article makes the point that celebrity campaigns for clean water by the likes of Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Matt Damon and Chris Martin fail to mention sanitation.
* Brendan O’Neill, the irrepressible editor of spiked, makes the point that demand for humans to be “water wise” is underpinned by shame at our existence.
Labels: celebrities, environment, spiked, technology, water
Monday, May 26, 2008
Channel 4 environmental documentaries
Tonight watched the Life after people documentary on Channel 4. It was based on an interesting thought experiment: what would happen to the earth if humans suddenly disappeared. The documentary looked at the Earth at different time periods of humanity’s disappearance to see how long signs of humanity would survive. No doubt many environmentalists would see it as showing that humanity is simply a thin veneer on the surface of the earth – nature would quickly reclaim the planet. But it would also be possible to wonder at how much humans have reshaped the planet in their relatively short time on Earth. Josie Appleton also wrote a review article on the same subject for spiked last year.
Last night I watched the 11th Hour, a 2007 environmentalist documentary presented and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, on Channel 4. The programme was predictably awful but at least it had the virtue of spelling out some of the misanthropic (and often absurd) premises of environmentalist thought. For example, the view that humans are simply part of nature, the hostility to attempts to control nature, the idea that nature should somehow be endowed with rights and the notion of eco-systems services.
Last night I watched the 11th Hour, a 2007 environmentalist documentary presented and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, on Channel 4. The programme was predictably awful but at least it had the virtue of spelling out some of the misanthropic (and often absurd) premises of environmentalist thought. For example, the view that humans are simply part of nature, the hostility to attempts to control nature, the idea that nature should somehow be endowed with rights and the notion of eco-systems services.
Labels: celebrities, environment, film, spiked
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Against global cool
I am hardly a regular reader of Marie Claire but I was struck by how its June eco-chic edition managed to combine environmentalism, beauty and celebrity. Amid the adverts for brands such as D&G, Estee Lauder and Clinique are Cate Blanchett endorsing Marie Claire’s campaign to stop global warming, profiles of Hollywood stars turned eco-campaigners (including Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal and Julia Roberts) and an interview with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
I was particularly amused by the “Message from our associates” at coolaworld:
“Just being cool is a beautifully simple way to save the planet”.
“Being cool means having a passionate relationship with the world around you, a growing awareness of where things come from and how they arrive. Being cool is shopping to save the planet, saying yes to tap water and no to excess packaging. Being cool is ‘Fashion without Heart’ and food without air miles and, because it helps you feel good about the environment, being cool will always be considered stylish and smart.”
If such self-obsession is considered “cool” then I’m all in favour of some warming.
I was particularly amused by the “Message from our associates” at coolaworld:
“Just being cool is a beautifully simple way to save the planet”.
“Being cool means having a passionate relationship with the world around you, a growing awareness of where things come from and how they arrive. Being cool is shopping to save the planet, saying yes to tap water and no to excess packaging. Being cool is ‘Fashion without Heart’ and food without air miles and, because it helps you feel good about the environment, being cool will always be considered stylish and smart.”
If such self-obsession is considered “cool” then I’m all in favour of some warming.
Labels: celebrities, consumption, environment, film, food
Friday, May 09, 2008
Ramsay’s rant
Gordon Ramsay, probably Britain’s most annoying celebrity chef, has spoken to the prime minister about fining restaurants which serve out of season produce.
There are at least two things wrong with Ramsay’s proposal. First, why shouldn’t people be able to eat out of season food if they want to? If I want Kenyan strawberries in March I should have the freedom to buy them. It might satisfy my desire for strawberries and it could benefit the Kenyan economy too. No one is forced to buy such strawberries if they prefer local produce.
Second, just because someone doesn’t like something it doesn’t mean there should be a law against it. Such an attitude leads to gross intrusions on personal freedom. I detest Ramsay’s boorish and formulaic TV programmes but I have never campaigned for them to be banned.
There are at least two things wrong with Ramsay’s proposal. First, why shouldn’t people be able to eat out of season food if they want to? If I want Kenyan strawberries in March I should have the freedom to buy them. It might satisfy my desire for strawberries and it could benefit the Kenyan economy too. No one is forced to buy such strawberries if they prefer local produce.
Second, just because someone doesn’t like something it doesn’t mean there should be a law against it. Such an attitude leads to gross intrusions on personal freedom. I detest Ramsay’s boorish and formulaic TV programmes but I have never campaigned for them to be banned.
Labels: celebrities, consumption, food, trade
