GoodFuckingIdea.com

He’s not a farmer but he plays one on TV, and he’s completely fucking right about this.

They must be, because we still use billions of them every fucking day, right?! I mean, if there were a better way then for sure we’d be doing it, because  we’re too fucking smart not to.

Only a backward country like Rwanda would ban plastic bags^*, and deny its citizens the delights of being given something that is lightweight, strong, and lasts 500 years for FREE.   Silly Rwandans!

^* To save you clicking on the link, they banned plastic bags FIVE FUCKING YEARS AGO, which is making me all confused… on the one hand they have huge genocide, on the other they’re banning plastic bags..

Just fucking suck it up, and say you’re sorry. It’s the right thing to do, and you know it.

Being surrounded by adverts telling you what you want and how you should be is not very fucking healthy. Even if you think you don’t notice them, they’re there, sowing their GM seeds into your wildflower pasture and before you know it BAM!! You’ve only gone and bought a fucking iPad you never knew you wanted NEEDED!

When you’re browsing the internet you can stop this. All ads. Those ones on facebook which get bigger and bigger with every redesign; the ones in your email; the flashy crap selling ringtones – all blissfully removed. And because you’re not loading all that fucking incessant bullshit, the page loads faster. And because you’re not bombarded by it all, you’re more focused, happier in yourself, and probably richer.

So what are you fucking waiting for? You’re at a computer, you can install AdBlock for your browser right now (Firefox | Chrome) and declare that your week has already been a triumph.

With thanks to the cybrarian.

When humans go out to get busy it’s ‘economics’, but when non-humans do it it’s ‘ecology’. Why? Because it’s fucking hard to work out how to value tigers and trees and mouse poo. But that’s not stopped some clever people having a crack. You have to make some choices like “we’re only going to value it in resource terms to human beings” and ignore whatever value things might have in their own right (tigers are a lot fucking cooler to have around as tigers than as some ground up paste on the end of a Chinese penis), but if you work hard it IS possible to do the sums.

Global GNP is about US$18 trillion. The products and services of the planet are about US$33 trillion. That’s twice as important as everything we do.

Ecosystem services	Value (trillion $US)
Soil formation	17.1
Recreation	3.0
Nutrient cycling	2.3
Water regulation and supply	2.3
Climate regulation (temperature and precipitation)	1.8
Habitat	1.4
Flood and storm protection	1.1
Food and raw materials production	0.8
Genetic resources	0.8
Atmospheric gas balance	0.7
Pollination	0.4
All other services	1.6
Total value of ecosystem services	33.3

Just check out the value of soil formation. That’s … mind blowing. (And we’re wasting sooooooo much topsoil to erosion at the moment: 4 tons per year per person.)

ARGGGHHHH. SOMEBODY PLEASE FUCKING FIX THIS I CAN’T TAKE ANY MORE!!

And it’s a fucking Monday.

Source: World Resources Institute, adapted from R. Costanza et al., “The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital,” Nature, Vol. 387 (1997), p. 256, Table 2.

Far-the-fuck-out! Great words there from Marcus Aurelius, via the genius behind the  Politics of Wellbeing. Have fun. We love you.

In 12 hours a petition will be handed to Jeremy Hunt. Please sign it at the 38degrees website.

Maybe together we can ask them to stop trying to undermine the value of the lives we have built so that they and their barrow-boy friends can pedal more mediocre banalities and stuff their already overflowing pockets with just that little bit more cash.

	BBC	SKY
Annual cost per person	£142.50	£216 – £582
Revenue	£4.8bn	£6bn
Original Programming / Services	Life Planet Earth Top Gear Question Time Working Lunch This Week Lark Rise to Candleford The Mighty Boosh Have I Got News for You Time Horizon Doctor Who Today Programme World Service	Ross Kemp on Gangs/Wars Mile High Footballers Wives BNP Wives
Employess	23,000	13,087

So to recap:

1. Murdoch makes more money, has lower costs, and makes crappier programmes.
2. The BBC is owned by the public and run in the public interest, creates plenty of creative employment opportunities, raises the statesman-like esteem of the UK internationally, and costs considerably less.

Sources: BBC HYS, Today Programme, 2 Mar 2010, Yahoo Finance

Prove to yourself that a zero-cabon Britain can be a very viable, attainable reality at www.zerocarbonbritain.org