Everyone knows a Dave.

The long distance relationship can often be frowned upon with most, normal, well educated and sensible people opting to wait until next summer to see how things goes. Naturally i am one of the people that decided to go against everything my mind, my friends and my family thought and am currently in one. So is my girlfriend (hi Ruth).

But aside from the many many lonely nights sobbing into ones pillow and masturbating profusely from bored and starvation from human contact what are the other impacts of this? I guess this article is not just an educational read for those interested in the effects of pollution but a way for me to kill some time waiting until the moment I can see my girlfriend again.

So is it true? Do long distance relationships rape our forests, plunder our land and stamp on our polar bears? Let’s find out.

So the basic flight from New Zealand to the UK return will produce around 4200kg of carbon dioxide (4.2tonnes) which incidentally is the same amount that an average American produces in two years of his existence. It would take 1 acre (or three quarters of a football field depending on what units you were brought up with) of trees just over a year and a half to consume the amount of carbon dioxide emitted during the flight.

So how would this carbon dioxide affect the world? Well we all know that rising carbon dioxide levels are causing global warming. The thing is this isn’t the only cause of global warming because of course, if there were lots of trees to capture the carbon dioxide then we wouldn’t have a problem. The thing is that as well as CO2 emissions rising trees are also being cut down at an alarming rate. Just remembering that a return flight from the UK to New Zealand and back again would take one acre of forest 2 years to balance out we can also say that it would take 2 acres of forest one year to offset the same transcontinental flight. Right, so we have understood that a twenty-four hour flight would take a whole year for a two acre patch of forest to offset we might be shocked to learn that two acres of rainforest (apparently the best sort of forest) gets cut down EVERY SECOND. Never fear though, because for the incredibly cheap sum of £41 one can have their carbon emissions offset by having trees planted in Kenya. Hurrah!

So all this additional carbon dioxide and reduced numbers of trees, what is it all doing? Well, this causes (maybe not from one plane but combined with all the rest) an increase in the CO2 in our atmosphere. Through a lot of sciencey mumbo jumbo that, at three in the morning I don’t have the effort nor knowledge to write about, this causes the atmosphere to heat up.

Meanwhile, in Siberia, due to the increased temperatures, permafrost that has been frozen for many decades or even centuries is beginning to melt. Unfortunately within this permafrost is methane. Lots and lots of methane. So for every ton of CO2 released the earth will increase in temperature by very little, but the combined effect of many tons of CO2 being release can be devastating and cause a noticeable increase in temperature. The scary part here is that methane is a slightly more effective greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Say, about twenty times more effective. So until relatively recently the amount of methane being ejected into the atmosphere had been relatively low as the permafrost has remained, well, permanent. However more recently it has begun to melt causing an observable increase in methane in the air (then again, it isn’t something I have personally noticed)

Moving on, this methane because of its great ability to globally warm could be the start of the end of our polar ice caps. High levels of methane such as those released from the permafrost have not been seen before and so it is unknown really to what extent the ice caps will suffer. The ice caps melting would almost definitely spell the end for many polar animals. Likely to go extinct are the polar bears who rely on the sea ice to hunt and mate.

Drawing a rambling, boring and mostly pointless article to a close it is in conclusion that the long distance relationship can be a contributing factor to the decline of the polar bear. And whilst cutting out the middle man by stomping on polar bear cubs would indeed be a quicker and less prolonged way to reach the inevitable outcome it would mean that I would be getting less sex than I do already. Which, I believe, would be bad all round.

Posted in Uncategorized

From the mass media to the lady at the village shop, we hear almost every day that we should be ‘reducing, reusing and recycling’. often these can come across as a bit out of our reach, for instance; solar panels or buying an eco car. the reality is however that most of us can’t afford these things. luckily that doesn’t mean we cant do anything.

From very early times people have always been drawn to the attraction of organic home grown food, the egyptians did it, people before them most likely did it, and we do it. And it is one of the key ways in which we can all take little steps to make our existence a little greener. If we all had a vegetable garden the reduction of bought fruit and veg – that is often shipped in from over seas thus using fossil fuels – would be dramatic!

Not only is the vegetable garden a great ‘bottom up’ way of helping making our world a nice place to live in and reducing carbon emmisions, but it is incredibly simple to do. whether you have 2 acres or 2 square yards, it is possible to find something to fit the space. whether it be a few pots with herbs in, to a couple of larger pots with tomatoes or beans in, to a full planted vegetable garden.

Unlike most ways of saving the environment, planting your own vegetable plot will actually save you money in the short term as well as making your garden a nicer place for you to be, and for pollinating insects such as butterflies to live. think of all the times you have been in the supermarket buying packets of fruit and veg such as tomatoes, strawberries or blackberries. now imagine the amount of money you could save just by planting a row of maybe 4 tomato plants, bearing in mind each will produce dozens of tomatoes in a season.

So what do you need to get started? well, it is very simple indeed, even with a couple of pots, some compost and some small tomato plants you are well on your way to growing your own. all this comes very cheaply at your local garden centre, and you should begin getting your money back very soon. most veg you buy at the supermarket can be grown at home relatively simply, just ask your local garden centre for advice.

The final point I think about vegetable plants in gardens is that they usually fit in very well with other plants and even on their own they look very pretty. and of course they don’t have to be kept outside in the garden. one plant i have found that is very easy to grow and look after is a chilli plant. these chilli plants are usually about £1 from garden centres if you buy them after they have already germinated, but cheaper (per plant) if you just buy the seeds. they are very aesthetically pleasing plants and don’t take up much room, and produce dozens of chilli on each plant.

Posted in Environment

so this is also the first time i have really thought about it, but lawns really are pointless.. just watch the video and make up your own mind! plus, imagine how pretty all those wildflower lawns would look!!

Posted in Environment

Effectively guerilla gardening and pavement pimping is the war against bare barren and uncared for ground in cities and other areas that are often over looked. Guerilla gardeners generally target areas using fast and easy growing plants that require little or no external help, strawberries for instance. Amazingly, these eco warriors are technically breaking the law, it is after all vandalism of a public place.. except its with plants.. and it makes stuff better not worse.. but still! Fortunately they are rarely persecuted and are at worse occasionally questioned of their actions.

so some examples of what can be done? well the best plants to use, according to the experts, are fast growing and easy to establish plants.. such as strawberry’s or wild flowers.

even rubbish can be used for makeshift planters to brighten up dull boring areas, they can also be made at home foreasy application to street lamps or other poles.

it can be highly organised affair.. the kind of thing that we all should get into in our own areas. often there are groups of people that will get together and perform these acts.. often it is in bigger cities but smaller ones are bound to exist.. and if they dont, go start one!

other times people might opt for seed bombs, surprisingly, a bomb full of seeds.. made of soil, seeds and fertiliser in a ball they can be throw over high walls or fences onto derelict land. anyone can make these, but if you cant be arsed.. you can also buy them..

this also could be used in a wider range though, because each pod contains soil and butrients, if enough were dropped effectively a bed of soil could be formed in which the plants could grow, creating plant life where before it was barren.. this could be useful for regenerating large areas of the planet.. it is shocking to think that the government is willing to spend billions and billions on bombs that kill, and nothing on bombs that create much needed life.

Posted in Environment

Posted in My artwork

It has always amazed me how nature has the ability to grow back no matter how much we destroy and rape her resources. Everywhere we look we see brand new buildings being created where before nature was in command. But what happens when nature takes over, fights back, and reclaims the land we took from her. It seems that no matter how long it has been, nature will always win in the end.

source:bryangardner.com

Observing this should be a great sign that nature is always in charge, that being the dominant species should not involve conquering all, but understanding all and working alongside nature to help preserve what is left.

Photosfan.com

it is certainly impressive at natures ability to reclaim rapidly. where humans may take decades to claim a bit of land for themselves (such as the palm islands in Dubai) nature can achieve equally astounding results in a matter of months.

even more impressive is natures ability to adapt to situations that even humans cannot adapt to. Namely Pripyat, the old nuclear workers town for the Chernobyl nuclear plant. this area still has too higher radiation level to be hospitable for human life. plants have completely taken over and well into the process over reclaiming the city.

www.alonelylife.com

Posted in Environment

OK, so this is going to be a place to put all my sketches, tattoo designs, and clothing designs. I also should have eBay links to stuff I’m selling at some point so, watch this space!
in the mean time maybe check out my other blog which I use more frequently – at present.