I had signed up to the idea before I bought the book but, even so, Wikinomics written by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, is a fascinating read.   They suggest that the new culture of mass collaboration will re-order the power base of the world, and as large a claim as it, I actually believe them.

It is all underpinned by the way in which technology now allows individuals to communicate to each other en-mass, not just one or two at a time like a telephone conversation, or like a dozen people at a meeting for example.  The result is that people organise themselves into massive communities with considerable power, enough to undermine the gargantuan corporate companies that have assimilated tremendous power in recent decades.   Thank god is all I can say!  - if you’ve ever seen the Pixar film Wal-E then you can probably see where all that was heading!

There are examples of how the power base is shifting already: In the record industry peer to peer sharing transformed the industry, recorded companies like Sony, Time Warner and EMI were brought to their knees because millions of people decided to work together, and in the process the power shifted from the corporate, to the listener and the musician.  Wikipedia has revolutionised publishing, and Opensource software projects like Linux or Wordpress (this website is a Wordpress website hosted on Linux servers) are both taking lumps out of the corporate giants like Microsoft and Apple.  And this is really just the start of it…

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while.  I think it’s exceptional in lots of ways. [click out to full screen for best effect]

” In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room in Toronto and convinced him to do an interview. 38 years later, Levitan, director Josh Raskin and illustrators James Braithwaite and Alex Kurina have collaborated to create an animated short film using the original interview recording as the soundtrack. A spellbinding vessel for Lennon’s boundless wit and timeless message, I Met the Walrus was nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Animated Short and won the 2009 Emmy for ‘New Approaches’ (making it the first film to win an Emmy on behalf of the internet). ”

With the news, before Christmas, that America is going to commit 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, it’s easy to pass over this piece of information without considering much more than politics behind the headline.  Since the invasion in 2001, notably now over 8 years ago, the news from ‘on the ground’ in Afghanistan has dwindled to a distant murmour.   There are still undoubtedly people out there recording it for us to see, but the story isn’t getting through.  It wasn’t until I saw the photo exhibition on this website, that I started to get any kind of idea what it must be like, and even then, watching this at home can’t possibly come anywhere close to what ’s it’s going to to be like for those 30,000 soldiers, or any of the other people involved with that war.

Strangely, in a small town outside Riga, myself and my girlfriend picked up a book by the Royal Geographical Society.  Titled The Royal Geographical Society Illustrated , it’s a mainly photographic record of some awe inspiring explorations to far flung corners of the world – from Shackelton’s fateful Arctic exploration, to tiger hunters in India, to photographs of the the first Europeans to discover the Holy city, Lhasa, on the Tibetan plane.   While it might be tinged with a kind of colonial philosophy about the ‘discovery’ of distant places and peoples by Europeans (or mainly the British in this case), it is also fantastically illustrates what a culturally and geographically diverse world we have lived in.

But at the same time as laying out  the records of these great ‘discoveries’ of the past 160 years, it also somehow highlights how we have been eating away at the world’s diversity.  Never before have I had such a sense that the world is getting smaller and smaller.  As we pack more and people in, it seems that the last great wildernesses are shrinking, and the ‘unique peoples’ are being amalgamated into the juggernaut of general society.  Many of the tribes and peoples in this book don’t exist any more.

Exploration isn’t the same any more; from watching watching Jeremy Clarkson ( BBC presentor for the car related program topgear) drive to the North Pole in in a  4×4,  to the cue of people waiting in line on an in season day to stand at the top of Everest, there are obvious examples of how things have changed.  Could the golden age of geographical discovery be over?

There are still strands of geographical exploration which stand out as reaching into fresh territory, most obviously perhaps, there is space exploration, and Robert Ballard’s talk on deep sea exploration might demonstrate another example.  There are also always people pushing the limits somehow, climbing mountains by new routes, sailing round the world in faster times etc etc.  But is this anything new, or just more of the same?

My instinct tells me that there will always be great discoveries to be made, stagnation isn’t possible, but when mother nature has had enough, we’ll be gone.

Pictures to follow…

Almost a year after publishing my first book about experiences in Africa, I’ve taken a little time to reflect on the project.  The book, Bamako Boom Boom, was written to chronicle the sights, sounds and emotions of visiting somewhere like Africa for the first time.  I hadn’t done much reading or research before leaving for the trip – if I had I would have known too much to present it as an initial reaction – previous knowledge would in fact have tempered the formation of my own views.

Reliving the experience by writing it down reinforced my interest in Africa, so much so that when the final manuscript was sent to be printed, I went on a reading binge – taking in all I could find on the subject.  The most notable findings were Blayne Hardens ‘Dispatches from a fragile continent’, Richard Dowden’s ‘Africa’ and various works by the Polish journalist Ryzard Kapusincki.  These comprised some of the most thoroughly researched, well thought-out, and incisive writings about Africa I could find.  I was worried that conclusions I had come to and expressed in my book, wouldn’t in fact be based on enough of a breadth of experience to be classed as anything more than naive.

I didn’t realise it before I went but Africa fascinates me.    It sits out there on it’s own, and is the continent that the world would miss the most – in a complete reversal of the value traditionally given to it in political and economic spheres.  It’s disparate collection of people, places and cultures, which never ceases to dumbfound, horrify and amaze,  is as thrilling as you’ll find.  For me, this has manifested itself into a long term interest in the continent; it’s unlikely I’ll stop thinking about it, and words and pictures are the product of the thought.  It would at least be nice to think that the first attempt at recording some of these thoughts didn’t produce something rubbish.  For the time being at least, I’m not cringing.

So the cracks are starting appear.  The consequences of the world’s plundering of natural resources are finally coming to bare.  For those that doubt the seriousness of the situation, the next 30 years, which  see the world’s population grow by several billion, will put it beyond any shadow of a doubt.

What we are witnessing now is start of an unravelling of the entire infrastructure we base our civilisation on.  From the weather, to the way we get about,  to the animals that surround us, the food we eat and the illnesses we suffer.  The environment in which we live is going to fall apart and we, almost without exception, are all complicit in this degeneration.   Even if we meet the strictest targets on global carbon emissions, we still won’t be able to avert disaster on a massive scale.  Technology and renewable energy sources wont save us, neither will GM.  The only way is a more complete approach to the way we live and manage the earths resources, and that requires initiatives not just from governments and organistions on a national and global scale, but also a new resourcefulness on a local and personal level.

I’ve spent considerable time over the last few months thinking about where the weaknesses lie in terms of our current lifestyles and what moving to greener living actually means for our day to day lives.  I’ve boiled it down to these main points which i think will shape the way we live:

1. Limiting our number of offspring. In a world which is going to be vastly overpopulated, it’s just not cool to have lots of kids any more. Particularly if you live in the western world, every person currently uses a huge amount of energy, and this isn’t likely to change overnight.  Collectively, having no children obviously isn’t a solution either, or for that matter realistic, and so the obvious goal is to hit a ’steady state population’ which can be comfortably provided for by local resources.  This will inevitably mean massive migrations of people as global warming renders some areas of the world unlivable in.  The more we choose to ignore this, the more the world will impose it’s own population control measures – a greater concentration of people makes the spread of disease easier, and so we will effectively be breeding an unhealthy population.

2. Living near where you work. Traveling long distances everyday by car, train or even plane isn’t fun and it isn’t wise.  People who live within cycling distance of their work undoubtedly have a higher standard of living, spend less on travel and don’t rely on the exploitation of oil reserves.

3. Holiday locally. Weekend breaks by plane wont be possible when the oil starts to run out.  This will have it’s own way of regulating itself as the price of flying escalates with oil price.  Just like people did quite happily in previous centuries, we will go back to holidaying locally – resulting in the resurgence of local holiday spots.

4. Buy quality. Quality items last longer and save you money in the long run.  The culture of disposable items will die away in favour things which can be serviced.  This again will be a move back how it used to be when, for example, you got your shoes resoled.

5. Reusable packaging. As most packaging is again derived from the petrochemical industry, we wont be able to use it once and throw it away.

6. Domestic Energy use. Very few things in your house need to be on permanently.

7. Micro power generation. Geothermal, solar and wind power are all possible on a small scale.

8. Clean Energy. Even once we’ve limited our domestic energy use, and developed any opportunity for micro energy  generation, particularly in a urban environment it’s unlikely you’ll be able to supply all your own power.  While currently it’s very difficult to source completely green energy - current schemes usually only claim a higher percentage comes from renewables - supporting green energy schemes will surely make it possible in the future.

9. Building design. Well insolated buildings need little more than our body heat to stay warm and can also make use of micro energy generation

10. Clever food production and distribution. While the ultimate might be to grow your own food, this doesn’t offer an realistic solution to food supply in urban centres.  The local shop vs supermarket debate continues, but ultimately the supermarket wins out  because it offers people a service which is easier to use.  Supermarkets history has however been tarnished by the way they’ve used their buying power to ship food around the world, and to force the price they buy food for down.  This has ultimately forced farming towards intensive methods, where the direct effect on animals health can be seen with the emergence of diseases like CJD.  The fundamental concept of a supermarket is not flawed however, just the way it’s been implemented.  In essence, supermarkets will supply what we buy and so if we buy locally produced food, that’s what they’ll give us. While the government could impose stricter laws on making it clear how food has been produced (acurate labelling), there is, even as it stands, usually an ethical option you can take in supermarkets.  The rise in oil prices will make the shipping of food from the other side of the world uneconomical, and so we’ll have to eat seasonally, as it wont be possible to get anything at any time of the year (unless Genetically Modified Crops make this possible).  The rise of internet shopping and food delivery services mean individuals don’t have to make lots of separate trips, infact making the process of buying food easier.

11. Plants. Lots of plants = healthy planet.  Even on a tiny scale, a few plants in a room make a massive difference.

Interestingly, all these changes will infact make for a higher standard of living, and are becoming more desirable due to the clamour and bustle of modern living.  The parts of our lives which need to be changed are things that we’ve convinced ourselves we need, but aren’t actually any fun (you can’t tell me that being stuck in a traffic jam or queing in an airport is any fun).  Implementation of this kind of lifestyle on local level would suddenly make a global solution plausible.  As it standswe dont have a hope.