I keep mine on an external hard disk. Don't like the whole cloud thing. Makes me feel uncomfortable which may or may not be rational but there you go and the Bitcoin thing is beyond me.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
All currencies now create value that doesn't exist in any concrete way. Since the gold standard was dropped there is no physical material that underpins currency. A pound is worth what banks and govts say it's worth, more or less. The same house can be worth £500k or £150k at the same moment in time. It's different from Bitcoin mining (which I'm not defending) but not that different.
Every time something like this comes up, the usual culprits jump on the bandwagon
Surely that's just a bunch of people on this forum that are interested in exploring environmental issues. I don't think it's particularly banging. People have options always. Adults can explore different avenues of thought. Mr Wild and I (among others) often post enviromentally-interested threads - sharing articles and things. I learn a lot from what people post here about wildlife and earth sciences; I appreciate that they take the time to share resources. I guess if people are most interested in growing potatoes or fruit trees or laying paving, those are the threads they will follow. We have some wonderful tree people on the forum, pond experts, hedgehog carers, hard landscaping professionals - there are a lot of topics to choose from and keep up with.
There is a wide varieties of view represented on the forum - almost as if loads of different people have loads of different opinions.
For sure it's most interesting when we explore ideas with curiosity rather than defend standpoints.
many who suffer are unable to get the help/support they need. Trouble is, I don't see what can be done unless we start realising how many people are affected and putting more effort and money into dealing with it. It's a subject for endless debate and differing views but you are right - nowt to do with weedkiller really
There is a link within the hot topics that often come up in the chat threads on the forum - such as peat free gardening, water usage, covid, weedkiller legislation, smoking, alcohol abuse, car use, farming practices, rewilding, gardening for biodiveristy, NHS investment etc. The link I see if private/corporate sovereignty versus public good.
Clean water sources, healthy land, thriving species, healthy diverse forests, healthy people, happy insects, secure futures with stable global temperature - these are all public goods - they benefit all, the threat to them is shared by all and, I think, should be defended by all - individuals, corporates and govements. Putting individual desires before joint welfare undermines the whole. Having billions of pounds dedicated to corporate lobbying of govt in order to prioritise a company's profits over public good is harmful to all. Having govt ministers sitting in boards of companies that are awarded govt contracts and who use their official position to influence their corporate wealth, puts their own interests over everyone else's.
In my view we should govern with a view to managing public goods (current and future) and this requires full, vigorous and objective, neutral scrutiny of policy and legislation protecting our land, air, food, education, health resources, biosphere, forests and people. All the science and data supporting the legislation should be publically available for scrutiny. Fully, genuinely independent bodies need to sit to weigh up decisions based on public good, not based on bribes, threats, political sway or corporate back-handers.
This is not the creation of a 'nanny state'. Politicians are 'public servants'. We employ them to look after the country's best interests. We agree to give them a lot of our money and invest them with responsibility to safeguard our futures. That is what they are for.
A country and the globe is a collective. Forest fires in one part of the world directly affects everyone - even three thousand miles away. An oil spill in Alaska impacts the Peruvian coastline. A viral outbreak in New Zealand directly impacts what happens in Paris. We have collective, global public goods. A world without small pox or DDT will benefit all directly. 'A bit of polio' in Pakistan is no good for anyone. An American farmer - even one - using DDT because they feel like it, will be directly affecting others - land, water sources, futures. Gamekeepers shooting hen harriers in Scotland has a wider impact much beyond their land, changes that ripple out through complex systems.
So, I believe we all have to defend public goods and take responsibility - personal, corporate, governemental, inter-governmental, pan-national. All and every defending action is needed - "and, and, and", not "or, or, or". We should take pride in defending our collective well being not try to kick the can to someone else in another time or place. Collective well-being honestly doesn't work like that.
I remember when Thatcher was asset stripping the country. The guy who awarded the first contract to compete with BT to Mercury , later Cable and Wireless, then , shock horror was appointed onto their board as soon as he left Parliament. Ditto, I think George Young(er )? privitised water then , more shock horror got a seat on the board of one of the water companies. Pigs in a trough. One day someone will give me one single benefit to the domestic consumer from the privitisation of the water companies. We have no control over who supplies our water and the price has gone up 140% over inflation according to an all party committee last year
I agree Hosta, of all Thatcher's sell offs, most of which have been of dubious benefit to the public, none is as bad as water. Makes absolutely no sense and causes a great deal of harm.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
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The guy who awarded the first contract to compete with BT to Mercury , later Cable and Wireless, then , shock horror was appointed onto their board as soon as he left Parliament.
Ditto, I think George Young(er )? privitised water then , more shock horror got a seat on the board of one of the water companies.
Pigs in a trough.
One day someone will give me one single benefit to the domestic consumer from the privitisation of the water companies.
We have no control over who supplies our water and the price has gone up 140% over inflation according to an all party committee last year
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”