The Human Imprint

The passing of Gordon B Hinckley

It is with sadness that I write that Gordon B Hinckley passed away on 27th January 2008. I feel privileged that during my Nuffield Scholarship study when I was in Salt Lake City I attended a church service where President Hinckley was also present.

He is reputed to have  once said the following words : "Criticism and pessimism destroy families, undermine institutions of all kinds, defeat nearly everyone, and spread a shroud of gloom over entire nations". Those words are so true.

In our personal, and working lives how often do we have to overcome negativity from others? It is so easy when you are overworked, tired or feeling stressed to lash out and say something that you may  immediately regret, but are then too proud to apologise. All too often it is to those close to you. Over time the divide it creates within families, even between nations, seems insurmountable.

Others are too self-critical expecting perfection in their work or actions and then becoming angry with themselves when they don't reach those over-high expectations. This causes such stress and anxiety.
How do we promote positive  thinking within us and around us? Well Mahatma  Gandhi  described it this way:

"Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors. Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny".

I find these words such a great aspiration, but so hard to achieve in practice. President Hinckley and Mahatma Gandhi demonstrate that wisdom is such a rare, illusive gift. When we are given wise counsel we need to make sure that we take heed.

Last speaker of Alaskan language dies

The BBC have reported that Marie Smith Jones who is believed to be the last remaining native speaker of an Alaskan language called Eyak has died, aged 89. What is so important about keeping a language alive? Well it is the way that a nation, tribe or group expresses themselves. When I moved to Herefordshire over twenty years ago there were so many words that I just didn't know that were used in the local dialect. These words had been passed from generation to generation and had very individual meanings. Spoken language is so important it is a living history. Eyak is now a language of the written word. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that "Language is the archives of history" - how true! 

Food and drink companies pledge to improve water efficiency

The Guardian reports that twenty-one food and drink companies have pledged to improve their efficient use of water.  Not only will this be good for the environment, but they will save money too!

Progress of H5N1 in India

Avian influenza continues to spread in India. The BBC report that there has been an outbreak on the edge of Calcutta. It is important for both animal health and human health that the outbreaks in West Bengal are quickly brought under control.

Renewable energy and rural development

Many living in rural areas had hoped that renewable energy projects would provide an opportunity to aid the economies of rural areas as a result of biofuels, biodigestion, wind, hydro-electric schemes. Whether these scheme are on-farm scheme maintaining or sustaining employment levels or schemes that are on a much larger scale that will provide revenue and employment for a number of people there seems to be so many stumbling blocks. There is much debate currently on the proposed 181 turbine development  in Lewis.

According to the Independent,  "under the EU plans, Britain will have to increase dramatically the amount of UK electricity generated by renewable technologies, to at least 40 per cent of the total by 2020 – eight times what it is today. Wind is likely to provide the lion's share of this increase, with the number of wind turbines set to grow rapidly in the next 12 years. Land-based turbines are likely to rise in number from today's 2,000 to about 5,000, and offshore turbines around the coast likely to shoot up even more, from 150 to 7,500".

I went to Spalding, Lincolnshire this week and there are now a number of wind farms on the journey as well as the relatively new gas turbine plant. The current problems in South Africa with energy supply show that an effective long-term energy policy is critical for the UK, but will the rural economy play a part?.

Should we put the wind turbines in the towns and cities? There will be less concern on the impact on conservation areas, visual impact. I don't know what the local people feel about the Green Park at Reading and whether it is intrusive but the wind turbine by the side of the M4 is providing energy straight into the National Grid and there is a much greater reduction in transmission losses. 

If renewable energy isn't our salvation, what do we do however about rural economies - do we just allow the economic migration of young people to urban life; watch the continued decline in the number of school age children; close the village schools, post office/shop and pubs? Perhaps this way of life is not seen as valuable anymore? In Herefordshire, we have just had a huge furore about the closing or merging of 37 schools. The public protest has lead to the Herefordshire Council suspending the plan and a review will now take place but the issues still remain.  This is a huge tiger to wrestle with and the debate continues to be about the problems rather than the solutions, but if we don't get to the point in the discussion where we develop and implement rural development strategies and policy it will be a slow painful decline. 

Grants to aid agricultural development in Africa

Nature reports that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced $306 million in grant aid to support improving the efficiency of agriculture in the developing world.

What's the problem in Africa? Well to grow food we need sunshine, water and soil (I know there are some soil-less systems but not on a scale to feed the world). Nature describes how every year for the past 30 years, the average cultivated hectare in sub-Saharan Africa has lost 22 kilograms of nitrogen, 2.5 kilograms of phosphorus and 15 kilograms of potassium, causing crop yields to fall. If the soil looses its nutrient value then it reduces the amount of food that can be produced.

Funding will also go to aiding rice research in Asia to improve salinity and drought tolerance and this too could provide benefits for agriculture.

Biofuels do more harm than good?

The Guardian has reported on UK deliberations on the pros and cons of biofuel production. Follow the link for more details.

West Bengal needs to cull two million chickens

The BBC have reported that officials in the Indian state of West Bengal have appealed for assistance in the culling of an estimated two million chickens suspected of having bird flu. There is concern that the outbreak could become out of control as they do not have the resources required.

The greening of corporate responsibility

The Economist has published an interesting article on corporate responsibility. I have written before about social capital and its increasing importance as a tangible or in-tangible capital asset and this article proves a thought provoking read!

Whole Foods to stop using plastic bags

I have posted before about the use of plastic bags and efforts to reduce the number of bags in landfill in Australia and China . Businessweek.com reports that the US retailer plans to stop using disposable bags at its checkouts and switch to recyclable paper bags instead in its 270 international stores. Its goal is to be plastic free by Earth Day on April 22nd. For more information follow the link.