Category Archives: Climate Change

Humans

Climate Apocalypse, Climate Change, Climate Crisis, Politics, society, , ,

Written by Doug – the northlondonhippy

Are you from Earth? Me too! In a universe as vast, and enormous as ours, isn’t it amazing that we both live on the same planet? We’re practically related! What are the chances? A gazillion to one? I’m not sure, I’m not very good with maths.

Do you breathe air? I do too. Eat food, drink liquids? OMG, we are so much alike! Have you ever heard music? It’s great, isn’t it?

Humans. We are a funny little species. I really can’t work us out. Most of us are nice, but some of us aren’t. We all have more in common, than we have differences, but most of the time you wouldn’t know it.

Humans come in all shapes, and sizes too. Some are short, some are tall, some are young, and some are old. And don’t get me started on all the colours we come in! You’ll get fewer choices at a new car dealership, than you will with the shades of humanity. We’re quite diverse, and different for a species that at its core is really all the same. 

And we are all the same, we just pretend we’re different. Humans have different tastes in many different things, and that’s often used to divide us. It shouldn’t. 

All Earth culture is human culture; that means all human culture is your culture if you want it to be. You’re a human. It’s up to you whether you embrace it or not. It’s not appropriation; it is sharing, if you can accept that we are all the same. And we are. Your heart beats the same way mine does. 

Is your god better than my god? Maybe there is no god? Who knows? If you find solace, and hope in your religion, good for you! And if you find your solace by shunning religion, good for you too! We can all believe different things, as long as we believe in each other. 

When the space aliens invade in a science fiction film, they never announce themselves as coming from a country on another planet, just the planet. We accept that any advanced alien race that could visit us, that’s able to traverse vast galactic distances, would come from a unified planet. We don’t question it. Yet, the idea of our planet united, terrifies many. Why?

Our future rests with global cooperation, and not the foolish competition of countries. Borders are man-made, but so is cooperation. If we want our species to continue, we need to sort this out. Every single one of us has just as much right to be here, as anyone else. 

We all deserve pure air to breathe, clean water to drink, a safe, stable food supply, and a warm place to sleep. But for some reason that is beyond my comprehension, many of us don’t have the luxury of such basic amenities. I could throw a bunch of statistics at you, but you don’t need them. You know what I say is true. Maybe you see evidence of it yourself on the cold, mean streets where you live. 

It doesn’t matter where in the world you are, if you don’t have the basics, then you don’t have much of a life. Chances are if you are reading these words, you do have the basics, and maybe even a little more. Good for you! There are many others who aren’t as fortunate as you. Or me. How can we help?

Having compassion for your fellow humans is a good start. Individual humans are sometimes bad, but for the most part, we’re a pretty good species. Kindness goes a long way. And the cool thing about kindness is that it doesn’t cost a penny. Kindness is free, and even if you give it away, you still have more in reserves. It never runs out, if you believe.

Every human struggles. No one likes to admit this, but the fact is that life is hard for all of us. We pretend that it’s not, but it is. It’s not weakness to admit this; honesty projects strength. 

We may not remember it, and that’s probably a blessing, but each of our births was a traumatic experience. Life begins with pain, fear, and trauma, and that’s before you even open your eyes.

From the moment you’re born, you’re expected to navigate a world that doesn’t make sense. And you’re expected to eventually provide for yourself, and find purpose. Many of us struggle with that, some succeed, and others fail. We all do the best we can, but circumstance is often an impediment. 

Luck plays too big a part in existence. And we all just accept it, as if there is no way we could change the system, and make it fairer. The problem is that the people who get the most from the system, are the ones who could change it, and they don’t want to share. We should take that power away from them. There’s a lot more of us, then there are of them. But we don’t. Humans in numbers don’t appreciate their power, or value. 

Time is running out. You might not believe that, but it is true. Our Sun will start to die in 5 billion years. Our entire universe will suffer heat death in 1.7 x 10 to the 106th power years, which is just a meaninglessly huge number. Ultimately time is finite. 

Let’s use some smaller numbers that we can comprehend. Our biosphere could be lost within a decade or so. That got your attention. I wouldn’t want to make a firm prediction, but it will happen sooner than you think. It really is possible that Earth could become inhospitable to all living things within your relatively brief lifespan. That’s not an exaggeration. It might already be too late for us humans. 

Life is finite, existence is too. We need to make the best of whatever time we have left, as individuals, and as a species. We can’t save everyone, but we might be able to save some of us. I’d like to see humans stick around for a good long time. If we get our collective act together, we might be able to continue to exist. There still may be hope. We just need to act fast; a lot faster than we are now. 

Embrace your humanity, embrace other humans too. Don’t believe those who try to deceive you into believing we are different, because we’re not. We all want, and need the same things. We all need to be fed, clothed, and loved. Love thy neighbour. Didn’t some really famous hippy guy say that a couple of thousand years ago? Those words still ring true today. 

Humans. We’re a weird little species. Maybe you can’t work us out either, but it sure is fun trying. 

The End

(All words © Copyright 2023 – Doug – the northlondonhippy. All rights reserved)

Land of Hope and Dreams

Ohh, yes, this train carries saints and sinners

This train carries losers and winners

This train carries whores and gamblers

This train carries lost souls

I said, this train carries broken-hearted

This train, thieves and sweet souls departed

This train carries fools and kings

This train, all aboard

– Lyrics from “Land of Hope and Dreams” by Bruce Springsteen

The Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll Collection

"Personal Use", anti-natalism, Bonus Content, cannabis, cannabis evangelist, Climate Apocalypse, Climate Change, Climate Crisis, Consenting Online Adults, Countdown, decriminalisation, drug use, fiction, legalisation, MTV Redux, nostalgia, sci-fi, sex, Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll Collection, society, Springsteen, the hippy, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

All Written by Doug – the northlondonhippy

These are a few of my favourite things

The Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll Collection is a loosely connected series of the northlondonhippy’s most recent written pieces. It was all produced in a 5 week period.

Think of this new, inter-linked collection of material as the hippy’s second book. Effectively it is the sequel to his first book, Personal Use.

You can read all this brand new material for free right now.

December 2023 Update:

The hippy has added another piece to the collection, called “Now, Hear This”.

“Now, Hear This” was first published in November 2023, but the original idea was conceived back in March. It belongs here with the rest of the collection, and is now the introductory piece.

Now, Hear This

The hippy looks back at the roots of his lifetime love of modern music, through the songs he grew up with, and technology of the day that played it for him.  

His journey began when he was 2 years old, and it started with the Beatles, and a couple of years later, Motown and more. 

You’ll see, these memories turned out to be a lot more bittersweet than expected, as you read, and listen to “Now, Hear This”.

My Summer of Springsteen

During the Summer of 1982, when the hippy was still living on the Jersey Shore, he ran into Bruce Springsteen regularly. 

Bruce wasn’t just a local hero back then, he was already a major, international rock god. He’d released his first five classic albums, toured the world repeatedly, and only played the largest venues available. 

That summer, the hippy saw the Boss hanging out, and performing in small bars down the shore, nearly every weekend. Some nights, more than once. And Bruce saw the hippy, too.

These are his memories of “My Summer of Springsteen”.

MTV Redux

Rock & Roll

In this four part series, the hippy takes you back to a fairly amazing period of his young adult life.

In the mid 1980s, the hippy was loosely associated with MTV Music Television as an intern, and then occasionally employed by them as a freelance production assistant. 

It’s also a tale of unrealised potential, and squandered opportunity, but it has taken the hippy a while to work all that out.


Part One – What? And Give Up Showbiz?
Part Two – Name Dropping
Part Three – Crappy New Year!
Part Four – The Death of the Dream

Time Aside – A Short Story

***Bonus Content***

Let’s pause the real life nostalgia briefly, and take a deep dive into some alternative personal history.

There’s no sex, drugs, or rock & roll in this one. “Time Aside” is a twisty tale of time travel, anti-natalism, and regret that’s rooted in the hippy’s real life back story.

It’s bonus content, so check it out! Or you could wait for the movie?

Tales from the Pre-Internet

Sex

Everyone thinks of dating apps, and websites when they think of meeting people online, but before the internet, in the 1980s, some folks were already playing around online. People were meeting up, and having naughty fun too. And the northlondonhippy was one of them.

The hippy refers to this period of time as the “Pre-Internet” in his recent series called MTV Redux. Thinking about that time was the inspiration for this series. 

In the three part series, “Consenting Online Adults”the hippy overshares about many of his experiences. 

And in Bonus Part Four, the hippy shares an additional tale from the Pre-Internet that deserves to stand on its own. This piece will leave you with one big question, but in Part Four – “I’ll Never Tell”.

Consenting Online Adults

Part One – The Prologue (1975-1983)

Part Two – Connecting (1980-1987)

Part Three – All Good Things (1985-1997)

Bonus – Part Four – I’ll Never Tell (1986)

Historic Hippy

Here’s a short selection from the hippy’s archive, if you want to know more…

I was a Background Artist on the BBC 10 O’Clock News – That’s who he was for the longest time

Piecing It All Together – This is why he is not that guy any more. TLDR: Epilepsy

Countdown to the End of the World – This is what the hippy would like to be doing next, if he had a choice.

Doing Some Good

The Ceasefire Initiative

While we’ve got your attention…

The Ceasefire Initiative – It’s just a small, simple idea to begin the process of finally putting an end to the pointless, useless “war on drugs”. We’re not seeking donations, just your support.

Follow us on Twitter: @ceasefire4good

#ceasefire4good #ceasefire4ever

(All words © Copyright 2023-2024 – Doug – the northlondonhippy. All rights reserved)

Countdown to the End of the World!

Climate Apocalypse, Climate Change, Climate Crisis, Countdown, Politics, society, the hippy, , , ,

If you follow me on Twitter, you might already know that I turned 60 in January. It’s true. I’m an old mofo now. Go me! You might also know that I’ve spent the last few years learning to live with epilepsy. I ended up giving up my old job due to the slow onset of it. It sucks, but I’m doing the best that I can. Hey ho.

I wrote a proposal for this podcast last Autumn, and not long after I finished it, and while I was writing about my “epilepsy journey”, I had a brand new seizure. It was 4 days before I was about to mark being seizure-free for an entire year. Talk about less than ideal timing. Anyway, I got sidetracked, and this post is my effort to get back on track. It’s also my birthday present to myself. I am going to pitch my podcast online, and see if anyone wants to commission it.

You’ve no doubt spotted my holding graphic at the beginning of this post. It should give you a rough idea of what “Countdown to the End of the World – A lighthearted look at our looming apocalypse” is all about. I’ve been an “amateur doomer” for a while now, and it’s time I turned pro.

Why am I pitching this online, rather than trying to do it directly with broadcasters, or production companies? Good question. Mainly, because I’m clueless, and I lack the sort of shameless self-confidence that is required to cold call people. I’m also really honest, and I overshare a bit. See, I just did it again.

I’m actually just posting a part of the proposal, this is an edited version for online consumption. Anyone serious, and interested in pursuing this further, will receive the full proposal, along with the opportunity to meet with me (online or IRL) to discuss this further.

Why can’t I just produce this podcast myself? Technically, I could. I have all the production kit I need, but what I lack is production staff, promotional staff, and more importantly, a brand name to operate under. I need the backing of an established entity to attract the calibre of guests I have in mind. Simple as that. I want to do the subject justice, and I don’t think I can working on my own.

Enough pre-amble. Here’s a very short audio promo. If you like it, the proposal follows. I obviously don’t have the rights to the music, but it’s totally not for broadcast. Please have a listen:

Countdown to the End of the World – non-broadcast promo

The idea is simple, people love disaster films, they love end of the world movies even more. But now that we’re all co-starring in an actual disaster film, why aren’t people more interested? I get that the pacing is slow, but the disaster is still coming, whether we ignore it, or not.

To hammer this point home, Countdown won’t be listed in the “news” category of podcasts, but the “entertainment” section. That’s intentional. The end of the world has been used as the basis for entertainment since forever, just read the Bible. Why can’t we do the same with our own looming apocalypse? I say, we can.

Even if you follow the news, you are probably still ignoring the enormity of our problems. It’s a coping mechanism, I get that. My biggest concern with this idea, is that it will be overtaken by events, and life as we know it may cease, before I can put out the first episode. I need to get my skates on, if I’m really going to do this!

Still with me? Here’s the proposal. You can click on it, and scroll through it here, or download the PDF.

Countdown-Online-ProposalDownload

So what do you reckon? Would you listen to it? Would you subscribe? I have the first two series mapped out, 10 episodes each. I’m ready to start working on it now. Are you a commissioner? Know anyone who is? Can you help? You can find me online, contact me for more info. And thanks for reading this.

OK, Doomer!

Climate Apocalypse, Climate Change, Climate Crisis, Politics, society, , ,

by Doug – the northlondonhippy

Even with urgent action, the climate apocalypse is a threat to all life on Earth, but you probably don’t want to think about it.

Local graffiti spotted in north London – ((C) 2022 – the northlondonhippy)

The most recent IPCC report on the climate crisis is a sobering read, but even more so when you understand that nearly every prediction you have ever read regarding our future climate has been underestimated, or downplayed by the scientists who authored them. This is a hidden feature in climate research, the need for researchers to tone everything down, for an audience that remains in deep denial over what’s coming, that will all be arriving faster than expected.

“Faster than expected” is a catchphrase in climate crisis circles. Whenever real world evidence is compared to a previous prediction, whatever the worst outcome is happening “faster than expected”. It doesn’t matter what the specific subject is, it could be the melting of sea ice at the poles, it could be the continued rise in greenhouse gases, it’s all happening faster than expected.

This is an ice shelf. Soon, the only evidence for it, will be this photo

I’ve been reading about all this for a long time, I’m what can be described as “collapse-aware”. My eyes are open to all the evidence, and I am not in denial. I can see the direction of travel for society, and the planet. It’s not good.

Being “collapse aware” is more than just having a handle on the climate crisis, our society has a lot of moving parts, and none of them seem well- oiled at the moment. From the pandemic, to the cost of living crisis, to the war in Ukraine, it feels like everything is in some sort of death spiral, but looming largest over all of it, is our rapidly warming planet.

Wildfires – so many wildfires. Expect to see even more this year

Even if we ceased all carbon production, by putting an end to all fossil fuel usage today, right now, there are still enough greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to ensure we exceed our stated limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius rise of global temperatures. We are already approaching that limit, we may even exceed it this year, and we are seeing climate impacts caused by it, all around the world. But what happens if we do exceed 1.5 degrees? Then the feedback loops begin, and everything else becomes “faster than expected’ too, but at an exponential rate. That’s where we are headed.

There are some really scary predictions out there, from reputable scientists, if you can be bothered to seek them out. The end of civilisation? The extinction of all human life? All by the end of the century? Yes, I have read predictions that state each of those things as extremely possible, if we don’t take urgent action immediately.

The water is rising too, so expect more flooding

We are not going to take urgent action. If we were going to do that, we would have done it by now. We have known about global warming, and climate change, for many decades, and yet we have done nothing of substance to address them. We have prioritised short term profits, over long term sustainability. We won’t stop until we have extracted every last drop of fossil fuel from the planet, unless our extinction comes first. It probably will.

All this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to stop it. So get out and protest!!

Maybe you’ve seen the Adam McKay film, “Don’t Look Up” on Netflix. If you haven’t, I highly recommend it. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but the meteor in the movie, is a metaphor for climate change. And by the time the public finally looks up, and really sees the impending doom approaching, it is already too late. This is where we are now.

I wish I could offer you more hope, but we are well past that point now. Even with the will, and determination to turn things around, it still is probably already too late. We lack the will, and determination, we’re hardly even paying attention, as we sleepwalk towards extinction. There may be no genuine hope, but there is plenty of “hopium”.

One of the cornerstones of our plan to prevent the climate apocalypse is something called carbon capture. It doesn’t actually exist at scale yet, but much of our hopium is based on imaginary technology, and future discoveries. Sure, it might actually work, but it hasn’t so far, and many are convinced it never will.

We’re told to take personal responsibility, recycle, take shorter showers, you already know this. What they always fail to mention is that around 71% of all greenhouse gas emissions come, not from the general population, but from around 100 companies. Compared to that, the length of our hot showers, is meaningless. It’s not about personal responsibility, but our collective responsibility. We are all failing.

Many climate scientists are depressed, and despairing, it’s not just me. People far more knowledgeable than myself, are doomers too. We can’t help it, our eyes are wide open, and we can’t ignore it any longer. Even if we take the most urgent actions imaginable, it may already be too late. Open your eyes, you’ll see it too, even though I know you would prefer not to see it. Once you’re collapse aware, it’s hard to see anything else.

Doug – the northlondonhippy is a writer, and journalist (lapsed), with over 30 years of experience in the media. He spent the 2nd half his career as a duty editor for BBC News, before that he worked for AP, and Reuters, but he got his start in the industry at MTV – Music Television in NYC, in the mid 80s. He is also the author of “Personal Use by the northlondonhippy”. Doug tweets as @nthlondonhippy

A busy hippy

Brexit, cannabis, Climate Change, Climate Crisis, decriminalisation, drug use, High Hopes, Politics, society, , , , , , , , , , ,
Not an actual photo of me

You might have noticed in the last few weeks, I’ve been more productive than usual.

I’ve been a busy hippy. 

I’ve had some free time, so I decided to solve some big issues.

Dangerous Tea

For instance, I highlighted the truth about cannabis. Don’t blame weed, it is tea drinking that is the real cause of everything bad.

ClimateGear(TM)

Want to survive the Climate Apocalypse? I figured out how it can be done. First, you need to be super rich.

Brexit lives at the bottom of this very deep hole

I had a free hour, so I solved Brexit. It’s not pretty, but it gets the job done. You can thank me later.

Giant steps are what you take

I shared my memories of the first moon landing. I was 6 and a half when it happened, but I still came up with a few obscure details.

The UK is a dry country

I wrote to Grandma Hippy about living in a dry country. She is imaginary, and she lives in Colorado. She digs edibles. I do too.

Dump Trump, because Trump is a dump

I received my first 12 hour Twitter ban. I tried to fight the power, but the power of stupid prevailed.

Fire!

And, my fellow earthlings, I tried to convince everyone that we are all Citizens of Everywhere. It’s our only hope.

There’s not a lot to be optimistic about these days, but we can all distract ourselves from the mess we’re in. My distraction, ironically, is hope. Don’t lose hope, we can all help make things a little less miserable. This is my attempt to do just that.