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Archive for the Q51 Have you ever taken part in a protest? Category

The Wave, the Ribbon and the Flat Earth Society

Some 40,000 people gathered in London today to send a message to world leaders gathering in Copenhagen about the need for action on climate change.  Replicating his presence at a similar event recorded in our novel, Ben Whittenbury joined them in his polar bear outfit.  Ben, Julia and Sarah enjoyed taking part in the ‘blue human wave’.  Sarah loved the open top bus and the many blue ribbon’s waved truimphantly from it. All in all a happy event with a serious message.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InXPPdLTiQo

Perhaps the organisers, and the PM Gordon Brown, were inspired by our novel - and page 183 in particular! Go take a look it includes the vision of the ‘wave’ symbolising predicted sea level rises and the blue ribbon which features to illustrate our fragile world - just ask Dr Mark Penning, President of WAZA for confirmation on how perilous things are!  

Remember people -we’re not one to gloat but we did after all receive the coverted ‘Blue Ribbon Award’ for our efforts.  Finally, page 183 also includes a reference to the ‘Flat Earth Society’ to illustrate how people often only grasp the truth when there’s tangible visible and physical evidence! Trouble is we’re at the point of no return! Its all a matter of faith. Bring on the magic fairy dust?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSIvZXuoj2s

Can You hear us Now?

During a performance of A Steady Rain on Broadway, Hollywood tough-guy actors Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig were called into action to respond to a member of the audience who had left his mobile phone on.  At first the X-men and 007 stars kept in character but as the ringing continued they lost patience and told the person to respond, “Do you want to get that?” The audience erupts in cheers but the ringing persists so Jackman pleads, “C’mon just turn it off.”

jackman-x-men.jpg

Our Sarah liked this very much. It reminded her of Charles Lamb’s report in his journal (The Ball of Blue in a Sea of Black -pages 429-436) of how they used Sarah’s mobile to issue a warning to humanity to try to prevent a globally warmed Earth.  She believes its a test because of the X-factor question in our opening material. Do we have what it takes to respond to the call? Don’t close your eyes - this is your life!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPl4040-Dgo

Copenhagen Climate Change Conference - Inspiring Change

In celebration of the Autumn Equinox - an event significant in our project - we’ve put together a promotional video, which is featured below.  

 pink-cloud-over-mayfair.jpg

Sky TV and You Tube are running competitions for video entries to inspire and engage the world on the issues.  We could use the video as an entry but it may be judged a commercial activity (which it isn’t as we make no money from the project) or the mention of our website could disallow it.   These are fundamental parts of our project - we’re tempted to ‘break the rules’ but will have to tinker! Oh these things are so difficult sometimes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xbcG5bphlk

Red Alert

A Red Panda has escaped from London Zoo to hide up a tree in Regent’s Park. The rare animal was spotted at 03:00am by a local cameraman Martin Ellerbeck.  Zoo-keepers were unable to coax the creature down so resorted to using a tranquilizer.  An inquiry will be held into how the animal escaped.

red-panda.jpg

Our take on this is simple: RED ALERT for action to preserve Mother Nature! Where’s our evidence? Its another example of an escaped animal to feature on our Watch; the creature was first seen at three - a number key to our project; and he escaped to Regent’s Park - our novel includes several mentions of the antics of the Prince Regent. To cap everything, the Panda’s name was Peter - in our novel we have a cameo appearance from Sir Peter Scott - founder of the WWF and designer of the orginal WWF panda logo. Do the panda’s antics amount to a life imitating art moment?

The Red Panda is also known as a FireFox so here’s a suitable emergency response…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGDq1aXRwls&feature=related

Climate Casino

Although our project is concerned with the big picture on environmental and ecological challenges faced by the natural world, we’re happy to focus this week on climate chaos and activities at the Climate Camp, including the Climate Casino operating outside of the Stock Exchange - colourfully performed by a dozen or so campaigners in fancy dress, with props including the use of large playing cards to illustrate how humanity is gambling with the planet.

 climate-casino.jpg

We love it as in our novel and Charles Lamb’s journal the Three of Hearts - representing Love, Art and Nature - is a symbol of life as it could be.

In the words of Bruce Forsyth, Play Your Cards Right, come on get involved at home. Your a lovely audience, so much better than last week!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImtxgtucEEg&feature=related

Climate Camp at Blackheath

Today Climate Camp 2009 was revealed as Blackheath, a whisker away from Greenwich, London. The venue was chosen as the organisers wanted to camp in clear sight of the London City Skyline. Around 1,000 have set up camp for a peaceful week to help educate, raise awareness, challenge current strategies and explore solutions to the unfolding climate chaos.

climate-camp-2009.jpg

Aside from the symbolism, we’re most curious about the chosen venue - Blackheath! One popular but incorrect theory is that the heath’s name derives from its use as a burial ground for the London based victims of the Black Death plague.  It was also associated with the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381.  The Greenwich Prime Meridian - the home of time - runs along the west side of Blackheath! Our readers will be aware that these 3 themes (potential climate change induced disease, a peoples uprising and the Greenwich Meridian) are all features of our novel.

But the creme-de-le-creme is that Caroline Brunswick, married to the Prince Regent, was banished in 1799 to a private residence in Blackheath.  As our novel reveals, the banished queen appeared before Ben Whittenbury and Charles Lamb as part of an extraordinary brief encounter that suggested a royal command from Mother Nature, “Forget me Not!”  Don’t just take our word for it - read the novel and see the truth for yourself!

Blue in the Face

In our story, Charles Lamb’s journal records the significance of a blue ribbon taken from Lucy Ebbs’ hair in helping to flag the needs of Mother Nature. How surprising then that Oxfam Campaigners are asking people to demand action on climate change until their ‘Blue in the Face’.

oxfam-blue-in-the-face.jpg

A host of celebrities agreed to have their face painted blue to show their support for the global movement determined to take action on climate change; people like Fatboy slim, Jarvis and VV Brown. Its all part of the run up to the Copenhagen event in December when world leaders will come together to agree a new global climate deal.  The video in the link will be shown at Glastonbury.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/festivals/index.html

The less brave at heart might want to follow Lucy’s lead and wear a blue ribbon instead?  Forget-her-Not?

Rock the Boat

Our readers will be familar with the paper boat made by Mary Shelley and sunk unwittingly by Charles Lamb when they remiss over the passing of the poet Percy Shelley.  The scene is a metaphor for the reluctance of Western governments to ‘rock the boat’ on our way of life whilst Mother Nature ails.  Charles Lamb’s journal also records how our hero Captain Richard Lewin may well have been lost at sea in a ship wreck - the insunuation is that modern civilisation is in danger of hitting the rocks!

rocking-the-boat-badge.jpg

How interesting then that when in the media spotlight over her resignation from the post of Communities Secretary Hazel Blears MP chose to wear a ‘Rocking the Boat’ badge, with a picture that appears to show a shipwreck.  The opposition leader suggested that the gesture was a direct challenge to the Prime Minister.  Well, ‘have we got news for you’ maybe the challenge is directed at all of us worldwide - are we ready to do what’s required to change our lifestyles for the benefit of the diverse array of creatures with whom we share our world?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfBwsG8ubFw&feature=related

The Age of Stupid

stop-stansted-expansion.jpg

Friday the 13th is embroiled in superstition as being unlucky for some.  So, on a day when campaigners have lost their battle to block the expansion of Stansted Airport, we speculate on the wider implications of the judicial decision.  Stop Stansted Expansion argued that the government did not give proper consideration to the ‘adverse effects’ of the expansion but the High Court Judge Sir Thayne Forbes dismissed the legal challenge arguing that there had been no misinterpretation of air transport policy. SSE were made to pay £20,000 in legal costs.

The decision follows swiftly on the heels of some profound and deeply worrying predictions on climate change from leading scientists at a conference in Copenhagen.  We won’t repeat them here but the message is loud and clear on rising sea levels and temperatures.  We are very much in The Age of Stupid with decisions of this kind replicated worldwide by governments preaching the environmental cause yet acting against it and popular demand in the name of ‘business as usual.’  Where is the democracy? Is it any wonder that some people resort to ‘adolescent’ acts of protest?

green-custard-protest.jpg

So, if we want to watch a horror film on Friday the 13th, try a preview of The Age of Stupid. In common with our tale it includes a take from the future which implores action now to preserve the Earth and creatures we know and love.  The significant difference between the film and our project is that we feel Mother Nature or a force of creation is behind us, leaving a trail of messages and signs to try to convince us beyond the hard evidence being presented by the scientists. Hay - all’s fair in love and war!

age-of-stupid.jpg

http://www.ageofstupid.net/

UFO hits wind turbine - ask Lesley Whittingham?

UFO hits wind turbine? So claims a media frenzy which has occured over a wrecked turbine on a wind farm in Lincolnshire.  The suggestion is the turbine was struck by a UFO after local residents claimed to have seen a glowing light at the scene, which resembled an octopus with tentacles.  One 65ft blade had broken off completely and another was crippled.  Experts described the damage as a unique incident.

 ufo-hits-wind-turbine.jpg

The question we want to ask is why would a UFO crash into or damage a wind turbine? Perhaps it was a deliberate act?!? Why? Was it a reminder from a source unknown that we need to focus now on ’Green Energy’  solutions?  We believe it so - think of it as a ‘Wind of Change’. Ben Whittingbury alluded to this after he’d tossed his watch away in frustration at the lack of action by humans to preserve the natural world. He felt a wind of change on his face, after Malachi our Messenger warned ‘Tardiness can lead to all sorts of mayhem.” Read our online extract for proof.

Yet from a Watch perspective the most curious thing is that the key witness was Lesley Whittingham - so we have two very strange incidents occuring in quick succession (the Whitten Bridge event), each with names closely linked to the title of the Whittingbury Watch - what can it mean? The wind of change is blowing… Listen out for the comment at the end of the video.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=taVW8Kv2HcQ