Baba cool and bicycles

So, are there Biofuels available in New Zealand?

bryony — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:23:20 +0000

I certainly can’t find any distributors of it Wellington and am beginning to get vexed. Apparently there are Gull outlets that sell it, there is one in Masterton but a journey (and energy expended) out there rather defeats the purpose of buying the energy efficient fuel. Well its time for me to stop, this wild biogoose chase but maybe you know, can you help me?

Secret underground temple, built by insurance broker

bryony — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 07:36:40 +0000

Boingboing posted this article by the daily mail today and its such an incredible story. This guy, an insurance broker, has secretly whittled away a vast maze of halls underground of astounding beauty. It was completely secret except for a few pals who helped with the whittling, then the police swooped in and demanding to see everything.

See pictures and read the full (somewhat astonishing) article written by the daily mail

He says at the end ”They are to remind people that we are all capable of much more than we realise and that hidden treasures can be found within every one of us once you know how to access them’, which is just too beautiful

Pantheon paris vs Demonstration

bryony — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:02:51 +0000

Am back in Paris again after spending a week in the UK. The Train conductors are all on strike so the metro is pretty much out of order, but I didn’t let that spoil my fun. Today its was a gorgeous day and Paris was on fine form, pulling out all of the usual surprising pockets of architecture.

So the sun was shining, the perfect boots have been found and bought , I saw a guy that looked like Orlando Bloom (but wasn’t), got swept up in a student demonstration for better transport systems (I think) AND saw a really flash looking fashion shoot on one of the bridges.
Actually the fashion shoot was very funny, it was a romantic thing with a guy and a girl and they were supposed to be almost kissing and the guy model kept on cracking up and couldn’t keep serious and the the photographer got all shitty, very entertaining.

I took a bit of video when I remembered that I had a camera and here it is, a bit boring but gives you an idea anyway

Sancoins, the bike ride video

bryony — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 20:49:32 +0000

I biked to a wee place called Sancoins the other day. There’s not much there to speak of but the ride there was lovely. On the way back I made a video of the ride. It looks much more reckless than it actually was, all was, in fact, very safe and sound.

Enjoy !

How to change the world – video

bryony — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:47:59 +0000

Recently on my quest to save to save the world I found myself signing an online petition on the live earth website and in the process I signed up for announcements from thier partner website Avaaz which is a “community of global citizens who take action on the major issues facing the world today”. I’ve since received emails of calls to action on the terrible humanitarian atrocities such as those occurring in Burma and Iraq. When you read the stories, your heart breaks a little more each time, is it really possible that you or I could make a difference to all this? Then I spied the following advertisement which made me hope again.

New Zealand’s environmental efforts

bryony — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 18:35:38 +0000

There are, it would seem, 2 ways to encourage environmental awareness, and not one reason why the two cannot be applied synchronously.

The first is bottom up, start introducing ideas at the everyday level, e.g. supermarkets stop giving away shopping bags and sell more durable reusable bags, offering incentives to those who bring there own bags.

The second is top down, Making the big changes, large scale, high end retail and commerce instigating the trend of ecologically friendly thought.

I have been sceptical of New Zealands efforts to improve our care for the environment, because we are already seen as a green country, there is little incentive to augment this care. Yet we still hand out those wretched plastic shopping bags (scourge of the earth) willy nilly, this is such a simple thing to change. Though recently I have noticed that NZ is starting to make the big changes.

The big news is of the 10 year moratorium on coal power stations, a government initiated project that will have dramatic positive outcome on New Zealand carbon emissions and sets a brave example for other countries.

I recently sent a nasty email to AirNZ demanding why it was they had no information about what measures the company was taking to reduce carbon emissions not even a link to a carbon offset website. Upon reply the very well mannered manager of something or other pointed out that, actually information about Airnz proposed environmental measures could be found on the website (www.airnz.co.nz > menu item ‘about’ > drop down to ‘environment’ I guess I didn’t look too hard) its worth a read, though some of it is a bit marketing fluff-esq (this sort of statement grates a little “Planes account for 2% of global CO2 emissions and at current rates of growth will account for 3% of global CO2 emissions by 2050*, yet the aviation industry supports 8% of global economic activity. That means that the industry’s impact on the environment is disproportionately small compared to the difference we make” .

Though marketing fluff gripes aside the airline is really doing some very active changing as seen in such Treehugger articles as Jumbos Landing in ‘Idle’ – Saving Fuel Through Gliding Descent and Air New Zealand Biofuelling Through The High Skies .

In the world of fashion ecologically ethical boutiques are appearing for example: Organic EcoWool (and … shhh, Possumdown) and Spangled Ferret – Earth Concious Fashion from New Zealand

Boutique beer takes a stride in the organic direction: Green Man: New Zealand’s Organic, Vegan Beer and Founders organic vegan environmentally conscious beer which is my favourite beer in the whole world.

Lets keep the momentum going, and hope the effect trickles down, seriously , I can’t stand the sight of those plastic shopping bags.

Day off ramblings

bryony — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:53:38 +0000

I am sitting here scarfing down peanut m&ms, only half enjoying them. The very m&ms that so inspired me to leap up from my email writing to go buy these chocolaty treats only to find my leg was tangled up in my head set cables and consequently I had irreparably (ok so probably not, but I ain’t got the know-how to fix it) torn the wire out of the mic plug. So, am feeling a bit down in the dumps. Therefore if I call you on Skype, I shall just listen, you’ll know its me on account of the long silence, feel free to tell me a story.

Ok so the M&ms are growing on me, I can honestly say I have reached 70% enjoyment level upon eating the second half of the packet.

But hey, If I were to look on the bright side of life, I would remember buying (with certain glee, I add) such lovely mushrooms the day before, chanterelle and others with names that sound a bit like chanterelle. I eagerly await le soir, when shall cook me up such a glorious mushroomy thing, and follow it with fromage frais sprinkled in garlic, pepper and salt oh la la

So it is decided, I shall pack in as much of this magical french food as possible before I leave because I have booked my flight (ex london) 17th of december, I’m coming home for christmas baby and I shall be expecting lots of hugs, from ALL of you

Flight of the Conchords – Kiwi folk parody music do a french funny

bryony — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 21:39:33 +0000

A wonderful example of how the french language really is.

Flight of the Conchords are funny AND from New Zealand…. Who knew!

My new painting blog

bryony — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:39:04 +0000

I have ditched my old painting art website in favour for a blog of paintings I have created. Hopefully this will be easier to maintain and easier to view.

Spiderweb dancing to Al Gore

bryony — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:22:21 +0000

I started watching the Al Gore movie today, and something in the corner of the room caught my eye, a billowing spiderweb. The resonance of Al Gore’s words and the inherent beauty in nature made me run for the camera