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Offworld Report

Editorial – Nov 2021: Resources Are Sources.

Hello everyone

When I was a youngster, I came across a visual list showing what coal could be used for and, oddly, burning it as a fuel was actually pretty low on the list so I doubt if burning it made as much money. I suspect this is also true today. Do a google search and see for yourself and there are thousands of products that make more money than literally seeing coal go up in smoke. How’s that for pumping up any third world country economy?

One of the ways to reduce global warming is to look at a country’s resources and see if they can be channelled differently and, more important for third world countries, make more money to fund their economy. That is the importance of economics because it enables international trade and gets more of their citizens jobs. I’ve said that twice now. For the third world countries, give them something more profitable to do with their resources and they will benefit in the efforts to stop global warming and we might actually benefit as well. More so, if we supply them with alternative power sources from wind to solar power at the least they will be less inclined to burn their resources.

Something that becomes apparent from COP26 is no one was obviously offering alternative solutions to help a third world country’s economy: Offering solutions that would benefit them. The same applies to Brazil’s rain forests. Paying them more to keep the trees there than farmland then things will be done differently. Don’t you find it worrying and contradictory that apart from palm oil, they are also supplying soya for vegans who actually want to conserve the world but having trees cut down to feed them? Effectively, the vegans are contributing to global warming. Saving the rain forests also make some difference to animal preservation, although not without some rough edges that needs sorting out. Getting more equality between nations is going to be a tougher call.

The main problem as I see it is the wealthier nations are telling the poorer nations what they must do to prevent global warming but not helping them as well to improve their quality of living. Considering the first world countries have done the most damage to the world, there is a justifiable peeve. Discovering from COP26 that promised finance previously hasn’t been fulfilled shows something wrong with the system. Promises don’t cost anything. Demonstration of money or helping their growth to beat global warming does as long as ensures any country’s self-interest. Even with covid, something should have been done by now and a lot faster. If it needs trade, then do trade deals that can benefit them. Always, we are back to money yet the world can’t be paid for when we can no longer live on it.

Equally, each country, especially the wealthy ones, needs to do more with recycling materials. More so with old computer technology and all its rare earth elements. Sending it as junk to third world countries is throwing away vital elements that can also be toxic in its own right as we have seen in news footage in the past. Recycling where it can be used again in new computers saves a lot of transportation. Population is an ingredient of global warming and shouldn’t be neglected or thrown under another country’s carpet. Considering how much of the human world rotates around computer tech, not only with home computers but mobile phones, especially obsolete models that can’t be recycled, then this needs to be sorted out as fast as possible. More so as each country needs to sort out their own waste.

In many respects it would actually help to think of our planet as being a giant spacecraft, which in some metaphors it probably is, and that it has a finite amount of resources that should be recycled rather than thrown away. Certainly, this needs to be applied to computer technology. When was the last time you saw a desktop chassis being thrown away because it was rusty? It’s actually steel and aluminium. The elements of the motherboard contain copper that can be easily recycled and that’s before we get to the trace elements like gold. Much of it is in tiny quantities but does mount up in the amount of computer tech that is ditched annually. At least mobile phone companies do more with reusing and recycling. More needs to be done with old computers, many of them can’t be recycled because they can’t keep up with the new operating system or just breaks down.

The same also applies with old military equipment and vehicles, as well as the traditional cars and such. That’s a lot of material that is going to rust rather than being melted down and recycled.

Mankind is very wasteful of its resources. We simply aren’t recycling enough. When resources are finite, that’s just crazy. More so as this is something governments can do something about and provide job opportunities for their own countries. Even if some are doing it, there simply needs more of it done. It cuts down on still digging out more materials and still gives jobs to people. If the argument is economy, then these are all areas where economy can be applied.

Obviously there’s more than this needed to contribute to reduce global warming but it does several things together. Giving the third world countries the means to recycle the waste already sent to them also ensures they can use the recycled material. Shame no one in power is going to think of it.

The business model, both governmental and private companies, needs a serious think and overhaul if we are going to survive and bring global temperature down. There certainly needs better co-operation than we have right now where it is moving inches to get anything done. We already have the resources out there, we just need better ways to re-use it. Companies that can do that are going to rise to the top and those who don’t are certainly going to wonder where they went wrong.

 

Thank you, take care, good night and remember, recycling has nothing to do with bicycles. Oh, let me be the first to say happy new year. May 2022 be interesting, especially surviving another covid-variant.

 

Geoff Willmetts

editor: www.SFCrowsnest.info

 

A Zen thought: Naval gazing only reveals you have a bellybutton.

 

What Qualities Does A Geek Have: Looking at a problem and seeing multiple solutions and sometimes even implementing them.

 

The Reveal: I’ve thought its been a bit quiet and we had yet to see a new covid variant. Something else to look forward to. In the past two weeks, the new covid-variant is spreading across the world. Odd point though. The first four followed the Greek Alphabet. I can maybe understand jumping over gamma because of radiation associations but why go to the eleventh letter omicron? What’s wrong with epsilon? It’s even easier to say? Are we going to go back to it later?

 

A Problem Needing A Solution: One of the boxes that I stash oddly shaped review books and a couple magazines had a closed lid. One problem, the mag on the top was soaking wet as if it had been chucked out in the rain (it hadn’t) and the dampness got to a few of the other books and I’ve currently spread them out to dry.

      I looked up at the ceiling and no obvious signs of wetness up there and, besides, the box itself was dry. I could understand if the magazine had dried out but that top magazine seems to have been the centre of the dampness.

            More importantly, should I put them back in the box when dry or get them a new box. I should point out that although the box is directly under the ceiling, there are no water pipes there and the other boxes with books there have no water damage. I don’t believe in spontaneous dampness and I’ve had books in this box for years and nothing like this has happened before. Anyone with a serious reply please email in how it happened.

 

Observation: I’ve been a reluctant buyer of a mobile phone. It was only because of a fall giving me a swollen foot back in September that is still getting better, caused by a stomach bug wiping my blood sugar – not good for diabetics – that I could have been left in a more isolated place. I’ve been slowly exploring some of the phone’s functions, including its camera and an understanding why people play around with their images. Compare how you look in a bathroom mirror and the selfie and you should see some similarities. Its bad lighting. You’re basically too close to the camera and poor lighting. Now when you realise that many of these mobile phones carry a torch, you would think a quick flash from it would improve the lighting and could probably be done by software without major mechanical changes. Newer models could probably have a torch connection facing the other way as well although really, all you have to do is point the camera from the other direction.

 

Observation: Paying a little attention to the reviews of ‘The Eternals’ film, has anyone else noticed nary a mention that they were the sole creation of Jack Kirby?

 

Eco-Observation: If you really want to save the world from plastic, the next time you’re planning or forced to get a new printer, have a look at the Epson Ecotank range. The printers might cost more but the tanks are big enough to print 700 pages before needing a re-fill and then the 4 bottles combined cost about £30! I went over a year before I needed to buy a refill. Think how many plastic ink cartridges I didn’t have to buy. Even better, if the tank assembly does break down, that can be replaced, so you throw fewer printers away. Oh, it works for PCs and Apples.

 

Feeling Stressed: There will always be a 13 in any list higher than 14. It’s just a number just unlucky to be associated with being unlucky.

 

 

UncleGeoff

Geoff Willmetts has been editor at SFCrowsnest for some 21 plus years now, showing a versatility and knowledge in not only Science Fiction, but also the sciences and arts, all of which has been displayed here through editorials, reviews, articles and stories. With the latter, he has been running a short story series under the title of ‘Psi-Kicks’ If you want to contribute to SFCrowsnest, read the guidelines and show him what you can do. If it isn’t usable, he spends as much time telling you what the problems is as he would with material he accepts. This is largely how he got called an Uncle, as in Dutch Uncle. He’s not actually Dutch but hails from the west country in the UK.

2 thoughts on “Editorial – Nov 2021: Resources Are Sources.

  • Food for thought, indeed. I’m no economist but your point about third-world countries being offered a fair deal for their resources may well be appropriate with major governments – but surely one of the major problems lies with companies out to get the most for their buck and screw the population…

    A Zen thought: Naval gazing only reveals you have a bellybutton.

    It’s what spies do (and Officers of the Watch at sea)…

    Take care – it’s perhaps a trifle early to wish you a successful New Year (though I hope you fully recover your health soon!) but as we emerge from ‘Black Friday Month/Week/Day sales and now ‘early Cyber Monday’ sales are being touted (commercialisation, again – and Small Business Saturday barely got a look in yesterday).

    Reply
    • Hello Julian
      Exploring the evidence or rather lack of it tends to be easier to put in an editorial where seriousness is often the key. I found it appauling that the first world countries have done zilch to finance the third world countries in all of this and this is largely the key to get their co-operation in halting global warming.
      I’ve yet to see a successful new year for a decade now but it is better to travel hopefully and think one might actually arrive.
      Geoff

      Reply

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