Martin Nelson https://martinnelson.co.uk/ actor | singer | voice | trailblazer | eq | projects Fri, 15 Dec 2023 11:28:43 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://martinnelson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/cropped-favicon-1-32x32.png Martin Nelson https://martinnelson.co.uk/ 32 32 Winter Solstice 2023: COP 28 – EQ news – Seasons Greetings https://martinnelson.co.uk/eq/winter-solstice-2023-cop-28-eq-news/ https://martinnelson.co.uk/eq/winter-solstice-2023-cop-28-eq-news/#respond Wed, 13 Dec 2023 12:40:51 +0000 https://martinnelson.co.uk/?p=2828 COP 28 (30th Nov – 12 Dec) concluded this morning, extended as ever, but also slipping back in the calendar (COP 26: 30th Oct, COP 27: 6th Nov), and now the winter solstice and crowded festive season approach… a short triple post therefore, starting with the consolidation of EQ: EQ’s promo movie has been very […]

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COP 28 (30th Nov – 12 Dec) concluded this morning, extended as ever, but also slipping back in the calendar (COP 26: 30th Oct, COP 27: 6th Nov), and now the winter solstice and crowded festive season approach… a short triple post therefore, starting with the consolidation of EQ:

  • EQ’s promo movie has been very well received. Do watch it – and please feedback! Though filming was improvised in a few hours (filmmaker James and I had never met before) and edited on a shoestring, it needs no apology.
  • The new logo is in process of registration as a trade mark to join the older simpler version (still useful as an educational tool, being easy to make using Euclid’s Phi Φ geometry)
  • EQ – Action at Equinox is the name of a new charity being established to protect and enhance EQ, with the message upfront that we have to act.

COP 28. Let’s not cavil, a deal that calls on all countries to move away from using fossil fuels is historic, but once again, as with COP 27, Prof Sir Dieter Helm is underwhelmed. Interviewed yesterday on BBC’s PM radio programme he cogently argued (my precis notes):

COP’s top down approach since 1990 has not cut it – rather it has to start with consumption –  bottom up – with a coalition of the willing – with us the polluters, the consumers paying – with proper carbon pricing, including imports. It’s perfectly possible to apply this to this great problem of our age, but it needs politicians to tell us we are living beyond our means. This complimentary way – more attention to emissions trading schemes – attention to the damage we’re doing to the ability of our planet to absorb carbon – can and should be addressed. Take it back to us – us human beings – price things properly, make us face up to what we need to do to live in a sustainable economy. “You could not have expressed it more clearly¹” said Evan Davis.

This bottom-up process is what EQ is set up to facilitate and enhance, anywhere, to grow that ‘coalition of the willing’. And to leaven the bitter pill, to metaphor-mangle, positivity is built-in. With collective will, if we all ‘do our bit’, it can be done!

Now the winter solstice is but a week away – the season when the share of sunlight is at its most unequal – so the COP delegates, as they fly home (hm…), might reflect upon the unequal carbon output of the ‘North’ consumer-centric economies and the developing ‘South’. COP 29’s agenda is already filling.

The solstice’s festive season is also upon us, so I end with an explanation of the featured image. My birthday treat in March was a ride in the Wealden Hills and Eden Valley to check out Spin-off 5 sections of Cycle Orbital’s network. First stop was Churchill’s Chartwell for a coffee and croissant treat. This cheeky robin pecked at the pastry, then perched above me, waiting for more. The background is a wonderful hoar frost emerging from fog on the lip of the Chilterns at Aston Rowant, above the M40 motorway, last week. Here’s to many more frosty (and snowy) days in SE England. Season’s Greetings!

¹It – How to Build the Sustainable Economy – is expressed fully in Sir Dieter’s new book Legacy. It is Open Access so free for anyone to downland from CUP.
© Martin Nelson 13th December 2023

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Autumn equinox 2023: the launch of EQ – the movie https://martinnelson.co.uk/eq/autumn-equinox-2023-launch-of-eq-the-movie/ https://martinnelson.co.uk/eq/autumn-equinox-2023-launch-of-eq-the-movie/#comments Thu, 21 Sep 2023 20:26:56 +0000 https://martinnelson.co.uk/?p=2755 There was no post for Spring equinox 2023, but I was certainly busy, because at equinox adventurer-filmmaker James Levelle and I were on the beach, filming. Brean Beach and Down on the Bristol Channel are aligned N-S and E-W; ideal for explaining equinoxes and promoting EQ’s positive and universal message, and the sand under the […]

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There was no post for Spring equinox 2023, but I was certainly busy, because at equinox adventurer-filmmaker James Levelle and I were on the beach, filming. Brean Beach and Down on the Bristol Channel are aligned N-S and E-W; ideal for explaining equinoxes and promoting EQ’s positive and universal message, and the sand under the cliffs perfect for raking out a large EQ™ logo. The plan was hurriedly put together on the phone, and in fine morning sun we met – for the first time – on the beach.

But tides here are huge and the weather was deteriorating; we had to improvise in a short window of opportunity. At one point James’ drone crashed into the cliff wall, caught in a windy updraft, which trashed one pass. But we got enough in the can, and parted.

That of course is not the end of the story. In short order I had to learn about editing – at least half of the filmmaking process. James had handed over the rushes before he left for the US, and I started the process in iMovie. He had hoped to edit on his return, but that proved impossible, and the baton was passed to Tierney. She translated my crude effort into an emerging 5 minute promo of quality, but there were graphics to find, and sound to design: a mix of in-camera narration, voiceover, sfx and music. By then the summer break had intervened.

Enter Ben, just two weeks ago. He’s a singer like me, but also multi-talented in most video and sound editing skills, and in a few short days EQ – the movie has emerged. So, thank you James, Christine, Tierney, David, Ben and the many friends who advised and steered.

Enjoy – and please feedback if you think you can help this movie move EQ forward. If you have come to this blog page anew, there is a library of blogs here that highlight different aspects of EQ; have a rummage. By the way, the stand-alone EQ website is a largely dormant demonstration site, built some years ago to demonstrate EQ’s potential as a web portal.

© Martin Nelson 23 September 2023
eQ ™ (registered trade mark pending)
® registered to Equinoctial Days Ltd.

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What are equinoxes? Why are they ideal Earth action days? https://martinnelson.co.uk/eq/what-are-equinoxes/ https://martinnelson.co.uk/eq/what-are-equinoxes/#respond Tue, 19 Sep 2023 21:03:04 +0000 http://martinnelson.co.uk/?p=537 This NASA real image from space shows Earth at the moment of equinox. The Equator is exactly parallel to the Ecliptic, the plane of Earth’s orbit around the sun, so the noonday sun is vertically above the (shadowless) observer at the Equator. Earth’s polar axis is tilted 23.5º to this Plane of the Ecliptic, giving […]

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This NASA real image from space shows Earth at the moment of equinox. The Equator is exactly parallel to the Ecliptic, the plane of Earth’s orbit around the sun, so the noonday sun is vertically above the (shadowless) observer at the Equator.

Earth’s polar axis is tilted 23.5º to this Plane of the Ecliptic, giving us our hemispherical seasons (the North Pole is tilted away from the sun for the northern winter, towards in summer). There are only two moments each year when neither pole points toward the Sun, and the Sun lies directly above Earth’s equator. These moments are the equinoxes. The Northern Hemisphere’s Spring or Vernal Equinox is on 20th or 21st March; the Autumnal Equinox on 22 or 23 September.

Equi-nox comes from the Latin, meaning equal night – because at equinox every part of the planet gets equal amounts – 12 hours each – of sunlight and darkness*. You can say that all life on Earth has a shared moment of equality at equinox, literally and metaphorically – hence EQ’s strapline and demo website equal under the sun.

The early environmentalists nearly used the vernal equinox as the first Earth Day in 1969. A missed opportunity, for no other days have the advantages of equinoxes as calendar events to promote environmental action. This stems from three unique properties:

  1. Equinoxes are fixed planet events – seasonal moments of balance
  2. We are equal under the sun at equinox*- to sense what we share in common
  3. Biannual events double up on action – acting as accelerators for change

from these other attributes accrue, explored in the following blogs, starting with a suggested Four-Fold Pledge action template:

  • Equinoxes are universal, understood in all regions and cultures
  • Attuning to a planetary rhythm reconnects us to nature
  • Taking the planetary long view and seeing the big picture is both clarifying and empowering.
  • Collective action will reinforce a sense of global citizenship, of interdependence
  • Equinoctial common-sense logic bears down on irrational and delusional thinking
  • Equinoxes are natural recharge points for summer and winter auditing
  • Logo & Slogans. EQ is info-packed; helpful slogans are led by Spring into action and Turn over a new leaf
© Martin Nelson 3rd September 2021
eQ ™ (registered trademark pending)
® registered to Equinoctial Days Ltd.
*The excellent website Time and Date will give you the moments of equinox (and solstice) for your town, with copious information on all things temporal and planetary – plus an article that explains that equal day and night at equinox is not entirely accurate…

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EQ’s Four-Fold Pledge https://martinnelson.co.uk/eq/earth-days-at-equinox/ https://martinnelson.co.uk/eq/earth-days-at-equinox/#respond Mon, 18 Sep 2023 20:36:27 +0000 http://martinnelson.co.uk/?p=1521 NB: This sample Pledge Card predates EQ’s new logo How will you Spring into action and Turn over a new leaf? Equinoxes give new life to these slogans. Using them for your twin Earth Day pledges can unite and energise us all into tackling the biosphere/climate crisis. Equinoxes are precise moments in Earth’s annual orbit*. […]

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NB: This sample Pledge Card predates EQ’s new logo

How will you Spring into action and Turn over a new leaf? Equinoxes give new life to these slogans. Using them for your twin Earth Day pledges can unite and energise us all into tackling the biosphere/climate crisis.

  • Equinoxes are precise moments in Earth’s annual orbit*. They are planet events when
  • Day and night is the same across the globe. So at equinox we are equal under the sun**

This – an irrefutable fact and an irresistible metaphor – is the logical and appealing base for EQ, from which much else flows:

  • Neutral – by definition. Precious in polarised times. Seasonal moments of balance
  • Biannual – two equinoxes double up action, accelerating change
  • Zoom tool – at global scale, boundaries disappear & more unites us than divides
Other practical applications include
  • Audit points harmonise well with academic / financial years
  • Summer & winter: two energy-use patterns revealed
  • Daylight saving: equinoctial logic would improve this – for free!
EQ’s earth-based logic and philosophy challenges and informs
  • Truth Lies and Delusion: “Save the Planet”? The planet’s fine, it’s us…
  • Logo: the universal maths of Phi & Fibonacci embedded
  • Heuristic-(H)Eureka!: taking responsibility and action comes easier after the clarity of understanding.
Will you be an Early Adopter and take the EQ four-fold pledge each equinox? You can share ideas on this linked page.
There will be tailored online resources, reinforced with targets, games and challenges to help your Pledge Card become a six-monthly habit, your life changes permanent and accelerate your journey to a sustainable post-carbon future.

altogether we’re prepared!

 

EQ has great and good potential.
I like the big simple truth it stems from and pays into
Seamus Heaney
A fascinating and imaginative initiative 
Archbishop Desmond Tutu 
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin
Shakespeare

 

*equinox dates vary: March 20/21; September 22/23
**equalunderthesun.org is a demo website built in 2013
is the Registered Trade Mark ® of Equinoctial Days Ltd.
Company No 584213
©Martin Nelson November 2023
The pledge card is underlaid with EQ’s original logo, which is being replaced on the site by this more attractive and positive one. However it’s easier to make your own version of the old logo
eQ™ (registered trademark pending)

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EQ has a new logo https://martinnelson.co.uk/eq/eq-has-a-new-logo/ https://martinnelson.co.uk/eq/eq-has-a-new-logo/#respond Sun, 17 Sep 2023 21:00:36 +0000 http://martinnelson.co.uk/?p=2334 EQ has had a logo ‘makeover’. It retains the geometry of Phi, the golden section proportion that carries so much information and philosophy central to EQ, but also incorporates the tilt of Earth’s axis – 23.5° The Golden Section The two letters are contained within the rectangle which is built from the ratio 1:1.618, aka […]

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EQ has had a logo ‘makeover’. It retains the geometry of Phi, the golden section proportion that carries so much information and philosophy central to EQ, but also incorporates the tilt of Earth’s axis – 23.5°

The Golden Section

The two letters are contained within the rectangle which is built from the ratio 1:1.618, aka Greek letter Phi, or the Golden Mean/Golden Section. It has been known of since early history, and lies behind and within famous buildings and images in all cultures. Think Pyramids, Mona Lisa, Beijing’s Imperial City… it’s a very long list.

Nature’s building block

More importantly, Phi is also related to the Fibonacci series and is a key mathematical building block for patterns in the natural world. Think sunflower seeds, nautilus shells… it’s an even longer list.

The axial tilt

The new logo also incorporated the polar axial tilt – 23.5° from the perpendicular to the Ecliptic –  that gives us our seasons, and makes the equinoxes, as balance points between the seasons, such significant events across the planet. EQ’s new promo movie explains all this as I draw the logo on Brean Beach, Somerset.

Make your own logo

You may come across the original EQ logo on this site. It is less attractive, but also Phi-based, so it can be simply made using Euclidian geometry: all you need are compasses, protractor and straight edge. This logo is a registered trade mark®. Martin built this logo on the beach at Lendalfoot South Ayrshire as the second part of an al fresco lecture: Adventures in Space and Time

EQ and CO

Once Martin’s recreational cycling network around London was renamed Cycle Orbital, it became clear the two logos – CO and EQ – could and should be linked. To illustrate, he used a bike wheel and pump, and drew the CO logo with a bit of driftwood in the sand on the same South Ayrshire beach, one-handed, filming it with the other. Not perfect, but not a lot of people can do that!

Cycle Orbital’s logo was designed by Christine Ayre (c@christineayre.com) for the launch of its site in 2021. She and I then turned our attention to EQ. We think the new dynamic brand image will work in all sorts of contexts. It’s also so positive, so inviting, don’t you think?

© Martin Nelson 17th March 2022
eQ™ registered trademark pending
® registered to Equinoctial Days Ltd.

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Summer Spinoff Survey: a new summit loop and a busway added https://martinnelson.co.uk/trailblazer/summer-spinoff-survey-a-new-summit-loop-and-a-busway-added/ https://martinnelson.co.uk/trailblazer/summer-spinoff-survey-a-new-summit-loop-and-a-busway-added/#respond Thu, 27 Jul 2023 15:39:51 +0000 https://martinnelson.co.uk/?p=2736 The 2023 review of Cycle Orbital routes continues. This second survey of spin-offs features two major additions, and together with other changes brings the grand total mileage of the whole network to almost 900 miles of lanes, byways, towpaths, cycleways, old rail track, levees – and now a busway. For hillclimbers, the summit of Leith […]

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The 2023 review of Cycle Orbital routes continues. This second survey of spin-offs features two major additions, and together with other changes brings the grand total mileage of the whole network to almost 900 miles of lanes, byways, towpaths, cycleways, old rail track, levees – and now a busway. For hillclimbers, the summit of Leith Hill is belatedly included, too.

7 Box Hill to Guildford. Using NCN routing exclusively, the only route that employs a cycle track flyover at Bramley, Spin-off 7 is an unusual ride beneath the scarp of the North Downs. The Downs are explored by Arc 7, but what of the Surrey Hills to the south, cycling Mecca, and crowned by Leith Hill Tower, the highest point in SE England? Solution: The Leith Hill Loop.

9 Dorney Lake to Crazies Hill. Apart from a deviation south via Ockwells to bypass Maidenhead this spin-off follows NCN4. The review had sad news: both the cycle cafe at Warren Row and the splendid pub The Horns at Crazies Hill have succumbed to post-covid recessionary times, although the pub has a pop-up van in attendance. On the other hand Freedom Pass holders have free passage on the Elizabeth Line at Twyford or Maidenhead.

10 Little Missenden to Phoenix TrailLittle to report here. The steady ascent (or descent) of Bryants Bottom is a highlight, but the preceding Hatches Lane down from Great Kingsmill is in a terrible state, all too common of minor lanes sought out by this network. It earns a warning symbol. The continuation of the spin-off, The Phoenix Trail to Thame, is 7 straight miles of rail track splendour: thank you, Dr Beeching, I guess.

11 Hemel Hempstead to Harpenden. This major revision complements the spin-off arcs of Essex (see below) and Kent (the Spin-off 5 mini-network). The route Hemel Hempstead to Leighton Buzzard via Ashridge had replaced the truncated Harpenden to Luton ride, retained as Arc 11b. These are now united by more rail trackbed riding, first on the Sewell Greenway, which engineers passage between the rivers Ouzel and Lee with embankment and cutting, then alongside the urban busway connecting Luton and Dunstable.

The research came off the back of a lost Panama hat. Its replacement led me into the centre of Luton, national – world – centre of hat-making until the 1930’s, and an encounter with the eastern end of the busway. My curiosity was piqued…the new 38-mile route features six miles of active travel and public transport combined – way to go!

12 St Albans to Stevenage. A favourite ride on Hertfordshire lanes, culminating in a final mile off-road from Langley to Stevenage on a bosky byway, then via an underpass to cross the otherwise impenetrable A1(M).

1b and 1-2-3 Dobb’s Weir to Rainham. The spin-offs create an Outer Essex Arc. Arc 1b to Moreton favours the Stort Navigation from Roydon to Harlow (another deviation from NCN routing), rejoining via a hair-raising bridge over the railway. At Moreton NCN1 continues east to Chelmsford, whereas the linking Spin-off 1-2-3 heads southeast to Shenfield on some of the most relaxed rural lanes in the network.

In conclusion, the spin-offs are in fair nick, and substantially augmented by the new spinoffs 8 and 11. Spokes and Arcs will get a briefer treatment after the summer.

© Martin Nelson. 2nd August 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Spring Spinoff Survey: satisfactory, save for pubs, potholes, puddles https://martinnelson.co.uk/trailblazer/spring-spinoff-survey-satisfactory-save-for-pubs-potholes-puddles/ https://martinnelson.co.uk/trailblazer/spring-spinoff-survey-satisfactory-save-for-pubs-potholes-puddles/#respond Mon, 22 May 2023 08:34:39 +0000 https://martinnelson.co.uk/?p=2718 I have been checking the state of Cycle Orbital this spring, concentrating on those routes unvisited for a while. A few had not been checked since pre-Covid times, Spinoffs in particular. The conclusion: ride conditions are mostly good or even improved, particularly offroad, but potholes flourish, pubs are closing – and at Redhill, NCN 21 […]

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I have been checking the state of Cycle Orbital this spring, concentrating on those routes unvisited for a while. A few had not been checked since pre-Covid times, Spinoffs in particular. The conclusion: ride conditions are mostly good or even improved, particularly offroad, but potholes flourish, pubs are closing – and at Redhill, NCN 21 was all but impassable due to a giant puddle. Here’s a review of half the spinoffs.

1 Hertford to Stansted. Only discovered in January 2022, a ride in this bluebell season confirmed this is a cracker: the largely offroad section through the Hertford suburb of Bengeo and along the north bank of the Lea is charming, Ware a fine town to cross, then after a brief ascent and descent there is the 2 mile section of railtrack that is open access but not a dedicated public path – a real find! But the highlight is the bridleway through Mill and Side Hill woods before Much Hadham. Gorgeous! After Little Hadham the lanes to Stansted make for very pleasant peaceful riding.

2 Enfield to Brentwood. Actually ridden in reverse, and taking in the two Romford links that link up Havering and Hainault Country Parks. Truly unknown Essex, this. Hainault has just acquired a Woodland Trust visitor centre and an excellent cafe-in-a-barn.

3 and 4. Thames estuary, north and south. My favourites, these are vulnerable rides through forbidding entrepot industry, but with stunning vistas and birdwatching opportunities. Serious issues of access remain at Swanscombe, and porterages are needed on both banks. I rode both rides by taking the ferry from Gravesend to Tilbury Ocean Terminal, where there is a touching Windrush installation. They are quirky rides but the rewards are unique – not least the Great Wall of Thurrock: over a mile of amazing graffiti!

5 The Kentish Weald. The Big One*, this hilly and extensive loop into prime English countryside. I’ve only reviewed the newly added Ide Hill to Oxted Greensand Link which features  three National Trust properties, passing (literally) through Emmetts Gardens – a lesser-known treat between Chartwell and Knole.

6 Croydon to Gatwick. It doesn’t sound enticing, but this ride on NCN 20 and 21, apart from traverses of Redhill and Horley and despite the proximity of M25, M23 and Brighton mainline, is almost bucolic, and largely offroad. BUT: last week’s ride was almost scuppered by an impassable puddle-lake in the section of NCN21 before Redhill, caught between the boggy Moors Nature Reserve and Patteson Court landfill. There is a porterage diversion available, but I dissuaded a family with a buggy to attempt it. A new duckboard walkway looks like the only solution.

8 Basingstoke Canal. The commercially disastrous canal is a triumphant leisure and nature resource. The ride originally terminated at Mytchett canal centre after 8 miles, then extended to Fleet, another 8 miles on. That recce confirmed much of the going was good, despite warnings – but the full 33 miles there and back was tiring on a road bike. Undeterred, a few days ago I continued westward to reach a new terminus point at Winchfield. I had chats with a kayaker and a paddleboarder as we drank in the view being recorded by a sketch club. The kayaker had seen many kingfishers and grey wagtail on his journey; I only caught the latter. But inspiration had struck en route; rather than return by canal or train to Woking, I recce’d a road route back that shadows the canal – apart from its loops to the south – making a 36 mile* round trip that keep your fillings in place, your bottom and hands unruffled.

* So Spin-off 8 trumps 5 for distance now – but not for elevation gained and exertion. However, the next review will announce an even longer spin-off…
© Martin Nelson. 22nd May 2023

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Two steps forward, one back: Elizabeth Line & Thames Clippers added, Virginia Water excised https://martinnelson.co.uk/trailblazer/elizabeth-line-thames-clippers-added-virginia-water-excised/ https://martinnelson.co.uk/trailblazer/elizabeth-line-thames-clippers-added-virginia-water-excised/#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2022 18:12:23 +0000 http://martinnelson.co.uk/?p=2610 Autumnal curation of CyOrb has continued, during which one route has been suspended, but a new station link from the southeast terminus of the Elizabeth Line to the Thames at Cross Ness was added. The new line adds tremendous connectivity to the CyOrb network: not only as an rapid east-west link, but also because its […]

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Autumnal curation of CyOrb has continued, during which one route has been suspended, but a new station link from the southeast terminus of the Elizabeth Line to the Thames at Cross Ness was added. The new line adds tremendous connectivity to the CyOrb network: not only as an rapid east-west link, but also because its central London stations, from Paddington to Stratford and Canary Wharf, are available to non-folding bikes at off-peak times. Then, looking out over the Thames estuary, another innovation started to brew…

The new Abbey Wood to Cross Ness Link starts by visiting lovely Lesnes Abbey parkland, then sets off on cycleways through Thamesmead to arrive at the Thames estuary and Arc 3. Here I could see on the opposite bank the new Barking Riverside Overground station, and alongside it, the riverboat pier. That set me thinking: why was the Thames Clipper service not included as a transport feeder? They carry bikes free, after all…

So on a beautiful late November morning a week later, having added some river boat pierheads and edited the poor relation Spin-off 3 ext through Barking and Dagenham on the website, I set off to see whether the two short extensions at each end of the route worked ‘on the ground’.

A truly delightful trip ensued. The Uber boat service does not have a rush hour fare structure and bikes are welcomed at all times, so I was able to set out early, cycle to Canary Wharf and catch one of the last boats to continue beyond the O2 pier to Woolwich and Barking (the service runs at rush hour and weekends). On such a morning it was a stunning trip, enjoyed in comfort, with coffee in hand.

Back on the saddle, it is apparent Barking Riverside is destined to be a new hub, and cycle infrastructure is included. Off-road provision continues on the Ripple Greenway, and then C42 signage takes over until merging with the already established Spin-off 3 ext. This largely follows the C2C and District Line tracks, keeping well clear of NCN13 running alongside the ghastly A13. If East London is dismissed as un-cycleable and monotonous suburbia this will be a revelation, for you pass an Elizabethan manor house, through two pleasant parks full of waders and birdlife, then the substantial Beam Valley Country Park before reaching Rainham or – on the new northward link – RAF Hornchurch Country Park. This is Spin-off 1-2-3, which runs up the delightful Ingrebourne Valley here, through Upminster, and eventually up to Harlow. I took it as far as Harold Hill (Zone 6 boundary station) where the Elizabeth Line took me all the way to Tottenham Court Road.

A brief footnote on the step (or pedal) back: in an early November ride on Arc 9 through Windsor Great Park, to catch the best of the autumnal colours, I was shocked to discover cycles have been comprehensively banned from making the circuit of Virginia Water, aka Spoke 7a. Not just No Cycling notices, but a gate carrying the strange device “NO CYCLES. RIDDEN OR PUSHED.” Hey ho. More investigation needed, but for now the Spoke is Suspended.

© Martin Nelson 25th November 2022

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Reflections after COP 27 – Grain and Coal https://martinnelson.co.uk/eq/reflections-after-cop-27-grain-and-coal/ https://martinnelson.co.uk/eq/reflections-after-cop-27-grain-and-coal/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2022 18:17:38 +0000 http://martinnelson.co.uk/?p=2584 A year ago, before COP26, I reflected upon the bald statement made in LIFE, the popular mainstream magazine, way back in 1953: ‘Man himself … may be the cause of our warming climate’. Now, after COP27, with some anaemic progress chalked up, what personal experiences resonate with global events and deliberations? Well, during a summer visit […]

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A year ago, before COP26, I reflected upon the bald statement made in LIFE, the popular mainstream magazine, way back in 1953: ‘Man himself … may be the cause of our warming climate’. Now, after COP27, with some anaemic progress chalked up, what personal experiences resonate with global events and deliberations? Well, during a summer visit to NE Poland, on a riverboat trip in Gdansk, we witnessed bulk carriers loading grain and unloading coal…

It’s a fair assumption that the three bulk carriers unloading coal were there to plug the energy gap provoked by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. This major and historic entrepôt might also have been handling the export of Ukrainian grain – which during our visit went on through the night; dust from the pouring grain made for an atmospheric picture from the medieval city centre.

Whether true or false in this case, the twin images tell a story of how events can derail good intentions. Even better, they work as a satisfyingly equinoctial metaphor for good and bad news: Light-grain and Dark-coal, Life-food and Death-carbon. It’s easy – and accurate – to read the image of black coal as indeed sinister.

The bad news is easy to find. Here is Prof Dieter Helm’s summary of COP27 :

Greta Thunberg was right. COP27 was not serious about climate change, and after 26 previous COPs, this latest one will not make much difference to the march of the carbon concentration in the atmosphere – indeed it could even make it worse. Why? Because it gives the illusion of progress, stifling the urgency of other approaches, and because it has now moved on from the focus on emissions to the issues of compensation. COP27 has been all about who should pay for the past and, like slavery, while the case for compensation is strong, it does nothing to deal with the causes of today’s emissions, just like the debate about reparations for slavery does little to deal with modern slavery.¹

Even more dispiriting is the continued presence of climate denial, delusion and false reasoning – all still active, all still too close to the seats of power, and still often going unchallenged in the media. This weakens resolve and dissipates energy everywhere. At the opening ceremony of last year’s COP26, Prince Charles said that the world needed a ‘war-like footing’ to tackle the ‘existential threat’ of climate change and biodiversity loss. The future King was surely right.

This morning I came across an ideology new to me: ‘longtermism’, aka Effective Altruism (EA), which, bizarrely, deprioritises the climate crisis, as being less critical for the (very) long-term future of humanity here on Earth and far beyond. Its main philosopher-proponent is William MacAskill, who insouciantly suggests that fifteen degrees of warming “would not pass lethal limits for crops in most regions”. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has critiqued² the very dubious climate science in this heads-far-above-the-clouds stuff. And I thought the problem was largely from the backward-looking with their heads in the sand…

eQSo how about the good news? How can seekers of positive solutions survive amidst such doomy gloom? How can EQ’s message that we can all do our bit be disseminated? We have to keep hope alive, and EQ has firmly fixed its colours to the mast of positivity with its new logo: still Earth-centred (more so, with the planet’s axial tilt incorporated), still maths-derived (rational, neutral) – and now undeniably cheerful!

This blog was suspended until I’d attended the Royal Geographical Society’s Lecture: 39 Ways to Save the Planet given by the presenters of the BBC Radio 4 series, Tom Heap and Dr Tamsin Edwards. I wrote then ‘I have a feeling some inspiration will come…’

Well, of course it did – not just from the energy of the presenters at the twin lecterns as they presented a small selection from the 39 Ways, and the podcasts’ (and book’s) message of practical, real world solutions to climate change, but also because the intervening week has been good for positive news.

First, there were the Earthshot Prize Awards – equally focussed on positive solutions to the climate/biosphere crisis. Then government policy towards onshore wind investment was relaxed – a sign of internal arguments being won³. Thirdly Also today COP15, the decennial conference on biodiversity loss, began in Montreal. Less trumpeted than COP27, perhaps this may achieve more for being conducted beyond the limelight’s glare.

So I resolve to be less seduced into depression by the bad news, and conclude with an observation, interestingly not available to the sceptic, the myopic or the denier:

Now that climate change is known to be man-made, it follows that the recent rapid rise in global COgeologically unprecedented – can be turned back down to become a tiny temporal ‘blip’ in the story of Earth.

If we made global warming, we can unmake it. Just. If we cooperate.

 

¹ Dieter Helm (2022), “Greta Thunberg was right about COP27 – Dieter Helm“, 22nd November, available at www.dieterhelm.co.uk.
² Emile P Torres “What ‘longtermism’ gets wrong about climate change”, the Bulletin.org, 22nd November.
³ Stop Press 7/12/22, 8pm. The onshore wind decision seems to be a concessionary ‘win’ announced hours before the go-ahead for a new coal mine, the first in 30 years. Positivity tempered by politics…
© Martin Nelson 23rd November & 7th December 2022

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London’s first cycle route https://martinnelson.co.uk/trailblazer/londons-first-cycle-route/ https://martinnelson.co.uk/trailblazer/londons-first-cycle-route/#respond Tue, 01 Nov 2022 14:05:55 +0000 http://martinnelson.co.uk/?p=236 Martin’s winning design in the Greater London Council’s competition to initiate 1000 miles of dedicated cycle routes. Evening Standard, February 1978

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Martin’s winning design in the Greater London Council’s competition to initiate 1000 miles of dedicated cycle routes. Evening Standard, February 1978

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