Leaving the lights on, polluting the planet, polluting the night

First posted 13th of January 2021. Even more important now that climate change is accelerating and there’s a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Leaving the lights on when not necessary is wrong on so many levels. Doing so pollutes the environment and pollutes the night. Every light left on causes wood, coal, oil or gas to be burnt increasing atmospheric CO2 and enhancing climate change, or it causes a bit of radioactive waste to be produced lasting thousands of years, or it wastes renewable energy and resources causing unnecessary environmental loading and resource extraction. Your pocket and bank account may be able to waste planetary resources and cause significant pollution but the planet and its environment cannot. Just remember also that there are countless humans out there who haven’t the ability to squander like you or your society might be doing. This lack of lighting severely restricts the progress of many individuals and societies especially in terms of the education of children. Finally, beyond the human centric view of the world it is important to consider that before two centuries ago the night was mostly dark but now humans have invaded and polluted it with no consideration for the creatures whose domain is the darkness. We need to give back the night just as much as rewild the wilderness.

Our links

Our Teemill shop site for our organic cotton clothes and bags, https://junagarh-media.teemill.com/.

My author page where you can discover more about my books, https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B07D3ZTQ1L.

This is our website for all our photography and my books, https://www.junagarhmedia.co.uk/.

We are also on Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/21104365@N06/.

Also on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/junagarh_media/.

Our Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JunagarhMedia.

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A local bank, Asuncion, Paraguay

A local bank. Seen on the road out of Asuncion, Paraguay in 2012, as we leave on the long distance coach for Buenos Aires. A journey that for us leaves around 6pm, maybe earlier, if I remember correctly and arrives the next day, 19 to 20 hours later. 29th February 2012.

Our links

Our Teemill shop site for our organic cotton T-shirts and bags, https://junagarh-media.teemill.com/.

My author page where you can discover more about my books, https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B07D3ZTQ1L.

This is our website for all our photography and my books, https://www.junagarhmedia.co.uk/.

Our Etsy shop, https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JunagarhMedia.

We are also on Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/21104365@N06/.

Also on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/junagarh_media/.

Bank, Asuncion, Paraguay

Banks, especially foreign banks, often have the best and most prestigious buildings in poorer countries. I wonder why that is? Seen on the road out of Asuncion, Paraguay in 2012, seen as we leave on the long distance coach for Buenos Aires. A journey that for us leaves around 6pm, maybe earlier, if I remember correctly and arrives the next day, 19 to 20 hours later. 29th February 2012.

Our links

Our Teemill shop site for our organic cotton T-shirts and bags, https://junagarh-media.teemill.com/.

My author page where you can discover more about my books, https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B07D3ZTQ1L.

This is our website for all our photography and my books, https://www.junagarhmedia.co.uk/.

Our Etsy shop, https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JunagarhMedia.

We are also on Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/21104365@N06/.

Also on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/junagarh_media/.

For carrying the cash, Asuncion, Paraguay

A vehicle for carrying the cash in Asuncion, Paraguay, seen as we leave on the long distance coach for Buenos Aires. A journey that for us leaves around 6pm, maybe earlier, if I remember correctly and arrives the next day, 19 to 20 hours later. 29th February 2012.

Our links

Our Teemill shop site for our organic cotton T-shirts and bags, https://junagarh-media.teemill.com/.

My author page where you can discover more about my books, https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B07D3ZTQ1L.

This is our website for all our photography and my books, https://www.junagarhmedia.co.uk/.

Our Etsy shop, https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JunagarhMedia.

We are also on Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/21104365@N06/.

Also on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/junagarh_media/.

Leaving the lights on, polluting the planet, polluting the night

I posted this almost a year ago. It’s quite simple really, the more we leave lights on, the more fossil fuels are burnt and the subsequently the planet heats up. We need to reduce our fossil fuel emissions by 50% before the end of this decade.

13th January 2021

Leaving the lights on when not necessary is wrong on so many levels. Doing so pollutes the environment and pollutes the night. Every light left on causes wood, coal, oil or gas to be burnt increasing atmospheric CO2 and enhancing climate change, or it causes a bit of radioactive waste to be produced lasting thousands of years, or it wastes renewable energy and resources causing unnecessary environmental loading and resource extraction. Your pocket and bank account may be able to waste planetary resources and cause significant pollution but the planet and its environment cannot. Just remember also that there are countless humans out there who haven’t the ability to squander like you or your society might be doing. This lack of lighting severely restricts the progress of many individuals and societies especially in terms of the education of children. Finally, beyond the human centric view of the world it is important to consider that before two centuries ago the night was mostly dark but now humans have invaded and polluted it with no consideration for the creatures whose domain is the darkness. We need to give back the night just as much as rewild the wilderness.

Our links

Our Teemill shop site for our organic cotton clothes and bags, https://junagarh-media.teemill.com/.

My author page where you can discover more about my books, https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B07D3ZTQ1L.

This is our website for all our photography and my books, https://www.junagarhmedia.co.uk/.

Our Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JunagarhMedia.

We are also on Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/21104365@N06/.

Also on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/junagarh_media/.

A dispute – corporations and tax

I took this photo recently of what was presumably a Cafe Nero on the corner of Charlotte Street in Fitzrovia, London. It appears from the notice that the bailiffs had to repossess the property judging by one notice on the window while a second describes the amount of tax paid by the organisation, a reference that I have seen before. Cafe Zero featured in Private Eye’s logos as they should be. Not that they are only ones. Not many years ago during a London Pride event the large crowd started shouting, “Pay your tax” as the Starbucks float went past. Our societies are becoming very broken yet governments seem unwilling to tackle taxing companies and corporations enough for our services to function correctly. When rich individuals or organisations are able to donate and fund political parties democracy is undermined and one person, one vote no longer works as it should. The system is well and truly broken apart for those making up the 1%.

Our links

Our Teemill shop site for our organic cotton T-shirts and bags, https://junagarh-media.teemill.com/.

My author page where you can discover more about my books, https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B07D3ZTQ1L.

This is our website for all our photography and my books, https://www.junagarhmedia.co.uk/.

We are also on Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/21104365@N06/.

Also on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/junagarh_media/.

And Tumblr https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/junagarh.

Leaving the lights on, polluting the planet, polluting the night

Leaving the lights on when not necessary is wrong on so many levels. Doing so pollutes the environment and pollutes the night. Every light left on causes wood, coal, oil or gas to be burnt increasing atmospheric CO2 and enhancing climate change, or it causes a bit of radioactive waste to be produced lasting thousands of years, or it wastes renewable energy and resources causing unnecessary environmental loading and resource extraction. Your pocket and bank account may be able to waste planetary resources and cause significant pollution but the planet and its environment cannot. Just remember also that there are countless humans out there who haven’t the ability to squander like you or your society might be doing. This lack of lighting severely restricts the progress of many individuals and societies especially in terms of the education of children. Finally, beyond the human centric view of the world it is important to consider that before two centuries ago the night was mostly dark but now humans have invaded and polluted it with no consideration for the creatures whose domain is the darkness. We need to give back the night just as much as rewild the wilderness.

Nobody Asks Where the Money or Wealth Comes From – Part 1

The disconnect, where does the money or the wealth come from? Not having a TV is a great thing, believe me you should try it. However, when I am in the gym I cannot avoid it and watching one of the programs made me think about how disconnected individual parts of our lives are.

We see chapters but never the book and the presentation of the chapter makes us believe that we have seen the whole story. How so? I was watching a property program while on one of the cycling machines in the gym and a property program, maybe Homes Under the Hammer was on in front of me. Three jolly presenters telling us about these wonderful bargains and rooms full of people with enough money to buy a property just like that.

Fine you might say and why not? Well, why are those homes under the hammer? Now unless the previous owners have been abducted by aliens and been taken to an alien paradise the likelihood is that there is a great deal of human suffering behind those houses. Illnesses, both physical and mental, redundancies, broken marriages but none of this is told to us by the jolly presenters only how much money is going to be made and how wonderful everything is.

I was reading today in Private Eye, one of the few journals to keep mentioning the subject, of the people let down by all the governments since the 1970s, when a large number of people were given contaminated blood and have gone on to develop HIV and hepatitis C. They have suffered for decades. It is only in England and not the rest of the UK where successive governments have let down this group of people. Many of them have died but their relatives continue to suffer and some have lost their houses because they gave up careers to become carers. So, after this very long story, please consider the suffering behind a cheap property on a TV show because the story behind that property is invariably very sad.

the Euro – written by Joseph Stiglitz

I really don’t understand economics. It seems to me that you could redesign the financial system to benefit everyone and not a small number of individuals. At the moment I’m reading this very readable book by Joseph Stiglitz. He explains why the Euro and Eurozone don’t work and won’t work. It is a very useful source of information and something that everyone who is a committed Remainer or Brexiter should read. Unfortunately, in this very polarized debate few will probably do so and allow their passion to rule their logic. Stiglitz explains why Europe isn’t good for countless Europeans and why and that austerity imposed by the troika of the ECB, IMF and EU cannot work and leaves many people in poverty and misery. The most pressing requirement for the EU is its reform and whether the UK leaves or remains this reform will not be forthcoming.

Guardian article on the Euro