House sitting and other community-minded things

For the last week and a bit my girlfriend Raven and I have been having somewhat of a staycation, but not in its truest form. A staycation is really meant to be about staying at home and relaxing, but we've gone one better - stayed at other people's much nicer homes.

First up was my mother's house, a really lovely old sunny villa, with one skittish black and white cat and a small veggie garden to look after. It's always a bit of a holiday looking after the place, giving us a break from our usual student squalor.

Second, where I am now, is one of Raven's friend's place, by the beach on Wellington's sunny south coast. Though we must depart tomorrow, we've had a lovely time watching the southerlies role in, feeding the cat and the chickens. And I've learnt how to handle and feed chickens, which is a great skill for a city boy to have.

While people are away (including at green events like ReGen) those still at home can have a lovely time in their houses, or atleast learn some new skills. But most importantly its about community. Helping each other out.

Sometimes helping others may be an inconvenience and feel like a burden in our busy lives, or at least not seem like it's in our narrow self interest, which our modern economy so tells us should be our main motivation for everything we do. This has meant we really are becoming separated from one another, and that's to our detriment when we need help ourselves, and for our happiness of spending time with others.

So, especially now when you should have extra time, make sure you help those in need, or ask for help if you need it. Just remember to say please!

Ancient wisdom

Since my last post I've been chilling out in Mcleodganj, current home of the exiled Dalai Lama. Although we spent some of our time her being sick (a sad but almost inevitable part of travel in a country like India) we've had some great times too, stationed in the foothills of the Himalayas (or Himalaya, as I've heard is more correct).

On the way back from the doctors there we got a stunning view of the Himalayas (Himalaya), rising like a white jagged wall, the tops piercing an emergent full moon. It was beautiful. We also had our first car accident - a low speed one at what seemed to be Saturday rush hour, where a car was pulling out into a busy street and hit my door as we drove in front of it. He'd be clearly at fault in NZ, but after some yelling outside our window, some hand holding and calming down, our driver moved on; it seemed it was declared that neither were at fault.

On one of our first mornings back into a little better health, we took a walk, thinking we were headed to the Dalai Lama's residence. We decided to go down the path where everyone else was going, mostly murmuring old Tibetans, hunch over, and prayer beads slowly filtering through their fingers. It was a magical place. A slight mist, piles of white painted rocks, carved rocks with Tibetan inscriptions, and hundreds of prayer flags in the trees. A truly quiet place for contemplation.

We rounded a corner, and there were monkeys, birds, cows and dogs; it felt like the Garden of Eden. we kept walking, past beggars, past mantra wheels, and back into reality. We walked passed a temple which we were unsure about, and went back up the hill. We missed the Dalai Lama's, but found a surprising place which was almost worthy of the millennia-old Tibetan culture.

The next day we set out again, and this time we found His Holiness's residence. Right at the end of the path, where we walked past. Inside were people lining up with green passports, getting large pink ballot papers, and placing them in big green metal boxes. The Tibetan Government, in exile after the Chinese took over around 1950, was having primary elections.

Inside the temple were mantra wheels, statues of Buddhist deities, and hundreds of volumes and ancient science, wisdom and scriptures. I always enjoy temples and churches, no matter which religion they are from. They are great places for contemplation and stillness, something we desperately need in modern, Western, atheist lives. If I could, I'd have my own local place, which I could go to every morning, or every week, and just do some meditation. Although the meaning and my knowledge of so much of this stuff is so limited, these places do inspire something deep within you - and it is especially amazing to see so many exiled Tibetans, striving to minimise suffering of themselves and others, but suffering so much under the Chinese rule that has tried to crush their culture, and take their land for its incredible natural resources.

It's also inspiring to see so much ancient knowledge and wisdom in a place like that. So much knowledge, unknown to us in the West, in New Zealand, and yet so much value in it. Maybe it possesses answers for us all in the modern age, an age when we desperately need to change course and stop taking from future generations. The Dalai Lama certainly thinks so.

I'm back!

So there's been a break in my blogging this year, but I'm back in action and hopefully more regularly! I'm going to India shortly for six weeks of awesomeness before Christmas, so shall endeavour to blog from there to tell you of my wonderful adventures.

I also went to Leonard Cohen's concert on Halloween in Wellington (recognise the faceless man in the low quality cellphone picture?). The third row seat was pretty sweet, but it didn't quite reach the heights of his first concert. Nevertheless, it was another amazing night from an amazing man!

Anyway, to celebrate nice weather, poetry, a new beginning and the shaky isles, here's a poem I wrote a few years ago:

Here's to another night

She's preparing for the night
A flash of her peach pink underwear
As she changes into a black dress
And puts on her yellow pears which hug a circle around the harbour

Houses clutched into her bossom
Hollowed into her mangled hills
She shows off her curves
Draped in seductive black against the grey blue sky

Her streets are crumpled
Cracked and peeling like bits of skin
I trust her - my friend, my lover
Walking on her solid, moving ground

Birds chirping, a still night
The smell of a breeze in the air
Relationships drifting together, apart
Around like evaporation

A strange day, drips of time
Leaking on people, on love
Thoughts winding through stars
Through lives going on

Wellington! she shouts
Then she grumbles at a passing aeroplane
The night takes all with it
We celebrate with a glass of harbour champagne

Planetary alignment

What a great week I've had, peaking in a 24 hour period that I will never forget.

On Tuesday night the man whose work has had such an influence on my life, yet who I never thought I'd get to see, played in Wellington. Tickets sold out in just a few hours (which must be some kind of a record for an old person's concert) and from experience I was there right when they went on sale to get the best seats I could get - and they were pretty decent. Leonard Cohen was in town, and received a standing ovation as he energetically ran onto the stage, defying his age.

The concert was profoundly beautiful. I laughed, I cried, and the whole time Leonard kept us in a place where the tempo was slightly faster, the mood more joyous and the pitches more harmonious; it was Leonard Cohen-land. The almost three hours were about giving - Leonard gave the crowd his beautiful music and words, he gave his musicians lots of space to play, and he thanked the audience for keeping his work alive for so many years. He was so incredibly humble. I've never heard his back-up singers sound so sweet.

That night the pinnacle of the concert was reached. Reviewer of everyone who's anyone that comes our way Simon Sweetman put it best in his article:

It's hard to put this concert into words, so I'll just say something I have never said in a review before and will never say again: this was the best show I have ever seen.

The next morning I woke up and due to the intense emotional experience of the night before (and possibly the Webb sisters who made up two of three of his back-up singers) I felt like I was in-love. My radio was switched on automatically to wake me up to news of the new President of the USA. He may not be perfect, but Obama is a unifier, and most importantly he's not George W Bush. The world breathed a joyous sigh of relief.

In Leonard Cohen's words in the song Anthem:

The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.

Ah the wars they will
be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
bought and sold
and bought again
the dove is never free.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

Eventually I made it out of bed and onto the seat of my bike to get to work. Though every day and mundane, I new the day was a special one, and nothing could spoil my mood. Drifting in and out of thoughts and hazards along the waterfront a group of people standing by Frank Kitts Park bumped into my attention. Three of them were dressed normally, but one, an older man, was dressed in a fine suit and hat. I knew straight away the only person it could be, and that I had to stop and say hi. The only time our paths will probably cross. I don't like stopping famous people, and I know the conversation is usually short and light, but I couldn't miss this chance. When the other fans stopped pestering him I went up to him and said hi.

"Hello."

"Hey man." I Shook his hand.

"How're you?"

"Good."

"I saw your concert last night."

"I'm glad you could make it."

"I thought you were so sincere and humble."

"Thank you!"

"I hope you enjoy your time in Wellington."

"Thank you!" And then he (or should I say He) continued on his lonely walk.

As I recovered from being star-struck I knew that though I could not see them, the planets on that very moment were certainly aligned.

My relationship with 2008: A spiel from the heart

And so it is that the year 2008AD was coming to an end, with just a few days and several traditional celebratory days remaining. That space in space around the sun beckons again which some cultures chose as their time for new beginnings and reflections. So, in that spirit, I shall now do what all good bloggers do, and blog.

How does one sum up a year? Well, for myself it has been a year of self-discovery, and discovering just some of what the world around has to offer. I have had no formal education whatsoever, but learnt so much. I've worked full time in an office. I've travelled alone, and travelled with strangers who quickly become new friends (significantly bulking out my friends list on Facebook). I've run for Parliament, learning a lot from New Zealand masters of Green politics.

One thing my cousin taught me while I was in Canada - one of those important things that you never forget, rather, dwell on at length - was the way the indigenous people of Canada measure individual success. For me it sums up two things really well. It reminds me that there are so many different ways of viewing the world out there already, let alone new philosophies to be thought up. It also, I feel, sums up well the way I think our culture needs to re-jig our priorities. My cousin told me that indigenous people in Canada use one's relationships as a measure of "success" - compared with our measure of money, stuff, and career success. Relationships with those around you, and also the world around are of huge importance to everyone's wellbeing. I have learnt a lot about relationships this year, of all types.

In terms of international affairs 2008 has been a particularly dramatic year. I remember thinking in 2004 that it was, for New Zealand at least, the year that I will see as the start of major weather events increasing in their ferocity. It was the year that we had all that flooding in February, and sure enough, plenty of extreme weather keeps coming. Two thousand and eight will certainly be remembered as crunch time. The sky-rocketing price of oil can not be ignored as a sign of intense pressures on our resources as we really start to live beyond our means. This being a failure of free-market capitalism, helping trigger another failure. Individuals running a system do in fact act with short term self interests as their primary concern, rather than for the greater good, even if the greater good will, eventually, advance their self-interests much further. Cue global financial crisis.

But, with the election of Barack Obama, there are signs of hope. No more Bush has got to be good for the world - he's done pretty well at screwing up as much as humanely possible. Now, I don't see Obama as a saviour, but I don't think anyone could possibly have been elected in that country and been able to make the changes we so desparately need. Not at the moment anyway. I think in Obama we got about the best we could possibly have hoped for. For me, the fact that he's black doesn't really matter so much (having grown up in an almost colour-blind environment). It's the fact that he's so multi-racial, and has had so many different experiences in his life. This seems to instruct his politics. He realises that if you want to move forward, you have to bring everyone forward, no matter what viewpoint or religion or philosophy they subscribe to. That is vitally important if we are ever to make the changes that really need to be made. Obama is ultimately going to be a failure - he wont enact a policy in the Middle East that is fair, he wont reform the US economy to a "New Green Deal" of the type that we really need, and he most certainly wont please everyone. But I do think that he will make significant progress on all fronts, and that's what we need not just in 2009, but long beyond that.

And so to my beloved New Zealand. What are we up to? National and ACT running the country? (With some Maori Party flavour in there.) So far all that that has meant is some very rapid backwards-running. I know I'll have to continue to invest in my future by investing my time with the Green Party. If right wing politics is the politics of fear, than Green politics is the politics of inspiration and vision, and that is what (with the help of Mr Obama) we need to use to continue to fight the good (non-violent) fight.

As for me, 2009 will be a year of more learning and growth (jeeze, is that all us young folk do?). I will be starting at university, most likely studying Environmental Studies and Economics (so watch out, I'll be able to spa it with the Business Round Table and people with similarily decrepit views and shatter their very reason for being). I'll also be moving out of the nest (yay!).

So to everyone who's read this - thanks! For those of you who flicked through to this final paragraph - go back and read it all! For my supporters on Facebook - thanks for continuing to grow in numbers. My ego needs stroking every now and again. For everyone - over the next couple of weeks, make sure you reflect, philosophise, and most importantly, work on your relationships. With friends, family, loved ones, yourself, your enemies, your garden, your cat and anything/anyone else you see fit. And make sure you do something a little crazy. Two thousand and nine is going to be a long year.

Meat anyone?

So, another week and another poll on the beautiful Zackarate Island. But what's this? A gruesome photo? SHOCKNESS!

Yes, the topic we were talking about is related to the killing of innocent animals and no, I am not a raging righteous vegetarian. The poll question was would you consider/do you eat less meat for the environment? The first point I would like to make is less related to the environment, and more to decaptitated cows. I believe that if you can't handle the truth about where meat comes from, then you shouldn't be eating it. That point alone has created many a vegetarian. It also graphically illustrates the fact that city slickers have become quite withdrawn from where there food comes from. Put someone like myself (who has only lived in a city) on a small organic farm on an island in the middle of nowhere with all the food growing that I could need, and, within a year, I would probably starve to death. Thus, even city slickers should be brought up with the knowledge of how to grow food, making us more in touch with our diets, more likely to grow some fantastic home vegies, and thus lead more healthy and sustainable lives.

Back to the poll, when talking about climate change, especially in this country, we happily look at transport and say we can cut emissions here, here and here. The energy and industry sectors come under the same scrutiny, in general terms. But never do we seriously look at agriculture (unless you're in the Green Party of course), writing it off as a necessary evil when it comes to emissions and environmental impact. Of course that's true, to some extent. But the fact of the matter is that we eat too much meat, both from a nutritional point of view and a environmental one.

Simple physical principles come into this whole meat business. According to my year 12 biology text book (so it must be true!) plants take 1/100th of the energy out of the sun that hits their leaves and turn it into biomass (stored energy to make things simple). In turn, herbivores and omnivores eat the plants and take 1/10th of the energy out of them, which they turn into biomass of their own. Omnivores and carnivores can eat this meat and again take 1/10th of the energy from it. So, no matter how you calculate the end result (whether by over-simplifying or not) you need a lot more resources and space to grow 1kg of meat than to grow 1kg of veggies. With veggies you don't need to grow food to feed them, they make their own. Besides that, plants take carbon out of the atmosphere when they grow, animals put it back in. Cows especially produce a lot of methane, which is a gas with roughly 20 to 25 the warming potential of carbon dioxide when talking about climate change.

In an ideal world we would all be vegans (and be happy about this arrangement). But in reality, even if we wanted to, not everyone could become a vegan. Everyone's bodies work differently, and it's about finding the right balance for you. If you can be a healthy vegan, and are happy with that, fantastic, big ups to you. But if not, don't sweat it. It's not worth putting your health on the line for. But in general we eat too much meat. Eating too much animal protein can cause kidney damage, probably among other things. As with everything, moderation is the key.

And as for those nay-sayers who say Greenies are only about less less less in a more more more culture, thus being killjoys who will never win much support, I say SHUT UP! We are all in the same waka, and if we don't start taking sustainability seriously, we will all drown together (though the poor ones on the bottom of the heap will drown first of course). By framing sustainable changes positively, we will do much more to steer ourselves towards sustainability. Who doesn't want to eat more healthy, therefore live more healthily and be happier with more energy? You can count me in.

As for myself, you can put me in the I consciously eat meat less category. Depending on my living situation, I try and eat meat no more than twice a week (including fish). If you don't want to go vegetarian, I suggest you try setting a reduced meat quota. It's amazing how little you notice the lack of meat! And if someone said to me I had to kill the next animal I ate meat from, I would have to. Otherwise I would be a complete hypocrite. But I would be thankful that it gave it's life so that I could be healthy. Such is the circle of life.

(Photo by 10b travelling)

Old polls make Zack a happy boy, even if no one cares enough to vote

The poll that I put up two weeks ago I never commented on. But then again no one voted.

The question was how happy are you? Something to mull over in your own time perhaps, and you can read about some of my views on happiness in previous posts. But basically it comes down to contentment. To be happy most of the time you need to be content with whatever your circumstances are (which of course can discount certain major traumatic events, but after they happen, you should be able to become content again, after accepting the past). So whether your in Wellington, as you have been most of your life, or your all alone in some random place on the other side of the world, try and be happy with the moment that you have been given. It's simple once you get your head around the idea, it's just in the practice that counts. And I'm relying on that philosphy to get me through the next four months without any major emotional hitches. Good luck Zack. Thanks Zack. So alone.

This weeks poll is, well, a little special. And I will leave it up for longer than a week as I probably wont have time to change it much over the next wee while. And it is a bit of a special poll.

Get out and vote!

C'mon guys, get out and vote. In my poll this week. And in the general elections too - especially you young people who tend not to. It's so important! And it makes a huge difference. But more rants on that another time.

As for my poll, it leads on from my post a few days ago about sustainable happiness. Are you happy? What makes you feel that way? Is it because you have lots of time to socialise and generally hang with cool people? Is it because you work hard, but then have heaps of money to spend on new shiny things? Do you feel crap for the above reasons, or because the above aren't true for you. Are you naturally positive or depressed.

Place votes now!

Sustainable happiness

A couple of days ago on Afternoons on National Radio (I only listen to it at work to keep myself from turning into a vegetable) on the Panel one of the people on it (I'm real bad with names) said she was sick of Greenies telling her not to use her spa etcetera. She thinks that environmentalism equals going without, which means going without pleasure. Well, if that's the way many others think too, we're doomed.

So many people equate material things with happiness. I can't have pleasure in my life without my spa. In my opinion that's an extremely narrow view on the world.

The nature of happiness is something that everyone understands because it's so simple and logical, but not many truly apply the philosphy to their lives. Happiness is a state of mind where you are content, if not overjoyed with the way things are right now. I've had a really good day - I haven't done anything special and, indeed, minimising my impact on the environment has been in the back of my mind for everything I've done. I've been alone, and done menial tasks. But it's a nice day and I'm happy to be alive.

If you believe strongly enough that material pleasures equal happiness then you may well be happy, but that attitude will cost us the Earth. However, lots of people fall into the trap that pleasure equals happiness, and thus gradually become less and less satisfied as you want more and more pleasure. Happiness is loving yourself, loving life and loving those around you. It's not letting the small things get to you, but letting the small things make you happy. You can be happy about reaching your measure of success, happy getting there or happy with things just as they are. Happy because you know what it's like to feel really low, and glad you have little reason to feel that way now.

The real reason why the aforementioned anonymous panel person doesn't like environmentalists telling her what to do is because she doesn't like being told what to do. She doesn't like being told that her way of life, which is what she knows and how she lives, is bad. People naturally respond to criticism and being told what to do in a negative way. And major change is often resisted. But it all comes back to what is truly important. Those around us, ourselves, and therefore the environment on which we depend.

Environmentalists don't want everyone dead because people are intrisicly bad for the environment (as she suggested). We just realise that if we're to stick around we need to live sustainably. But if we're ever to get there, we need to look at the positives as we slowly, but surely, move in that direction.