I have just recently started as a freelance writer. Here is my resume so far:
- Writes on wind energy for Pakistani journal Triple Bottom Line - this article will be published in March
- Researched and wrote for 2009 Flipside Vision climate change calendar:
- Researched using internet
- Topics included wind and solar power, biofuels and travel
- Researches and writes for online Environmental Peace Review:
-Published article on train travel:
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/iip/review/Dec2007/news.htm
- Published article on Canadian and international wind energy policy in the online Journal of Environmental Peace: http://www.library.utoronto.ca/iip/journal/MAIN4/katz.htm
I really enjoy being a freelance writer and would love the chance to do more. I currently work part time for Darwin's Deli and thus, I have the time to do more. I started writing poetry at the age of 13 and published an article in the Toronto Star at the age of 15 on the subject of Internet chat rooms. Please contact me if you wish my services at m.il.katz@gmail.com
Monday, 25 February 2008
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
A New Word is Born
Here in London, we need a new word for the season we're having. Actually, it already exists- "sprinter." Spring and Winter is what we're having right now. On Sunday, I played in a frisbee tournament in Wimbledon Common. We arrived there at 9am and there was frost in the fields and mist in the air. We were all a bit cold and wore a couple of layers. By about 2pm, I was playing in a tank top (or in the British English, vest) and shorts. I think I got a tan that day. It was an absolutely wonderful day for us. We played 4 games and won 3. The sun was glorious! It was practically summer.
There are some people out there who think global warming doesn't exist - I urge them to get out of their office and house once in a while. On Sunday, it was about 13 degrees Celsius. According to Project Britain, the average temperature for February is about 7 degrees Celsius. This is a significant difference. How can we ignore climate change? Well, ignoring it is easy - doing something about it is different.
There are some people out there who think global warming doesn't exist - I urge them to get out of their office and house once in a while. On Sunday, it was about 13 degrees Celsius. According to Project Britain, the average temperature for February is about 7 degrees Celsius. This is a significant difference. How can we ignore climate change? Well, ignoring it is easy - doing something about it is different.
Peak Oil and Love
I was recently reading an article in the Guardian (the very excellent UK newspaper). It was written by an author who has just recently compiled an anthology of love stories. There is a line from it that has stuck with me. Here it is:
Say what you want about love; death will finish it. You will not go on loving in the grave, not in any physical way that will at at all resemble love as we know it on earth. The perishable nature of love is what gives love its profound importance in our lives. If it were endless, if it were on tap, love wouldn't hit us the way it does.
This quotation stuck with me for one main reason: it pretty much describes our relationship with oil. For years, we have pretended that it was always on tap and now the evidence shows that we have or soon will pass the peak of production. This means that there will still be oil available, but it will be extremely difficult to get out of the ground, both physically and monetarily. According to a report published by CitiBank just last week, "total global liquid hydrocarbon production has essentially flatlined since mid 2005 at just north of 85 million barrels per day." This report was quoted in a recent article by George Monbiot, who is an excellent UK writer on environmental and other issues (see monbiot.com - he cites all information which isn't his - very remarkable for a website). Recently, there was also an email sent out by the CEO of Shell to his employees saying that by "2015 supplies of easy-to-access oil and gas will no longer keep up with demand." This gives us 7 years to come up with some kind of alternative to oil. Of course, it could be much sooner because of Chinese and Indian demand. According to China Daily, "Chinese and Indian demand will grow 970,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year -- nearly 40 per cent of total world growth. China accounts for the lion's share, with 840,000 bpd of incremental demand. " Many people say that the developing world has to chart a greener course than we did, but what gives us the right to say that?
People may think that 7 years is a long time, but shocks will still come before then. At the moment, inflation and food prices are going up, partly because of high oil prices. They could continue to rise if land is set aside for the production of crops for biofuels. Take action now while you can - sell your car, get a bike, move closer to work, buy organic as often as you can (fertilisers are mainly made up of fossil fuels), buy local or even better, don't buy anything you don't need. Speaking of love, who says Valentine's Day requires that you buy roses or expensive chocolate? A nice simple dinner will do.
Say what you want about love; death will finish it. You will not go on loving in the grave, not in any physical way that will at at all resemble love as we know it on earth. The perishable nature of love is what gives love its profound importance in our lives. If it were endless, if it were on tap, love wouldn't hit us the way it does.
This quotation stuck with me for one main reason: it pretty much describes our relationship with oil. For years, we have pretended that it was always on tap and now the evidence shows that we have or soon will pass the peak of production. This means that there will still be oil available, but it will be extremely difficult to get out of the ground, both physically and monetarily. According to a report published by CitiBank just last week, "total global liquid hydrocarbon production has essentially flatlined since mid 2005 at just north of 85 million barrels per day." This report was quoted in a recent article by George Monbiot, who is an excellent UK writer on environmental and other issues (see monbiot.com - he cites all information which isn't his - very remarkable for a website). Recently, there was also an email sent out by the CEO of Shell to his employees saying that by "2015 supplies of easy-to-access oil and gas will no longer keep up with demand." This gives us 7 years to come up with some kind of alternative to oil. Of course, it could be much sooner because of Chinese and Indian demand. According to China Daily, "Chinese and Indian demand will grow 970,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year -- nearly 40 per cent of total world growth. China accounts for the lion's share, with 840,000 bpd of incremental demand. " Many people say that the developing world has to chart a greener course than we did, but what gives us the right to say that?
People may think that 7 years is a long time, but shocks will still come before then. At the moment, inflation and food prices are going up, partly because of high oil prices. They could continue to rise if land is set aside for the production of crops for biofuels. Take action now while you can - sell your car, get a bike, move closer to work, buy organic as often as you can (fertilisers are mainly made up of fossil fuels), buy local or even better, don't buy anything you don't need. Speaking of love, who says Valentine's Day requires that you buy roses or expensive chocolate? A nice simple dinner will do.
Friday, 25 January 2008
Food, Food and More Food
It seems like food has risen to the top of the news agenda here in the UK. The newspapers are talking about how climate change will lead to food shortages. On television, there are ever more programs devoted to food. I personally enjoy watching Masterchef on BBC 2. There are 6 contestants - first, they must cook one dish in 40 minutes (some of them have attempted 2, but the judges will only try one) from some surprise ingredients. On Wednesday, they were given some pasta, ground beef, basil, pine nuts, puff pastry and a bunch of other ingredients. All except one decided to do some form of pesto pasta. Can you guess what happened to the woman who didn't make the pasta? She was chosen as the winner at the end of the show. But first, what happens is that 3 contestants are eliminated after making the dish. The remaining 3 have the chance to cook in a restaurant for lunch service. After lunch, the judges meet with the head chef to see what he thinks (it's almost always a he - why are there are so few female head chefs?) After this, they cook a 2 course meal just for the judges and they get to choose what they cook.
Over on Channel 4, there was a very interesting show on this week called Supersize vs. Superskinny. In this show, the fat and the skinny women swapped diets for a few days and surprise surprise, the skinny one gained weight and the fat one lost weight. The big surprise I believe, is that they got to talk to each other about their relationship with food. The skinny woman had the diet of a 4 year old and thought that she would get fat if she ate any more while the fat one was eating until late in the night and she had lost one of her children and as a result, was eating to fill the pain. This is a sad state of affairs - there are many people around the world who are malnourished and us in the western world either eat too much or too little it seems. Why can't we have a healthy relationship with our food? Is it because we've become so cut off from food production? Think about that the next time you're at the supermarket.
Over on Channel 4, there was a very interesting show on this week called Supersize vs. Superskinny. In this show, the fat and the skinny women swapped diets for a few days and surprise surprise, the skinny one gained weight and the fat one lost weight. The big surprise I believe, is that they got to talk to each other about their relationship with food. The skinny woman had the diet of a 4 year old and thought that she would get fat if she ate any more while the fat one was eating until late in the night and she had lost one of her children and as a result, was eating to fill the pain. This is a sad state of affairs - there are many people around the world who are malnourished and us in the western world either eat too much or too little it seems. Why can't we have a healthy relationship with our food? Is it because we've become so cut off from food production? Think about that the next time you're at the supermarket.
Monday, 14 January 2008
The Great Free Range Debate
I just recently watched Jamie's Fowl Dinners on Channel 4. It was definitely a wake up call for some about how chickens are treated in the UK. One of my regular customers on my sandwich round doesn't want to eat chicken anymore because of it. I personally hope this catalyses people into choosing free range chicken or just choosing to become vegetarian.
So what exactly does free range mean? According to DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), animals reared under free range conditions have to be outside for at least half of their lives. They are slaughtered at 56 days or later and there must not be more than 27.5 kg live weight per m². Outside, there must be at least 1 m2 of vegetation per chicken and the feed they are given has to be at least 70% cereals.
Now, I'm all for free range chicken - I think chickens are much happier when they are given the opportunity to run outside. But the larger question is, should we really be eating meat at all? If all the chicken in the world was free range, we would have to grow more cereals for their feed. This will require more pesticides, more water, and more land. Given the growing population, can we afford all this? This applies not just to chicken but to all kinds of meat as well. One pound of beef requires 2500 gallons of water whereas soy only needs 250 and wheat, just 25. Many ranchers are also chopping down rainforest for grazing cattle, adding to climate change. The world definitely needs more vegetarians and vegans as well. Think about that the next time you choose a chicken or some beef.
So what exactly does free range mean? According to DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), animals reared under free range conditions have to be outside for at least half of their lives. They are slaughtered at 56 days or later and there must not be more than 27.5 kg live weight per m². Outside, there must be at least 1 m2 of vegetation per chicken and the feed they are given has to be at least 70% cereals.
Now, I'm all for free range chicken - I think chickens are much happier when they are given the opportunity to run outside. But the larger question is, should we really be eating meat at all? If all the chicken in the world was free range, we would have to grow more cereals for their feed. This will require more pesticides, more water, and more land. Given the growing population, can we afford all this? This applies not just to chicken but to all kinds of meat as well. One pound of beef requires 2500 gallons of water whereas soy only needs 250 and wheat, just 25. Many ranchers are also chopping down rainforest for grazing cattle, adding to climate change. The world definitely needs more vegetarians and vegans as well. Think about that the next time you choose a chicken or some beef.
Friday, 11 January 2008
The Free-conomy
With so much talk about reducing carbon emissions, it's very surprising that consumption has not yet come under much scrutiny. In fact, every day we are encouraged to consume more, especially now because Christmas has just passed and the retail sector is experiencing a downturn. The developed world will soon have to realise that consumption is contributing to so many ills around the world. People are also feeling the pinch in their wallets. Yet people don't realise how many things we can get for free. Here are just a few things you can get for free:
Accomodation when you travel
When travelling, accomodation can often be one of the most expensive things you'll spend money on. If you want to save money and also have a great time, go to couchsurfing.com The basic concept of this website is to provide safe accomodation on couches, and often beds as well, all over the world. I have tried out couchsurfing.com twice and both times, it has been absolutely brilliant. Not only do you get free accomodation, you get to meet someone who lives in the town or city you visit who knows all the good, and bad, things about that town or city. I would say that the only downside of this website is that it can be difficult to find people who live in small towns and villages.
Household items, clothes and many other things
Many people today are now familiar with freecycle.org Freecycle is an email list in cities and towns in many countries where people post things that they have and things that they want. The only requirement is that once you sign up, you have to offer something first before posting a wanted ad. I have gotten many very useful things through freecycle and I've used it both in Canada and the UK. I've lived in London since September 2007 and since then I have received a food processor, mittens, a coffee grinder and cookery books through freecycle. Most London areas have their own freecycle list.
Language Skills
Forget having to take a class that costs money - gumtree.com has many people that offer to teach you a language in return for your own or another skill. I am now learning Japanese through someone on gumtree. Gumtree is in a small number of countries: the UK, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA, Hong Kong and Singapore.
We'll all have to do our part to reduce our emissions and reducing consumption is just one way to do that. Of course, governments will have to create legislation one of these days to force people and companies to reduce their emissions. But for now, we can at least do our part.
Accomodation when you travel
When travelling, accomodation can often be one of the most expensive things you'll spend money on. If you want to save money and also have a great time, go to couchsurfing.com The basic concept of this website is to provide safe accomodation on couches, and often beds as well, all over the world. I have tried out couchsurfing.com twice and both times, it has been absolutely brilliant. Not only do you get free accomodation, you get to meet someone who lives in the town or city you visit who knows all the good, and bad, things about that town or city. I would say that the only downside of this website is that it can be difficult to find people who live in small towns and villages.
Household items, clothes and many other things
Many people today are now familiar with freecycle.org Freecycle is an email list in cities and towns in many countries where people post things that they have and things that they want. The only requirement is that once you sign up, you have to offer something first before posting a wanted ad. I have gotten many very useful things through freecycle and I've used it both in Canada and the UK. I've lived in London since September 2007 and since then I have received a food processor, mittens, a coffee grinder and cookery books through freecycle. Most London areas have their own freecycle list.
Language Skills
Forget having to take a class that costs money - gumtree.com has many people that offer to teach you a language in return for your own or another skill. I am now learning Japanese through someone on gumtree. Gumtree is in a small number of countries: the UK, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA, Hong Kong and Singapore.
We'll all have to do our part to reduce our emissions and reducing consumption is just one way to do that. Of course, governments will have to create legislation one of these days to force people and companies to reduce their emissions. But for now, we can at least do our part.
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