Writing - Fossil Fuels

 Cop28 dipped its collective toe into the fossil fuel reduction issue. I am not describing it as an argument because science agrees that we must reduce the burning of fossil fuels. Of course, the statement issued was minimalist in its nature but what can you expect from a committee of 192 or so? 

Its Warming.

Right now, annual global average temperature is about 1.1 degree Celsius hotter than pre-industrial levels. 

Its Us 

Human beings are causing climate change, largely by burning fossil fuels. Rising temperatures correlate almost exactly with the release of greenhouse gases. 

We're Sure 

An overwhelming 99% of scientists agree that climate change is being caused by human greenhouse gas emissions. There is no meaningful debate about the basic science of climate change. 

We can fix it. 

The basic facts of climate crisis are grim: the vast majority of fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground for us to stay below 1.5°C of heating,  and fossil fuel companies aren’t going to do that without a fight. 

The fight needs to be taken to profiteering fossil fuel companies and weak and corrupt governments. 

God Bless 

Poetry Thursday 18 - Know your place

 Writing poetry is closer to the soul than creating long stories, or short ones for that matter. I was reminded of that by the sad passing of  Benjamin Zephaniah. In particular his poem  No Problem (see my last blog). 

Invisible

 

Trust me ya nivver too ard to larn,

even when yer brort up to

‘teachers divn’t tark like that.’

yer ower pitmatic.

But the real lesson is in those words,

learned advice from years of experience

of how to tark reet,

how to act reet,

how to behave reet.

how to blend in.

In fact how te disapeah,

becos yer’ve nee rite,

not with uwer upbringin,

te expect owt else.

Haway bonny lad,

tha should kna thy place.

© David L Atkinson December 2023

God Bless 

Writing - Green Messages

 Irrespective of whether you are a climate denier or not the evidence that there is some kind of progressive problem with the Earth's climate is plain. We are assailed daily with examples of extreme weather events and the devastation that is occurring as a result. But if you are skeptical the effects of polluted air on the human body are obvious. Particles in the air from burning petrol and diesel fuel cause physical reactions ranging from asthma to shortening life expectancy. 

So we need to do something! Of course, the fossil fuel-producing companies, are already kicking and screaming against reduction in their profits. 

Blurb

A man is found dead in the massive Kielder Forest in Northumberland and the initial reports suggest suicide. A member of Patrick A Steele’s team feels that is not the whole story and an investigation ensues that leads the team into conflict with some of the most powerful people in the UK. Steele can mete out his own brand of justice initially but when the power companies and the government become involved Steele has to tread carefully. 

Earth plc was quite prophetic as it was published almost 10 years ago. If you read the prologue on the Amazon sample for Kindle you will learn of some thoughts that tempered my opinion regarding the subject of global warming. 

My bottom line is that the human activity on this planet is such that we are damaging our own environment and as such need to change behaviours and habits. 

God Bless 

Writing - Benjamin Zephaniah RIP

 The world has just lost an astounding literary mind who was brilliant with words and will leave an amazing legacy as a result. 

No Problem

I am not de problem

But I bare de brunt

Of silly playground taunts

An racist stunts,

I am not de problem

I am a born academic

But dey got me on de run

Now I am branded athletic,

I am not de problem

If yu give I a chance

I can teach yu of Timbuktu

I can do more dan dance,

I am not de problem

I greet yu wid a smile

Yu put me in a pigeon hole

But I a versatile.

These conditions may affect me

As I get older,

An I am positively sure

I have no chips on me shoulders,

Black is not de problem

Mother country get it right,

An just for de record,

Sum of me best friends are white

God Bless 

Poetry Thursday 17 - Cardboard Box

 I wonder how long it will be before the 25th December becomes Amazon Day? 

It Came Out of a Cardboard Box

 

It came from out a cardboard box.

as they usually do from there,

silicone tongs to polishing rocks,

admonishing all to handle with care.

 

I took no time in the unpacking,

slashing the box cutter left and right,

freeing it of its binding,

till there it was spotless and bright.

 

Set upon the working space,

squat, dark and foreboding,

multi-functions hidden behind its face,

but silent with confidence draining.

 

Knowledge is the cure for fear,

research was undertaken,

still the beast’s purpose was unclear,

until came the need for bacon.

 

Time to gird the loins and take the plunge,

open the jaws and feed the maw,

strips of meat, eggs but no frying gunge,

with a flourish shut the cooking draw.

 

A briefer time than usually taken,

strange sounds no other outward sign,

no obvious hint of cooking bacon,

but now approaching the cooking time.

 

Turned off, unplugged and draw opened,

the golden eggs and sizzling meat,

delicious looking food beckoned,

a breakfast absolutely ready to eat.

© David L Atkinson December 2023

God Bless 

Writing - Personal messages

 It may seem an obvious thing to say but the messages within your writing tend to be personal and so very public. Unlike WhatsApp and other social media sites, you are sending out your messages to be read by all and sundry so you need to be aware of limiting personal stuff. What you tell people is up to you but remember that knowledge is power. 

Also, it will save you a degree of hassle if you remain fair and impersonal. 

Blurb 

Patrick A Steele is principally an Englishman. He finds the influence that the USA enjoys within his country to be abhorrent and decides that he should research into the possibility of doing something about the ‘special relationship’ to which the two nations profess.
Patrick Steele is an accountant with training in a variety of physical skills. He has made himself a self-styled Robin Hood available to right the wrongs of society using his skills as an accountant and a man of violence.
The Gurentai, a more benevolent sub-group of the Japanese Yakuza, set Steele up with a Swiss bank account with sufficient remuneration to purchase an empty factory unit and set it up as a training facility and garage.
After persuading his Japanese companion, Takuo Sumisu and Naomi Kobayashi, to become involved, he also elicits assistance from the German and French secret services. There then ensues a variety of actions that take Patrick and his Japanese allies across Europe and eventually to the US before returning to the UK.

Will the efforts of Patrick and his cronies be enough to drive a rift between the USA and the UK? Discover the outcome in ‘The 51ST State’

As you may glean from the blurb this book could appeal to different audiences depending on which side of the Atlantic your allegiances lie. However, the suggestion that there is a possible conflict seems to have caught the imagination of some as it has sold quite well, for me, particularly in the US. 

A footnote; this was only my second novel and is undoubtedly not the classiest piece of literature! 

God Bless 

Poetry Thursday 16 - What's the Message

 As a member of a generation several times removed from the present day I am coming closer to the realisation that the language I was taught is foreign in comparison to now. 

What’s the Message

 

I wonder what we’ve come to,

when a lion is a tiger,

the signal sent out is new,

but the meaning is unclear.

 

It used to be easier,

when receptors didn’t need to woke,

when the statement was clear,

and the words were as they were  spoke.

 

But now lion or tiger could be tabby,

historic positions are not kosher,

decade of free love shabby,

how do oldies become adapter?

  

Aren’t we all simply humans,

including preferences and faults,

communicating with other humans,

faced with unexpected jolts.

 

Society’s impositions not needed,

fashionable attitudes keep out,

leave us to relate unheeded,

we can manage without your shout.

© David L Atkinson November 2023 

God Bless