The Transition to a Low-carbon Economy (and Organic Politics).

New toy for Alec!

There was precious little sign of the much vaunted 'transition to a low-carbon economy' in the Lisbon Boat Show, which Alec and I visited yesterday - it was mostly rows of flashy speed-boats, complete with monstrous fuel guzzling outboards. Flying around in their bubbles of thrills and self-regard, it seems that the moneyed people have yet to begin to modify their lifestyles, with the very odd honourable exception such as the SunConcept solar boat builders from Olhão, who at least had a stand there.

The only actual electric boat on show was a brilliant solar boat, a project from the Engineering Faculty of the University of Lisbon. Alec and I are betting that it will be a very different story in a year or two, and all those complicated and dirty gas-guzzlers will be looking very silly.
Meanwhile, Hooray for the children who are pointing out that the emperor has lost his clothes; while the adults run around in circles chasing after vanities, we are all in danger of losing the essential goods of a liveable environment and civilisation. Instead of obsessing with symbols of status and suchlike distractions, we would do better to concentrate on the needful priorities,  such as:-

• Getting out of dependency on fossil fuels and into the sustainable applications of electric power. Apart from all the other advantages, I cannot wait for a world where the noise of engines is hushed!
• Feeding and amusing  ourselves (getting the bread and circuses) without abusing the natural world and animals; halting pollution, reversing desertification (on both land and sea), developing sustainable fishing techniques, using organic methods of food production, also in building materials and the promotion of ‘the circular economy’.
• Prioritising communication, disarmament, dialogue and mutual trust, which are anyway conditions for applying ourselves to and cooperating in the above tasks; and by the way, they start within our own selves, listening to and trusting the little voice that's there, in peace and quiet. 

Such roughly speaking is the agenda that I have in mind for the Nazaré Project, but for all the urgency, it is something that will have to develop in its own time, while we get on with trying to develop our electric drives. But it's good to keep the big picture in view, while after all it is more from actually doing things like this, rather than strikes and demonstrations and what mostly passes for 'politics', that change will come.

Not to say but we do need political change, in which respect, how wonderful it is that the sorry saga of Brexit seems to be doing some good; - even possibly breaking that dreadful political set-up in England which has for many years forced politicians to suppress their own consciences, and voters to choose between two tyrannical so-called majorities, neither of which I for one was ever happy with. Now, since they seem hooked on that referendum idea, we just have to hope they can find their way to another vote, and produce a more informed edition of 'the Will of the People'!

Made in England!

'Made In England' had a magic about it, once upon a time, when I was a boy. Besides the rugged simplicity and efficiency of the Gardner engines that I used to have in my fishing boats, they even had a certain elegance about them. There was a thrill to the sound of those big cylinders firing up early in the morning. That's what comes of a cultural moment when people's minds have a decent degree of harmony with physical reality, when you may even find an intellectual and a worker in one and the same person; when an artefact is a genuine statement, people being aware of the play of spirit within matter.

     

Photo by Fiona.

The daffodils are bravely blooming here in Sherkin, while in Nazaré work has started again on the Anna M. Alec and I are inching our way towards actually getting our hands on some of these Lynch electric motors. They too are actually made in England, so let’s hope they don’t find themselves up against a tariff barrier soon! The risks that are being taken with what is left of manufacturing there boggles the mind. 

     One might not be surprised at the Tories - they are long gone down the road of being far more interested in money from one or another kind of manipulation than from making things - but it is sad that the leader of the Labour Party doesn’t seem to have much of a clue about it either. I fear he is too much of an ideologue, who has never produced much besides cabbages.  How on earth can he end up on the same page as Messrs Farage, Rees-Mogg and Johnson? If Brexit goes through, it is sad that he will bear a large share of the responsibility. 

     Surely he realises that Brexit has provided ideal cover and distraction from the multiple disaster that has been brewing for many long years in Britain, but he has singularly failed to make the connection and blow that cover away. Deflecting the blame on Johnny Foreigner, the oldest trick in the book, seems to be prevailing again.

      There is a confusion at the heart of our culture that contributes to the smoke. We are urged to believe in ‘liberal values’ without them ever being defined, other than by a vague canon of political correctness. This is supposed to be very different from the ‘neo-liberalism’ that we also hear a lot about; however they both stem from the Enlightenment and the great project of making ‘setting the individual free to do his thing’ the supreme value, a project that is rapidly running out of road. Unfortunately they thought they could fly straight to freedom, leaving the physical ground of life behind. I know no more gentle, tender and effective reminder that we can do no such thing than that simple little wooden Madonna, said to be carved by St Joseph himself, under our noses in the Sanctuario at Nazaré. It tells us how God came to us through the messy physical business of being born a human infant, and then grew up in the very down-to-earth environment of a simple carpenter's workshop.

     Yet we will have to become a lot more tough minded if we are not to be overwhelmed by the problems ahead, and the sooner we set about it, the better chance there is of doing so without violence - though any organism, in order to survive, has to be prepared to defend itself. I would not recommend the approach of the British Minister of Defence, playing with his new toys, aircraft carriers, drones, perhaps some of those nice new tactical nuclear weapons that the Ducky is happily deploying - ‘Brexit has brought us to a great moment in our history. A moment when we must strengthen our global presence, enhance our lethality and increase our mass.’ says Mr Williamson. Blimey, to think of an overgrown schoolboy like that in charge of such things! But how is the EU to strongly find that different voice?

     For a start, with the elections coming up in May, the European Parliament should find a way of making sure it only will accept members who come in good faith - not those who come with the specific intention of disrupting and destroying. The time has come to face down the likes of Mr Farage. It should be quite possible to require some statement of good faith to which the likes of him could be held, on pain of being thrown out.

     If the Pope and the Grand Imam can produce one, surely the European Parliament should be able to do so as well! Indeed not a few of their words might provide a starting point, such as the declaration of their 'adoption of a culture of dialogue as the path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard…. ’ Amen!

Pope Francis embraces the Grand Imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque -AFP 

Big Waves in Nazaré.

1/02/2019, Nazaré, courtesy of Jerry Ascione.

     It is a premise of this blog that the restless sea holds a stunningly accurate mirror to the vagaries of human consciousness – a sea upon which we struggle to navigate here and there both in big ships and in our own little boats, while Catholics hope eventually to sail off into the Big Blue Beyond aboard the Barque of Peter. Meanwhile the waves roll this way and that, now peacefully lulling us, now jostling unpleasantly against each other, now exploding in collision with some stubborn rock.

    It is usually only the top of the waves that we actually see, with little clue of the power that lurks in them. As they roll along on the wide ocean, their power is concealed in the circulation beneath the surface. It is an interesting fact that deep down, like a wheel, the wave is actually rotating opposite to the direction of travel. Eventually that water comes back to the surface, unless the whole process is interrupted by land. Then we may see its power indeed, even if it's rather late to do anything constructive with it!

     The wave’ of fashionable ideas is supposed in the West to be that of liberalism. I find even in casual conversation with younger people, as encountered in the Nazaré Hostel and mainly here to look at the waves, a strong counter-current. I suppose it eases the anxiety within, to watch those waves crashing on the shore. Meanwhile a 30 year-old Frenchmen regrets that ‘we seem to be losing the ability to marry – when people come up against problems, they just walk away’, while a lady gynecologist states that ‘she has never met a woman, who has had an abortion, who does not regret it.’ What goes round come round, and let's hope this wave comes round sooner rather than later!

     The wave of Brexit seems to be in danger of smashing into a cliff, but however I would point to a very obvious, but apparently unrecognised, little channel that could just carry them past the rocks. The House of Commons has after all concluded that the only thing which is impeding Mrs May’s famous agreement now is that pesky Irish backstop to prevent a hard border in Ireland. All sorts of improbable solutions have been mentioned, but not the obvious one that is staring everyone in the face, namely to do away with the border altogether. Anyway it was only a gerrymander in the first place, as everyone knows, and there is now every possibility of a majority even in the Six Counties who would vote for reunity. After all the Six Counties voted very convincingly to stay in the EU. To have credibility, Ulster should comprise all the nine counties, and that should really be the basis of any vote.

     My 'go-to' for what's up in Westminster, John Grace in the Guardian, writes candidly and movingly about his own struggles with anxiety today. You should have a read of 'The Devastation of Human Life is in View' while you are there. Go towards your fear might help with anxiety, but to get over it, you do need to do something about it. Physical, practical things can help, but this is when they really do have to be meaningful, relating to the threat.

     Meanwhile, Alec is delighted to find a few miles of land between himself and the sea, while getting his workshop splendidly organised. The Porto de Abrigo was officially closed yesterday, for only the second time since it was constructed. It’s generally one of the very few harbours on this West coast of Portugal that doesn’t close in bad weather. I’m going home for a fortnight on Tuesday, and will be hoping to get stuck into the Anna M again when I come back.

     Some readers get puzzled at the way I jump from one thing to another. I reply that the great wave of disintegration, of trying to cope with life by divvying it up into little compartments, is surely crashing into the rocks. It is in this direction, the direction of a new relationship between people, with their work, with nature, in short, with God, that we may look for hope!

     

Nazaré's Broad Beach Yesterday.