Author: Fee Writes

Fee Writes

2021 G7 Ended With Empty Promises

Do you even know what the G7 event is? And who are they?

The 2021 G7, held in Cornwall, was an abysmal failure, in my opinion. It ended with the usual empty promises and the leaders patting themselves on their backs (and each other’s backs), believing they’d done an excellent job.

My opinion doesn’t matter much when it comes to the ‘business as usual’ these turkeys offer, but subjects that should have been priorities seemed to have gotten lost in the ambiguity of underwhelming agendas.

So who and what is the G7?

The Group of Seven is an inter-governmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. (Wikipedia)

They are the leaders from the seven most powerful countries… well, Western countries, because it doesn’t include China or Russia. All like-minded in their capitalistic and democratic views. Or, as I like to call it, The old boys club.

(Even the one woman is one of the boys!)

Here they are in all their glory.

Jo Biden – USA
Boris Johnston – UK
Justin Trudeau – Canada
Angela Merkle – Germany
Emmanuel Macron – France
Mario Draghi – Italy
Yoshihide Suga – Japan

Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel represented the European Union.

Also invited (yes, you have to be asked!) were:

Scott Morrison – Australia
Moon Jae-in – South Korea
Cyril Ramaphosa – South Africa
Narendra Modi – India who attended virtually – like none of the leaders wanted the virus to come as well!!!

The theme was, according to the propaganda,

“to reach major new agreements to help the world fight, and then build back better from coronavirus and create a greener, more prosperous future.”

So did they succeed in getting anything concrete done?

Greta Thunberg said on Instagram:

“The climate and ecological crisis is rapidly escalating. G7 pours fantasy amounts into fossil fuels as CO2 emissions are forecast for 2nd biggest annual rise ever.

But, the G7 leaders really seem to be having a good time presenting their empty climate commitments and repeating old unfulfilled promises.

Of course this calls for a steak-and-lobster-BBQ-celebration while jet planes perform aerobatics in the sky above the G7 resort!”

So the short answer is, No.

Oh, they did come up with ideas like a minimum global 15% tax (no tax havens) targeting large corporations, which should have been way higher! Supposedly enacting measures on the Covid-19 vaccines for those countries needing it and they ticked off China asking them to:

“respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially in relation to Xinjiang and those rights, freedoms and high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong…”

as if that’s going to work!

The “boys” reaffirmed the Paris agreement and committed to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, vowing to eliminate most coal power. “MOST” coal power? Well, there’s a dangling vine they can cling onto if need be.

Nick Dearden, director of the campaign group Global Justice Now, said:

“After a weekend of diplomacy, all they have done is repeat their own inadequate climate targets and fail to meet their own inadequate targets for global vaccination.” Source

I could see absolutely no urgency from them in making any progress on fundamental issues such as refugees (war & climate), aid promises, climate crises and vaccine apartheid.

The whole weekend seems to have been an opportunity to take selfies and parade around showing themselves off and leaders of the “free world”.

The next big meeting will be the COP26 (United Nations climate change conference) in November this year. Read about it.

Will policymakers deliver on promises made in the past? Doubt it! We haven’t seen any real urgency from them since Greta’s famous “House on Fire” speech.

STAY IN THE LOOP

Fee Writes

What if Rubbish Didn’t Exist

Our local city council has finally decided to get into 21st-century practices as we have now been issued with new bins to deal with our rubbish.

Can you imagine what it would be like if rubbish didn’t exist? Sadly it is a fact of life, but many countries worldwide have been dealing with their garbage in far better ways than we have here where I live.

Recycling has been a way of life for me for a long time, taking trips to the local ‘transfer station’ for my plastics, cardboard, paper, cans and glass. I even got to know the chap who appeared to be running the show. He would come to the car and assist with deposing the items into the correct containers.

For the past several years, I have had a container with drawers in my shed in which I organised the different types of rubbish. This made it so much easier for me when the trip to the transfer station happened. Surprisingly, the paper and cardboard was the one that mounted up the quickest. I do question why, as most communication is electronic these days.

Finally, we now have bins, and I will no longer need to head off to the transfer station with the car packed up with all my rubbish. A blessing, you might think, but then again, I’d got to know that guy helping me, got to know about his grandkiddies. One time he told me about his little grandson who was very ill. Thankfully, by the next visit, the boy had recovered. So now I won’t be meeting people and smiling and saying hello to fellow recyclers.

Interestingly, the largest of the bins is dedicated to plastic, paper and cans, in other words, recyclable items. The actual rubbish bin is relatively small. I do believe they are sending a message!!!

The bonus is a compost bin. Yes!!! A compost bin! I have been doing my own composting, but there’s not much need with such a small garden. So the scraps had to be divided between composting buckets and garbage bags.

No more! This is a real bonus, and I hope many people take advantage of it.

So even though we now have this recycling system, I’ll rejoice more when either:

All plastic is recyclable (currently here only #1 and #5)
We live in a world without plastic.

And naturally, I prefer the second choice!

We do have to take responsibility for our environment. It doesn’t take much to look after our little patch.

STAY IN THE LOOP

Fee Writes

Rants | WTF

Why Ingredients Lists are Scarier than Getting #Cancelled

What’s with a label that says “contains milk” but it doesn’t?

For a long time now, I’ve been reading labels; it comes from being vegan and making sure there are no animal ingredients.

So why is it that ingredients lists are scarier, as I said in the title, than getting #cancelled?

Most of the time, I am up with the ‘animal’ products and numbers you find on products’ back. For example, whey is dairy and gelatine is made by boiling skin, tendons, ligaments, and/or bones. But for newbies, it can be quite the minefield deciphering the ingredients.

With a new product the first thing I look at is “contains….”, which is underneath the actual list. It also can say “may contain…” meaning that the product is made in the same factory as products using these specific ingredients.

It took my son to point out that a particular brand of potato chips (crisps) are, in fact, vegan. They do NOT contain milk as is stated on their packet. He has even gone so far as to ring the company to ask if dairy is in the chips. I believe he’s won a few bets with this knowledge.

By law (in N.Z.), all allergy products must be printed in bold within the ingredients list. And these products are nuts, Soy, Wheat, dairy and eggs. Getting back to the crisps, even though the label says

“contains milk or milk products”,

and it’s in bold, it is totally devoid of all dairy products.

The only bold product in the ingredients list is Soy. Where is the dairy?

Now I’m lazy. So I just see the notice and put the chips back on the shelf… can’t be bothered reading the ingredients list.

My question is. Why not say “may contain…” as other companies do? Does this company not have a dictionary and therefore cannot understand the meaning of the word “contain”?

Let me enlighten them.

Dictionary meaning:

contain: to have within

I think it’s funny, but then I am well aware of the law. What about those who don’t? And they do not need to be vegan – the lactose intolerant would also be put off.

Wouldn’t you think Bluebird would want make sure they are covering all audiences?

STAY IN THE LOOP

Fee Writes

Laugh! | Random

Love The Random

By now you probably already know that random things I see make me intrigued, smile or downright laugh out loud. This was one of those occasions that was a LOL.

Each day I’m out and about, I always look for the random stuff that is in broad daylight for all to see.

Take, for example, the other day when I was driving back from the shops. I went past a work truck parked outside a house, and I caught a quick glimpse of something suspiciously like a skeleton on the top of a box. I went to the roundabout, and instead of turning off into my street, I continued round to go back.

I pulled up behind the truck and, sure enough, there was a skeleton on a box complete with a skeleton dog. Leaving the motor running, I jumped out of the car with my trusted phone and took a couple of photos, laughing out loud as I did so – voila below.

And, because it’s so downright brilliant, I’m giving the guy a plug if you’re in the Bay area!

When I got back into my car, I waited for a van to pass before making the U-turn to get back on track. The van driver (a woman) had seen me take the photo and also had seen me laughing. What made me laugh even more was that as she drove past, she gave me a look of “WTF are you doin’?”

It’s one of the joys I have now that I’m a little older. I don’t give a rat’s arse what people may think when I stop to enjoy a piece of quirkiness, pick up a bit of free stuff from the side of the road or go and talk to a stranger.

Just so you know: Links on this website may give me a small commission, but there’s no extra cost to you!

STAY IN THE LOOP

Fee Writes

Memories | Random

The Wellington Experience

The last time I was in the windy city (Wellington) was seven years ago. Not a lot has changed, only this time the weather was balmy and calm.

Flying in on a Friday and flying out the following Monday, I certainly jammed a load of stuff into the three days in the city.

Don’t worry; I’m not about to give you a travel log description of what I did, that would be as boring for you as the neighbour’s slide show from their campervan trip through the Australia outback.

But what I will say is that you can make it fun anywhere you go if you just keep your eyes open for the odd, the curious, the beautiful and the downright emotional.

However, I will give a plug to the WW1 exhibition.

“Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War” at Te Papa.

I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so moved by a museum display as I was with this one. In my mind, Peter Jackson nailed it. Informative and brutal, sad and a little humorous, it told the story of Gallipoli from the soldiers and nurses who were there. The models were massive at around 2.5 times human size, and each one depicted a frozen moment in time. The walk through a trench briefly captured the horror of war. If you are ever in Wellington, I highly recommend this.

My son took me to the ballet, Giselle, which we both enjoyed and to the art gallery for the weirdest exhibit called “Creature” by Berlin-based artist Marianna Simnett. Four short films, quite an unusual visual effect from four different screens. I must admit, though, that I couldn’t watch all of it; bit weirdly gruesome for me. To give you a clue – one was about mastitis… I really didn’t need to see the pus oozing from the teat! Made me grateful to be vegan!

From the games of chess, listening to Sam and James (from Black Spider Trio), playing gypsy jazz in the cutest Italian restaurant, exploring the city, walking the beaches and eating great food, all up, it was an excellent adventure.

Enjoy the Wellington Gallery! Click on an image to enlarge the gallery.