The Obama Future!

This week I was at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) listening to author and historian David Reynolds debate with Bonnie Greer (featured left), playwright and politics whiz. The topic was "The Obama Future - in light of the past" and began with a half hour presentation from Reynolds offering us a quick timeline of previous presidents. After mentioning some of the most memorable inaugural moments of all time ("Ask not what your country can do for you -ask what you can do for your country" John F. Kennedy 1961) he went on to question if Obama's speech was a missed opportunity. Considering this was the inauguration of America's first black president, Reynolds felt that Obama's message should have been stronger, but after a few points were made the author decided that this year, the man was the message. Greer's input was to ask "When did we all become Americans?" which is a great question considering the endless UK coverage of US politics. I'll be the first to admit I feel more inclined to listen to what Obama has to say about his new environmental agenda over Brown and his lies over the supposed 21.7 per cent decrease of carbon emissions since 1990. Anyway, back to the talk. A debate then began with several audience members questioning how long it will be before some kind of backlash begins. Throughout the presidential campaigns, every newspaper seemed to back Obama and sometimes was even perceived as a "saviour" by extremists, but how will he live up to these unrealistic expectations? Reynolds believes that as long as the new president has the support around him in the White House that he needs, there shouldn't be a backlash, but I fear there could be some repercussions as no one likes a public downfall more than the media. One of the best comments of the evening came from an American RSA fellow who blasted any negativity out the door with a compelling point about how brilliant Obama has been so far, "he was dancing til 1.30 in the morning the night of this inauguration ball and up at 8 am the next day shutting down Guantanamo Bay... I think he's on the case!" So will he get the credit he deserves, or will he be the next target for the press to tear apart? We'll have to wait and see.

Do Something Funny For Money

This morning I attended the launch for Red Nose Day 2009 in Leicester Square! The event which was held at the Empire Theatre started at 9am and kicked off with an hour long photo call with celebs braving the cold and milling around the red carpet, taking interviews and posing in their silly red noses. In attendance was TV favourite Steve Jones, girl band The Saturdays and comedienne J0 Brand (wearing a full red nose body suit!), to name a few. By ten o clock we were ushered inside to watch a short screening of what this year’s campaigns and celebrities had in store for us.
First up was Fearne Cotton who gave us a rather heart felt speech about her trip to Uganda before Christmas. Malaria is the biggest killer in the East Africa and Fearne explained how a simple malaria net can save a whole family from the disease. Other celebrities who briefly addressed the audience was Gavin and Stacey favourite Ruth Jones who revealed she’d taken part in one of the two official singles for Comic Relief entitled ‘Barry Islands In The Stream’ which features backing vocals (!) from Tom Jones and Robin Gibb, the other being The Saturdays take on Depeche Modes ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’. Claudia Winkleman then proceeded to get teary eyed before introducing a video which showed us how Comic Relief cash is helping those in Africa and the UK, and the morning finished with Rob Brydon encouraging us all to go out and big up RND 09! The strongest message throughout the presentation was how tough and depressing this year will be, but the good news is a fiver can make a difference to a small village in Africa so there are no excuses! So go on, as the brilliant tag line says - Do Something Funny For Money!

Published News!

I had a great start to the New Year as I my first piece of work has been published for Societas! The feature went into Medium Magazine earlier this month! Check it out..

In 1666 the Great Fire of London hit the country’s capital, blazing fiercely for five days. It destroyed over 13,000 houses making more than100,000 people homeless. In previous years there had been no less than six major warnings that this could, and probably would, happen. Why then did Londoners not take the necessary steps to prevent the catastrophe?
London was weak in 17th Century. The Great Plague was stalking England which gave locals a more immediate problem to worry about. Much like today, there was a hierarchy of needs which left protecting ones environment a low priority. Along with the disease came the lack of resources to act in a preventative fashion. There was no such thing as a fire brigade or even fire insurance so defending yourself was no easy feat.
A logical reason behind the lack of protection towards fire is denial. If no one believed another disaster would strike, there was no reason to prepare. Denying London’s inevitable downfall served as a perfect defence mechanism for the locals at the time, but came at an irreversible cost.
Since the realisation and development of climate change, it has negatively affected our weather patterns, health, sea levels and wildlife. To help comprehend what kind of threat the earth is under, here are six serious warnings that global warming has offered us so far.
In 2005, hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans killing at least 1,836 people and making it the deadliest U.S hurricane since 1928. The flooding in India in 2008 served as second warning that left half a million people stranded and homeless.
Moving away from the UK to a farther destination, we find another warning in the North Pole. Some scientists predict it will be ice-free by the end the year, others suggest the whole of the North Pole will have collapsed by 2050.
Proving it’s not just a few random areas being disturbed and we are dealing with a global problem are the water shortages in Africa and Australia.
From dying humans to dying animals, global warming isn’t just upsetting the weather. From approximately 65 million years ago, there have been six, separate mass extinctions. ‘Contemporary’ is the name of the current extinction and for the first time this one is mostly down to human actions.
A final and more recent warning struck in the form of Hurricane Gustav, hitting Cuba in late August 2008. Gustav caused $15 billion of damage killing 138 people in the U.S and Caribbean.
Six serious warnings which have affected us world-wide yet we still reject the call to action. Why, over 300 years later are we continuing to display similar behavioural patterns when we know what’s around the corner? (Perhaps the reason for the public’s reluctance isn’t just a simple case of laziness.) The parallels between the two disasters go beyond destruction; the actions of those affected in the 17th Century are comparable to those of today. Ignoring the obvious has once again lead to denial. Hiding behind this excuse gives the public a perfect scapegoat (how were we supposed to do anything when we didn’t realise there was a problem? How are we supposed to help when we don’t even believe we’re in trouble?). Whether it’s denying the fact there is a problem or denying the fact itself, we still see a drastic problem in human behaviour.
When it comes to climate change there are a hundred wake-up calls a day around the world. So what will it take for the world’s public to pay attention? Does global warming need its very own Great Fire to trigger a response?
One major outlet that serves us with information, influences our opinionsand even changes our behaviour is the media. Over the last year it’s nosurprise that global warming took a back seat to the state of our economyin terms of coverage and debate. Could this be a reason behind our lack ofsupport towards environment?
According to Roman Krznaric, teacher and writer, the answer to global realisation of climate change lies within empathy. Krznaric believes that if we understand how our actions can negatively affect others across the world, our behaviour should change accordingly.
As individuals we can do a lot to help, but when a country’s government is playing ignorant, it becomes a lot harder to follow by example.
Recent acts of the American Government have demonstrated a ridiculous streak of irony. The US Congress passed a piece of legislation to give public money to banks to stop them from collapsing, yet this is the government that has still not signed the Kyoto Protocol against global warming (though. Under the Obama administration this is looking likely to change.) Sending out mixed messages such as this lead to a confused public; if the government doesn’t care why should we?
The truth is it’s much easier to ignore what’s going on or even choose not to believe, but inevitably this isn’t something that will just go away after a couple of years. The collapse of our environment won’t wait for anyone, and certainly can’t be paid off.
We are not only facing an environmental problem. We face a social re-structure and not enough people are taking responsibility for the damage they are causing planet Earth. It’s not just a problem of 17th century England, but part of human behaviour. Before we can tackle our environmental issues, we need to knock down our social barriers. Thepublic’s resistance towards global warming needs be addressed through such methods as the media, the Internet and our governments. The sooner we stop denying our future, the sooner we can look forward to a clearer conscience.
© Laura Daly