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| dance |
We were asked not to use any flash photography hence fuzzy pictures :(
Friday, March 28, 2008
Oceania dance performance
Went to an Oceania dance performance last night and here are the fuzzy pictures....
We were asked not to use any flash photography hence fuzzy pictures :(
We were asked not to use any flash photography hence fuzzy pictures :(
Roc market
The Roc market happens once a month and it is sort of an artisan/home baking/junk market. Josie and I were working our butts off to get some t-shirts done to show case at the market. However Fiji had other plans for us so it still has not happened. Fiji could benefit from a customer service course.
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| rock market |
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Easter dinner pre event!
Josie and Chris have been doing prep and cooking for a good portion of the day and now we are getting ready to serve the dinner! We did have sometime to get ready for the rock market (thats another story) and to play some games!
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| easter dinner prep |
Easter dinner day
Random shots of our day with Josie and the girls... and the dogs... and insects!
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| easter day random shots |
Monday, March 17, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
An Island of Plastic!
Story from the Independent:
The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan
By Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent, and Daniel Howden
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said.
The vast expanse of debris – in effect the world's largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting "soup" stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.
Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who discovered the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or "trash vortex", believes that about 100 million tons of flotsam are circulating in the region. Marcus Eriksen, a research director of the US-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which Mr Moore founded, said yesterday: "The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States."
Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer and leading authority on flotsam, has tracked the build-up of plastics in the seas for more than 15 years and compares the trash vortex to a living entity: "It moves around like a big animal without a leash." When that animal comes close to land, as it does at the Hawaiian archipelago, the results are dramatic. "The garbage patch barfs, and you get a beach covered with this confetti of plastic," he added.
The "soup" is actually two linked areas, either side of the islands of Hawaii, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches. About one-fifth of the junk – which includes everything from footballs and kayaks to Lego blocks and carrier bags – is thrown off ships or oil platforms. The rest comes from land.
Mr Moore, a former sailor, came across the sea of waste by chance in 1997, while taking a short cut home from a Los Angeles to Hawaii yacht race. He had steered his craft into the "North Pacific gyre" – a vortex where the ocean circulates slowly because of little wind and extreme high pressure systems. Usually sailors avoid it.
He was astonished to find himself surrounded by rubbish, day after day, thousands of miles from land. "Every time I came on deck, there was trash floating by," he said in an interview. "How could we have fouled such a huge area? How could this go on for a week?"
Mr Moore, the heir to a family fortune from the oil industry, subsequently sold his business interests and became an environmental activist. He warned yesterday that unless consumers cut back on their use of disposable plastics, the plastic stew would double in size over the next decade.
Professor David Karl, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii, said more research was needed to establish the size and nature of the plastic soup but that there was "no reason to doubt" Algalita's findings.
"After all, the plastic trash is going somewhere and it is about time we get a full accounting of the distribution of plastic in the marine ecosystem and especially its fate and impact on marine ecosystems."
Professor Karl is co-ordinating an expedition with Algalita in search of the garbage patch later this year and believes the expanse of junk actually represents a new habitat. Historically, rubbish that ends up in oceanic gyres has biodegraded. But modern plastics are so durable that objects half-a-century old have been found in the north Pacific dump. "Every little piece of plastic manufactured in the past 50 years that made it into the ocean is still out there somewhere," said Tony Andrady, a chemist with the US-based Research Triangle Institute.
Mr Moore said that because the sea of rubbish is translucent and lies just below the water's surface, it is not detectable in satellite photographs. "You only see it from the bows of ships," he said.
According to the UN Environment Programme, plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food.
Plastic is believed to constitute 90 per cent of all rubbish floating in the oceans. The UN Environment Programme estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic,
Dr Eriksen said the slowly rotating mass of rubbish-laden water poses a risk to human health, too. Hundreds of millions of tiny plastic pellets, or nurdles – the raw materials for the plastic industry – are lost or spilled every year, working their way into the sea. These pollutants act as chemical sponges attracting man-made chemicals such as hydrocarbons and the pesticide DDT. They then enter the food chain. "What goes into the ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate. It's that simple," said Dr Eriksen.
The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan
By Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent, and Daniel Howden
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said.
The vast expanse of debris – in effect the world's largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting "soup" stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.
Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who discovered the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or "trash vortex", believes that about 100 million tons of flotsam are circulating in the region. Marcus Eriksen, a research director of the US-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which Mr Moore founded, said yesterday: "The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States."
Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer and leading authority on flotsam, has tracked the build-up of plastics in the seas for more than 15 years and compares the trash vortex to a living entity: "It moves around like a big animal without a leash." When that animal comes close to land, as it does at the Hawaiian archipelago, the results are dramatic. "The garbage patch barfs, and you get a beach covered with this confetti of plastic," he added.
The "soup" is actually two linked areas, either side of the islands of Hawaii, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches. About one-fifth of the junk – which includes everything from footballs and kayaks to Lego blocks and carrier bags – is thrown off ships or oil platforms. The rest comes from land.
Mr Moore, a former sailor, came across the sea of waste by chance in 1997, while taking a short cut home from a Los Angeles to Hawaii yacht race. He had steered his craft into the "North Pacific gyre" – a vortex where the ocean circulates slowly because of little wind and extreme high pressure systems. Usually sailors avoid it.
He was astonished to find himself surrounded by rubbish, day after day, thousands of miles from land. "Every time I came on deck, there was trash floating by," he said in an interview. "How could we have fouled such a huge area? How could this go on for a week?"
Mr Moore, the heir to a family fortune from the oil industry, subsequently sold his business interests and became an environmental activist. He warned yesterday that unless consumers cut back on their use of disposable plastics, the plastic stew would double in size over the next decade.
Professor David Karl, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii, said more research was needed to establish the size and nature of the plastic soup but that there was "no reason to doubt" Algalita's findings.
"After all, the plastic trash is going somewhere and it is about time we get a full accounting of the distribution of plastic in the marine ecosystem and especially its fate and impact on marine ecosystems."
Professor Karl is co-ordinating an expedition with Algalita in search of the garbage patch later this year and believes the expanse of junk actually represents a new habitat. Historically, rubbish that ends up in oceanic gyres has biodegraded. But modern plastics are so durable that objects half-a-century old have been found in the north Pacific dump. "Every little piece of plastic manufactured in the past 50 years that made it into the ocean is still out there somewhere," said Tony Andrady, a chemist with the US-based Research Triangle Institute.
Mr Moore said that because the sea of rubbish is translucent and lies just below the water's surface, it is not detectable in satellite photographs. "You only see it from the bows of ships," he said.
According to the UN Environment Programme, plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food.
Plastic is believed to constitute 90 per cent of all rubbish floating in the oceans. The UN Environment Programme estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic,
Dr Eriksen said the slowly rotating mass of rubbish-laden water poses a risk to human health, too. Hundreds of millions of tiny plastic pellets, or nurdles – the raw materials for the plastic industry – are lost or spilled every year, working their way into the sea. These pollutants act as chemical sponges attracting man-made chemicals such as hydrocarbons and the pesticide DDT. They then enter the food chain. "What goes into the ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate. It's that simple," said Dr Eriksen.
paradise lost
I feel very blessed to be living in a tropical paradise, but there are somethings that are not so beautiful...
1) drowning in a sea of garbage, not only on the streets but in the harbour as well
2) packs of dogs that can make you walks/bike riding a nightmare not to mention how hard it is for them
3) mange/ticks/poisoning just to mention a few
4) lack of water and sanitation in settlements
5) I could go on but I feel the pictures say a thousand words...
1) drowning in a sea of garbage, not only on the streets but in the harbour as well
2) packs of dogs that can make you walks/bike riding a nightmare not to mention how hard it is for them
3) mange/ticks/poisoning just to mention a few
4) lack of water and sanitation in settlements
5) I could go on but I feel the pictures say a thousand words...
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| paradise lost |
garden update
We got a lot done this week. We finally got back to the garden and replanted some of the seeds that we lost during the cyclone. The beans have already taken off and the carrots are doing great. We have little tomatoes starting and the lettuce is just starting to sprout!
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| garden update |
garden art
Well it has been months since I had the art show at the oceanic art centre, and my bamboo has been lying on the ground at our compound ever since. This weekend somehow the ball started rolling with a walk to the local hardware store, only to find it closed. We wanted to buy sticks for the tomatoes but ended up putting up the bamboo by using the left over pvc pipe I bought for the washing machine!!! It has made a mark on the neighborhood, some people walk by looking but not wanting anyone knowing that they are looking and others just stop and take it in. I have to say last night it looked beautifully illuminated by the gate lights.
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| garden art |
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Auction
I was asked to donate a piece of art work to be auctioned off, the money going to a scholarship to support women that want to go into alternative careers. In Fiji that can mean going into Engineering! Still considered an alternative career option in Fiji, scary. The night went well, we got to listen to some amazing poetry, singing and enjoy some wine donated by Victoria Wines. Another interesting experience for the evening was two Fijian performers stating that they are gay! Not done here in Fiji at all!!! You can be an effeminate man that dresses like a woman in Fiji but to be a outright gay man or woman is not an occurrence that happens very often. This is actual the first time I have heard someone declare themselves gay in the South Pacific and I have lived here for 2 years! It happened the next night at the take back the night as well!
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| auction night |
Monday, March 10, 2008
International Womans day
I have to admit that I have never been active in the Take Back the Night Campaign, I come from a part of the world where I as a woman have equality (to an extent); but now that I live in a developing country I have a greater understanding of how the majority of the women on this plant struggle everyday. That the majority of the women are impoverished in so many ways. I will be forever changed by living here and how I see myself in a global context of women.
Here are some pictures from the rally that happened in Suva and pictures of rallies from all over the world!
Here are some pictures from the rally that happened in Suva and pictures of rallies from all over the world!
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| take back the night |
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Stan back from Japan!
Stan is finally home after being in Japan for 6 weeks. He can home a bit battered. He was constantly cold in Japan and was wear a lot of cloths on the plane and consequently fainted twice on the plane! He looked bad when he got off the plane in Suva, when we got home I feed him and sent him to bed to sleep! He woke up feeling much better!
| japan |
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