Recently in helping others Category

I subscribe to a number of email newsletters, and one came through last week with news of an eco-calendar which has caused a bit of controversy. Ethical Junction member Flipside Vision have produced a 'Calendar of Climate Change' for 2009 with a plethora of wonderful images depicting our world, many of which have significant connections to climate change themes.  For instance, February has an image of a Dutch painting of a windmill and a canal, and alongside this, a smaller picture of modern windmills which generate electricity.

The current 'Credit Crunch' combined with high energy prices is seemingly causing a recession... a period of no economic growth or contraction.  Part of me welcomes this, despite the discomfort we will all experience (such as reduced entertainment bookings for me) as in a greener world we'd consume less, and in a recession we do just that.  One of the weird effects of this economic situation is that with reduced demand, some prices will fall... so I'm not suprised to see the fuel prices dip temporarily. 

I became interested in poverty when I got involved in Local Agenda 21 in the mid 1990s, a few years after John Major signed a document called 'Agenda 21' at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. This committed all the signitory countries to explore and implement 'Sustainable Development' by encouraging Local Authorities to empower their local communities to find local solutions...  I learned that sustainable development was a balance between our natural environment, our social environment and our fiscal (money) environment... and that the number one enemy of sustainable development was... POVERTY.

Once again I've had an interesting gig as 'Professor Fiddlesticks', entertaining children this weekend at a conference organised by Sibs.  My role was to provide a fun two hours with a circus show followed by a workshop where the children could try out different skills, finishing with an opportunity for some of them to show off these newly acquired tricks to the adults who had attended the meeting.

I am not an economist or a businessman, and although many of my posts are partly about saving money, I'm certainly no expert on what's happening to the economy.  To me, it looks like some peoples' greed has caught up with them at the same time as peak oil has started to bite and our unpredictable and changing climate has caused a string of poor crop years.  And, although it's not 'our fault' as individuals, we do collectively share some of the responsibility for heavy resource use, high carbon emissions and purchasing homes with mortgages many times bigger than our income.  So we're all feeling the impact of this 'credit crunch' or economic slowdown.

Most people think that there are too many cars on the road, including many drivers, who, as drivers, are part of the problem.  So are there any solutions?  Well public transport, road tolls, home working and supermarket deliveries may all be part of a solution, but there is another way in which the number of cars could be (slightly) reduced.  This is the car-club/car sharing concept.

There's a lot of subjects I could be writing about this week... the upward spiral of fuel prices (don't expect them to ever come down again), the latest famine in Ethiopia partly caused by high food prices... but I want to alert you to something very positive.  I have discovered that a new 'Facebook for the Mental Health Community' has just been launched, and I have interviewed the developer, Richard Alan Cowling.  He's from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, which is where MESOMOCO CIC is based.

NET.MESOMOCO CIC stands for Network Mental Health Social Enterprise Mobile Computing Community Interest Company. It is a free web-based social network for individuals involved in mental health, including service users, carers of mental distress sufferers and those who have experience of mental health issues.  Users of the network are able to connect with others with similar experiences, find resources and support, use fora, blogs, community groups and the mental health wiki and keep track of upcoming events such as conferences.  The MESOMOCO CIC is a 'gated community' to reduce the chance of spam or abuse, and moderated to strengthen users privacy.  To join, send an email to the team  who will reply with instructions.

The Community Interest Company plans to raise funds a number of ways, including the development of a comic-book type game suitable for mobile phone users, and hopes to help a small group of mental health service users and ex-users by enabling them to develop computer skills (based on 'Jamie Oliver's 15' apparently!) and add to their CV's and help their employability.  All in all this is a very interesting concept, with potentially beneficial results for those wishing to network and communicate about their mental health issues.  I wish Richard the best of luck and hope that the scheme is successful.

Last Thursday a tragedy happened. An 18 year old woman, Ruby M, was cycling along a cycle track where it is crossed by a service road to York Racecourse, and she somehow came into contact with a lorry. She was killed. I heard about this the following morning as she was the friend of a friend. This one person's death has brought so much sadness, so many questions, so many people with feelings of emptiness and loss.

Like so many people, I experimented with drugs when I was younger. I was 18 and had left home for the first time and had seen Cannabis being used in the West Indies quite openly, and I was attracted to the relaxed bonhomie which emanated from the groups of people using it. It seemed far more attractive than the alcohol-fuelled behaviour that was so prevalent in my community back in the UK.

I had a fulfilling day at work on Sunday, including coping well with a difficult situation and helping some youngsters with a step up into the business. Although I'm an entertainer, my experiences are easily mirrored by people in other professions including social workers.