‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/1, 17th January 2021:
‘A review of the last 30 years’
In 1991 I quit my job in engineering to become a full-time ‘eco-freak’. I thought I’d last six months; a year tops till the money ran out. Well, the money’s been running out for thirty years this year, and I’m still (barely!) keepin’ on keepin’ on.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/2, 18th January 2021:
‘The President’s Parting Shot’
(Banburyshire Rambles Journal)
Exactly sixty years ago, President Eisenhower give his ‘farewell address’ to the American nation; known today for popularising the term “military-industrial complex” . Today though this has arguably morphed into the “military-industrial-entertainment complex”, so intermeshed have those arms of modern society become.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/3, 12th February 2021:
‘Vegan Nut Burgers & My Stone Age Food Processor’
(Part 1, ‘An Anarchist’s Cookbook’)
What are the most important tools in your kitchen? I don’t mean the cooker or the sink. Which tools are essential to the way you prepare food, and without which you would be lost? My most important ‘tool’ is a pestle and mortar.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/4, 25th February 2021:
‘An Introduction, with Musical Trees’
(Part 1, ‘Long Walks & Anarcho-Primitivism’)
In this first part I define what the new blog seeks to cover, and where -- literally -- I'd like to take you. There's a whole world of research around solutions to ecological collapse which involve “having less”; but few will even acknowledge its existence, and why it is the only viable solution.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/5, 7th March 2021:
‘My Day-Pack Unpacked’
(Part 2, ‘Long Walks & Anarcho-Primitivism’)
So many times people passing have said to me, “what have you got in that big rucksack”. In this video I outline in detail what it is I carry in ‘my big pack’, and a little about why I take it.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/6, 15th March 2021:
‘Lembas Scones, my ideal (vegan) wayfaring snack’
(Part 2, ‘An Anarchist’s Cookbook’)
In this video I show how to make a cheap and simple snack food that’s ideal for keeping well fed when travelling or working. I show how to make them, and I do an analysis to show how they compare to the common ‘shop-bought’ energy/protein snacks on the market.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/7, 24th March 2021:
‘Wild tea making and the revolt against the machine’
(Part 3, ‘Long Walks & Anarcho-Primitivism’)
Going outside to brew rosehip tea is a gateway to a lifestyle revolution! Walking, camping, and foraging, are the last ‘natural’ refuges outside technological society – the last ‘commons’ open to all irrespective of wealth; albeit one that’s always under threat.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/8, 1st April 2021:
‘(Vegan) Chocolate Cake’
(Part 3, ‘An Anarchist’s Cookbook’)
An imminent birthday means I need a cake for the obligatory celebration. Do I: (a) Buy; or, (b) Bake – a cake? For me, though, there is no choice! Vegan cake is SO easy to make.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/9, 18th May 2021:
‘Time Without The Machine: No mobile phone, no watch, but I have time’
(Part 4, ‘Long Walks & Anarcho-Primitivism’)
Many have questioned how I dare wander abroad without the technologies of time measurement and mobile communication. In this post I explain, in reply, my querying of their ‘necessity’.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/10, 13th August 2021:
‘On the 'Net, Nobody Knows You’re a Drone’
(The Meta-Blog, No.15)
YouTube has become a warped subliminal marketplace; a confidence trick of misdirection. Digitally disembodied people pretend to be your best friend, while the platform they use fleeces your computer of as much information as possible in order to commodify your soul.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/11, 19th August 2021:
Some days you wake up with a bass riff in your head and it just won’t go away. It has to be exorcised...
Click here to view the blog post for this video
The background music, ‘Groove No.1’, is available on the page as an MP3 file.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/12, 22nd August 2021:
‘Boris Johnson – “One Lie Beyond”’
To mark the beginning of Extinction Rebellion’s ‘Impossible Revolution’ I've made a small contribution focusing on one of the key obstacles to the change necessary: Think climate change is bad? This man is in charge of saving your future!
Click here to view the blog post for this video
The background music, ‘One Lie Beyond (The Mung Beans)’, is available on the page as an MP3 file.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/13, 28th August 2021:
‘Lithium-ion batteries vs. potatoes’
(The Meta-Blog, No.16)
Oh no! Not that stupid clickbait article again!: “Hemp Batteries are Eight Times More Powerful than Lithium, Scientists Discover”.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/14, 2nd September 2021:
‘The Limits to Growth’
(A Book in Five Minutes, No.1)
‘The Limits to Growth’ is an example of the human capacity to measure and project ecological impacts. More importantly, the response to it demonstrates the human capacity to ignore bad news by telling ‘noble lies’.
Click here to view the blog post for this video
An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/15, 7th September 2021:
‘Autumn Raspberry Harvest’
(Part 4, ‘An Anarchist’s Cookbook’)
Preserving food is not just 'cooking'; preserving food requires that you think about the future. Hence why growing and preserving food can be a window into planning a new future. In this post I look at the options for preserving food.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/16, 8th September 2021:
‘The Technology of Political Control (1977)’
(A Book in Five Minutes, No.2)
The most effective books are able to transcend time; by applying a relatively broad, well-observed analysis of the roots of complex issues in the past, that continue to have relevance today. This is such a book.
Click here to view the blog post for this video
An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/17, 15th September 2021:
‘Ecological Economics and Humanity (2020)’
(A Book in Five Minutes, No.3)
This is an example of an academic work that needs to be more widely read. Written by William E. Rees, one of the originators of ‘ecological footprinting’, it reviews how humanity is changing the global environment.
Click here to view the blog post for this video
An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/18, 20th September 2021:
‘Diet for a Small Planet (1971)’
(A Book in Five Minutes, No.4)
There are very few books that you can truthfully say, ‘this book changed my life’. When I first came across it almost forty years ago, this one changed mine. It explained clearly to me what it was I needed to know to eat well.
Click here to view the blog post for this video
An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/19, 23rd September 2021:
‘Mabon Sunset’
(Banburyshire Rambles Journal)
‘Mabon’, the Autumn Equinox, an auspicious day (well, no worse than any other) to have a walk to see the sunset, pick some blackberries, and then wander into the twilight to celebrate the lengthening evenings.
Click here to view the blog post for this video
The background music, ‘Mabon Sunset’, is available on the page as an MP3 file.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/20, 2nd October 2021:
‘Weaponising Space Debris’: Britain, ‘DARC’, and the US military’s control of the ‘space domain’
(The Meta-Blog, No.17)
Britain is to become part of a global network that will allow the US to ‘dominate space’. The reality about what this system is for, and the US military’s strategy behind it, is somewhat different to that public message of greater security.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/21, 4th October 2021:
‘Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971)’
(A Book in Five Minutes, No.5)
Murray Bookchin foresaw the disruptive rise of consumerism, and the changing dialogue in society towards a politics of ‘post-scarcity’ it created. ‘Post-Scarcity Anarchism’ is an anthology of Bookchin’s essays around this theme.
Click here to view the blog post for this video
An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/22, 7th October 2021:
‘“Enjoy it whilst it lasts”: A video record of a disappearing landscape’
(Banburyshire Rambles Journal)
Walking the ancient Roman Salt Road east from the town – a diminutive relic of its status to the west of the town – I consider how property rights and land access continue to define our relationship to “the land”, and “this Land”.
Click here to view the blog post for this video
The background music, ‘Asynchronicity’, is available on the page as an MP3 file.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/23, 25th October 2021:
‘Forgotten, but not gone’
(The Meta-Blog, No.18)
Despite warnings about the issues of contaminated land since the 1960s, governments have failed to act to create a comprehensive system to track down, assess, and where necessary decontaminate these sites.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/24, 7th November 2021:
‘This Land is Our Land (1987)’
(A Book in Five Minutes, No.6)
Thirty-five years ago Marion Shoard published a book which still stands as one of the landmark books documenting the history of English land rights – and the urgency for a change in the present patterns of land ownership and exploitation in Britain.
Click here to view the blog post for this video
An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/25, 17th November 2021:
‘From the White Cross to a Misty Sunset’
(Banburyshire Rambles Journal)
In this short walk from Banbury Cross, past 'White Cross', then head out to Giant's Caves. Along Salt Way I climb to the top of Crouch Hill at sunset.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/26, 23rd November 2021:
‘Birds in the Banbury Country Park’
(Banburyshire Rambles Journal)
A big bank of dark cloud was pushing in from the north; but on its leading edge it carried quite a surprise: Hundreds of migrating birds. And as I was stood next to Banbury's (pretty much only) waterfowl site, a lot of them decided to come and land near me.
‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2021/27, 29th November 2021:
‘To See the Sunrise First Walk in the Dark’
(Banburyshire Rambles Journal)
I pound through the town centre and head east towards Nethercote and Overthorpe, to catch the frosty sunrise across Warkworth and Astrop. Then I circle around over the top of Overthorpe Hill to head back in down Blacklock's Hill.