Throughout much of the environmental movement's history, it has argued and blamed much of the Western world for the faults of climate change. However, when looked at more in-depth it is hardly the case.
Climate Change is not the Wests Fault
Mind Juice
As a hobby of mine, I've been making a note of the most interesting things I have read, listened to, and watched during whichever month. I've called this hobby "Mind Juice" due to the idea that it acts as intellectual stimuli to your mind that is always trying to be lazy. I started it in September 2016.
At Odds With Reality
Recently, I posted an image on the Everyday Climate Change feed on Instagram, a collective of photographers documenting climate change across the world. The photo can be seen below. The image was of a man spraying to eliminate mosquitos in Dharavi, Mumbai, India.
Fabled Stories of the Waterless Village
Man walks next to a dried water storage pool.
The village of Kumik, for a 1000 years, relied on the glacier behind the village to provide them water. Today, as the climate has progressively warmed, the glacier has disappeared and Kumik has been left in a permanent drought-like condition. The situation has forced them to consider relocating their village towards a permanent source of water.
Gambling for God
Stained glass windows inside Catholic church, Kiribati. Image: Ashley Crowther.
Hundreds of young and old adults sit on the ground patiently waiting silently to hear the numbers being called out from the barking voice that drives their addictions. Each and everyone involved is fixated on their sheets of paper, the silence between called numbers is deafening and only broken by the nearby traffic of the cry of a child.
Ideology and Politics vs. Climate Change Adaptation
I remember being a young idealist on various environmental issues, in particular, climate change, energy, and food. Decidedly I would ride that green wave of renewables and organics into oblivion and back again. For me, back then there was no compromise, regardless of the information I was exposed to. Thankfully, with age, I have grown...
Unwritten Laws of Climate Change Migration
The harsh waves crashed and ocean sprayed upon a makeshift seawall of broken bricks. The flimsy barricade serves as a last line of defence for the island peoples of Kiribati as they continue to battle the perpetually rising sea levels of the Pacific Ocean. As the waters continue to advance, locals are concerned that the...
Rocky Relationships: the plight of Kiribati’s ‘Sex Workers’
As the equatorial breezes drifted over Kiribati, a flickering streetlamp barely illuminated the gloomy, potholed road while rats criss-crossed through the port area of Betio. “The Kore Koreas come here very late, maybe 3 AM or even later,” said a local man earlier in the day. He pointed towards an uninspiring concrete slab close to...
A Night with Tajik Drug Runners
There we were, stuck in between two mighty mountain ranges – the Hindu Kush and the Pamirs. The icy peaks rose 7000 metres above sea level. The majestic ranges acted like walls that blocked us off from the rest of the globalised world and it had already been weeks since I last had an internet...
Has modern travel lost its educational merit?
Travel is an act that all humans throughout history have participated in be it for survival, glory, conquest or knowledge. We have wandered into the unknown constantly in search of something more. The advent of modern travel has become far removed from what our ancestors had previously practised over the past millennia. Technological advancements have...
Hitchhiking With The Taliban
Tajikistan is famous for a couple of things. In particular, its wild landscape, warm hospitality and drug-trafficking syndicates. Heroin is something we’ve all heard of, but barely think of when it comes to its origins and how it gets to our shores. It’s a complicated process and a vast network of dodgy dealings weaving its...
From Police State to Hospitality
The new day broke, but I was delayed. It was Monday and I was prepared to leave China and traverse through the Tian Shan mountain range to wander into Kyrgyzstan. My pockets were empty and I had little cash on me. The bank back in Australia had messed up a transaction and my money was...
Travellers – development should be relished not demonised
Westerners travelling through developing nations have a tendency to think that the people in the Global South are happier because they lack western style development and material wealth. We are quick to judge, beat and bash our own cultures and indeed our own lives. In today’s globalized world we are constantly learning about one another...
Banks, Bureaucracy and the Barrier Reef
A natural wonder of the world, the Great Barrier Reef lines almost the entire coast of Queensland, Australia and is one of the most remarkable natural structures on Earth. Listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO, it is home to 400 types of coral, 1500 species of fish and 4000 types of molluscs and...
Before Lonely Planet there was the BIT Guides
Before there was Lonely Planet my father, Geoff Crowther was head of an underground travel guide publishing company that ran from 1970-1980. This extract was from the last published BIT guide in 1980. I have copied this down word for word. It gives a fascinating insight into what life and travel guides back in the...