My Homepage

Mein Weblog: Deutsch

Eco-Village Resource Directory

BBC News

New Civilization Network

The Internet Movie Database

 
Had a good day, today. Even though my alarm clock broke last night under mysterious circumstances, and I was waiting in vain for it to ring, I woke up early enough. The day started with a 3-hour drive through a not so interesting landscape. Then there was a 5 minute walk to Afghanistan, and back again. The working day concluded with another 3-hour drive back home. And all this just for a stamp into my passport. However, all in all it was a rewarding day. The highlight was a spontaneous stop at what looked like a few heaps of mud in a field. When we approached it and looked more closely at it, it turned out to be centuries old ruins of one of the hundreds of caravanserai's which used to dot the landscape in this part of ancient Persia, along the Silk Road. I ended up taking about 50 photographs of those ancient remaining archways and walls, which were still sticking out of the ground. It was a truely marvelous discovery, diving deep into history without the usual tourist circus around us, feeling free to roam the site at our pleasure. I think I will put up a page with some of the other pic's!



And yes, by the way, my alarm clock works again - mysteriously, without any repairs effected...

 
First Iranian Eco-village?

Yesteday, on a visit to the eastern city of Neishapur I found a place which looks like an eco-village and might well turn into one, one day. Wanting to visit a place known as Masjed-e-Choobi, 'The Wooden Mosque' we arrived at a little oasis of tranquility, greenery and interesting wooden buildings. The name comes from a nice wooden building, which the owner of the place built, just following his own ideas and feelings. The story goes that the local authorities couldn't accept the 'foreign looking' construction and demanded that it be torn down again. With the addition of two minarets it was then transformed into a mosque, and subsequently received permission to stay.

The owner, an architect, figured that he also wanted to do some sustainable agriculture with the 200 ha of land surrounding his house a well as the planting of trees. By now, besides the mosque, an interesting collection of buildings in different styles (wood, adobe, etc.) have accumulated, including a cafeteria, a shop, a library and several agricultural buildings. Several buildings for guest accommodation will be completed shortly. Applications for third-parties to be able to build accommodation has been launched.

So, indeed, to me this has all the flavours of an early eco-village community!

 
New page on my website: Finally I got around putting up some material which I got from Ro in Golden Bay months ago. It is about a papercrete and a zero waste project. It is quite amazing what can be done with papercrete. The info concerning the project might be a little out of date, but I hope to be able to update it soon!
CLICK HERE!

 
News on Iran

The Iranian judiciary has banned Iran's largest reformist/opposition newspaper Norouz. Closing down and silencing media outlets is a favourite reaction of the hand-line establishment in the struggle with the more moderate forces in society. Internal and external pressures make it difficult to achieve a gradual reform of the islamic system. Internally, the society has become more and more polarized between the mostly young supporters of change, who are growing impatient with the slow pace of reform on the one hand, and the ultra-conservatives who are well organized and enjoy some sympathy from Iran's security apparatus on the other. Given the continuous economic problems like unemployment and spread of poverty, the social conditions in Iran might soon be ripe for upheaval.

 
News: Green Party gets 18.2% in state elections in Tasmania, Australia - described as the highest Green vote in state or national elections anywhere in the world! Read the article on ENS!

 


We are getting ready to send the last convoy of our current Mashhad operation. The convoy is scheduled to leave tomorrow morning early from Mashhad to the 8 hours journey to Herat. The main load will be the remaining cooking oil (ghee). Besides that, there will be some additional items, pallets, etc.

 
Finally: it gets cooler. On Saturday early afternoon we had a short freak thunderstorm. After a few minutes most roads in the city were 10 cm under water. That broke the heat. But only last night the temperatures seem to sink significantly. This morning a cool wind was blowing on my way to work. And now, in the middle of the day, it looks like it's no more than 30 degrees Celsius. Really comfortable!

 
Putting economics before ecology has a devastating effect on the planet. But while solutions for sustainable development already exist, political will is sadly missing.

An article by Jonathon Porritt in The Guardian.

Well, if we really wanted it would be possible, wouldn't it?

 
Have redesigned my homepage. It's up and running. I'm just not quite sure about the colour scheme - any ideas or suggestions?

 
It still took some nerves, but as you can see I managed to publish pictures now. Also to say, that jumped over my own shadow and signed up for a paid service for hosting my webpage... ;)

 

... a musical experience...

 
The traffic here in Mashhad is still something I marvel at. The behaviour of Iranian motorists is just amazing. And that of motobikers even more so. They really believe that traffic rules don't apply to them. That includes also red lights. We were travelling along a busy street, when out of the blue a motobike arrived at our left and forced its way into the oncoming traffic, believing that he had the right of way no matter what. Drivers often do that here. I've seen them speeding into an intersection, blowing the horn and expecting everyone else to stop. Unfortunately everyone is doing the same. So I'm not surprised that Iran has one of the highest statistics of traffic accidents and casualties around the globe. And this in a country, where people spend 5 minutes in front of a doorway, offering the way to the other person to enter first!

 
What is a weblog without pictures? I spent a big part of the day today to figure out how to make a picture appear in my weblog. With my Nikon Coolpix, which I carry around with me (almost) all day long, I have the perfect tool to document my life.

However, all my efforts were in vain, nothing worked. I feel a bit frustrated. But maybe that has also to do with the fact that I was just hunting for some free service. I have to admit, that until now all my internet operations are for free, except for the ISP here in Mashhad, which costs me 60 cents Swiss per hour.

Does that mean that I have to sign up for some serious webhosting? Spend money for the internet? Still a foreign thought to me... even though I have to admit that all the advertising that I have to suffer instead is starting to get on my nerves...!

 
Recent political events in Iran

The recent events here in Iran show that tensions between the reformist majority of the population and the clerical hardliners who control the state and thwart any meaningful reforms are increasing. The latest events started when several thousand people took to the streets of the Iranian capital, Tehran, on 9 July to mark the anniversary of violent street protests three years ago. The real challenge to the authorities however was the resignation on the same day of Ayatollah Jalaluddin Taheri, a senior cleric who has held the position of Friday prayers speaker in the major city of Isfahan for the past 30 years. He has increasingly been at odds with Iran's hard-liners and issued a bitter condemnation of the way the country is being run.

This was a bombshell to the establishment, which in turn banned any newspaper from reporting the resignation and what led to it. This has heightened the atmosphere of confrontation between reformists and hard-liners within the Islamic regime. The role of the clergy was already under scrutiny when the latest crisis began. A liberal writer, Hashem Aghajari, is being controversially prosecuted for remarks he made in a recent speech calling for a reformation of the clerical establishment and criticising those who blindly follow the prescriptions of Shia religious leaders.


Departing from his "Axis of Evil" theme, President Bush called for greater freedoms in Iran. "As Iran's people move towards a future defined by greater freedom, greater tolerance, they will have no better friend than the United States of America," he said. Not surprisingly, his remarks were stongly critized as interference into Iran's internal affairs. Bush was also critizised by the reformist camp, saying that they didn't need any help from the United States.

 
As you probably know, I'm still in Mashhad, Iran. The summer has arrived in full force, and the temperatures are in the high 30's. It 's not the kind of climate I particularly like.

 
This weblogging is a new thing. I'm still trying to figure out how it works and how it should look like. Layout, colours, etc. It has been on my mind, ever since last night when I signed up for that thing....

 
A new area of internet communication. I have discovered the weblog! I think this is a great way of communicating ideas, and so many times I felt I needed to speak out about world events, or I simply wanted to pass on stuff I've come across on the internet.

Dear friends, I hope this will fill in a bit on all the e-mails I've failed to write...! ;)

Money

by Thomas H. Greco, Jr.

Hands of Light

by Barbara Ann Brennan