When I was growing up, my parents frowned quite heavily on too much TV. We didn't even own a colour TV until sometime in the 80s, but I didn't really notice as I allowed my imagination to "see colours" where there weren't any. Although this did make for interesting conversations in the school yard when I was sure that the spaceship in whatever child's cartoon series was popular at the time was red, when really it was blue...

Other than my 30 mins of TV I was allowed to watch upon returning from school, my parents did encourage me to watch educational programs which I can honestly say did make a positive impact and was almost as exciting to a ten year old boy as epic space battles. One of the shows we would watch religiously was the CBC's "The Nature of Things", a series exploring science and later the environment, which was presented by David Suzuki, a man whom I admire very much and certainly helped shape my life. I think it was probably his unknowing influence together with that of my sister that originally shaped my desire to be a biologist those so many years ago.

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I must admit, keeping blogs up to date is clearly not my forte. I'm realizing that it's been some time since my last post!!! So much for trying to keep a weekly update.

So what's inspired my back after so much time? Well I just returned from the Vivienne Westwood Red Label show for SS10 at London Fashion Week. I thought it was interesting to see that such a major designer who is not traditionally associated with environmental causes was actively championingThe Prince's Rainforests Project. Not only were there large banners flanking the entrance to the show, but all the packs had a leaflet and some of the models were carrying the project's mascot, a little green frog.

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A funny thing happened over the weekend.  I had a piece of art I created exhibited at the Big Chill as part of a touring art show.

The first thing that makes me exhibiting a piece of art peculiar is that while I was taught art and was fortunate enough to be exposed to some great contemporary artists, I don't really consider myself an artist.

The second thing which really made it peculiar, was the fact that I was truly the unknown face in an exhibit composed of 18 successful artists chosen by Cedric Christie to participate in his charitable endeavor entitled The Blank Canvas Project. To put the peculiarity of the situation into context, the other artists were Tracey Emin, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Sir Peter Blake, Sarah Lucas, Gavin Turk, Rachel Whiteread.... and many more. All major artists who make their living selling art and then me....

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It seems like every car manufacturer is out there to prove that they can make a greener and more eco-friendly car. Though for the most part this has been focused on fuel consumption - creating hybrids, evs or hydrogen powered machines. Technologies which many would say are merely pushing the issues of negative impact around so that the cars look better but without actually reducing impact in the larger scheme of things.

But Lotus, who were involved in the design of the Tesla ev, have recently unveiled what really is a forward looking car which not only takes a more systemic approach to car design but also creates something which will actually make petrolheads go wow.

Welcome the Lotus "Eco Elise" concept car.

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Seems like Honda is releasing the first few production units of their new FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell vehicle hot on the tails of BMW's Hydrogen 7.

But the debate is still on as to whether this is a good thing or not.

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