It has been several months since Marine Café Blog last had a chat with Frankie the Philosopher Cat. Although he didn't have his favourite smoked oysters for lunch today, he was not, thankfully, more grumpy than usual. He was lounging about in the garden, looking a bit...
Unlike the ancients, modern man does not see Mother Earth as some kind of goddess like Gaia, the ancestral mother of all life in Greek mythology. He has de-mythicized her, reduced her to an object, a specimen, to be studied by scientists and exploited by corporations...
It's been more than seven months since our last interview with Frankie the Philosopher Cat. What better time to chat with him again than at Christmastime in Manila? 'Tis the season to be jolly – a time for brushing aside the problems which bedevil the maritime...
A maritime training facility planted with lettuce and pineapples? It may sound faddish and even wacky. But Filipino-owned COMPASS Training Center Inc, together with its partners, is pushing the concept in a bold effort to promote environmental awareness and re-invent...
It is no surprise that Pope Francis' Laudato si' encyclical on global warming received a lot of flak even before it was officially published on 18th June. Climate change deniers are legion. Despite this, the man valiantly came out banging — and we're glad that he did....
We're all for putting a cap on CO2 emissions, the use of renewable energy and the adoption of green technologies. But we often wonder: is the war on climate change just a question of greenhouse gases (GHG)? By focusing too much on the mechanics of global warming and...
Whaling off the Goto Islands by Katsushika Hokusai (1833–1834) It's interesting how the values of individuals and entire societies change over time. In our teen years, we read Herman Melville's 1851 novel, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. Like millions of other Melville...
As a departure from our normal practice, we are reproducing in toto the following news release issued on 29th July by Dunelm Public Relations on behalf of the UK P&I Club. We think it is of great interest to the shipping community: Shipowners will soon be obliged to...
In spite of the doubting Thomases, scientific evidence of global warming and climate change continues to pile up. A recent study, for instance, by a group of paleoclimatology researchers attests to a warming trend over the past 130 years. Well and good, but scientific...
It's easy to blame Big Business for the ruination of the environment, global warming and climate change. The truth is that we're all part of the problem, no thanks to our individual and collective lifestyles and our patterns of consumption. We are accessories to the...
By 1st January 2013, all ships 400 gross tonnes or more will be required to have a Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) as part of amendments to MARPOL (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships). Time for shipowners to call on...
We're for the fair treatment of seafarers who figure in marine accidents, for due process, for legal assistance to the accused and for justice tempered with mercy. Those who are not, we dare say, are stone-hearted. But we don't understand the calls for leniency toward...
