Embrace what may be the most important green technology ever. It could save us all

George Monbiot So what do we do now? After 27 summits and no effective action, it seems that the real purpose was to keep us talking. If governments were serious about preventing climate breakdown, there would have been no Cops 2-27. The major issues would have been resolved at Cop1, as the ozone depletion crisis… Read More Embrace what may be the most important green technology ever. It could save us all

Saving the dragon’s blood: how an island refused to let a legendary tree die out

A unique species on Socotra in Yemen, famed for its bright red resin and umbrella-shaped crown, has been in decline for years. Now islanders are leading efforts to save it by Jess Craig The dragon’s blood tree is classified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN red list. Photograph: Neil Lucas Just after 4am on the… Read More Saving the dragon’s blood: how an island refused to let a legendary tree die out

Nationalism is the ideology of our age. No wonder the world is in crisis

Gordon Brown There is no longer such thing as the international community,” a prominent African leader recently complained to me, lamenting that this week’s G20 would, like September’s UN general assembly, October’s IMF-World Bank meetings and this month’s Cop27, fail to combat the world’s food, energy, debt, inflation, currency, pollution and poverty crises. At the very moment… Read More Nationalism is the ideology of our age. No wonder the world is in crisis

Air pollution: Uncovering the dirty secret behind BP’s bumper profits

By Owen Pinnell Far removed from the world leaders making climate pledges at COP, are people like Ali Hussein Julood, a young leukaemia survivor living on an Iraqi oil field co-managed by BP. When the BBC discovered BP was not declaring the field’s gas flaring, Ali helped us to reveal the truth about the poisonous… Read More Air pollution: Uncovering the dirty secret behind BP’s bumper profits

To those who sneer at activists blocking roads: what are you doing to save the planet?

Polly Toynbee NB: The planet needs no saving, Ms Polly, it’s not in danger. Its the environment that we need to save, from ourselves. DS Just Stop Oil protesters this week are climbing gantries on the M25, blocking the Dartford tunnel, causing long delays and getting arrested in droves. Meanwhile the public order bill that would crack down… Read More To those who sneer at activists blocking roads: what are you doing to save the planet?

Defying capitalism and socialism, Kumarappa and Gandhi had imagined a decentralised Indian economy

First posted January 18, 2017 Venu Madhav Govindu & Deepak Malghan In November 1933, following his fast against a separate electorate on caste lines and the subsequent political settlement known as the Poona Pact, (Mohandas Karamchand) Gandhi embarked on a year-long nationwide campaign against untouchability. Thanks to his extensive travels across the country, he got… Read More Defying capitalism and socialism, Kumarappa and Gandhi had imagined a decentralised Indian economy

Fossil fuel burning once caused a mass extinction – now we’re risking another

George Monbiot Budleigh Salterton, on the south coast of Devon, sits above the most frightening cliffs on Earth. They are not particularly high. Though you don’t want to stand beneath them, they are not especially prone to collapse. The horror takes another form. It is contained in the story they tell. For they capture the… Read More Fossil fuel burning once caused a mass extinction – now we’re risking another

One Billionaire emits a Million times more CO2 than an Average Person. Protesters block Private Planes at Amsterdam

JUAN COLE Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Oxfam has a new study, Carbon Billionaires: The investment emissions of the world’s richest people. Zeroing on 150 billionaires in the sample, a tiny proportion of the top one percent numerically but a significant proportion of the latter’s wealth holdings, the study found that together they had a stake… Read More One Billionaire emits a Million times more CO2 than an Average Person. Protesters block Private Planes at Amsterdam