Info, news & debate
Economy
Ecology as theology: religion must oppose the destruction of nature
The vast majority of the world’s population subscribe to a religion. According to Pew Research, although the number of people unaffiliated with a particular faith will increase by 2050, as a percentage, this group will fall from 16% now to 13% in 2050
What are the roots of right and left thinking, and can we unite left and right against corporate power?
Why do people who consider themselves ‘left-wing’ seem to embrace a raft of policies that appear unrelated? For example, if you’re of the left, and you believe in (say) progressive taxation, why should that also mean that you believe in gun control, or
Low-impact & the city 7: our experience of a local fishbox / community-supported fish scheme
You may remember that we blogged an interview last summer with Guy Dorrell, who set up a ‘fishbox’, or ‘community-supported fish’ project, called ‘Faircatch‘. After interviewing him, my partner and I signed up to his scheme to try it out. I’m now reporting on how the idea worked for us
Reasons not to buy from Amazon
In 1983, Richard Stallman launched the GNU free software project, on which many people could collaborate, and in 1985 he founded the Free Software Foundation, to promote and assist the development of free software. Here is a page from his website
Is the quest for perpetual economic growth the witch-burning of our times, and could this be the year we start to challenge it?
Johannes Kepler was one of the major figures in the 17th century Scientific Revolution. In his day, people were grappling with the question of whether the earth was the centre of the universe, as the Church said it was, or whether it was just another planet, revolving around the Sun
Building a small home has a big payback
Let’s get one thing straight right away…When I say “small”, I don’t mean living in a shoe box. What I mean by “small” is living in a space that is designed…well designed…for your needs…and no more. A small space doesn’t mean cramped.
Monopoly and capitalism: why you’ll lose at both if you try to play nice
Monopoly is obviously based on capitalism, but the biggest difference between Monopoly and real-life capitalism is that Monopoly is just a game. Whatever happens in the game, it doesn’t mean that in real life
Companies like Fairphone, Ecotricity etc. are doing great things, but could easily be picked off by the corporate sector; why aren’t they co-ops?
Body Shop, Green & Blacks, Ben & Jerry’s and Innocent Drinks represented a Brave New World when it came to doing business – Fair Trade, sustainable, (slightly) less hierarchical, informal, friendly.
Review of ‘Extinction: A Radical History’ by Ashley Dawson
I tend to look out for new books on extinction – I think species extinction is the clearest indicator of what’s happening to ecology, and the thing that will precipitate its collapse unless we stop it.
Dear Fidel Castro…
I believe that you were a great man – whatever you did, you did because of passion and integrity, not because of a thirst for money or power. But you had the wrong plan.
What good might come from a Trump presidency?
Donald Trump says that when men get together in locker-rooms (or on buses), they ‘talk like that’ with each other. But they don’t – I have male friends, and if one of them talked to me ‘like that’, it would be the end of our friendship.
New York Times: GM crops require more pesticides and don’t increase yields
I’ve been saying for a long time that GM crops do not increase yields and they don’t reduce pesticide use – because that’s not what they’re designed for. This report in the New York Times shows that I was right.
New report: number of plastic bags on UK beaches falls by almost half – so charging 5p for plastic bags works?
The number of plastic carrier bags found on UK beaches in surveys carried out by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has dropped by almost half between 2015 and 2016. This is the lowest number reported in over a decade, and fantastic news for marine wildlife.
What’s the current situation as regards TTIP, TPP, CETA, TiSA, and what’s the future for trade deals?
It’s been a very confusing time for TTIP and other pro-corporate trade deals. There has been huge public opposition to them, often based around the fact that they would allow corporations to sue elected governments if they introduce policies that threaten their profits
Stunning film of blades lifted onto a giant wind turbine that you can become a co-owner of
Double BAFTA-Cymru winner, Mike Harrison, has made a stunning short film, capturing the moments that the blades are lifted onto one of our turbines at dawn.
Rent first to see if a self-build home in a cohousing project at an eco-chateau in France is for you
An cohousing eco-hamlet around a chateau in the Dordogne region of France is being formed. You can rent a plot to see if the project is for you, before deciding whether to become a co-owner.
The US presidential election is a circus, and the sooner we realise that power lies elsewhere the better
As Adam Curtis recently explained, governments are no longer for deciding how we live, or for building a better society – they have slowly morphed into institutions for managing the affairs of the finance sector.
Review of Adam Curtis’s new movie ‘Hypernormalisation’
Adam Curtis has a new movie out – Hypernormalisation, about how, due to ‘perception management’, what we see as ‘normal’ is anything but – and you can see it for free on BBC iPlayer.
Ditch the bleach: switch to natural cleaning to avoid toxins and carcinogens
Every year there is a better understanding of the risks of toxic chemicals and more and more people are benefitting from a switch to natural cleaning.
The absurd nature of land ownership in the UK, and the ‘Land for What?’ conference, Nov 12-13
There’s a weekend conference coming up that you might be interested in. It’s called ‘Land for What?’ and it’s taking place over the weekend of November 12 and 13.