Should shops keep their doors closed in winter to preserve heat and save energy? Obviously yes, say the people behind the Close the Door campaign. After a couple of tough years, 2009 was a great year for British wildlife. According to economist Joel Waldfogen, every Christmas destroys $12 billion of wealth through waste and inefficiency [...]
Archive | 2009
Christmas break
Just signing off for Christmas, and heading north to the Welsh borderlands to join the family. Enjoy the holidays, and I’ll be back in a few days… Jeremy
Speaking louder
Banksy makes a point about climate change down by Camden lock.
Copenhagen – how to get a deal next time
A lot of words have been written about the Copenhagen summit, and the pace hasn’t slowed since the close of the meetings. Some blame China for its intransigence. Others blame the US, hamstrung by the Senate. The EU was so weak it wasn’t invited into the room when the final draft was written, so we’re [...]
What happens if you privatise your entire coastline?
That’s the question Indonesian coastal people are asking, as their government considers turning over the whole 90,000 km to commercial operations. Indonesia is a major centre for shrimp farming, and if a proposed new law goes through, aquaculture corporations will be able to bid for 60 year leases on the country’s shores. Local fishing communities [...]
The growth report 3
The growth debate will go mainstream, sooner or later. It gets a little push this week from George Monbiot, writing in the Guardian: “While economies grow, social justice is unnecessary, as lives can be improved without redistribution. While economies grow, people need not confront their elites. While economies grow, we can keep buying our way [...]
Five imaginative guerrilla gardening projects
Just thought I’d share some interesting sites from On Guerrilla Gardening, just people with their own little projects that blur the lines between social action, art, political protest and gardening. Food not lawns – encouraging people to dig up their unproductive green spaces and grow some edible instead. Apparently a lawn was originally a status [...]
Climate change: looks like the ball’s back in our court
For two years, every climate change campaign group has focused on securing a deal at Copenhagen. The endless petitions, rounds of lobbying, and protest marches have all come to a head over the last couple of weeks. There must be a real sense of deflation in the offices of the campaign organisations, and it’s not [...]
The Age of Stupid on iplayer
Not sure how long it’ll be up there for, but The Age of Stupid is currently available to watch on BBC iplayer (apologies to those outside the UK). If you haven’t seen it, it is probably the best of the many feature length documentaries on social issues. It takes in climate change, consumerism, peak oil, [...]
Global warming or climate change?
We got about four inches of snow over Luton last night, and judging my the number of stranded cars on Luton’s hills, nobody has really learnt anything from last winter. Just like in January, the arrival of snow has been greeted with clapping and cheering from the climate sceptics – isn’t it funny that it’s [...]
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