A few weeks ago I wrote about Naivasha’s flower farms, and the environmental and social impacts on the region. One of the more troubling aspects of the story is that some of the farms are certified Fairtrade, but have still seen worker protests. My friend Zbigniew, who is pioneering Fairtrade in Poland, wrote to the [...]
Archive | March, 2009
The climate justice campaign
CAFOD’s latest campaign picks up on one of our recurring themes, that climate change is not just an environmental issue, but a matter of human rights. Here’s the blurb from the website: Climate change is an issue of justice: it hits the world’s poorest communities first and hardest They are already bearing the brunt of [...]
The world’s first carbon neutral countries
While most of us dither about on climate change, setting targets that hardly trouble the double figures, six countries have announced that they are to go carbon-neutral. Here’s the list: Costa Rica Iceland Norway New Zealand Monaco The Maldives They’ve all done it at different points over the last couple of years, and have different [...]
McDonalds, the game
Another anti-globalization game from the same people who made Oiligarchy, this one is a fiendishly difficult McDonalds simulation. Raise your cattle, feed them up on soy, and market your finished burgers. Those little people in suits in the HQ may be cute, but once they start braying for profits and growth, you’ll see just how [...]
Is the whole of civilization a pyramid scheme?
Bernard Madoff will wake up in jail tomorrow morning instead of his Manhattan penthouse. At 70 years of age, he is likely to serve a mere fraction of what could be a 150 year prison sentence, for what has been described as the biggest fraud in history. Over the past decade, Madoff scammed investors, funds, [...]
The earthworm census
Here’s something a little different: an opportunity to take part in some pioneering scientific research in your own back garden. It’s well known that earthworms are a crucial part of the processes that create and maintain healthy soil, but we don’t actually know a whole lot about the worms themselves. To help put that right, [...]
Crunch Time, by Adrian Monck and Mike Hanley
It was the title of this book that caught my eye, ‘Crunch Time: How everyday life is killing the future’. It is, in their own words, “an investigation of our period of history, the age upon which our ideas and actions will stamp their mark.” We live at a decisive moment, at Crunch Time. Plenty [...]
A farm for the future
A couple of weeks ago the BBC showed an intriguing documentary called A Farm for the Future. It dealt with peak oil and the challenge to agriculture, and explored the permaculture movement as a possible answer. It’s an honest and inspiring film, and well worth an hour of your time. You can catch it on [...]
What are the co-operatives anyway?
You may have noticed that in our run-down of ethical supermarkets and ethical banks, the Co-op came top in both. But what is a co-operative anyway? The International Co-operative Alliance defines a co-op as ” an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a [...]
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