After the recent launch of the Brixton Pound and the Stroud Pound, I wanted to do a little more reading around complementary currencies, so I’ve read two books on money in the last couple of weeks: The End of Money and the Future of Civilization, by Thomas H Greco, and Money Matters: putting the eco [...]
Archive | September, 2009
Is population growth the main cause of climate change?
George Monbiot tackles population growth in this week’s column. It’s too easy for those in rich countries to point to population growth in poorer countries as a leading cause of climate change, he argues. In fact, since every new citizen of a developed country will produce several times more CO2 than their counterparts in Africa [...]
In Transition posters
A little something for the transitioners among you – We showed In Transition in Luton a couple of weeks ago, and it is screening in St Albans on the 13th of October. Since the film is new, there’s not much out there by way of promotional materials, so we made our own. If you’re showing [...]
12 years later, Britain’s first foreign bribery prosecution
Among the many notable items of news last week, you might have missed this one. The first prosecution of a business for bribery overseas has finally gone ahead. It’s been 12 years since Britain signed up to the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Officials in International Business Transactions. The agreement recognised that bribery has [...]
Things we learned this week
We rich countries love to talk big about free trade, but aren’t shy of rushing in with a protectionist policy if our industries are threatened: witness the US surprise 35% tariff on tyres from China, introduced last week. Will the WTO investigate? Hmm… There is great excitement in the oil world at the moment, after [...]
Ecological debt
It was good to see the concept of ecological debt get some coverage yesterday. World goes into ‘ecological debt’, said the Telegraph, Recession barely dents ‘eco-debt’ said the BBC, while the Guardian warned of a Day of reckoning. This is all the work of the new economics foundation, whose report ‘The Consumption Explosion’ came out [...]
Today is overshoot day
According to the Footprint Network, today is ‘Overshoot day’: “the day when humanity begins living beyond its ecological means. Beyond that day, we move into the ecological equivalent of deficit spending, utilizing resources at a rate faster than what the planet can regenerate in a calendar year.” See the Footprint Network website for more on [...]
Britain’s banking dilemma
It’s been a crazy week for international relations, with a whole series of important meetings and agreements. Some of them are real breakthroughs, like China’s new ambitions on climate change. Others are less noble, in particular the US and the UK objecting to reforms of the banking system. The sight of our government standing in [...]
Blog action day 2009 – October 15th
Blog action day returns for 2009, and this year the topic is climate change. On October 15th, bloggers around the world will all write about climate change, each with their own voice and their own angle. The idea is simple really – it’s about changing the conversation, reclaiming the internet for something important. For just [...]
Earth Whisperers Papatuanuku
I caught a great little documentary last night, a Transition St Albans showing of Earth Whisperers Papatuanuku. It’s a film from New Zealand, and simply introduces ten people who are modeling stewardship of the earth, whose lives are in harmony with their surroundings. There are no flashy graphics, no gimmicks, no lecturing or narration, not [...]
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