The BBC is running a story today describing which ten places in Britain are most resilient to the budget cuts, and which are the most vulnerable. The study was run by Experian and measures 33 different resilience variables, such as level of wages and skills, crime, house prices, number of benefit claimants, business startup and [...]
Archive | September, 2010
Kuma Coffee – pioneering direct trade
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Rapa Nui clothing company and their innovative approach to traceability. The same week I learned about an equally radical scheme in coffee, from my friend Mark Barany. We were at school together in Kenya, and Mark now runs Kuma Coffee Roasters. Based in Seattle, Kuma produces [...]
So that everyone can have enough
I was browsing a Friends of the Earth report yesterday on the train, entitled Overconsumption: our use of the earth’s natural resources (pdf). This passage in the introduction is a rather neat summary of our philosophy at Make Wealth History. In order to create a more sustainable and equitable world, regions with high levels of [...]
What’s going on in the food markets?
In 2008 there was a food crisis, as you may remember. It was started by droughts and poor harvests in some major grain exporting countries, with prices pushed higher by the runaway price of oil. Demand for biofuels diverted more crops away from the priority of feeding people, and the whole crisis was exacerbated by [...]
A weekend at the Small Is… festival
I spent this weekend at the Small Is… festival with my two brothers. Hosted by Practical Action and Engineers Without Borders, the festival was billed as an exploration of E F Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful and its relevance for today. It took place in the grounds of Practical Action’s headquarters outside Rugby, a beautiful location [...]
What we learned this week
The film No Impact Man finally reaches the UK this week. Here are some places where you can see it. Ikea is now selling second-hand versions of its furniture online in Sweden. I didn’t think there was such a thing as second-hand Ikea furniture. What has biodiversity ever done for us? Good question and a [...]
Greenwashing nonsense of the week
Greenwashing nonsense of the week: a ‘celebrity endorsed campaign’ from holiday company TUI, to get people to pack lighter suitcases when they fly on holiday. According to the company’s research, half of us don’t think about the environment at all as we pack our suitcases. Consequently, we carry far more than we need to, and [...]
Nic Marks on the Happy Planet Index
Nic Marks’ talk on the Happy Planet Index at TED this year. It’s a very helpful explanation of why society measures the wrong things, and what we could be doing instead. It puts forward a positive vision of the future, where we understand what a good life is. Well worth fifteen minutes of your time! [...]
The case for working with your hands, by Matthew Crawford
Since going part time, I have enjoyed writing in the mornings, and then gardening, making things, and working on our house renovation in the afternoons. Spending some time with actual things feels important when I spend so much time on a computer, even if my handyman skills leave a lot to be desired. The Case [...]
Choose your climate headline
Walking past the newsagents yesterday morning, I had to laugh at the contrast in front page headlines: The Guardian led with ‘Top climate sceptic calls for $100 bn fund to fight global warming.’ On the same day, the Daily Express had ‘Climate change lies are exposed.’ Quite an insight into editorial policy on climate change, [...]
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