Freelancers have to do without benefits like sick pay – unless it’s organised cooperatively like the Dutch initiative Broodfonds. . Arsenal is the first Premier League football club to move to 100% renewable energy for its stadium. Also in energy and football news, apparently you can buy an official Manchester City domestic battery. . There […]

Land ownership is one of Britain’s most enduring unresolved justice questions, so it’s always good to read news of new community land ownership projects like this one in the Scottish Highlands. . George Monbiot on why we need more inspiring language around ‘the environment’, something I agree with entirely. . The Economist hails the end […]

It’s striking how quickly nature can take back the land when we humans abandon it, as this footage from Fukushima shows. . The ReTuna Återbruksgalleria, the world’s first mall for recycled goods, has finally added an about us page in English. . Did California’s Death Valley just record the hottest month ever measured on earth? […]

Milan’s vertical forest tower is one of my favourite buildings of recent years, so it’s good to see work begin on Stefano Boeri’s new forest city in China. . Peter MacFadyen of Flatpack Democracy talks to the Upstream Podcast. Lots of interesting ideas about the value of independent politics. . Plenty of governments are trying […]

I’ve written before about the need for long term perspectives, and how important it is to be able to think beyond electoral cycles or quarterly reports. The biggest problems of the 21st century are playing out over decades, and we need decades-long plans to deal with them. With that in mind, I’ve been making a […]

“The rich are disproportionate contributors to the carbon emissions that power climate change. It is cruel and perverse, therefore, that the costs of warming should be disproportionately borne by the poor.” That was in The Economist last week . When does a focus on productivity become counter-productive? asks my friend and co-author Katherine Trebeck on […]

The Citizen’s Assembly on Brexit is exactly the kind of forum we need as a country right now. . Coca-Cola is responding to the growing calls for action on plastic bottles. Their plan includes trialing a reward scheme for recycling. . Keep an eye out for misinformation on electric cars. The Koch brothers and their […]

Britain’s first solar powered bus has taken to the streets. It’s run by community owned operator Big Lemon. . Earlier this week I mentioned that tyre manufacturers are making the next generation of tyres out of dandelions. It’s an extraordinary thing and here’s a little more about why alternatives are necessary, and why dandelions are […]

If you fancy a creative writing challenge, have a look at the Green Alphabet Writing Prize, who got in touch this week. . Testing on external cladding on English high-rise blocks has been a disaster this week – 100% of them apparently failed fire tests. In Scotland, none of them have, proving that good cladding […]

China switched on the world’s biggest floating solar farm this week. (Here’s why floating solar is a good idea.) . Earth Overshoot Day will land on August 2nd this year. That’s when we’ll have used up a sustainable quantity of the earth’s resources and services, and any further use is pushing us further into ecological […]