9th January 2019 With democracy becoming an endangered species, is sustainability in peril? Even with David Attenborough speaking on behalf of The People at the Climate talks in Poland, you wouldn’t have guessed from the media coverage that arresting the ever-growing emissions of climate-damaging gasses was the most important challenge …
What are we voting for?
18th April 2017 “Referendums represent a radical reduction of democracy to its most skeletal form: majority rule. Too often, they are called in order to circumvent some obstacle thrown up by political or legal institutions … Whatever the intent, such referendums are an end run around the structures and safeguards …
Give back half to become whole
Ed Wilson’s Plan: Give back half to become whole? “To strive against the odds on behalf of all life would be humanity at its most noble.” As a self-described “congenital synthesiser” E. O. …
Doubting Democracy
During the 1980s, as Co-secretary of the European Greens I helped to support dissident groups in communist East European countries. Somewhat recklessly in retrospect, we did things like smuggle scientific papers and parts of photocopiers through to our clandestinely organising colleagues and made sure their governments knew we knew when …
NEW ENTRY in What Does Good Look Like?
The 1st page of my new, online book is now available. Please click here to read the latest installment: Know where you are going before you set off! On the same page, you can also read any other related posts that I’ve written for ‘What Does Good Look Like?’ As always, …
What Does Good Look Like?
“Don’t worry” said the taxi driver after I told him I worked on sustainability, climate change, things like that. “ Don’t worry, if it was that serious, they’d be doing something about it!” He made me wonder how many people feel like that even when bombarded with the latest statistics …
A transformative lighting project
he 2016 St Andrews Prize for the Environment was won by a technologically and socially innovative approach to lighting for off-grid communities that could transform the lives of millions. According to Wikipedia, ‘living off the grid’ is a lifestyle choice for rich country drop-outs. However, according to the International Energy …
Sustainable Development Goals
he Sustainable Development Goals offer a ‘pick and mix’ approach to implementing sustainable development. The 169 sub-goals clustered under 17 headline ones seemed destined to confuse and, more seriously, distract from the main task. The bias towards business-as-usual economics means that the most important things, like ending poverty, avoiding dangerous …
TERRORISM: Is it time to ask whether strategies to counter terrorism are the right ones? And what does sustainability have to do with it?
ne of the cartoonists killed in the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices was Jean Cabut, known as Cabu, whom I knew many years ago. His death and that of his colleagues was shocking – because I knew him and for its cold-bloodedness, of course, but also for what it …
Digital Doubts
s our confidence in the internet as saviour for most, if not all, things unsustainable crumbling? Possibly yes. But read about solutions to problems ranging from climate change to neighbourhood networking and it seems a given that the internet will be involved. Distant monitoring of electricity or water helps alerts …