Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
How long will this race run, who will win out, and what will the vast majority of New Zealanders pay in money, pollution, extreme weather events, sea level rise, land degradation and loss of fellow life forms to subsidize the continuing exploitation of Papatuanuku (Mother Earth)?
Before the Industrial Revolution, people added a temporary layer of textile insulation to either the interior or the exterior of a building, depending on the climate and the season. In cold weather, walls, floors, roofs, windows, doors, and furniture were insulated with drapery and carpetry. In hot weather, windows, doors, facades, roofs, courtyards, and streets were shaded by awnings and toldos.
From the corridors of the Parliament down to the provincial governments, the shift from fossil fuels to renewables is being framed as both inevitable and immediate. Yet beneath the veneer of urgency and technological optimism lies a deeper tension, who defines this transition, and in whose interest is it unfolding?
In the ongoing discourse surrounding environmental justice, the concept of “green colonialism” has emerged as a critical lens to examine the historical and contemporary injustices faced by marginalized communities in the global South, including within the context of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Whether it’s the environmental and health effects of nuclear mining in Diné (Navajo) territory, the bitter contentions around the Dakota Access Pipeline in the tribal territory of the Standing Rock Sioux, or the mining for copper on a sacred Apache site, it is clear that there have long been troubling issues at the nexus of Indigenous peoples and the United States’ energy infrastructure.
This experience of collective construction, centered on energy, has led me to rethink my approach to knowledge and local wisdom, viewing them with greater respect and understanding that they don’t need to make sense to everyone to be valid.
I hope this tour through science and economics and politics has been helpful in some way—you can see why I sometimes despair, not just of the future but even of my own ability to get across what’s happening in the present. I think I’ve been at this so long that I have a better sense than most of how all those moving pieces interact, but there are so many pieces and they’re now moving so fast.
The UK government confirmed in its June 2025 spending review that it will honour its manifesto pledge and not cut the £13.2 billion warm homes plan, as had been speculated. The money will be spent over the next four years, marking a significant increase on funding for energy-related home upgrades compared to that offered by the previous government.
True resilience isn’t about making the grid bigger. It’s about making systems smarter, accessible, and locally adaptable.
There will be an International Week of Action from June 22 to 28 against oil expansion in the DRC and for climate justice. We ask international allies to organize marches, sit-ins, performances, open letters, online campaigns, and more.
The colossal energy demands of artificial intelligence have earth-shaking implications for everyone. Already rising steeply, they are set to accelerate at a dizzying pace as various global powers race to be the first to achieve supreme intelligence over everything.
There’s a strong sense of wanting social justice in this part of the world. There’s a legacy of extraction of Wales’s natural resources, along with the highest levels of poverty in the UK. Plus the rising social, financial and ecological costs of fossil fuels.
