The Futile War between Conservationists and Farmers
Fungi and other soil microbes are critical to the health of soil and our food systems yet ‘conservation biodiversity’ often overlooks them for more charismatic wildlife.
Environment featured
Robert Macfarlane: How Language Reconnects Us with Place
I have come to realize that language is an indispensable portal into the deeper mysteries of the commons. The words we use – to name aspects of nature, to evoke feelings associated with each other and shared wealth, to express ourselves in sly, subtle or playful ways – our words themselves are bridges to the natural world. They mysteriously makes it more real or at least more socially legible.
How to Make Hydropower More Environmentally Friendly
NOTE: Images in this archived article have been removed. Hydropower provides 85 percent of the world’s renewable electricity, but comes with a hefty environmental price tag. Here’s what some are doing to fix that. December 20, 2016 — Humanity got its first large-scale electricity thanks to hydropower. On Aug. 26, 1895, water flowing over Niagara … Read more
Obama Banned Arctic and Atlantic Offshore Drilling and Big Oil Isn’t Happy
President Obama has announced what amounts to a ban of offshore drilling in huge swaths of continental shelf in both the Alaskan Arctic Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, a decision which came after years of pushing by environmental groups.
NASA Produces First 3D Animation of Global Carbon Emissions
NASA, the US space agency, has released an “eye-popping” three-dimensional animation showing carbon dioxide emissions moving through the Earth’s atmosphere over the course of a year.
The Global Road-Building Explosion is Shattering Nature
The bottom line is that if we’re smart and plan carefully, we can still increase food production and human equity across much of the world.
The climate trials of the 21st century have begun
The question in these trials is straightforward: Do governments and corporations have an obligation to protect the habitability of the Earth’s climate for human populations?
How to Convince Your Neighbors Climate Change Is Real? Stop Calling Them Idiots, Says DeSmog Founder Jim Hoggan
Clean coal.” “Ethical oil.” How could fossil fuels that produce pollution which sickens, kills, and hospitalizes tens of thousands of Americans each year end up sounding so … desirable?
Testing a Different(iation) Approach to Permaculture Design Process – Part Two: An Example
Carrying on from the previous post, here we share an experimental example of permaculture design when conducted explicitly as a process of differentiating a pre-existing whole into parts.
Resilient Las Vegas?
The ability to band together to take collective action for the common good is a key to resilience in human systems.
Reflection on Journey to Earthland
Do we, as humankind, understand how dire our situation is, and how radical our responses must be?
Sustainable Activism: Managing Hope and Despair in Social Movements
In our own experience of movements for change from the 1970s onwards we’ve been struck by the way in which a failure to contain despair can lead to unrealistic hopes, built on a denial of and a flight from some difficult truths.
