Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
These miniature libraries might have an unimposing appearance but are a powerful means of boosting literacy rates, combating book bans, and promoting social justice. They are also referred to as “mini-town squares.”
In this week’s Frankly, Nate addresses the common desire for solutions to the human predicament – and why the championing of “solutions” is less clear-cut than we might perceive.
I often have compared this period to a fireworks show: dazzling, unusual, and temporary. The sky conditions during a fireworks show make for a poor predictive model of weather conditions for the coming days, weeks, or months. Fireworks shows end—about as quickly as they began.
It appears that Mexican oil production is predicted to fall off a cliff after 2030. It’s likely to be just the first shoe to drop in the next few years.
Getting dressed is a universal human trait, but the textile industry is collapsing environmental systems everywhere. Relearning basic skills and taking back the agency in what we wear and how we wear it is an act of resistance and an invitation to reimagine ways to inhabit the planet.
Traffic engineers will need to focus more on accessibility, and less on mobility. As Lewis Mumford wrote in 1963, in one of Marshall’s favourite quotes, “A good transportation system minimizes unnecessary transportation.”
‘Now is the time and we are the people. We’re being pushed over the edge of extinction by people who don’t get it and don’t care and we—’ she surged to her feet— ‘we are better than this.’ A hand slammed hard with each word. ‘So let’s bring the best of ourselves to the table, agree where we want to go and find ways to make it happen. Thank you.’
This week, Casey Camp-Horinek of the Ponca Nation joins Nate to recount her decades of work in Indigenous and environmental activism. Her stories shed light on the often-overlooked struggles and tragedies faced by Indigenous communities in their efforts to restore and safeguard their homelands.
I stress again that we are not separate from, above, or transcendent beyond our extended living family. That seems to be the default and utterly foolish notion pervading our culture, based on a brief fireworks show of excessive and unsustainable inheritance-spending that is in the process of setting up catastrophic failure—and for more than just humans.
Urbánika is an international collective of tech commoners that calls itself an “immersive activism school.” Led by Humberto Besso-Oberto Huerta of Mexico, the group wants to help build peer-governed, climate-resilient smart cities and communities, especially in Latin America.
GEM’s annual “Pedal to the Metal” report reveals that 93% of new steelmaking capacity announced thus far in 2024 promises to use lower emission electric arc furnaces (EAFs).
As a small research team of activists, practitioners and early career researchers participating in the British Council Farming for Climate Justice Programme we set out to learn more about the potential role of farmer-led and community-saved seeds in realising just climate resilience.
