4th July 2021
The UK Government recently carried out a consultation on its Statement of Environmental Principles. The Statement will have legal status through being referred to in the Environment Bill, still slowly making its way through Parliament and now in the House of Lords. This Bill is supposed to repair the damage done by Brexit pulling the UK out of the shared EU arrangements for environmental protection.
4th July 2021
"Imagine electoral politics not just affected by the agenda-shifting caused by the radical flank, but materially-altered by the presence inside it of a growing ‘moderate’ flank." Rupert Read and Laura Baldwin explore the need for a ‘moderate flank’ in climate activism, as exemplified by the Greens Climate Activist Network (GreensCAN).
2nd July 2021
Whereas there was a period at the start of the year where some ‘climate experts’ were criticising some of us for discussing how to prepare for or soften potential societal breakdown due to environmental strains, the return of rapid rises in carbon emissions after last year’s Covid stutter means that more scientists are beginning to consider the implications of a failure to meet climate targets. That painful reflection is still mostly done in private. With this book we are helping them explore what it could mean to prepare for failure.
2nd July 2021
For more than a generation of economic globalisation, to turn the old adage on its head, it seemed to many that “wealth is health”. In the bargain, as everything, including health, came seemingly to rest on the willing shoulders of money, huge fortunes were not only made but universally sought, in what has come to be called an “aspirational world”.
24th June 2021
“…there’s a very real possibility that the latter part of the lives of most of you in this room will be grim or non-existent.”
It wasn’t exactly the Baz Luhrmann-style address many of the first year students starting their incredible adventure of a university education in 2016 were expecting.
Some laughed, nervously. Others looked confused. Some looked worried, as well they should.
18th June 2021
Rupert Read and Joseph Eastoe consider the limits of Extinction Rebellion’s radical growth and outline why organisations with greater public appeal, capable of putting significant pressure on politicians, are now needed to capitalise on its success
17th June 2021
Have you heard about the frogs who will doze till they die in water that is gradually heated up?
You probably have. One place you may have heard about it is as a metaphor for climate: are we going to be as lethargic as those frogs? Are we going to just let the Earth (and the oceans) heat up and heat up, til we’re fried?
10th June 2021
The G7 group of rich countries’ leaders is meeting in Cornwall.
Why care what’s happening with some bigwigs at the other end of this country?
It’s true that, just as East Anglia is as far east as you can get in England, Cornwall is the furthest point west. But I figure it’s worth travelling all the way. Because this is the world come to England. Because this is the first time the G7 has been held here for 16 years. And because this is a year like no other…