Nuclear power is neither beautiful, nor safe, nor cheap, writes Justin Keating - a message to the United States, where the Obama administration has pledged to waste over $200 million financing the 'Small Modular Reactor' (SMR).
… to build larger, more complex reactors. New clothes, old technology The trouble is, this is merely old nuclear technology in new clothes. So why is the US Department of Energy …
The Tea Party of Miami put up a convincing demo last week to oppose a 'land grab' that would see 46,000 acres of sugar farm land restored for Everglades conservation. Just one problem - the 'protestors' were actors each being paid $75 for the two-hour shift.
… sense and don't wear 'club' outfits or gym clothes. Just wardrobe for a Political …
After a peaceful protest against nuclear weapons showed up shoddy security at a $19 billion nuclear bomb factory site, writes Kevin Alexander Gray, Uncle Sam got mad - against the protestors, now jailed for up to five years. Will Peace Prize winner Obama set them free?
President Obama - pardon the 'Oak Ridge Three' anti-nuclear activists! Kevin Alexander Gray | 19th March 2014 Activism Nuclear Weapons USA Religion y12.png After a peaceful protest against nuclear …
Jeremy Corbyn came under attack yesterday for his refusal to countenance the use of nuclear weapons, writes Commander Robert Green. But his stance is honourable and both legally and strategically correct - especially with his opposition to renewing the Trident nuclear missile system.
Jeremy Corbyn is right to reject Trident Commander Robert Green Royal Navy (Ret'd) | 9th November 2015 Comment Nuclear WMD War Politics UK USA corbyn-trident-cut.jpg Jeremy Corbyn came under attack …
A orchard garden has taken root on a long-vacant lot in an economically and racially divided neighborhood of Boston, writes Orion Kriegman. In the making it has united a community, helped to heal deep scars of violence, and inspired a wider reclamation of the urban commons.
Making it happen - a community orchard in downtown Boston Orion Kriegman | 7th November 2014 Ethical Living Commons Cities USA Farming sunflower-cut.jpg A orchard garden has taken root on a …
The new Commission may have dropped environmental protection from its 2015 work plan - but it's pressing ahead with a new Directive to protect corporate secrecy, threatening consumers, journalists, whistleblowers, researchers and workers.
EU Trade Secrets Directive - a threat to health, environment, human rights Corporate Observatory Europe | 19th December 2014 Comment EU USA Corporations Trade Politics pills-paula-bailey-cut.jpg The …
The European Commission has proposed new rules on foods derived from GMOs that would allow EU countries to opt out from the Europe-wide approval system - a move that has attracted strong criticism from all parties in the GMO debate.
… with GM cotton bank notes and wear GM cotton clothes, and rely on GM commodities to feed …
A voter initiative in Maui, Hawaii requires a suspension of GMO crops pending a safety review to be paid for by Monsanto and other corporations - although corporations spent almost $8 million trying to defeat the measure. Monsanto is now preparing a legal challenge.
Victory! Outspent 87-1, Maui voters back GMO moratorium The Ecologist | 7th November 2014 News GMOs Politics USA Corporations maui-rainbow-cut.jpg A voter initiative in Maui, Hawaii requires a …
President Obama's plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions may look like a climate victory, writes Tim Kruger - but it's no such thing. It's feeble because the US can meet its targets by reducing emissions to 2030 more slowly than it has since 2000. And it's fragile as any future President can scrap it at will.
… of a global deal. Well, this emperor has no clothes. The pronouncement reminds me of the …
After over a decade of fracking, oversight of the industry's radioactive waste is still lacking, reports Sharon Kelly. Over half of the 280 billion gallons a year of radioactive waste water from fracking ends up in rivers and streams.
Fracking's radwaste - supervision remains inadequate Sharon Kelly DeSmogBlog | 22nd April 2014 News Fossil Fuels USA Radiation Health strange-woods.jpg After over a decade of fracking, oversight of …
Hunter Lovins is on a mission, writes Sophie Morlin-Yron: to put the transformational technologies we already have to work for the benefit of people and business - and to re-create the economy so it's no longer a machine for polluting the planet and devouring natural resources, but a mechanism for building and sustaining natural and human capital.
Wild horses, Hunter Lovins, and the way to a better world Sophie Morlin-Yron | 10th September 2014 Comment Green Economy USA Finance Corporations hunter-lovins-joi-ito-cut.jpg Hunter Lovins is on a …
Syria's surrender of its chemical weapons last autumn raised the question - where to dispose of the toxic agents? Felicity Arbuthnot reports on a toxic tale of chaos, corruption, grand theft, and a growing strategic imbalance in the Middle East.
Syria's chemical weapons - lawbreakers rule supreme Felicity Arbuthnot | 13th March 2014 News Syria USA Italy Albania Waste mv_cape_ray.png Syria's surrender of its chemical weapons last autumn …
Barring a miracle Marco Rubio is set to be Trumped in the Republican primary tomorrow in Florida, his home state, putting an effective end to his campaign. But it's not for want of support from one of the US's biggest frackers, Devon energy, and its politically active CEO Larry Nichols. And with or without Rubio, Nichols's influence on the red states' energy policy is only going to get bigger.
Meet the Koch-affiliated fracker behind Marco Rubio's energy policy Zachary Boren Greenpeace Energydesk | 15th March 2016 Comment USA Politics Energy Fracking Oil Gas Corporations bye-folks-cut.jpg …
Landfill sites, giant hog farms, incinerators and other 'bad neighbor' industries in the US tend to be situated in African American communities, writes Heather Kathryn Ross. The Environmental Protection Agency is legally obliged to prevent 'environmental racism', but from California to Michigan, low-income communities of color have been waiting years for it to take a stand. Now, backed by Earthjustice, they are forcing the issue - in the courts.
… onto neighboring homes, clinging to hair and clothes and forcing residents indoors. "People …
For John Muir, founder of America's national parks, immersion in nature was a blessing providing direct communion with divinity, writes Tim Flinders, and the cause of a spiritual awakening that inspired his life's work: to preserve wilderness and communicate the beauty, wonder and fragility of nature, sharing widely the source of his own enlightenment.
Divine wilderness: John Muir's spiritual and political journey Tim Flinders | 6th May 2016 Comment Natural World Conservation Religion USA Society yosemite-cut.jpg For John Muir, founder of America's …
The true nature of western civilization is hard to grasp from within, says Professor John McMurtry, because we perceive it through media whose primary purpose is not to convey the truth, but conceal it. What is actually playing out is a global war of empire and capital against the Earth and her people, backed up by the omnipresent threat of overwhelming force.
Genocide, ecocide and the Empire of Chaos Professor John McMurtry | 4th February 2016 Comment War USA Corporations Trade Climate Change Ecocide barbed-wire-cut.jpg The true nature of western …
If it wasn't climate change, was the real purpose of the Number 10 meeting of Theresa May's advisors and President Trump's environmental transition supremo Myron Ebell to plan the post-Brexit deregulation of UK farming, including pesticides? That's how it looks, writes Georgina Downs - and we had better begin now to fight for our health, wildlife and environment.
Pesticide deregulation - the real reason for Myron Ebell's Number 10 meeting? Georgina Downs | 3rd February 2017 Comment Health Pesticides Farming Politics UK USA Regulation spray-home-cut.jpg If it …
First corporations gained legal personhood, writes Don Fitz. Next they seized the right to force 'free trade' on unwilling populations. Now they are making sure that 'corporate rights' trump citizen rights - like the right to wholesome food and a healthy environment. That's where the 'Right to Farm' constitutional amendments come in ...
Missouri's 'Right-to-Farm' - an early win for third wave corporatocracy Don Fitz | 22nd August 2014 Activism Corporations Law USA Farming mo-hog-farm-cut.jpg First corporations gained legal …
This summer, the Smoky Mountains burned, writes Grant A. Mincy. The aftermath is terrible to behold. But with the autumn rains and winter snow, life is returning, and a new cycle of regeneration is under way. Once again we witness the beating heart of the forest: water travels the vascular tissue of the trees and transpires over the valley and ridge. The wilderness is breathing.
… thick cloud. Mountain mist begins soaking our clothes. Water droplets splash as they chorus …