People have been talking about some kind of 'progressive alliance' ever since the 2010 General Election, writes Jonathon Porritt. If ever there was a moment where such an alliance could start coming together, and start working out a game plan to transform our political prospects between now and 2020, this has to be it.
… Porritt | 27th June 2016 Comment Green Party Politics Europe Brexit Transformation brexit .jpg Every new political movement begins as a … working out a game plan to transform our political prospects between now and 2020, this …
Floods, giant waves and billions of pounds of destruction to the UK's homes, businesses and key national infrastructure could revolutionise climate politics, writes Jonathon Porritt. But no thanks to the increasingly pathetic BBC!
… After the deluge - Britain's new politics of climate change Jonathon Porritt | … February 2014 Comment Global Warming Flooding Politics can-we-talk-climate-change.png … infrastructure could revolutionise climate politics, writes Jonathon Porritt. But no …
Naomi Klein's magnum opus on climate change, capitalism and the growing resistance to extreme energy is positive, inspiring and full of hope, writes Jonathon Porritt. But it's also deeply challenging: the 'everything' that has to change is not just government and corporations, but you, me and the ideas that guide our lives.
… absolutely 'on the front line' of the politics of climate change today, profound in … is not exactly an epicentre of radical politics, but pretty much the whole community … fossil fuel companies, and builds pressure on politicians to introduce across-the-board …
Is the UK sinking into authoritarian rule? That's how it looks, writes Jonathon Porritt, as the government joins with right wing media and fossil fuel companies to attack local democracy and environmental campaigners. Is this 'merger of state and corporate power' a sign of more, and worse, to come?
… Jonathon Porritt | 16th March 2016 Comment Politics Corporations Politics UK Fracking Fossil Fuels Is the UK … in terms of the work they do lobbying politicians and getting involved in elections. …
Pope Francis's forthcoming statement on climate change could just revitalise progress towards significant emissions cuts, writes Jonathon Porritt. But more than that, it will open up the space for a wider spirituality to guide our thinking, and campaigning, on climate and other key global challenges.
… necessary, it will confirm for many that our politicians are incapable of understanding the … to say the least, and there are many Catholic politicians and climate change sceptics who … a very influential role in today's climate politics. Especially in the USA, where they've …
The latest book by Nicholas Stern Why Are We Waiting? The Logic, Urgency, and Promise of Tackling Climate Change presents a rational assessment of the climate crisis.
… alone cannot do the job; that the heavy political lifting has to be both national and … the absolutists who fill so much of this political space. He has an inspiring … illusions about the gap between the kind of political leadership we need and the kind of …
Boosters of 'free trade' agreements - like the Trans Pacific Partnership that's being signed today - like to make big promises, writes Pete Dolack: trillions of dollars of economic gains, billions of dollars of investment, millions of new jobs. But there's only one certainty, and it's one they never mention: the permanent redistribution of power and income from working people to capital.
… Pete Dolack | 4th February 2016 News Trade Politics Regulation Economics Corporations New … 'free trade' deals that are relied on by the political leaders who push these deals require … are presented with a straight face? The political economist Martin Hart-Landsberg, in …
The UK's exit from the EU won't deliver for the 'victims of globalisation' whose votes were decisive in the referendum result, writes Pete Dolack. All the economic scenarios advanced to date envisage more of the 'free trade' and neoliberalism that has global empowered capital against communities and the well-paid jobs that once sustained them. Plus ca change ...
… Pete Dolack | 30th June 2016 News EU UK Politics Trade Economics brexit-cut.jpg The … does not seem to be an issue for Norway's political leaders. A 2012 Norwegian review of … [O]ur form of association with the EU dampens political engagement and debate in Norway and …
Unless we change our ways, the Lovelock hypothesis may come to pass – that’s why the work of the <i>Ecologist</i> is so important, says Jonathon Porritt.
… inadequate delay mechanisms if he were right? Politicians need him to be wrong – because how … dramatic breakthroughs in citizen awareness, political will, institutional reform, … denial, entrenched vested interests, massive political failure, worsening equity divides …
French nuclear parastatal EDF is facing problem after problem - zombie nuclear projects in the UK, Finland, China and France, a fleet of 'beyond the grave' reactors, a dropping share price and its drooping credit rating. But is it really as bad as all that? Jonathon Porritt has exclusive access to the leaked Agenda of its latest board meeting. And the answer is - no. It's even worse.
… February 2016 Comment Nuclear Energy Finance Politics UK France Corporations nuclear … now joined the ranks of the critics stating "Politically painful it may be, but the case … Even the FT has joined the critics, stating 'Politically painful it may be, but the case …
World Bank projects have left a worldwide trail of evictions, displacements, rapes, murders, forest destruction, greenhouse-gas-belching fossil fuel projects, and destruction of farmland and water sources, writes Pete Dolack. But even as internal reports admit the Bank's wrongdoing, it is asserting its immunity from legal action as terrorised communities seek redress in the courts.
… farmer cooperatives have engaged in lawsuits, political advocacy, and peaceful protests to … or deliberately ignored the serious social, political and human rights context." These … policy justifications are 'quintessentially political and ideological.' "Regarding the …
With the Government wilfully undermining the UK's small but fast-growing solar power sector for the second time, Jonathon Porritt wonders ... why the attacks on what is our second lowest cost source of renewable energy, and getting cheaper all the time?
… July 2014 Comment UK Renewables Solar Energy Politics toyota-solar-farm-cut.jpg Toyota UK … to include amongst early influences on your political life. First, the facts So I …
Donald Trump's scheme to rebuild US infrastructure could be among the world's greatest ever financial heists, writes Pete Dolack. He has chosen the most expensive, anti-democratic way to do the job, through the mass privatization of priceless public assets - sticking users and taxpayers for exorbitant charges for decades to come, while banks and speculators reap the profits.
… Disorder | 23rd February 2017 News Finance Politics USA UK Germany France Water … the privatization itself remains outside political debate, placing a "ring-fence" … surrounding the privatization, such as the "politics of packaging and selling households …
A new report shows that the UK's farms can easily generate as much power as the proposed Hinkley C nuclear plant, writes Jonathan Porritt. Not only would it all be renewable, but if could all be in place by 2020. Here he offers some friendly - but strictly confidential - advice for Energy Secretary Ed Davey.
… 2014 Comment Renewables Energy Nuclear UK Politics solar-panels-sheep-cut.jpg Bumblebees … the rural economy. Despite the media and political spin, the majority of Brits like …
Progressives must begin organizing now, writes Pete Dolack, before Trump takes office and command of the world's most deadly security apparatus. We must demonstrate strong resolve against the right-wing authoritarian rule to come, as a Trump White House will unleash repression on a scale not seen in decades.
… Pete Dolack | 11th November 2016 Comment USA Politics trump-pointing-cut.jpg Progressives … material embodying a new era and dragging the political sphere into a tighter domination by …
The previous government came in on a bold promise to be the 'greenest ever', writes Jonathon Porritt. But what we got was a shameful record of ideologically driven policies that promoted fossil fuels, undermined action on climate, obsessed over nuclear power, did nothing to arrest the decline in the nation's wildlife and biodiversity - and suggest even worse to come.
… Jonathon Porritt | 22nd June 2015 News UK Politics Climate Change Fossil Fuels … important to maintain this level of political priority and new investment. There … record, and it's important to call out those politicians primarily responsible for such a …
The leaked chapters of the EU-US TTIP 'free trade' deal reveal a shredding of health, environmental and other protections for consumers and citizens, writes Pete Dolack. It's a wet dream for corporate monopolists and profiteers, and the elite bureaucrats that serve them. But for civil society it represents an irreversible destruction of democracy itself.
… | 5th May 2016 News Trade EU US Corporations Politics GMOs Toxics … ideas across society and the ideas adopted by political leaders intellectually and …
The government's surprise delay in signing the contract with EDF to build the Hinkley C nuclear power station has opened up a the space for a forward-looking UK energy policy, writes Jonathon Porritt - one that moves us into the world of low cost renewables, and smart new technologies vital to the global clean energy transition. But is Business & Energy Greg Clark for real? Don't rule it out!
… News Energy Renewables Nuclear Technology Politics China France … I know of him as a conscientious, focussed politician of the kind that we've seen far too … in Opposition - he's in Government! So the politics becomes infinitely more complex, with …
A new report from the IMF has quantified the prodigious subsidies doled out to the fossil fuel industries, writes Pete Dolack - an astonishing $5.6 trillion per year, over 7% of world product, including direct payments, tax breaks and unpaid environmental costs. The obscene scale of public largesse proves the need for a social movement to challenge global energy capitalism.
… can pick up and move at will, inducing political office holders to hand out … to believe such a program is currently politically feasible. The disruptions to a … can pick up and move at will, inducing political office holders to hand out …
Tackling the population explosion is critical to avoiding environmental disaster
… anodyne, drafted in the sure knowledge that politicians would be disinclined to listen to … degraded environments. If that sounds politically incorrect, then good. I am now … them. That’s 400 women a day. Note to the politically correct population naysayers: you …
In this new age of austerity money is a perpetual struggle for the public sector and ordinary people, writes Pete Dolack. Yet central banks have squandered trillions to boost profits in the financial sector, reward speculation and push up real estate values. In fact, the world is awash with money as never before - our money. Just don't expect to get your hands on it any time soon.
… December 2015 News Finance US UK Japan EU Politics money-gun-cut.jpg In this new age of …
The GMB trade union has called on the UK government to press ahead with the Hinkley Point C power station despite legal challenges and serious technical failures. In this Open Letter, David Elliott, Ian Fairlie, Jonathon Porritt and colleagues tell the union that its members' interests lie in our renewable future, not the nuclear past.
… | 15th July 2015 Comment Nuclear UK Energy Politics Law …
The Paris Agreement is a severely inadequate response to the climate crisis the world now faces, writes Pete Dolack, full of vague aspirations and devoid of hard, enforceable commitments. But the impending US withdrawal is still bad news for us all - including the Trump-supporting Koch brothers, set to gain billions from their Alberta tarsands holdings. Short-term profits are a poor exchange for a less livable world, even for those making the money.
… | 7th June 2017 News Climate Change USA Politics Corporations Paris Agreement …
The Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant never made sense, writes Jonathon Porritt, but as legal challenges gather, finance fails to materialize, the cost of renewable energy keeps on falling, and the 'dead duck' EPR design is prepared for burial, even nuclear fanatics are turning against the doomed project.
… | 11th March 2015 Comment Nuclear Energy UK Politics Corporations … robust rope-ladder up which those benighted politicians - and ever-more benighted …