Paris has been awash with hype about 'CO2 recycling' and 'carbon neutral' or even 'carbon negative' technologies based on burning millions of trees, writes Rachel Smolker. But the alchemical notion that waste carbon can be spun into corporate gold is hitting serious reality checks. It's time to ditch the fantasies and progress the real solutions: like caring for land, soils, forests and grasslands.
COP21's climate technofix: spinning carbon into gold and the myth of 'negative emissions' Rachel Smolker | 3rd December 2015 News COP21 Climate Change Fossil Fuels Biomass Ipcc Agroecology Forests …
We cannot rely on governments in meeting in Paris to solve the many-headed climate problem, writes Vandana Shiva. It's up to us to safeguard the future of the Earth, and of our own and other species. So let's all join in this pact to love and protect our one and only home.
A People's Pact to Protect the Planet Vandana Shiva | 2nd December 2015 Comment Climate Change Farming Water Biodiversity Seeds Trade gaia-cut.jpg We cannot rely on governments in meeting in Paris to …
Growing crops to solve the planet’s energy needs doesn’t work. Recycling the energy in our waste just might have a significant part to play. By Jeremy Smith & Jon Hughes
Less waste, more speed Jeremy Smith Jon Hughes | 29th March 2007 News Biogas Sweden Bush Biofuel Dung Biomass Biofuel Biotechnology Agribusiness Farming Biotechnology Ozone Layer Incineration …
The latest salvo in the battle over Africa's seed systems has been fired, writes Stephen Greenberg, with the Gates Foundation and USAID playing puppet-masters to Africa's governments - now meeting in Addis Ababa - as they drive forward corporation-friendly seed regulations that exclude and marginalize the small farmers whose seeds and labour feed the continent.
… conditions. Farmers know the quality of 'recycled' seed, selected and saved from their …
An unreported war over natural resources in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories has led students from Bangor University to set up a radical eco-movement, Bustan al Qaraaqa, to address the issue. William Parry reports from Bethlehem
Can British activists solve Middle Eastern water conflicts using permaculture? William Parry | 25th January 2011 News Politics And Economics Water Natural Resources Farming Investigations …
Ethical consumerism in the UK is currently worth £29.3 billion, yet 60 per cent of us feel we don't have enough information to make an ethical decision. There is an ever-growing array of eco labels, but what do they tell us? Or fail to tell us? Pat Thomas explains
Behind the Eco Labels Pat Thomas | 1st April 2007 Ethical Living Freedom Food Fairtrade Recycling FSC Wood Ecolabel Eco Labels Organic Red Tractor Msc Fuel Economy Energy Star Leaf Confidence In …
What does Douglas Gowan know that everyone else wants to keep hidden? For 40 years the story of Brofiscin Quarry – now the most polluted place in the UK – has been suppressed...
Burying The Truth, the orginal Ecologist investigation into Monsanto and Brofiscin Quarry Jon Hughes Pat Thomas | 11th October 2007 News Monsanto PCB's Enviroment Agancy Brofiscin Risk Industrial …
The Land Workers Alliance gathered yesterday at DEFRA's London HQ to protest at the corrupt relationship between Government and corporate agriculture - and the deliberate marginalisation of small farmers, our most sustainable producers. Ed Hamer explains ...
… from one enterprise - muck or straw - is recycled on the farm to create a resilient …
What does Douglas Gowan know that everyone else wants to keep hidden? For 40 years the story of Brofiscin Quarry – now the most polluted place in the UK – has been suppressed...
Burying The Truth Jon Hughes Pat Thomas | 11th October 2007 News Monsanto PCB's Enviroment Agancy Brofiscin Risk Industrial Farming Health Politics And Economics Waste And Recycling …
Scientists have been debating the conclusions of a recently published research on insects that reportedly found alarming declines, reports CATHERINE EARLY.
Insect armageddon - the devil is in the detail Catherine Early | 3rd November 2017 News Insects Ecology Pesticides Farming 405652.jpg Scientists have been debating the conclusions of a recently …
How can we bridge the gap between ‘fast food' living and responsible consumption when mass production and a throw-away mindset still dominate the lifestyles of most people? LAURA BRIGGS has some thoughts...
… from fast-food giant McDonald's cannot be recycled. It can be composted, but it's …
It will take decades to completely leave fossil fuels, writes Richard Heinberg. But we can do it, starting with the easy stuff: going big time for wind and solar, raising energy efficiency, replacing oil-fuelled vehicles, and moving to organic farming. But deeper changes will follow as we transition to a more enduring sustainability - consuming better, and much less.
The transition to 100% renewable energy: because we have no choice Richard Heinberg | 18th March 2016 News Energy Renewables Fossil Fuels Farming Organic Transport wind-freeway-cut.jpg It will take …
The world is in the grip of a structural war against people, land, economies and ecosystems, writes Colin Todhunter. It is being waged by a quartet of organised criminal interests bent on monopolizing energy, money, food and violence across the globe. But a deep-rooted resistance against their 'neoliberal' doctrine of death and destruction is fighting back.
Arms, agribusiness, finance and fossil fuels: the four horsemen of the neoliberal Apocalypse Colin Todhunter | 15th February 2016 News Food Farming Finance USA Energy 4-horsemen-cut.jpg The world is …
Climate Smart Agriculture sounds like a great idea, write hundreds of civil society organisations worldwide. But in truth it's a PR front for international agribusiness to promote corporate agriculture, pesticides and fertilisers at COP21, with a heavy dose of greenwash. Countries must resist the siren calls - and give their support to true agroecology that sustains soil, health, life and climate.
No to 'Climate Smart Agriculture', yes to agroecology Climate Smart Agriculture Concerns | 21st October 2015 Comment Climate Change Farming Corporations The Land Unfccc COP21 rice-philippines-cut.jpg …
Bhaskar Save, the 'Gandhi of natural farming', died last year after a lifetime of organic growing and determined campaigning against the destruction of India's traditional, sustainable agriculture, writes Colin Todhunter. His 2006 open letter, published here, sets out a devastating critique of industrial agriculture and its impacts, and an eloquent and timely agroecological manifesto.
Bhaskar Save: the 'Green Revolution' ruined India; agroecology can restore her Colin Todhunter | 12th January 2016 Comment Farming Ecology India Organic Water bhaskar-save-cut.jpg Bhaskar Save, the …
Making the transition from wine writer to viticulturist was a leap of faith for Monty Waldin. What could he expect from his new hilltop vineyard in the Pyrenees?
… around 15 tonnes of municipal compost, recycled from green municipal waste, mainly …
If the world is to feed a growing population against a backdrop of climate change and biodiversity loss, argues Charles Windsor, we must put a cost on the damage we are causing to soils, water, climate and ecosystems.
We must put a price on Nature Charles Windsor | 12th December 2013 Comment Food Farming Natural World charles-windsor-gm-food.png If the world is to feed a growing population against a backdrop of …
Anyone working to protect badgers from culling will know of Dominic Dyer - wildlife advocate and new director of the Badger Trust. Lesley Docksey met him 'on the hoof' at a recent march - and found out just why the badger campaign is so important to him.
Dominic Dyer, badger champion Lesley Docksey | 9th April 2014 Comment Natural World Badgers Campaigning Politics Farming dominic-dyer-exeter.jpg Anyone working to protect badgers from culling will …
A study of GMO cotton varieties shows they disrupt an important beneficial soil fungus, writes Eva Sirinathsinghji, apparently due to the Bt insecticide they are engineered to express. Disruption caused by the transgenic cotton to mycorrhizal fungi, and the wider soil ecosystem, may underlie the low yields and poor pest resistance now endemic among Bt GM crops.
Vital soil fungi damaged by GMO Bt cotton Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji | 24th November 2016 News GMOs Farming Ecology Agroecology Pesticides csiro_scienceimage_7410_a_larva_of_helicoverpa_armigera-cut.jpg …
Leaving the European Union and reaching a trade deal with President Trump's US would create a perfect storm for UK farmers, writes Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson Kate Parminter, with new EU tariffs, reduced subsidies and drastically lower standards. The changes would also pose a serious threat to our natural environment, food quality and public health.
Brexit and Trump trade deal spell doom for our 'Green and Pleasant Land' Kate Parminter | 31st January 2017 Comment Trade Food Farming Politics Brexit USA UK countryside-cut.jpg Leaving the European …
GM crops may benefit agribusiness, writes Andrew Adam-Bradford. But they offer little to Africa or the millions of farming communities that feed the continent. Rather than impose corporate 'solutions', governments should invest in indigenous agro-ecological farming.
Kenya chooses GMOs - but there are smarter ways to feed Africa Andrew Adam-Bradford | 9th August 2014 Comment Africa Kenya Farming GMOs Development Corporations woman-farmer-africa-cut.jpg GM crops …