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Inspiration/Musings

We have invented a mountain of superflous needs, says ‘the world’s poorest president’

26th May 2018

José Mujica was the President of Uruguay between 2010 and 2015 and was a former urban guerrilla fighter who was imprisoned for 13 years during the military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. Often referred to as the “world’s most humble president”, he retired from office in 2015 with an approval rating of 70 percent….

The ZAD will survive: Dispatches from Europe’s largest ‘liberated territory’

25th April 2018

It was supposed to be the site of western France’s biggest airport, but instead, it became the center of a utopian experiment. Hundreds of squatters –eco-warriors to some, green jihadis to others– now live in the ZAD, which resisted a eviction operation after a 2,500 strong police unit recently forced their way into the camp….

Celebrating indigenous peoples effort to protect forests, and the planet

21st April 2018

From If Not Us Then Who: Indigenous peoples live and work in the lands they protect–and have been found to be the most effective guardians of the world’s forests. This International Day of Forests, we are taking the opportunity to celebrate their work they’re doing globally to protect our forests, and, in turn, our planet….

Western science is finally catching up with Traditional Knowledge

14th April 2018

From The Conversation: Are Indigenous and Western systems of knowledge categorically antithetical? Or do they offer multiple points of entry into knowledge of the world? As ways of knowing, both systems share important and fundamental attributes. There are also many cases where science and history are catching up with what Indigenous peoples have long known….

Chipko@40: Revisiting India’s legendary ecological movement

10th April 2018

Forty five years ago, villagers in the Alakananda valley stopped a group of loggers from felling a patch of ash trees. Thus was born the Chipko Andolan, the peasant movement that focused popular attention on the depredations of commercial forestry in India. A tribute to India’s original ecological movement, which inspired many more to come….

Hope from chaos: could political upheaval lead to a new green epoch?

4th April 2018

Kevin Anderson writes in The Conversation: Most political and economic pontificators, buttressed by naysayers and established elites, remain incapable of seeing beyond their familiar 20th century horizon. But the 21st century is already proving how the future is a different country –one that could yet be shaped by alternative interpretations of prosperity, sustainability and equity….

Announcing the ‘Atlas of Utopias’

30th March 2018

From Transformative Cities: The Atlas of Utopias is a global gallery of inspiring community led transformation in water, energy and housing. The atlas features 32 communities from 19 countries who responded to the Transformative Cities initiative which seeks to learn from cities working on radical solutions to our world’s systemic economic, social and ecological crises….

Latin America signs landmark agreement to protect environmental activists

22nd March 2018

Brazil, Colombia and Mexico top the list of countries where the most people die defending a patch of earth, a mountain, or a river. The region where most environmental activists die annually is taking action with a new landmark agreement. The “Escazu Accord” is only the second regional agreement on environmentalists’ rights in the world….

Cracks in capitalism’s wall: Zapatistas and the struggle to decolonise science

17th March 2018

From Toward Freedom: The second iteration of ConCiencias, a conference creating dialogue between the Zapatista’s and leading left wing scientists from throughout the world, took place at San Cristobal de Las Casas. The struggle to decolonize knowledge is part and parcel of the Zapatista’s broader project of resisting indigenous genocide, neoliberal capitalism, and political repression….

Film: Schooling the World – The White Man’s Last Burden

13th March 2018

If you wanted to change a culture, how would you do it? You would change the way it educates its children. ‘Schooling The World,’ a film by Carol Black, takes a challenging, sometimes funny, ultimately deeply troubling look at the role played by modern education in the destruction of the world’s last sustainable land based cultures….

Pablo Solon: Vivir Bien – Old cosmovisions and new paradigms

11th March 2018

From GreatTransition.org: The concept of Vivir Bien (or Buen Vivir), reflecting an indigenous cosmovision that emphasizes living in harmony with nature and one another, gained international attention as an alternative to the rampage of neoliberalism. As its popularity has grown, however, its meaning has been compromised, warns Pablo Solon, Bolivia’s former ambassador to the UN….

Constructing hope: ‘Green Earth’ by Kim Stanley Robinson

1st March 2018

Adrian Ayres Fisher writes: Part of the relatively new ‘cli fi’ genre, Kim Stanley Robinson‘s novel ‘Green Earth’, is full of climate change related, extreme weather disasters. It could have been yet another nightmarish fantasy trip. Instead, with underpinnings of Shakespearean comedy, its tone and structure convey hopefulness and there are moments of true joy….

Seven lessons on starting a worldwide movement for change

22nd February 2018

“There was no name for what we were proposing. It was bold, imaginative, and beyond what most folks thought of as environmentalism. It wasn’t environmentalism, it was much more than that.” A blog by Naresh Giangrande Co-founder of Totnes, the world’s first Transition-Town, as he signs off after a ten-year adventure in global social change….

Obituary: Dhrubajyoti Ghosh, intrepid defender of Kolkata’s wetlands

17th February 2018

Dhrubajyoti Ghosh, one of India’s most courageous and persevering environmentalists, is no more. Here’s a tribute to Ghosh, best known for his campaign to save East Kolkata’s wetlands and its fisher and farming communities from the city’s real estate mafia. Also included, a video where he explains the concepts of cognitive apartheid and positive footprint….

Bookshelf: Alternative Futures: India Unshackled

13th February 2018

A remarkable, first-ever collection of essays on India’s future, by a diverse set of authors – activists, researchers, media practitioners – those who have influenced policies and those working at the grassroots. It presents scenarios of an India that is politically and socially egalitarian, radically democratic, ecologically sustainable and economically equitable, and socio-culturally diverse and harmonious….

Project Puchki: Raising awareness on sustainable living and menstrual hygiene

7th February 2018

Minhaj Ameen writes: Project Puchki has impacted 70,000 students in 1600 schools across 6 Indian States through 80 interns. It is our to take Project Puchki to all rural households of India and create awareness amongst millions of students who are currently outside the gambit of fundamental education on environmental sustainability, sanitation and menstrual hygiene….

Atulya Bingham

Atulya Bingham: The forest man

1st February 2018

Ludwig Appeltans is an experienced permaculture teacher who has lived in the forest for four years. He runs the Earth Ways permaculture project, aiming to reconnect people, land and nature. Here, he is in conversation with Atulya Bingham, an earth building practitioner who has lived close to nature for many years in her native Turkey….

Medha Patkar campaigning for the Aam Aadmi Party in Mumbai

Joe Athialy

Three interviews: Medha Patkar, Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres and Nonhle Mbuthuma

31st January 2018

From The Transnational Institute: Women everywhere are leading struggles against corporate crimes and defending their communities and the dignity of all people, risking their lives in the process. To introduce our 2018 report on counter-power, we interviewed three women activists who have displayed incredible courage, determination and creativity to confront corporate power and state violence….

Saravanakumar/Icon Films Ltd.

A tribute to Romulus Whitaker, the ‘Snake man of India’

30th January 2018

A tribute to Romulus Whitaker, recently awarded the Padma Shri, among India’s highest civilian honours. Here, the acclaimed herpetologist talks about his decades of work with reptiles which led to setting up of six pioneering institutions including the famous Madras Crocodile Bank, apart from giving snakes and reptiles a positive place in the Indian public’s mind….

Masanobu Fukuoka

The heritage of 20th century science for the 21st century: A list and an invitation

29th January 2018

Some of the most celebrated scientific ideas and books of the 20th century may not be useful for us in this century, while lesser-known works of the past acquire new relevance. Here, then, is a selection of such works, along with an invitation for readers to critique and contribute their own suggestions to this list….