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Dongria Kondh boy Kalia stands in front of the Niyamgiri hill range

Lewis Davids/Survival

Conflict/Dispossession

For 10 Years, Niyamgiri’s adivasis have resisted a takeover of their land by the government and Vedanta

31st May 2016

Susmita Mukherjee writes: The Supreme Court has scrapped a petition filed, yet again by the Odisha Mining Corporation, challenging the resolutions of the Gram Sabhas of Niyamgiri Hills. For ten years, the Dongaria Kondhs have been looking beyond the education facilities being offered to them by Vedanta and continue their struggle to protect their land….

CLIMATE CRISIS

The climate movement and the “Jobs vs. Environment” Debate

10th May 2016

Fossil fuel divestment activist Kate Aronoff writes: A growing, green industry born into a hostile labor climate is unlikely to produce steady and well-paying jobs without a fight — not to mention a cross-movement plan beyond shutting down individual infrastructure projects. Breaking Free from fossil fuels can also mean breaking into a more sustainable economy….

ALTERNATIVES

Video: Demain – The documentary that’s taking over France by storm

8th May 2016

The rise of the film ‘Demain‘ appears unstoppable. Viewed in France now by almost a million people, winner of the Cesar award for Best Documentary, the film has been received with standing ovations, and has inspired many to roll their sleeves up and do things. Rob Hopkins’ of the Transition Network’ interviews director Cyril Dion….

Kristian Buus

CLIMATE CRISIS

The time has come to turn up the heat on those who are wrecking planet Earth

Bill McKibben writes: The time has come to turn up the heat on the small band of companies and people still willing to get rich off fossil fuel, even though it’s now utterly clear they’re breaking the planet. The time has come to show that we understand we’re in this together across borders and boundaries….

Conflict/Dispossession

Anti-mining activist Deba Ranjan Sarangi on the alarming situation in Odisha

4th May 2016

Activist, filmmaker and writer Debaranjan Sarangi, actively involved in the struggle of adivasis in Odisha’s Kashipur to protect their lands from bauxite mining, was arrested on March 18, 2016 on the basis of a 2005 case. In this interview with Countercurrents.org following his release on bail, he describes his experiences and the present situation in Odisha….

Shunya.net

ALTERNATIVES

Ecologise Hyderabad: Workshops for Sustainability and Equality

29th April 2016

Some of us have recently created a small group called ‘Ecologise Hyderabad’. The aim of the group is to look at the many ecological crises of the city holistically, interact with experts and social activist and run programmes to strengthen the efforts of the activists in running green programmes in different localities of the city….

ALTERNATIVES

Video: Disobedience – The rise of the global fossil fuel resistance

27th April 2016

Disobedience is the story of the struggle to save the world. Disobedience tells the David vs Goliath tales of front line leaders around the world risking life and limb in the fight for a liveable climate. Interwoven with this riveting verité footage are the most renowned voices in the global conversation around social movements and climate justice…

Charterforcompassion.org

Economy

Reform is not enough to stem the rising tide of inequality worldwide

21st April 2016

William Robinson writes: The celebrated economist Thomas Piketty has argued for a global tax on capital and redistribution through tax reform. This reformist approach to global inequality is entirely inadequate because it bypasses the questions of power and of corporate control over the planet’s productive resources that are at the very heart of global capitalism and its crisis….

ALTERNATIVES

A Green Development Manifesto for Kerala

7th April 2016

This first of its kind Green Development Agenda for Kerala was collectively drafted by green collective Paristhithi Aikya Vedhi, and has been submitted to the leaders of the main political parties in the fray for the upcoming Assembly Elections in May. It was released on 30th March by Dr.V.S.Vijayan, Member, Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel….

Conflict/Dispossession

How Goa’s mining lobby, government and media ganged up against a young tribal activist

4th April 2016

Nandita Haksar writes: Ravindra Velip, a 27-year-old tribal activist fighting mining in Goa, is facing the combined might of the state government, the mining lobby and a complicit media. A founding member of green activist group Rainbow Warriors, he was arrested and placed in judicial custody. When he was assaulted in jail, it went unreported….

The endangered Northern White Rhino

Culture/Cognition

Charles Eisenstein: In a Rhino, Everything

1st April 2016

A planet where caged wild animals go extinct is also one that warehouses its elderly in nursing homes. A world where the last white rhinos age in zoos is also a world of war, racism, poverty, and ecocide. It’s impossible for one to exist without the others. All are part of the same unholy matrix….

Frida Kahlo

Culture/Cognition

Atulya Bingham: Where did environmentalism go wrong?

29th March 2016

Atulya Bingham, author of ‘Mudball’, writes: With an unwavering fascination in the end of the world, environmentalism has attempted to scare humanity into acting, and we are now seeing just how spectacularly these scare tactics have failed. Not that the scare isn’t based on solid foundations, it’s more that apparently, scared people are not particularly effective at mobilising….

ALTERNATIVES

Can environmentalism learn from religion?

18th March 2016

Kurt Cobb writes: While it might seem tempting to downplay the nexus between religion and environmentalism in order to bolster environmentalism’s scientific underpinnings, I think this would be a serious mistake. The effectiveness of religious rhetoric suggests that environmentalists ought not to discard it, but rather figure out how to harness it even more effectively….

ALTERNATIVES

A new wave of climate insurgents defines itself as law-enforcers

16th March 2016

Jeremy Brecher writes: One in six Americans say they would engage in nonviolent civil disobedience against corporate or government activities that make global warming worse. That’s about 40 million adults. The fate of the earth may depend on them. Such actions are about to take a quantum leap both in numbers and in global coordination….

ENERGY

Towards Energy Democracy: A Vision Statement

6th March 2016

Unlimited growth and consumerist culture is incompatible with a finite world. We call for an urgent paradigm shift, from the currently dominant model of consumption-led development, to creating frameworks of human and ecological well being. This transition should be defined by the principles of sustainability, equity, and justice. (Adopted at the Bijli Vikalp Sangam, Bodh Gaya)…

CLIMATE CRISIS

NEWS UPDATE #85

3rd March 2016

Sukumar Muralidharan reports on Catch News: This year’s economic survey is a catalogue of crises. For one thing, it records that the situation in agriculture has been dismal on account of two successive years of poor monsoons. This is only the fourth time in 115 years that such a misfortune has hit the Indian economy….

ALTERNATIVES

Announcing Ecologise Camp 4, near Thally, Tamil Nadu

16th February 2016

Dates: April 16-17, 2016 Venue: A Small Three Acre Farm (“Asta Farm”), Hosur-Thally Road, Krishnagiri District, Tamil Nadu Land custodians: Gracy Elezebeth & Vijay Kundaji Contacts Vijayendra t.vijayendra@gmail.com +91 94907 05634 Vijay Kundaji vijay.kundaji@gmail.com +91 98450 87530 Gracy Elezebeth gracyvijay@yahoo.com +91 94484 82572 “When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned,…

ALTERNATIVES

Blessed Unrest – How the largest social movement in history is restoring grace, justice, and beauty to the world

2nd February 2016

Environmentalist Paul Hawken has spent over a decade researching organizations dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice. From billion-dollar nonprofits to single-person dot.causes, these groups collectively comprise the largest movement on earth, a movement that has no name, leader, or location, and that has gone largely ignored by politicians and the mainstream media. www.blessedunrest.com…

The Hindu

GREEN POLITICS

Yogendra Yadav and Vandana Shiva call for a green party in India

29th December 2015

Vasanth Srinivasan of The Hindu quotes former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav as saying, “there is a crying need for environmental politics” in India, but with the following caveat. “If green politics does not restrict itself as urban environmental activism but emerges as a binding agent of various marginalised groups and concerns, it definitely has a future in India.”…

ALTERNATIVES

Announcing Ecologise Camp 3 at Sirsi, Karnataka

30th November 2015

Dates: January 23-25, 2016 Venue: ‘No Man’s Land’ Farm, Danandi Village, Sirsi Taluk, Uttara Kannada Dist., Karnataka Host: George Varghese, grgvrghs@gmail.com; +91 9481278348 “When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money.” – Native American saying We now live in…