Info, news & debate
Month: December 2015
What might poultry farms and human society look like if chickens and humans weren’t treated as machines to maximise profit?
Making use of biological resources, or renewable resources and services as David Holmgren characterises them, is an important principle of Permaculture Design. ‘Renewable services (or passive functions) are those we gain from plants, animals and living soil and water without them being consumed.’
To all environmental groups: lifestyle change isn’t going to be enough to avert ecological catastrophe
Someone said to me the other day that he associated ‘low-impact’ with lifestyle but not with politics or economics. Someone else asked why we blogged about TTIP, economic growth or system change when we were ‘just’ an environmental organisation.
Should I remove moss from my roof?
Removing the moss from your roof is a topic that is widely debated. Does it do more damage to leave the moss growing on your tiles or does removing it harm your roof even more?
Sweden has ‘decoupled’ carbon emissions and economic growth? Why this is a lie
There was a report on the World Service this morning about how Sweden has decoupled carbon emissions from economic growth. Sweden’s economic growth in the last 25 years totals 60%. Its carbon emissions in the same time period are down 20%. So that’s it, isn’t it – the Holy Grail?
Retrofitting existing houses for energy efficiency: learn how at ‘open house’ events around the country
The UK’s Federation of Open Home Networks believes the homes of the future will necessarily be dramatically improved older homes. Our homes accounted for 22% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2014.
Hats off to Brandalism for exposing corporate greenwash
Genius campaign by a group called Brandalism. They managed to get around 600 spoof but corporate-looking adverts all over Paris in time for the climate talks. The fake ads were the work of 82 artists from 19 countries, and they parody the companies involved in sponsoring the climate talks.
Corporations suing elected governments for introducing laws that reduce their profits isn’t new, but TTIP will make it much worse
It’s called Investor-state Dispute Settlement (ISDS), and it’s a mechanism whereby corporations can sue governments that introduce legislation that they claim reduce their potential to make profit – for example, requiring plain packaging for cigarettes (Australia and Uruguay sued)
Leader of a major Western country questions perpetual economic growth shock!
Lowimpact.org has campaigned since 2001 for stabilisation of the global economy. Our aim is to help shift humanity towards a way of being on this planet that doesn’t destroy the biosphere. And that’s not possible without stabilising the economy.
Nanodairies gathering: for people keeping or looking to keep up to four cows
Information sharing event for people who keep from one to four dairy cows, and a training course for people who are planning to do this. Focussed uniquely on cows, not on goats or sheep. 25 & 26 February, 2016, at Monkton Wyld Court, Charmouth, Dorset.
Why does Jeremy Hunt want to give junior doctors more work for less money, and can we stop the corporate takeover of the NHS?
The planned strike is off, but we all know that the assault on the NHS will continue. The corporate incursions into the NHS that Hunt and his ilk are encouraging are because of neoliberal ideology, not a desire to provide the best healthcare. Can there be anyone on the left or right who doesn’t appreciate this, …