Info, news & debate

The ‘nature problem’





Plastic bags can prove lethal to turtles and other marine animals

New report: number of plastic bags on UK beaches falls by almost half – so charging 5p for plastic bags works?

| 4

The number of plastic carrier bags found on UK beaches in surveys carried out by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has dropped by almost half between 2015 and 2016. This is the lowest number reported in over a decade, and fantastic news for marine wildlife.

Read more about New report: number of plastic bags on UK beaches falls by almost half – so charging 5p for plastic bags works?



Lean thinking is already alive and well in many indigenous communities

Reimagining progress: what we can learn about ‘lean thinking’ from indigenous communities

| 0

Here’s a living example of a ‘lean’ economy (outlined by David Fleming in our last blog post), and how you can help to preserve it. The ‘unlean’ economy is encroaching onto the territory of the Kichwa and Sapara communities in the Ecuadorean Amazon, in the form of large oil corporations, and will destroy their communities, as

Read more about Reimagining progress: what we can learn about ‘lean thinking’ from indigenous communities



The planning system could have a vital role to play in our efforts to combat climate change

We’re heading for environmental meltdown – how the planning system could help

| 9

As a professional planner (of the town and country planning variety) and fan of Low-impact Living I always expect to see demands or requests being made of the planning system to assist in attempts by individuals or groups to experiment or set examples where impact on the environment would be minimised.

Read more about We’re heading for environmental meltdown – how the planning system could help




hawking

Stephen Hawking says that we should prioritise space travel and that ‘philosophy is dead’; cleverness and wisdom are very different

| 6

There’s clever and there’s clever. There’s clever like a computer or a calculator, and then there’s clever as in wise. The first kind of cleverness is the technical type, that can work out how to build nuclear weapons, or to genetically modify food crops, or to cut through the branch that we’re sitting on

Read more about Stephen Hawking says that we should prioritise space travel and that ‘philosophy is dead’; cleverness and wisdom are very different


Is it a good idea to recruit (in N America and Europe) for sustainable living apprenticeships in Peru?

| 8

We’ve just been approached by someone running ‘sustainable living apprenticeships’ in Peru, asking if there’s anywhere to promote them on our site. This sort of thing happens all the time, by the way – yoga retreats in India, conferences in Malaysia, meditation on Greek islands etc.

Read more about Is it a good idea to recruit (in N America and Europe) for sustainable living apprenticeships in Peru?

ecology-economics

The discipline of economics presupposes corporate capitalism and perpetual growth, which renders it invalid

| 2

Economics is not an unbiased academic discipline, it’s an ideology. Furthermore, economics is based on the false premise that perpetual growth is achievable. It is not, and the reason most people can’t see this is

Read more about The discipline of economics presupposes corporate capitalism and perpetual growth, which renders it invalid

boyle-gandhi

Review of ‘Drinking Molotov Cocktails with Gandhi’ by Mark Boyle – part 1: reformism and the Transition movement

| 28

This was a very challenging and thought-provoking read. Mark lived without money for three years, and wrote the Moneyless Manifesto, published in 2012. This is his latest book about the corporate ‘Machine’ and appropriate responses to it.

Read more about Review of ‘Drinking Molotov Cocktails with Gandhi’ by Mark Boyle – part 1: reformism and the Transition movement

desertification

Can constantly-moving livestock help prevent desertification?

| 7

Desertification is the process whereby grasslands slowly turn into deserts, and suggesting that we can help reverse this process with livestock sounds counter-intuitive, especially as livestock is usually named as one of the major contributors to desertification. In the video below, Allan Savory, who has spent a lifetime studying and working towards poverty eradication and wildlife conservation,

Read more about Can constantly-moving livestock help prevent desertification?