Info, news & debate
People
The EU referendum from an environmental perspective: are you willing to be challenged?
Almost all of my friends, and people whose opinions I respect, are intending to vote ‘Remain’ on Thursday. Here are the four main reasons I hear:
The Ecological Land Co-op has purchased more land to create ecological smallholdings
Here’s a quick overview of what the Ecological Land Co-op does, before going on to their latest news. The problem that they were formed to solve is that many people who would like to build a home made from local, sustainable materials,
A brief history of philosophy, part 5: roots of Renaissance
By reconciling the two giants of ancient philosophy with Christianity, Augustine and Aquinas, although culpable in the torture and murder of many thousands of innocent people, were world-changers who allowed us to eventually start to break away from myth again
Why Alicia Keys giving up makeup is important
Readers of the Lowimpact blog won’t necessarily know who Alicia Keys is. She’s an American singer / songwriter who has sold over 35 million albums. So very famous, very successful, and right at the heart of the entertainment industry.
A brief history of philosophy, part 4: Aquinas reconciles Christianity with Aristotle
Last week we saw how Augustine reconciled Plato with Christianity; but Aristotle, with his logic and his empiricism, was difficult to reconcile with a book that already claimed to have all the answers, and so that didn’t happen until 900 years later.
How to leave the city and regain a connection with the land
Many city people yearn to be involved with the land hands-on—and to do so on a long-term basis. But leaving the city for good is too big a step for most people; they need to keep a stake in the city for work or social reasons.
Want to be part of a pioneering eco-village project in Northern Ireland?
The Cauldron Community Educational Eco Village project is working to set up the first Eco Village in Northern Ireland and is currently open for Aspiring Residents and Investors. We are registered and constituted as a not-for-profit ‘Community Interest Company.’
A brief history of philosophy, part 3: Augustine reconciles Christianity with Plato
Augustine (354-430) was a bridge between the classical world and the medieval, Christian world. He reconciled Christianity with Plato, and his immaterial world of forms – a much easier task than reconciling Aristotle, with his scientific outlook and emphasis on reason.
A brief history of philosophy, part 2: Socrates, Plato & Aristotle
After the natural philosophers, the main focus of philosophy was changed by Socrates – probably the most famous philosopher of them all. His position was that you begin to become a philosopher when you admit that you know nothing.
Green woodworking inspiration: mural door
This is a copy of the door to a wall cupboard, or mural cupboard (just the same word but from a Latin stem – posh). I wrote briefly about this local cupboard now in Cliffe Castle Museum here.
My meeting with EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and corporate representatives, and the rules they want to impose on us
At the end of April, I went to a Trade Commission ‘civil society dialogue’ meeting Brussels in which Trade Commissioner Cecelia Malmstrom was seeking input on how to push forward the WTO globalisation agenda via the mechanism of the EU.
How many of us could give a rough overview of the history of philosophy? Part 1: Thales to Socrates
It may seem like a strange question from an environmental organisation. But the way that we think nowadays didn’t just fall from the sky – it’s not ‘common sense’ and it hasn’t always been the same. We’re not born with a worldview – it’s something that we develop from what’s gone before.
Temple Druid Community are looking for new members and volunteers; opportunity for self-build
Temple Druid Community is set in 56 acres of woodland, pasture, steams and meadows in North Pembrokeshire. We are looking for members to join us in creating a community based on the foundations of compassion and respect for nature, ourselves and others and a strong wish to tread gently on the earth.
Re-thinking liberalisation – to counter corporate takeover
‘Liberalisation’ – sounds like a good thing, right – like ‘freedom’? It’s rarely named or explained, but underpins the trade agenda and ‘globalisation’. It allows corporations to become mega-transnationals.
Ha Joon Chang: ‘increasing corporate power is at the heart of TTIP’
Ha Joon Chang, author of 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism and Economics: The User’s Guide explains that TTIP is not about ‘free trade’ – trade is already more-or-less free. TTIP is about helping corporations to sue countries if they dare to do anything – anything at all – that can be shown …
Obama says we’ll be ‘at the back of the queue’ for TTIP if we leave the EU; that’s the best argument I’ve heard for Brexit
Trade deals (and in fact, the EU) exist to maximise growth and to orient our economies towards exports. From an environmental perspective, this is the exact opposite of what we should be doing.
Can you think about sending this letter (or something similar) to your MP about TTIP?
Can you take 10 mins to send this letter, or something very similar, to your MP? People have been asking MPs some of these questions and getting silly answers, which suggests we are hitting a nerve – so we need to keep on hitting it.
The 6 main approaches to changing the world; which one do you subscribe to?
We received an email recently with these sentences: ‘This idea of those evil corporations is mistaken because we are all involved in society and economy. There is no us and them we are all part of it and need to take responsibility for that.’
Public support for TTIP has plummeted in Germany and the US to 17% and 15% respectively
A report for the Bertelsmann Foundation has shown plummeting support for TTIP in Germany and in the US – down to 17% in Germany and 15% in the US, with 18% of Americans and a full third of Germans saying that it is ‘a bad thing’.
Stephen Hawking says that we should prioritise space travel and that ‘philosophy is dead’; cleverness and wisdom are very different
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