Countercurrents For "Counter Solutions"
By Binu Mathew
Countercurrents is launching a platform for Counter Solution. It is already happening all around the world. Come join us. Take action by joining in one of these local actions. Throw in your ideas. Alert your friends. Spread the word. Write about these actions in your area and let the whole world know. Encourage your friends to write about them. Document it on video and share it with us. Let us join hands for a "Counter Solution"
04 April , 2013
Eating Our Way Home: An Immigrant Family’s Journey For Sustainability
By Aparajita Sengupta
Aparajita Sengupta grew up in Kolkata and went to Presidency College and the University of Calcutta. She did her PhD in English Literature from the University of Kentucky. While staying in the US, she and her husband Debal became interested in the issues of food toxicity,biodiversity and seed rights. Upon returning from the US in 2011, they visited various sustainable farming initiatives in India, and started a small Community Supported Agriculture Farm (Smell of the Earth) on borrowed land with the hopes of spreading awareness about local and chemical-free food systems
06 March , 2013
The Soul Of Community
By Carolyn Baker
It is a desire to be connected with something greater than the egos of other people and the projects in which we might engage with them. Fundamentally, a successful human community is the unfolding of a spiritual dynamic. It cannot be contrived or made to happen. Rather, it erupts from our desire for the depths, and that desire is certain to constellate the shadow in ourselves and the other
Stealing Back The Commons: Citizen Economics Beyond Capitalism
By Jules Peck
There is reason to be optimistic. Growth long since has failed to deliver increases in life satisfaction for those in the rich-world. We need not fear the end of growth and a new post-capitalist economics. It’s an exciting time to be alive – truly revolutionary changes are afoot
09 February , 2013
Mutually Assured Well Being: The Continuity Of Community And Individual Resilience
By Carolyn Baker
Community resilience and personal resilience cannot be neatly separated, nor can we justly assert that one is more important than the other. They function interdependently and clearly need each other. Community activism is essential as societies and ecosystems continue their decline
31 January , 2013
Against Growth: A Conversation With Economist Joshua Farley
By Almantas Samalavicius
Given the relation between economic production and ecological degradation, Joshua Farley is convinced that economic growth must stop. It is just a question of when. And whether cooperation will displace competition as the dominant concept in the economic paradigm
Living With Just Enough
By Azby Brown
Artist and designer Azby Brown offers simple lessons in sustainability from the Edo period of Japan
26 January , 2013
The Cultural Dynamics Of The Commons
By Sarah Schultz
An interview with Lewis Hyde , a poet, essayist, translator and cultural critic and the author of The Gift, a seminal 1983 work about the creative commons. He teaches creative writing at Kenyon College and is a Fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. His newest book is Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership
24 January , 2013
What Is ‘Socialist’ About ‘Green Socialism’?
By Mario Candeias
In this article, we are experimenting with the concept of ‘green socialism.’ We want to discuss whether it could fill the void of a left-wing, ecological, feminist imagination
20 January , 2013
How A Gift Economy Powers Education In Rural Nepal
By Simone Cicero
As the Maya (meaning “love” in Nepali) Universe Academy proves, love for your community and passion for solving real community problems can be new forms of currency—a new means of exchange that generate impressive changes for good
How Millions Of Farmers Are Advancing Agriculture For Themselves
By Jonathan Latham
The world record yield for paddy rice production is not held by an agricultural research station or by a large-scale farmer from the United States, but by a farmer in the state of Bihar in northern India. Sumant Kumar, who has a farm of just two hectares in Darveshpura village, holds a record yield of 22.4 tons per hectare, from a one-acre plot. This feat was achieved with what is known as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
19 January , 2013
What Would A Down-to-Earth Economy Look Like?
By David Korten
We are Earth’s children; she is our mother. We must honor and care for her as she loves and cares for us. Together we can forge an integral partnership grounded in the learning and deep wisdom of her 3.8 billion-year experience in nurturing life’s expanding capacities for intelligent self-organization, creative innovation, and self-reflective consciousness
16 January , 2013
Earth Is Not A Global Village: Start Living More Locally Before It’s Too Late
By The Editors Of Living Green Magazine
Life teaches us how long-lasting, sustainable economies work. These economies are local, not global. Think about it this way: The Earth doesn’t have one ecosystem or climate, but many as different from each other as oranges are from apples. Diversity is the way Life guaranteed some living things and systems would have the skills to survive almost any cataclysm. This means that we can diversify. We can relocalize or, in more realistic terms, re-regionalize economically, fit ourselves into these smart living systems and work with them
Will 2013 Be The Year Globalization Died?
By Erik Curren
And anyone who remembers that we live on a finite planet knows that economic growth will have to end someday. When that day comes, we’ll need to find a new way to be prosperous. Let’s hope that 2013 will be the year it happens
14 January , 2013
How To Mobilise $2.8tr To Finance The Global Sharing Economy
By Share The World's Resources
There are many policies that governments could implement to raise the finances needed to reverse austerity measures, tackle climate change and prevent needless poverty-related deaths. But we cannot rely on governments to change the current world direction - the only hope is a huge groundswell of popular support in favour of global sharing
08 January , 2013
Enough: The Central Concept In Economics
By Herman Daly
For the Hebrews in the wilderness the manna economy was designed with “enough” as a built-in feature. Our economy does not have that automatic regulation. We have to recognize the value of enough and build it into our economic institutions and culture
“Promised Land”: Energy And Ethics In The Age Of Economic Decline
By Carolyn Baker
Shredded as it may be by movie critics, if we allow it to do so, “Promised Land” takes us deeper than cliché, not only into disturbing questions about hydraulic fracturing and energy depletion, but about who we want to be as humanity transitions from one paradigm to another. In these times and on so many issues, we must cultivate the discernment of Frank Yates who firmly asserts, “Sure, it’s a clean and efficient resource, but the way they go about getting it is some dirty business.”
06 January , 2013
Complementary Currencies
By Gary Alexander
Can a community print its own money? The short answer is a resounding YES and for many this has become a symbol of a Transition town taking the local economy into its own hands. We are very used to using money for exchange and will likely still need it in some form, but ideally one that reduces the problems with conventional money
28 December , 2012
The Outlook For Steady State Economics In 2013
By Brian Czech
Predicting the future is risky business. It’s usually unnecessary and there’s a lot of credibility at stake. But it seems perfectly reasonable to predict that, soon, more organizations will start explicitly advocating the steady state economy as the sustainable alternative to economic growth
20 December , 2012
The Role Of Sequestration In Reversing Anthropogenic Climate Change
By Anandi Sharan
Capitalism and the middle class have thus given humanity a formidable challenge. Not only must we overthrow capitalism, we must introduce in its place scientific social and ecological systems to address the problems the previous world system created
23 November , 2012
Water Conservation: Treasuring Every Drop
By Manu Moudgil
In the times when tapped water supply is considered an absolute sign of development, the traditional water harvesting systems are losing their age-old relevance. This is why the Lakholaav pond in Rajasthan assumes greater significance
20 November , 2012
From Endless Growth To A New Form Of Democracy
By Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed
Humanity faces a momentous period of transition. Modern civilization is not only in crisis. It confronts a multiplicity of overlapping global crises that are potentially terminal. There's only one question that remains. Are you going to hold fast with the grip of death to the old paradigm, or will you embrace life to become an agent of the new paradigm of community cooperation?
Where Infinite Growth Meets Biophysical Limit
By Eric Zencey
To achieve a sustainable, steady-state economy, we’re going to have to limit matter-and-energy throughput in the economy to what the planet can sustainably give to us and what it can sustainably absorb from us. Against that physical limit, though, the economy continually exerts pressure
07 November , 2012
The Great Transition, Part I: From Fossil Fuels To Renewable Energy
By Lester R. Brown
The old energy economy, fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, is being replaced with an economy powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. The Earth’s renewable energy resources are vast and available to be tapped through visionary initiatives. Our civilization needs to embrace renewable energy on a scale and at a pace we’ve never seen before
The Great Transition, Part II: Building A Wind-Centered Economy
By Lester R. Brown
For the first time since the Industrial Revolution began, we have an opportunity to invest in alternative sources of energy that can last as long as the Earth itself. The choice is ours. We can stay with business as usual, or we can move the world onto a path of sustained progress. The choice will be made by our generation, but it will affect life on Earth for all generations to come
Why We Should All Be Talking About Global Sharing
By Adam Parsons
If we're serious about ending poverty and healing the environment perhaps it's about time that we all start talking about global sharing
31 October, 2012
A Sobering Report From The Eco-Summit
By Elliot Campbell
I think that we are and as such, given a non-zero potential for catastrophe, it is immoral for society to continue on the path of ecological ignorance, over-consumption, and exponential growth. It is up to those who realize this, my peers in the scientific community and aware citizens like those who are reading this blog, to give this message and hopefully, eventually, affect positive change that will ripple out to the local, national and global scale creating a better future with less
The Commons As A Transformative Vision
By David Bollier
We are hard-wired to cooperate and participate in commons. One might even say that it is our destiny. While the commons may seem odd within the context of 21st Century market culture, it is precisely why the language of the commons is experiencing such a strong resurgence these days: It speaks to something buried deep within us. It prods us to deconstruct the oppressive political culture and consciousness that the market/state duopoly demands, and whispers of new possibilities that only we can actualize
30 October, 2012
Transition Town Fujino Goes For Local Energy Independence
By Carol Smith
In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, the working group Fujino Denryoku (“ denryoku” meaning “electric power”) was established to help people break away from their dependence on electricity provided by the traditional power utilities and transition towards self-sufficient, locally-distributed energy created with the participation of local people. Although the system does not suffice for all the electricity needed, it can reduce dependency on power utilities. To enhance energy independence means to have a “lifeline backup”, boosting resilience
Economic Growth: The Missing Link In Environmental Journalism
By Brian Czech
Environmental journalists don’t have an obligation to environmental protection. But they do have a unique opportunity. They have the opportunity to raise awareness of the whole truth, however inconvenient, that environmental protection doesn’t square with economic growth
28 October, 2012
Sweden Imports Waste From European Neighbors To Fuel Waste-To-Energy Program
Living on Earth
Sweden's successful waste-to-energy program converts household waste into energy for heating and electricity. But they've run into an unusual problem: they simply aren't generating enough trash to power the incinerators, so they've begun importing waste from European neighbors
25 October, 2012
Proposing A Vision Of A New Earth
By Rajesh Makwana
The earth’s ecological problems stem largely from our collective failure to share. That might seem like an overly simplistic statement, but it is now increasingly evident that only by sharing the world’s resources more equitably and sustainably will we be able to address both the ecological and social crisis we face as a global community
23 October, 2012
How To Start A Community Currency
By Mira Luna
Communities can regain control of the flow of money and credit by issuing their own currency as a complement to conventional money, as electronic barter networks, debit cards, mobile phone payments, Timebanks, LETS, or old-fashioned cash
20 October, 2012
Igniting A Learning Revolution
By Isak Stoddard, Eva Friman, Ingrid Rieser, and Sara Andersson
At Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Science, the Centre for Environment and Development Studies (CEMUS) strives to change the way we teach, meet, and learn. For 20 years, this student-initiated and largely student-run program has, in an otherwise rigid university structure, built and developed a space for interdisciplinary and experimental education focused on sustainable development
Pulling Back The Curtain On Economic Growth’s Magic Act
By Rob Dietz
Lisi Krall writes, “Perhaps the real question of progress is not how to forge a new energy frontier, but how to forge a different model of economic organization and purpose, a model that isn’t predicated on never-ending growth and a belief that there are no real biophysical limits.”
18 October, 2012
In Praise Of Anarchy, Part III
By Dmitry Orlov
Utopian societies inevitably fail, while those that are cognizant of human weakness and are able to compensate for it can go on for ages. The greatest weakness we have in our nature is our propensity for forming hierarchies, for following formal systems of rules and laws that attempt to defy natural laws, and for listening to utopians
17 October, 2012
Degrowth Offers Alternative To Global Consumer Culture
By Worldwatch Institute
If everyone lived like the average American, according to the Global Footprint Network, the Earth could sustain only 1.7 billion people----a quarter of today's population----without undermining the planet's physical and biological systems
It’s Time To Prioritise The Global Sharing Economy
By Adam Parsons
There is much talk about the need for greater sharing in our societies today, in everything from household goods and peer-to-peer services to cooperative enterprises and the ‘commons’. But we often fail to acknowledge one of the most important examples of sharing in the modern world: systems of universal welfare provision
12 October, 2012
Is Anarchism A Political Philosophy Whose Time Has Come?
By Katherine M Acosta
It seems that everywhere, these days, people are talking about anarchism. Now Dmitry Orlov joins the discussion with a 3-part series, “In Praise of Anarchy.”
10 October, 2012
A Practical Proposal To Erase Externalities
By Randy Hayes & Brent Blackwelder
As the global economy grows, it expands into pristine habitats, interferes with critical ecosystems, consumes more resources, and emits more pollutants. Many activities that fall under the banner of economic growth are undercutting the planet’s ecological systems. At the heart of this tragedy are pollution damages that are imposed on society but not factored into company costs. These damages are called externalities because they are externalized by the businesses generating them
Land Use, Climate Change Adaptation And Indigenous Peoples
By Kirsty Galloway McLean
For indigenous peoples, resilience is rooted in traditional knowledge, as their capacity to adapt to environmental change is based first and foremost on in-depth understanding of the land. As climate change increasingly impacts indigenous landscapes, communities are responding and adapting in unique ways
Beyond Occupy: Progressive Activists In Europe
By Geoffrey Pleyers
Occupy is part of a wide range of subterranean movements that explore ways to complement representative democracy and empower citizenship. Some citizens want to build stronger democratic institutions: others don’t trust elected representatives any more and promote a change that starts at a local level and in daily life
In Praise of Anarchy, Part II
By Dmitry Orlov
When confronted with an increasingly despotic régime, the good people of almost any nation will cower in their homes and, once they are flushed out, will allow themselves to be herded like domesticated animals. They will gladly take orders from whoever gives them, because their worst fear is not despotism—it is anarchy. Anarchy! Are you afraid of anarchy? Or are you more afraid of hierarchy? Color me strange, but I am much more afraid of being subjected to a chain of command than of anarchy (which is a lack of hierarchy)
05 October, 2012
Manifesto For A Post-Growth Economy
By James Gustave Speth
Gus Speth has been a co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advisor to presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the head of the United Nations’ largest international assistance program, and Dean at Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. In this excerpt adapted from America the Possible, Speth takes on the tricky issue of post-growth prosperity
04 October, 2012
‘Alternatives To Development’
By Rob Hopkins
An Interview With Arturo Escobar author of Encountering Development and Territories of Difference
The Commons As A Transformative Vision
By David Bollier & Silke Helfrich
Below is the Introduction to new anthology of essays, The Wealth of the Commons: A World Beyond Market and State, just published by Levellers Press. The Introduction is by David Bollier and Silke Helfrich, of the Commons Strategies Group
Radical Simplicity And The Middle Class
By Samuel Alexander
How would the ordinary middle-class consumer – I should say middle-class citizen – deal with a lifestyle of radical simplicity? By radical simplicity I essentially mean a very low but biophysically sufficient material standard of living, a form of life that will be described in more detail below. In this essay I want to suggest that radical simplicity would not be as bad as it might first seem, provided we were ready for it and wisely negotiated its arrival, both as individuals and as communities
In Praise Of Anarchy, Part I
By Dmitry Orlov
Peter Alexeyevich Kropotkin is our prince's name, and he eventually became a renowned scientist who advanced the understanding of the history of glaciers, an historian of revolutionary movements, foremost theoretician of anarchism, and, because of his lifelong burning desire to do something to help the plight of the common man, something of a revolutionary himself
01 October, 2012
Generation Food
By Robert Jensen
For his new project though, Raj Patel is moving away from books, bumping up his production values and shifting from analyzing what’s wrong with our global food system to celebrating how it can be done right. He’s focusing on the many ways people around the world are changing how their communities eat today so that everyone can eat tomorrow. And to tell these stories, he’s teamed up with prizewinning director Steve James, best known for Hoop Dreams and The Interrupters, to document the new film Generation Food
24 September , 2012
Myths About Industrial Agriculture
By Vandana Shiva
Our 25 years of experience in Navdanya shows that ecological, organic farming is the only way to produce food without harming the planet and people's health. This is a trend that will grow, no matter how many pseudo-scientific stories are planted in the media by the industry
Refusing Capitalism
By Colin Todhunter
We must move away from the headlong drive towards urbanization in places like India and falsely equating well-being or ‘happiness’ with addiction to consumer goods. This shift involves rejecting the goods and services being forced upon us by large, powerful corporate interests, while placing more emphasis on self-sustaining local communities in which bio-diverse, organic agriculture and local food sovereignty is central and where there is sustainable use of the environment. And this is as true for the rich countries as it is for the poorer ones
19 September , 2012
A Mothers' Movement For Future Generations
By Heidi Hutner
Future generations deserve safe wombs and breast milk, and clean air, water, and soil. They deserve a livable climate and healthy, non-genetically modified food. Future generations—including rivers, oceans, mountains, forests, deserts, and the innumerable species—deserve to live as they have for centuries
A Life Of Abundance Without Money
By Maria Grusauskas
The story of a man who gave up money and found happiness
13 September , 2012
Growth or Equality: Two Competing Visions For America’s Future
By David Korten
David Korten on how closing the wealth gap can open the way to a fairer, more prosperous economy
Three More Growth Fallacies
By Herman Daly
1. As natural resources become scarce we can substitute capital for resources and continue to grow. 2. Space, the high frontier, frees us from the finitude of the earth, and opens unlimited resources for growth. 3. Without economic growth all progress is at an end.
06 September , 2012
The Dark Side Of The “Green Economy”
By Jeff Conant
Why some indigenous groups and environmentalists are saying no to the “green economy.”
Enough Already: Overcoming Crisis Mentality And “Us verses Them” Thinking
By G. Scott Brown
What is required if we are to address the issues confronting us at root level is a “Great Turning”—a shift from a life-denying worldview and society to a life-affirming worldview and society—and there is no precedent for it. Nothing that has come before, and certainly no single-issue campaign, has come close to requiring such a sweeping and fundamental shift in our thinking and behavior. However big we make the enemy, if we make the crisis we face about an enemy “other,” we over simplify things and miss the root cause
‘No Religion!’: A Buddhist Monk’s Approach To Universal Religious Harmony
By Yoginder Sikand
I read the book in almost one long sitting, and by the time I finished I was convinced that what the Venerable Bhikkhu had to say was about the most sensible thing I’ve ever read on how to develop an understanding of religion/spirituality that can accommodate all religions, bringing people of different religious paths together to sink their deep-rooted conflicts and hatreds for each other
04 September , 2012
Video - What The Economic Crisis Really Means - And What We Can Do About It
By Doingitourselves.org
Doing It Ourselves aims to broaden understanding of the debt crisis and peak resources and encourage action for the sake of personal preparedness, happiness and ethical living. This animation sums up the key challenges facing our global society of credit crisis and resource scarcity and describes a path we can take to a happier life, now and in the future!
What Is Money?
By Mary Logan
What happens when our fiat currencies die, as all currencies eventually do? It will eventually be worthless. When our monetary system fails, those who view money as a materialization or manifestation of our real economy will think that the world is ending. The end of a fiat currency is not the end of the world, particularly when money is increasingly spinning as a simulacrum in its accelerated information storm separated from real society at the upper levels of the financial system. It is only the end of the world for those emotionally invested in it as the reason for living
03 September , 2012
An Integrated Strategy To Fight for Human Survival
By Robert J. Burrowes
If we are to effectively resist elite control and violence in our lives and take concrete steps to create our nonviolent world, then we must recognise the enormity of the psychological damage that individuals within the global power elite have suffered and accept that they cannot take responsibility for ending their violence. Instead, we must take responsibility for ending their violence while creating a world in which damaged individuals are unlikely to be created and, if they are created, they cannot wreak havoc on the rest of us
02 September , 2012
The Simplicity Exercises: A Sourcebook For Simplicity Exercises
By Mark A. Burch
Introduction to Mark Burch's book "The Simplicity Exercises: A Sourcebook for Simplicity Exercises"
29 August , 2012
Social Innovations For Economic Degrowth
By Andreas Exner & Christian Lauk
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, we find ourselves in a peculiar situation: although hardly anyone would deny the deep ecological crisis facing humankind, we seem to be caught in a net of assumptions that impede a practical solution. Having acknowledged that we need to reduce consumption of energy and materials drastically, we still often think that adjustments within the current system of production and consumption will accomplish this formidable task
28 August , 2012
Our Hunger Games
By Vandana Shiva
Hunger and malnutrition are man-made. They are hardwired in the design of the industrial, chemical model of agriculture. But just as hunger is created by design, healthy and nutritious food for all can also be designed, through food democracy
27 August , 2012
Romney’s Dirtier, Deadlier Energy Future: Is There Another Way?
By Sarah van Gelder
The oil-dependent economy Romney supports is a step toward an unstable, costly future. Renewables and energy efficiency offer real hope
Commons: Alternatives To Markets And States
By Derek Wall
The struggle practically and intellectually has to be about rolling back commodification and regrowing a gift economy. Commons economies don’t abolish injustice or guarantee sustainability but we can do better than being slaves to an economy which marches to the beat of the bond markets. Whether Syriza in Greece, the work of ecosocialists, the experiments of workers control and solidarity economies in Latin America or a thousand other examples alternatives to a bought and sold world are emerging
Resilience In suburban Anchorage
By Mary & Todd Logan
An alternative story of resilience from Alaska
26 August , 2012
The Apocalypse Of The Teacher (The Book of the Great Divide)
By J.H. Marten
A parable for our future
25 August , 2012
Building Resilience In A Changing Climate
By Richard Heinberg
By cutting our reliance on fossil fuels, by reducing energy requirements in general, and by eliminating our economic system’s need for perpetual growth (and hence for perpetually increasing energy consumption), we can make our way of life less vulnerable to energy shortages and price spikes while also reducing carbon emissions
24 August , 2012
The End Of The Industrial Revolution
By Paul Gilding
Now we shift to the third great wave, the world post the industrial revolution. To an economy designed to last, that is built around the present and nurtures the future. This will be an era where we…… well, that’s the exciting bit. We get to decide what comes next. We get to decide what the third great phase of human progress looks like
India: Lucky Baby! Protecting Daughters In Patriarchy’s Heartland
By Alka Pande
Story of a few courageous women who, against all odds, protect girl childs
22 August , 2012
Transition Movement Meets Sacred Economics
Rob Hopkins interviews Charles Eisenstein
In this fascinating conversation between Rob Hopkins co-founder of Transition Network and Transition Town Totnes and Charles Eisenstein , the Author of 'Sacred Economics’, an economic theory based on gift economy both assess each other's theory and practice and brings out the strength and weakness both systems
21 August , 2012
The Resilience Imperative And Civil Disobedience
By Michael Lewis
The tasks of transition are many. The challenges are daunting. The outcomes are uncertain. Our courage remains untested. But we are a resilient species. We are not alone; there is “blessed unrest” all about. If we but open our eyes, we will SEE change is possible. If we act in ways that recognize we are interdependent, we will continue to innovate cooperative transitions to a steady-state economy
Revolutionary Changes At The Community Level:
Love, Compassion And The Vision Of Miriam Hyman
By Colin Todhunter
This is a story of how love can overcome hatred and compassion can overcome despair. It is also a story of a spirit of unity and fellowship that transcends national identity, culture or politics. It is an inspiring tale of how ordinary folk can work to bring about tangible change for the betterment of others who may be less fortunate
Occupying For The Future
By Linnea M. Palmer Paton As Told To Stacy Lanyon
An inspiring Occupy story from the front line
20 August , 2012
Workers Must Take Control
By Mark Vorpahl
In order for workers to have a national independent political voice they must build a broad united effort around demands that can galvanize the majority such as "Jobs not cuts," "Medicare for all," "Tax the rich," and "Fully funded education and social services." To make sure that voice is heard the support for these demands must be demonstrated with the largest mobilizations possible as well as other organizing tactics
Wimpish In America
By William A. Cook
Can anyone doubt that Capitalism is a failed economic system? How many times must it fail for people to accept that fact? Yet our press and our representatives and our schools keep a thundering drum beat of regurgitation to keep it afloat when its very existence has been made possible by taxpayer buyouts of their failed policies. But, like Ayn Rand, one needs to keep living and pushing to that objectivistic end, self-gratification at any price, even if it means living off the dole. How utterly ironic
18 August , 2012
From Denmark To Bhutan: The Policies Of Happiness
By Colin Todhunter
Various surveys have indicated that while wealthy western nations use up vast quantities of the world's scarce resources, many of their citizens are not much happier, or are indeed less happy, than those who belong to poorer countries that use far fewer resources
Book Review: “Social Humanism. A New Metaphysics”
By Brian Ellis - Last Chance To Save Planet?
By Dr Gideon Polya
”Social Humanism. A New Metaphysics” by Melbourne philosopher Professor Brian Ellis is an important new book for a World that is rapidly running out of time
Top Academics Rebel Against State Capture In Favor Of Truth And Ethical Human Rights
By Anthony Ravlich
More top academics are breaking the long silence of academia regarding the rights omissions, such as children’s rights, and the new ethical human rights approach which includes all the rights
17 August , 2012
Back To school
By Sharon Astyk
If we have to live locally again, live mostly with the people around us, education for citizenship, for self-improvement, so you have some poems and stories and ideas in your head, so you can talk to others, argue, write a letter, stand for council or congress, or even simply build a barn, this is what school should teach us – and why it will persist
My Outside Classrooms
By Yoginder Sikand
Whatever education I've received that I consider valuable and useful, has been from outside, rather than within, the classroom
16 August , 2012
Our Cooperative Darwinian Moment
By Richard Heinberg
Darwin tells us we must evolve or die, and current circumstances bring that choice into stark relief. A lot of people evidently think that fitness and selfishness are the same...Yet it is our abilities to innovate socially and to cooperate in order to increase our collective fitness that have gotten us this far...
India And Pakistan: Communal Violence And Peace
By Pritam K. Rohila, Ph.D.
A proposal for peace communal harmony in India And Pakistan
15 August , 2012
Demilitarization Is Not A Dirty Word
By Jody Williams
Human security for global security: Demilitarization is not a dirty word, nonviolence is not inaction, and building sustainable peace is not for the faint of heart
Charles Eisenstein Wants To Devalue Your Money To Save The Economy
By Erik Curren
Author Charles Eisenstein has a modest proposal to keep rich people from hoarding all the cash and free up capital for the rest of us
“Common Sense Revolution” Needed To Tackle Climate Change
By Rolly Montpellier
To ignite the forces of revolution you need to light a match. Occupy Wall Street provided that spark. But to sustain a revolution, you need to build a fire. Fear of climate change may just be the fuel that feeds that fire. When fear is present, common sense solutions are sure to follow. One can either be immobilized by fear or motivated to take action. And a growing number of people are recognizing that the warming of the planet is caused by human activity. Fear can be quite paralyzing but can also lead to extraordinary courage in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds
“Can A “Bank Fair” Be A Useful Tool For Increasing Socially Responsible Banking?”
By Don Lathrop & Brian Trautman
Berkshire Citizens for Peace and Justice recently organized a Bank Fair . It was just the sort of initiative that could provide individuals who were interested in moving toward a more just and equitable society the opportunity to move one step closer by becoming informed about how their choice of banking institution compared to competitors in the treatment of and commitment to customers, community, and the planet
Revolutionary Acts At The Community Level: The Bindu Leprosy Project
By Colin Todhunter
The story of a simple act for the dignity of living in Bindu Art School in South India
14 August , 2012
There Is Hope For The Future Of Food
By Raj Patel
I have learned that: People are kind. Everyone has contradictions. Raw goat tastes funny, but it’s not as bad as Cuban food. The world is more beautiful than I imagined. There is more hope for the future of food than I dared to believe, against impossible odds. And it comes from unlikely places
Family Success Story On The Household Carbon Footprint Front
By Tim Newcomb
The success story of an American family in reducing household Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Sizeable household reductions in a household Carbon Equivalent footprint usually cost money and sometimes a lot of money. This household has succeeded to a considerable extent over the past 5 years, by budgeting carefully and picking projects which have multiple benefits to counter the costs
Forsaking Meat Can Save The Planet
By Colin Todhunter
According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation, livestock is responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gases, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together. It could well be the case that going vegetarian may be the easiest and quickest way to lower your carbon footprint, reduce pollution, and save energy and water
Conference On The Economics of Sustainability
By The Global Research Consortium for Sustainable Development
The Global Research Consortium for Sustainable Development is organizing conferences on "The Economics of Sustainability" 17th – 21st September, 2012 in New York City, USA and 24th – 28th September, 2012 in Accra-Ghana
13 August , 2012
The Real Deficits That Are Killing Us
By David Korten
Replacing cultures and institutions that value money more than life with cultures and institutions that value life more than money is a daunting challenge. Fortunately, it is also an invigorating and hopeful challenge because it reconnects us with our true nature as living beings and offers a win-win alternative to the no-win status quo
The Triumph Of Fantasy Over Science
By Rob Dietz
From reframing to organizing, from protesting to storytelling, there’s a lot of work to do to get past the collective mental block and start walking a sustainable economic path. For decades, we’ve shown ourselves to be incapable of accepting facts, unable to modify failing social institutions, and unwilling to adjust our lifestyles. But now is the time to overthrow the academic programs and economic institutions that got us into this mess in which we undervalue our most important assets. Now is the time to tell the story of ecological economics — the hopeful story of long-term prosperity on a healthy planet. Now is the time to demand the economy that we want and that the planet needs
From Fukushima To India: A Future That's Renewable
By Colin Todhunter
At a time when the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have just past, it is apt that questions be asked of the nuclear industry. With proper commitment and investment in renewable energy and sustainable low impact development, humanity could have a future. The future could be renewable
10 August , 2012
A Critical Mass For Real Food
By Anim Steel
The old logic of the slave plantation is still the logic of our industrial food system, 500 years in the making. There’s a new way of thinking taking off
"The World As It Is, And The World As It Could Be"
By John Scales Avery
A look at the world as it is and a world as it could be
India: Greeting Every New Born Daughter With Fruit Trees
By Saadia Azim
For years now girls in the village of Dharhara in Bihar have been welcomed into the world in the most novel way: By the local community planting at least 10 fruit trees - traditionally mango - in celebration
09 August , 2012
Conscious Peace: World Peace Depends Upon Our Collective Consciousness
By William T. Hathaway
"Conscious Peace" is a chapter from RADICAL PEACE: People Refusing War, which presents the experiences of war resisters, deserters, and peace activists in the USA, Europe, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Recently published by Trine Day, it's a journey along diverse paths of nonviolence, the true stories of people working for peace in unconventional ways
Mutant Modernities, Socialist Futures (PDF)
By Ravi Sinha
Past socialisms cannot be presented as models for future socialisms. The conditions which shaped the twentieth century socialisms have long expired. The vision that inspired the designs of those socialisms needs reworking in the light of the lessons of the past century. It is in this context that the insights gained from revisiting the issues of modernity and freedom will prove immensely important for envisioning socialist futures
08 August , 2012
Climate Change Action Is Not Hopeless
By Stuart Staniford
So maybe it takes us to mid-century to get to a near carbon-neutral society. The point is that it's not hopeless. As the weather gets worse - the droughts, the storms, the melting ice - the denialists will look sillier and sillier and the pressure for action will rise. And as it does, the solutions will increasingly be in place. So don't be discouraged if electric car sales are tiny right now, or solar power is a very small fraction of total energy use. This is a long game
“Green” Economy, Greed Economy
By Omar Rashid Chowdhury
Our planet faces a two-fold crisis. The dominating system itself is a crisis to the planet and in its throes of survival the system is creating more crises. “Green” economy, the model now being sold by the mainstream, is one of many “survival techniques” of the system. Conditions of “green” economy’s own structural existence limit its capability to resolve the ecological and employment crises. We need a new system with conditions controlling unchecked accumulation, exploitation and expansion
Rio+20: A Move Towards More Sustainable Transportation
By World Watch Institute
Implementation monitoring of Rio+20 voluntary commitments will be vital
07 August , 2012
Claiming The Commons That Capital Consumes
By Farooque Chowdhury
Encountering the commons robbers, national and international, is a political fight. A cultural fight also. An informed, aware, organized and politically active people, the owners of the commons, can successfully claim the commons
05 August , 2012
Failure And Hope From Rio+20
By Jules Peck
For the time being, we may have to give up hope for action from governments. After all, the best our political “leaders” were able to come up with at Rio+20 was “green growth” and its love-child “sustained growth.” How many more moronic oxymorons can they think up?
04 August , 2012
Why Are Human Beings Violent?
By Robert J. Burrowes
In essence, human beings are violent because of the 'invisible' and 'utterly invisible' violence that we adults unconsciously inflict on children. And this is in addition to the 'visible' violence that we inflict on them consciously
02 August , 2012
12 Innovations To Combat Drought, Improve Food Security, And Stabilize Food Prices
By Worldwatch Institute
Worldwatch Institute highlights 12 ways to make the U.S. agriculture system more resilient to drought and, in the long run, more sustainable
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