The international response to the food crisis of 2011 is less energetic and coherent than during the last emergency, in 2008. Both economic understanding and political impetus need to be improved, says Simon Maxwell.
Both regional weather disasters and global climate trends present compelling arguments for political and economic action on a systemic scale. But the obstacles to this remain formidable.
The opening of the Arctic to ship-passage will transform the region’s political as well as environmental landscape, says Øyvind Paasche.
The emergent movements around the politics of food are a vital component of debates on the planet’s future, says Geoff Andrews.
The UK Chancellor (Finance Minister), George Osborne, presented plans for taxation and spending that pay homage to environmental concerns. But his measures rely on the mistaken belief that market mechanisms and other interventions are substitutes, not complements. (This article is part of an IPPR
The effects of the catastrophic earthquake in Japan’s northeast will be felt for years to come. How Japan responds will help to define its capacity to meet other 21st-century tests, says David Hayes.
The loss of momentum in climate diplomacy reflects deep flaws in the way campaigners understand and frame climate change in relation to people’s lives and interests. There is both challenge and opportunity here, says Andrew Pendleton.
A high-level international report on how financial resources can be raised to help developing countries address climate change is a disappointing and politics-free compromise. Simon Maxwell proposes a way beyond it.
Reflecting on a recent visit to the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) and his life as an eco-activist, Charlie Hill argues that radical ecology needs to reach out to a new audience.
The election of a new leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party is a rare opportunity to put fresh thinking on global security at the heart of the political agenda.
A racist assault on unfamiliar ground provokes Delwar Hussain to reflect on why the British countryside looks less than welcoming to people of colour.
A flurry of reports that castigates the French school system also highlights the deficiencies of Anglocentric perception, says Anne Corbett.
