Connexions Resource Centre:
Focus on Environment


Recent & Selected Articles

  1. This is a small sampling of articles related to environmental issues in the Connexions Online Library. For more articles, books, films, and other resources, check the Connexions Library Subject Index, especially under topics such as environment, environment and agriculture, conservation, drinking water, energy, globalization, global climate change, pipelines, pollution, toxic wastes, and urban environment.

  1. Forest carbon offsets, supposedly worth billions, have no climate benefit (August 26, 2023)
    REDD projects combine false emission claims, worthless credits and human rights abuses.
  2. The Capitalist Solution to 'Save' the Planet: Make It an Asset Class & Sell it (July 16, 2022)
    Lynn Fries speaks to John Bellamy Foster on a critically important and underreported topic: how investors are trying to use rapidly moving climate crisis as an opportunity to loot even more of the commons.
  3. New research shows 50 year binge on chemical fertilisers must end to address the climate crisis (November 1, 2021)
    New research shows that synthetic nitrogen fertilisers are a major driver of the climate crisis, responsible for 1 out every 40 tonnes of GHGs currently pumped into the atmosphere. Now is the time for the world to kick its addiction to synthetic nitrogen fertilisers and urgently transition to farming without fossil fuels and chemicals.
  4. We demand real zero, not net zero! (October 25, 2021)
    Net zero emissions and other false solutions allow polluters to continue polluting, says this statement adopted by the Oilwatch International Global Gathering in Nigeria in October 2021.
  5. Ecosocialism Not Extinction! (October 24, 2021)
    Ecosocialist Alliance statement on the opening of 2021 UN climate talks in Glasgow.
  6. Stop Deep-Sea Mining (August 23, 2021)
    Advocates for the end of exploitation of mineral resources through deep-sea mining until sufficent scientific information has been obtained on if deep-sea mining can be done without damage to the marine environment.
  7. 'Net zero' emissions is a dangerous hoax (June 10, 2021)
  8. The planet cannot begin to heal until we rip the mask off the West's war machine (November 27, 2020)
  9. The Climate Movement Doesn’t Know How to Talk With Union Members About Green Jobs (March 9, 2020)
    Throughout the Democratic primary, the potential loss of good construction and fossil fuel industry jobs has helped prevent moderate Democratic candidates, including frontrunner Joe Biden, from taking policy positions that would aggressively confront the fossil fuel industry and the climate crisis. Whoever opposes Donald Trump in the general election will face a politics of climate denial built on an empty but alluring promise of job security in the oil, gas, and coal industries.
  10. New Deal for Nature: Paying the Emperor to Fence the Wind (February 24, 2020)
    The latest idea to be heavily promoted by big conservation NGOs is doubling the world's so-called "Protected Areas" (PAs) so that they cover thirty percent of the globe's lands and oceans. This is now their main rallying cry and response to two of the world's biggest problems -- climate chaos and loss of biodiversity. It sounds good: It's easy to grasp and has numbers that are supposed to be measurable, and advertisers do love numbers. What better answer to climate change and biodiversity loss than to ban human "interference" over huge areas? If, that is, you think "everybody" is guilty of causing both crises and that everything's solved by keeping them away. The idea's been around for years, but now governments and industries are promoting it to the tune of billions of dollars, so it'll be difficult to oppose. But it's actually dangerous nonsense which would have exactly the reverse effect to what we're told, and if we want to save our world, it must be stopped.
  11. Capitalist roots of the environment crisis (February 18, 2020)
    Here we are, heading into the middle decades of the 21st century, with all the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of millennia of human endeavour literally at our fingertips, staring down the barrel of a catastrophic, and possibly terminal, breakdown of the relationship between human society and the natural world on which we depend.
  12. Colonial conservation - a 'cycle of impunity' (February 14, 2020)
    A UN investigation has suggested that rangers funded by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have beaten up, abused and murdered people in the forests of Congo. These atrocities were committed in the name of conservation.

  13. The military's carbon bootprint (January 30, 2020)
    As the biggest single user of fossil fuels, why is the military exempt from the climate discussion?
  14. The privatization of rivers in Chile (January 22, 2020)
    The Chilean government has continued with the mercantile treatment of common goods, putting several rivers in the Bio Bio Region up for auction, despite ongoing social unrest.
  15. Saving the Nile (2020)
    For the 280 million people from 11 countries who live along the banks of the Nile, it symbolises life. For Ethiopia, a new dam holds the promise of much-needed electricity; for Egypt, the fear of a devastating water crisis.
  16. The Grand Illusion (November 29, 2019)
    As the ecological crisis deepens, nearing the infamous Tipping Point – taking us closer to planetary catastrophe – we are being led to believe that an imminent "greening" of the world economy will deliver us from a very dark future. Somehow, against all logic, we have adopted a collective faith in the willingness of ruling governments and corporations to do the right thing.
  17. Stanford Study Says Renewable Power Eliminates Argument for Using Carbon Capture with Fossil Fuels (November 21, 2019)
    A study in the peer-reviewed journal Energy and Environmental Science, concludes that carbon capture technologies are inefficient at pulling out carbon, from a climate perspective, and often increase local air pollution from the power required to run them, which exacerbates public health issues. Replacing a coal plant with wind turbines, on the other hand, always decreases local air pollution and doesn't come with the associated cost of running a carbon capture system, says Jacobson.
  18. Climate Change: A Socialist Solution (September 30, 2019)
    A lot has been written, including by myself, on why capitalism, by its very nature, cannot tackle or stop climate change. The purpose of this article is not to repeat those arguments but to make the positive case for socialism as necessary to deal with this existential crisis for humanity.
  19. The Discovery and Rediscovery of Metabolic Rift (July 28, 2019)
    Ian Angus discusses the scientific developments that led Marx to develop metabolic rift theory, and a new generation to rediscover it in our time.
  20. Doubling Down: The Military, Big Bankers and Big Oil Are Not In Climate Denial, They Are in Control and Plan to Keep It That Way (July 5, 2019)
    The two most important narratives imposed on us are climate change as a "threat to national security" and as a "business opportunity" - the twin rationales for military and corporate power. They want to focus us on how to manage the crisis, profit from it, or adapt to it, instead of opposing it.
  21. Rooting rebellion in nature (May 24, 2019)
    Reflections on the legacy of philosopher and ‘geologian’ Thomas Berry, ten years after his death.
  22. A million species 'threatened with extinction' (May 6, 2019)
    A summary of a dire climate report on the decline in global biodiversity.
  23. On the Coast of Oaxaca, Afro and Indigenous Tribes Fight for Water Autonomy (May 6, 2019)
    In southern Mexico, a multi-ethnic network of towns has halted the construction of a mega-dam. Now they are organizing to manage their own natural resources and revitalize their culture as native water protectors.
  24. Gray Whales Are Dying: Starving to Death Because of Climate Change (May 5, 2019)
    A look at the plight of sea mammals and the state of marine science education.
  25. Guiding principles for an Ecosocialist Green New Deal (March 1, 2019)
    Statement of the Ecosocialist Working Group of the DSA on their demands for a Green New Deal that combats climate change and inequality.
  26. The Rigors of Organizing: On the Road with the German Climate Resistance (February 27, 2019)
    Ende Gelände, is a broad coalition of German climate resistance organizers. Members are touring the US sharing info about their tactics.
  27. A Tale of Two Citations: Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" and Michael Harrington's "The Other America" (February 18, 2019)
    Looking at the forgotten, more radical aspects of Carson's "Silent Spring." Compares it with other, less radical works that were more easily co-opted by governments looking to appease new social and environmental movements.
  28. Why the Anthropocene is not 'climate change' - and why that matters (January 31, 2019)
    Reducing our current predicament to combatting climate change, or even narrower, reducing CO2 emissions fails to show the big picture of how humans have changed the planet. To contend with the Anthropocene we need to get rid of one-dimensional thinking of climate change.
  29. Rigging the Science of GMO Ecotoxicity (January 29, 2019)
    Scientific article about dangers of GMO plants and techniques used by developers to disguise harms to get GMOs through testing.
  30. Water resources - 'The river is dying': the vast ecological cost of Brazil's mining disasters (January 29, 2019)
    Brazil's worst mining disaster in decades has prompted calls to create stronger regulations and enforce them with real consequences rather than small fines that often go unpaid.
  31. Climate Advocates Underestimate Power of Fossil Fueled Misinformation Campaigns, Say Top Researchers (January 18, 2019)
    The "climate countermovement" direct massive resources towards denying the reality of climate change. Climate advocates need to address their opposition's tactics to be able to combat this misinformation.
  32. Climate Jobs for All (December 3, 2018)
    This article discusses the federal jobs guarantee (JG) concept which is also known as "jobs for all." The advocates of JG generally include climate protection as one of many types of work beneficial to the public that might be included in a jobs guarantee program.
  33. Climate Jobs for All (December 3, 2018)
    A federal climate jobs guarantee (CJG) is a proposed program similar to the New Deal's WPA that would prioritize jobs that protect and improve the environment. Polls show that the program has popular support and could be a major political force in 2020.
  34. Air pollution now 'largest health crisis' (November 23, 2018)
    The WHO estimates that seven million premature deaths are linked to air pollution every year, of which nearly 600,000 are children who are uniquely vulnerable.
  35. Herbicides undermine antibiotics, threaten medical care (November 20, 2018)
    A New Zealand study adds to the body of evidence that industrial herbicides, not intended to be antibiotics, can have profound effects on bacteria, with potentially negative implications for medicine's ability to treat infectious diseases.
  36. The Logic of Human Survival (November 1, 2018)
    Review of a Marxist look at the concept of the Anthropocene.
  37. A Marxist History of Capitalism (Book Review) (October 16, 2018)
    A book review of Henry Heller's "A Marxist History of Capitalism" which restores class struggle to a central place in explaining how capitalism arose and grew, and can eventually be overcome.
  38. To overcome climate paralysis, unite for system change (September 4, 2018)
    A look at how to break through the climate paralysis that has led to the environmental crisis that mankind is currently facing. Wallis indicates that by having identified who the enemy is, we know who our potential allies are- the other 99%.
  39. Engineering the climate could cost us the earth (August 30, 2018)
    Political scientist Gareth Dale takes a look at Geoengineering as a "political technology" and institutional apparatus that is preventing effective climate action, and actually serves to reduce the sense of urgency needed for genuine and more effective structural change.
  40. Helping drought-stricken farmers requires recognising global warming and planning (August 10, 2018)
    All of NSW has now officially been declared to be in drought, and 57% of Queensland has officially entered its sixth year of the current drought (though there has been little real change from when 88% was declared to be in drought in March 2017).Droughts keep getting worse, and the changing climate means they will continue to do so.The Coalition's "solutions" start with denying that climate change is real.
  41. Eternity, nature, society and the absurd fantasies of the rich (August 5, 2018)
    The wealthier they are, the more they fear that others will try to take their wealth. No wonder the super-rich are building bunkers to escape the apocalypse.
  42. The Belem Ecosocialist Declaration: An historic document (July 22, 2018)
    In 2008 more than 400 activists from 37 countries endorsed this statement of ecosocialist principles and goals. Today the Belem Ecosocialist Declaration remains an important consensus statement of ecosocialist principles and goals.
  43. Cesspools, Sewage, and Social Murder (July 1, 2018)
    Karl Marx's analysis of changes in British agriculture in the nineteenth-century provides the theoretical starting point for what is now known as 'metabolic rift theory'. This article considers an aspect of the theory that has not been much discussed in modern ecosocialist analysis- the environmental crisis that the accumulation of human excrement caused in urban areas, notably in London.
  44. Local Autonomy: A Key to Protection of the Ecosystem (May 29, 2018)
    In his book, The Plundered Seas, Michael Berrill called the Grand Banks and Georges Bank maybe the saddest story of overfishing.Berrill’s solution was the management of Large Marine Ecosystems.
  45. The Curse of Energy Efficiency (February 26, 2018)
    The more 'efficient' our technology, the more resources we consume in a downward spiral of catastrophe.
  46. How to create an ecological society (February 1, 2018)
    A review of the book "Creating an Ecological Society: Towards A Revolutionary Transformation" by Fred Magdoff and Chris Williams, which addresses different aspects of the debate on the politics of the environment.
  47. Harvey's Toxic Aftermath in Houston (January 1, 2018)
    Wingard exposes the enviromental devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey. The hurricane caused chemical spills and explosions which Wingard says forecast a pending enviromental crisis.
  48. Major study shows species loss destroys essential ecosystems (November 30, 2017)
    Long term research by German ecologists proves that loss of biodiversity has "direct, unpleasant consequences for mankind."
  49. Can You Say "Conflict of Interest"? Not at the UN (November 3, 2017)
    Exposing the ways that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) allows oil giants to shape negotiations.
  50. Memo to Jacobin: Ecomodernism is not ecosocialism (September 25, 2017)
    Ian Angus challenges a left-wing magazine that promotes geoengineering, nuclear power, carbon storage and other techno-fixes as solutions to climate change.
  51. Fighting for climate justice (September 5, 2017)
    Climate change is a key factor in oppression of the poor worldwide.
  52. The Economy of an Ecological Society Will Be at the Service of Humanity (August 20, 2017)
    What would a truly just, equal and ecologically sustainable future look like? Why would it require a change in our economic system, namely the end of capitalism? Fred Magdoff and Chris Williams answer these questions in Creating an Ecological Society: Toward a Revolutionary Transformation.
  53. Nutrient Runoff is Killing American Waters and Voluntary Actions Aren't Working (August 1, 2017)
    The ongoing causes and devastating effects of nutrient pollution on American lakes, bays and waterways is examined.
  54. Marx and Engels on ecology: A reply to radical critics (July 31, 2017)
    A review of the book "Marx and the Earth: An Anti-Critique" authored by Paul Burkett and John Bellamy Foster, who respond to critics of ecological Marxism with a comprehensive examination of what the founders of historical materialism wrote and thought about mankind's relationship to the earth.
  55. The financial system killing environmental activists (July 13, 2017)
    A Global Witness report reveals 2016 as the deadliest year yet for environmental defenders. International investors are accused of bankrolling the projects that hundreds of people have been killed protesting.
  56. We Need a Much Bigger Leap! John Bellamy Foster on Naomi Klein's 'No Is Not Enough' (June 13, 2017)
    There is much to admire in Naomi Klein's new book, but she underestimates the danger posed by Trumpism, and doesn't pose a real alternative. She calls for a Leap, but it isn't high enough or far enough.
  57. Restoring the Heartland and Rustbelt through Clean Energy Democracy: an Organizing Proposal (May 16, 2017)
    A proposal to end capitalism and fight climate change at the same time.
  58. Nature, Labor, and the Rise of Capitalism (May 1, 2017)
    The nature of capitalism puts it at war with Nature.
  59. Climate Struggles and Ecosocialism (April 27, 2017)
    The hard right U.S. administration of Donald Trump has widened the terrain of struggle over climate change and, indeed, the entire array of environmental issues facing the ecology of North America and the working class movement.
  60. Changing minds on a changing climate (April 26, 2017)
    Reddit commenters point to reasons they went from being climate contrarians to having confidence in mainstream climate science.
  61. Climate Change As Genocide (April 22, 2017)
    Is this what a world battered by climate change will be like—one in which tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of people perish from disease, starvation, and heat prostration while the rest of us, living in less exposed areas, essentially do nothing to prevent their annihilation?
  62. Jobs for Climate and Justice: A Worker Alternative to the Trump Agenda (April 1, 2017)
    Jobs for Climate and Justice exposes and challenges the Trump agenda and proposes the kind of economic program we must fight for. It also offers examples of the great organizing efforts around the country – led by working people – that provide the foundation for the a transition to a just and climate-safe economy.
  63. Campaign to Stop GE Trees Release Statement of Solidarity Following World Water Day (March 27, 2017)
    The Campaign to Stop Genetically Engineered Trees released this statement in solidarity with communities affected by the industrial forestry model. These tree plantations, which do not support biodiversity, are not forests, but more like laboratories.
  64. Online harassment and threats for Indian journalist exposing illegal sand mining (March 27, 2017)
    The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) expresses serious concern over the online harassment and threats over the telephone to independent journalist Sandhya Ravishankar over her reporting of illegal beach sand mining in Tamil Nadu, India.
  65. Noise, the 'ignored pollutant': health, nature and ecopsychology (March 9, 2017)
    For those who like to enjoy the natural environment, noise is something to be escaped from within the relative sanctuary of the landscape. These days that's getting harder and harder to accomplish. That's not only because of noise from all around - in particular from urban areas, roads and the increasing mechanisation of agriculture - but also due to the increasing level of air traffic overhead.
  66. Heatwave frequency rises twice as fast in the poorest countries (March 8, 2017)
    A feature of most statements about climate change is the use of the future tense: the poorest countries will be worse-hit than the rich ones. But new research shows that the predicted unequal climate future has actually been with us for decades. The poorest countries have already experienced twice as great an increase in extreme temperatures as the rich ones, and the gap has been widening for more than thirty years.
  67. How Labor and Climate United Can Trump Trump (February 13, 2017)
    Co-operation between labour and climate groups may be possible in the Trump era.
  68. Marxism and the Earth: A defence of the classical tradition (January 3, 2017)
    Marxist analyses of the natural world have been the focus of intense debate recently, and the publication of any book that further explores what Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels thought about the subject is something to be welcomed. John Bellamy Foster and Paul Burkett have proven track records of writing some of the clearest books on the subject, and while Marx and the Earth is not a specific response to some of their recent critics, it is an important defence of Marx’s and Engels’s original work.
  69. Survival is the Question (January 1, 2017)
    Book review of Ian Angus' Facing the Anthropocene: Fossil Capitalism and the Crisis of the Earth System.
  70. Dirty Fossil Fuel 'Business-As-Usual' Tactics Spew Out Of The International Maritime Organization At COP22 (November 15, 2016)
    The shipping industry needs to clean up its CO2 emissions now. The IMO's own Third IMO Greenhouse Gas Study 2014 report stated that by 2050, CO2 emissions from international shipping could grow by between 50 percent and 250 percent, depending on future economic growth and energy developments.
  71. Why are our environmental groups supporting weak climate targets? (November 1, 2016)
    The federal government's recently announced that all Canadian jurisdictions must adopt a carbon pricing scheme by 2018 with a minimum price of $10 per tonne. The price must rise to reach $50 per tonne by 2022. The goal of reducing emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 will not get Canada anywhere close to its promises to the United Nations. Canadians probably believe that our major environmental groups are busy lobbying and pushing the federal and provincial governments to do much more. But no, this is not the case.
  72. Marxism and the Dialectics of Ecology (October 1, 2016)
    The recovery of the ecological-materialist foundations of Karl Marx’s thought, as embodied in his theory of metabolic rift, is redefining both Marxism and ecology in our time, reintegrating the critique of capital with critical natural science. Marx's materialist conception of history is inextricably connected to the materialist conception of nature, encompassing not only the critique of political economy, but also the critical appropriation of the natural-scientific revolutions occurring in his day.
  73. Is renewable energy really environmentally friendly? (September 30, 2016)
    Renewable energy sources may have low CO2 emissions at the point of use, but the mines that make the technology possible are often environmentally destructive.
  74. The Workers' Climate Plan & The Federal Climate Consultations (July 12, 2016)
    The Government of Canada is leading a process to create a National Climate Strategy, a result of signing the Paris Agreement to limit increasing global temperatures. Over the next 3 months, political leaders will be consulting the public and key stakeholders to propose a new federal climate strategy in October 2016.
  75. Making Green Jobs Good Jobs (July 1, 2016)
    Jobs versus the environment -- it's an old dilemma that pits unions seeking work for their members against activists rallying against projects like the Keystone XL. An expanding renewable energy sector might provide a way out of this quandary. Solar and wind energy projects can put people to work without imperiling the planet. But will these jobs be friendly to workers, as well as the environment?
  76. Why changing our diets won't save the Earth (June 13, 2016)
    Received wisdom says that to save the planet we have to change our eating habits. Elaine Graham-Leigh explains why the received wisdom isn't just wrong, it blames working people for a crisis they didn’t cause.
  77. Planetary Crisis: We are not all in this together (May 25, 2016)
    Liberal environmentalists insist that we are all passengers on Spaceship Earth, sharing a common fate and a common responsibility for the ship's safety. In reality, a handful of Spaceship Earth's passengers travel first-class, in plush air-conditioned cabins with every safety feature, including reserved seats in the very best lifeboats. The majority are herded into steerage, exposed to the elements, with no lifeboats at all. Armed guards keep them in their place.
  78. This is What Insurgency Looks Like (May 24, 2016)
    The call to Break Free from Fossil Fuels envisioned "tens of thousands of people around the world rising up" to take back control of their own destiny; "sitting down" to "block the business of government and industry that threaten our future"; conducting "peaceful defense of our right to clean energy." That's just what happened.
  79. Exxon Knew CO2 Pollution Was A Global Threat By Late 1970s (April 27, 2016)
    Throughout Exxon’s global operations, the company knew that CO2 was a harmful pollutant in the atmosphere years earlier than previously reported. Exxon corporate documents from the late 1970s state unequivocally "there is no doubt" that CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels was a growing "problem" well understood within the company.
  80. Getting Serious About Keeping Fossil Fuels in the Ground Means Getting Serious About a Just Transition (April 22, 2016)
    If the climate movement is going to get serious about keeping fossil fuels in the ground, the movement needs to get serious about cultivating a real vision for a just transition. If we’re going to see coal-fired power plants and oil refineries and chemical plants shut down we need to have a real vision about what the future looks like for those workers, their families and their communities.
  81. The Precautionary Principle: the basis of a post-GMO ethic (April 18, 2016)
    GMOs have been in our diets for about 20 years. Proof that they are safe? No way - it took much, much longer to discover the dangers of cigarettes and transfats, dangers that are far more visible than those of GMOs. On the scale of nature and ecology, 20 years is a pitifully short time. To sustain our human future, we have to think long term.
  82. While you were distracted climate change warning arrived (March 22, 2016)
    With dire warnings of catastrophic sea level rise and superstorms capable of pitching 1,000 tonne mega-boulders onto shorelines, scientist James Hansen sounded an alarm over continued global warming.
  83. Scandal! Exxon knew about climate change, boosted denialism, misled shareholders, went carbon heavy (March 9, 2016)
    One of the world's biggest energy companies has been caught out in what may be the biggest ever climate scandal. Way back in the 1980s ExxonMobil knew of the 'potentially catastrophic' and 'irreversible' effects of increasing fossil fuel consumption, but chose to cover up the findings, spread misinformation on climate change, and go for high carbon energy sources.
  84. Towards Workers' Climate Action (March 1, 2016)
    Book review of Paul Hampton's Workers and Trade Unions for Climate Solidarity:
    Tackling Climate Change in a Neoliberal World.
  85. Making the Promises Real: Labor and the Paris Climate Agreement (January 26, 2016)
    As nearly 200 nations gathered in Paris approved the UN Climate Change Agreement, the AFL-CIO issued a statement that broke new ground on climate. While the AFL-CIO opposed the Kyoto climate agreement and never supported the failed Copenhagen agreement, it applauded the Paris climate change agreement as "a landmark achievement in international cooperation" and called on America "to make the promises real."
  86. The specter of geoengineering haunts the Paris climate agreement (January 25, 2016)
    in a capitalist framework negative emissions technologies appear to offer the only possible way out. Geoengineering is the specter that haunts the text adopted in Paris and gives it meaning. The fact that the Agreement does not mention "energy transition" is not a regrettable lapse in generally good text, but proof by omission that the negotiators have chosen to bet on geoengineering instead of confronting fossil capital.
  87. Essential reading on the Paris climate agreement (January 10, 2016)
    An annotated guide to thirty-four of the best articles on the COP21 Paris Agreement on climate change published in the immediate aftermath of the agreement.
  88. Humans will be remembered for leaving a 'plastic planet' (January 6, 2016)
  89. Missing from the Paris Agreement: the Pentagon's monstrous carbon boot print (January 6, 2016)
    How much of the mainstream media coverage given to COP21 and the Paris Agreement mentioned the mysterious exemption given to the US's massive military and security machine? None, writes Joyce Nelson. Not only are these emissions entirely outside the UNFCCC process, but a 'cone of sillence' somehow prevents them from even forming part of the climate change discourse.
  90. Climate Change: A Radical Primer (January 1, 2016)
    Book review of David Klein's Capitalism and Climate Change: The Science and Politics of Global Warming.
  91. Towards Workers' Climate Action (2016)
    A review of a book and a pamphlet by Paul Hampton, both on the urgent need for workers' action on climate change.
  92. Inside the Paris Climate Agreement: Hope or Hype? (December 30, 2015)
    It has become a predictable pattern at the annual UN climate conferences for participants to describe the outcome in widely divergent ways.
  93. At COP21, the world agreed to increase emissions (December 13, 2015)
    Some countries will reduce emissions a little, but other countries will increase them a lot. You would never know this from UN and media reports.
  94. The Urban Green Wars (December 11, 2015)
    Struggling for working-class control of cities is crucial to bringing down carbon emissions.
  95. Community groups and First Nations demand the shutdown of Enbridge's Line 9 (December 9, 2015)
    More than 80 organizations in southern Ontario and Quebec, impacted indigenous communities, as well as national organizations have released a statement letter to the Prime Minister condemning the recent National Energy Board (NEB) approval of Line 9
  96. The Collaborative Model Takes Root in Alberta's Tar Sands (December 7, 2015)
    Relationship between Big Oil, Enviromental Groups and Government in Alberta Tar Sands.
  97. Why big NGOs won't lead the fight on climate change (December 6, 2015)
    The cowardly response of prominent climate organizations like 350.org and Avaaz to the protest ban during COP21 demands accountability.
  98. Ian Angus: COP21, the climate crisis, and ecosocialism (December 2, 2015)
    An interview with Climate & Capitalism editor Ian Angus. Angus says 'The environmental question is the most important problem that we face in the 21st century: If we don’t recognize its centrality, our politics will be irrelevant.'
  99. Climate Technofix: Weaving Carbon into Gold and Other Myths of "negative emissions" (December 1, 2015)
    When the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) published their most recent fifth assessment report, something surprising and deeply disturbing was lurking in the small print in chapter three on “mitigation”.
  100. Prelude to Paris: Four Tragic Tactics by President Obama and Four Climate Justice Proposals He Must Support (November 18, 2015)
    In December 2015 the world's governments meet in Paris for a truly historic event -- the United Nations Framework Climate Change Conference. (UNFCCC). The objective of the conference is to protect Mother Earth from the assault of its most ungrateful inhabitants. The challenge is whether Homo sapiens, especially those of the ruling classes of the United States and Europe, can be civilized by the rest of the world before it is too late for all of us.
  101. COP21, Paris: 'Another world is possible, necessary and urgent' (November 17, 2015)
    The greatest danger of the Paris conference is that the global South will be bullied into to accepting a terrible deal rather than leave with none at all. That gives civil society an essential role - to support the resistance of developing country representatives inside the summit to an unjust and ineffective agreement imposed on them by the rich, powerful, high-emitting nations.
  102. A Call For A Fair Shares Agreement: Will Justice Prevail in Paris? (November 12, 2015)
    For most people the word justice conjures up images of superheroes and supreme courts. It seems a grand notion with little bearing on the practicalities of daily life. And when applied to the climate crisis it seems even less comprehensible. But the shocking thing about climate justice is that not only can it be calculated -- it can be achieved.
  103. Lest We Forget: Tar Sands and War (November 11, 2015)
    Over the past decade, Canada has been a war profiteer and fuel tank for the US military, who have killed well over a million people since the turn of the new millennium.
  104. 'Worse Than We Thought': TPP A Total Corporate Power Grab Nightmare (November 5, 2015)
    On issues ranging from climate change to food safety, from open Internet to access to medicines, the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) is a disaster.
  105. How to Promote a Just Transition and Break out of the jobs vs. environment trap (November 1, 2015)
    A strategy has been emerging to protect workers and communities whose livelihoods may be threatened by climate protection policies. Protecting those who lose their jobs due to necessary environmental policies has often been referred to as a "just transition."
  106. Indonesia is burning. So why is the world looking away? (October 30, 2015)
    Fire is raging across the 5,000km length of Indonesia.It is hard to convey the scale of this inferno, but here’s a comparison that might help: it is currently producing more carbon dioxide than the US economy. And in three weeks the fires have released more CO2 than the annual emissions of Germany.
  107. Confronting the Ecological Emergency (October 21, 2015)
    In April 2014, two different teams of American glaciologists, specialists in the Antarctic, reached -- by different methods, based on observation -- the same conclusion: because of global warming, a portion of the ice sheet has begun to dislocate, and this dislocation is irreversible.
  108. Marxism and Ecology: Common Fonts of a Great Transition (October 1, 2015)
    Socialist thought is re-emerging at the forefront of the movement for global ecological and social change.
  109. Harper's Worst Offense against Refugees May Be His Climate Record (September 7, 2015)
    The Middle East drought between 2006 and 2011 was without precedent since modern record keeping, killing over 80 per cent of livestock and driving up local food prices. Already poor populations had to contend with higher temperatures that dried soil and failed rains during the normally wet season due to weaker winds from the Mediterranean. A key long-term driver of this unfolding humanitarian catastrophe is climate change. And on that front, Canada’s record of contributing to this crisis is far more significant than our wretched record so far in resettling Syrian refugees.
  110. Fish habitat protection waning under Harper government, analysis finds (September 2, 2015)
    A statistical analysis of the Conservative government's changes to environmental laws and procedures suggests Ottawa has "all but abandoned" attempts to protect Canada's lakes and rivers.
  111. Will climate chaos reign in the Anthropocene? (July 1, 2015)
    To judge by many accounts of climate change, the twenty-first century will gradually become a warmer, stormier, and less biodiverse version of the twentieth. There's an unspoken assumption that the Anthropocene will be less pleasant than the Holocene, but not fundamentally different, and that the transition will be smooth.
  112. Is Canada's government trying to kill off the wild salmon? (June 8, 2015)
    Matthews discusses how the Canadian government's actions and legal changes threaten the wild salmon.
  113. Anthropocene Boosters and the Attack on Wilderness Conservation (May 12, 2015)
    A number of academics, commentators, and groups argue that humans have so completely modified the Earth that concepts such as 'wilderness' or 'nature' have become meaningless, and that therefore there is no point in talking about 'preserving' wilderness or natural areas. The idea of 'nature', they say, is just a human cultural construct. Those advancing these ideas use different progressive-sounding labels, such as "pragmatic environmentalists" or "green postmodernism," but their message is that we should forget about wilderness conservation and just get on with the business of 'managing' the planet for human benefit. Not surprisingly, corporate and industry leaders have been jumping on the bandwagon.
  114. Future dustbowl? Fracking ravages Great Plains land and water (May 4, 2015)
    The fracking boom has caused massive vegetation loss over North America's rangelands, as 3 million hectares have been occupied by oil and gas infrastructure and 34 billion cubic metres of water have been pumped from semi-arid ecosystems.
  115. Air pollution may be damaging children's brains - before they are even born (April 10, 2015)
    Aside causing respiratory and cardiovascular damage, air pollution has also an impact on the brains and nervous systems of unborn children whose mothers suffer high levels of exposure.
  116. How Corporations and Law Enforcement Are Spying on Environmentalists (April 10, 2015)
    In August 2010, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit distributed an intelligence bulletin to all field offices warning that environmental extremism would likely become an increasing threat to the energy industry. The eight-page document argued that, even though the industry had encountered only low-level vandalism and trespassing, recent "criminal incidents" suggested that environmental extremism was on the rise.
  117. Ocean 'dead zones' are spreading - and that spells disaster for fish (April 9, 2015)
    Oxygen levels in our oceans are falling, producing growing 'dead zones' where only the hardiest organisms can survive. The causes are simple: pollution with nutrient-rich wastes, and global warming. But the only solution is to stop it happening - or wait for 1,000 years.
  118. Crossing a chasm slowly, in ten small steps? Sustainable living demands big changes (March 29, 2015)
    A call to re-engineer our infrastructure, re-imagine society and re-think the ways we live for disruptive, transformative change - rather than tinkering at the margins of 'normality'. Transitioning to sustainability will require profound changes in our everyday ways of living, particularly in westernised countries. It requires changes that are much more significant than simply doing the things that we currently do, but more efficiently.
  119. Global water crisis causing failed harvests, hunger, war and terrorism (March 27, 2015)
    The world is already experiencing water scarcity driven by over-use, poor land management and climate change. If we fail to respond to the warnings before us, major food and power shortages will soon afflict large parts of the globe.
  120. Tar sands campaigners are Canada's new 'terrorists' (March 5, 2015)
    Canada's Harper government has targeted as a new crime being a member of an 'anti-Canadian petroleum movement', and equating such a stance with terrorism.
  121. Blue Betrayal (March 1, 2015)
    Canadians have long taken their water heritage for granted. This is largely due to the myth that there is an abundance of water. While it is true that compared to many other parts of the world Canada is blessed with water, it is false that there is water to waste or sell.
  122. Crossing the River of Fire (February 1, 2015)
    A review of Naomi Klein's book "This Changes Everything" on climate change and its political enviroment.
  123. Marx and Nature: A Red and Green Perspective - Book Review (January 4, 2015)
    Essential reading for ecosocialists. Paul Burkett shows that humanity's relationship to nature is central to Marx’s critique of capitalism and vision of socialism.
  124. For Workers' Climate Action (2015)
    A new collection of articles and reviews on the fight against dangerous climate change, capitalism and workers' organisation and struggle. Urges the left to reach out to climate activists to make the case that being "anti-capitalist" is important but not enough.
  125. How Much Does Climate Change Change? (January 1, 2015)
    A review Naomi Klein's book This Changes Everything.
  126. How Much Does Climate Change Change? (January 1, 2015)
    A review of Naomi Klein's book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate.
  127. Keystone XL opponents need a jobs program (2015)
    The victorious Keystone campaign also exposed the perennial Achilles' heel of those who are fighting against climate change: We are often painted by our opponents and perceived by the public as caring more about the environment than about jobs. The neglected half of the job for environmental advocates is to ourselves become the voice for job creation. We need to develop robust programs to put unemployed pipefitters, teamsters, and others back to work. Indeed, the prerequisite for every environmental campaign should be a plausible and detailed jobs program. The sustainability movement must be a voice for workers, students, and others who want to both save the earth and promote appropriate economic development.
  128. Wind offers a healthy way to generate power (December 11, 2014)
    To reduce global greenhouse gas emissions at a pace and scale that experts agree is necessary to avoid increasing catastrophic effects of global warming, we need a mix of renewable energy. Wind power will play a large role.
  129. The new conquistadors making their presence felt at COP20 in Peru (December 9, 2014)
    A new report released at COP20 by CEO, the Democracy Center and Transnational Institute shows how corporations causing social and environmental destruction in the Andes and Amazon are driving climate change, whilst enjoying influential seats at the climate-negotiating table.
  130. Capitalism is failing the planet (November 20, 2014)
    If we continue with capitalist business as usual, there will be disastrous consequences for humanity. Capitalism is in unavoidable conflict with environmental sustainability because of three key features that are inherent to the system.
  131. Climate Crisis, the Deindustrialization Imperative and the Jobs vs. Environment Dilemma (November 12, 2014)
    So long as we live under capitalism, today, tomorrow, next year and every year thereafter, economic growth will always be the overriding priority till we barrel right off the cliff to collapse.
  132. Overlooking the Obvious With Naomi Klein (October 17, 2014)
    The lesson that Naomi Klein overlooks seems clear. Climate chaos is just one DEVASTATING symptom of our dysfunctional society. To survive catabolic capitalism and germinate an alternative, movement activists will have to anticipate and help people respond to multiple crises while organizing them to recognize and root out their source.
  133. Drawing a line in the tar sands (October 2, 2014)
    The fight over the tar sands is among the epic environmental and social justice battles of our time. The very active tar sands struggle is no less than a life-and-death battle for the future of the planet. It is a battle that pits these peoples' movement against the largest and most destructive industrial project -- a project driven by the big the most profitable and powerful transnational energy corporations.
  134. New generation: Growing up reading Rachel Carson, scientists unravel risks of new pesticides (September 25, 2014)
    Like biologist Rachel Carson, whose 1962 book Silent Spring warned about the devastating effects of DDT, a new generation of scientists is trying to figure out if new pesticides -- which are being used in ever-increasing numbers, quantities, and combinations -- are harming living things they’re not intended to kill, including birds.
  135. Why our brains are wired to ignore climate change (September 25, 2014)
    Is our inability to tackle climate change the fault of politicians? Corporations? Governments? Or is it because that's the way our brains have evolved, able to hold six contradictory ideas at once, and believe them all?
  136. The Carbon Underground: reversing global warming (September 21, 2014)
    As millions join in climate marches and other actions around the world, the mainstream focus on energy is missing the 55% of emissions that come from mismanaged land and destroyed forests. The key is to replace industrial agriculture worldwide with productive, regenerative organic farming that puts carbon back in the soil.
  137. Canada more at risk from environmentalists than religiously inspired terrorists: RCMP (September 16, 2014)
    Recent RCMP report warns that Canada's energy sector is more at risk from domestic environmental extremists than from religiously inspired terrorist organizations like Al Qaida and ISIS.
  138. The liberal climate agenda is doomed to failure (August 29, 2014)
    Liberal environmentalism represents a dangerous delusion, writes Scott Parkin - that 'playing nice' with Earth-destroying corporations and politicians can yield results worth having. Radical change on climate will only result from bold, confrontational direct actions against the fossil fuel industries and their apologists.
  139. The Need for Clear Demands at the Peoples' Climate March (August 13, 2014)
    In New York City on September 21st, a major climate march is planned. It will take place two days before UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's UN Climate Summit -- a one-day closed door session where the world's "leaders" will discuss "ambitions" for the upcoming climate conference (COP20) in Lima Peru.
  140. Rio Tinto's 'sustainable mining' claims exposed (July 30, 2014)
    Global mining giant Rio Tinto markets itself as a 'sustainable company'. But serious failures in its reporting, and its attempt to hold an Australian indigenous group to ransom, reveal a very different truth: the company is driven by a reckless pursuit of profit at any cost.
  141. It's not just the bees! 'Neonic' pesticides linked to bird declines (July 17, 2014)
    A study published today in Nature shows a strong correlation between concentrations of a popular neonicotinoid pesticide in water, and bird declines. Regulators are under pressure to tighten up, but the industry still claims there's 'no substantiated evidence'.
  142. Selling the Silver (July 7, 2014)
    Fishing quotas were meant to conserve stocks and support fishing communities. But they have achieved the reverse - rewarding the most rapacious fishing enterprises and leaving small scale fisherfolk with nothing.
  143. India - Now Nuclear and Environmental Dissent is a Crime (July 4, 2014)
    In modern India any form of dissent from the neoliberal corporate model of development is being criminalised. Opponents of nuclear power, coal mines, GMOs, giant dams, are all under attack as enemies of the state and a threat to economic growth.
  144. Why Green Capitalism Will Fail (May 30, 2014)
    Green capitalism is destined to fail: You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results. We can’t shop our way out of global warming nor are there technological magic wands that will save us. There is no alternative to a dramatic change in the organization of the global economy and consumption patterns. Such a change will not come without costs — but the costs of doing nothing, of allowing global warming to precede is far greater.
  145. We Are The Soil (May 27, 2014)
    We are made up of the same five elements — earth, water, fire, air and space — that constitute the Universe. We are the soil. We are the earth. What we do to the soil, we do to ourselves. And it is no accident that the words “humus” and “humans” have the same roots. This ecological truth is forgotten in the dominant paradigm because it is based on eco-apartheid, the false idea that we are separate and independent of the earth and also because it defines soil as dead matter. If soil is dead to begin with, human action cannot destroy its life. It can only “improve” the soil with chemical fertilisers. And if we are the masters and conquerors of the soil, we determine the fate of the soil. Soil cannot determine our fate.
  146. A Fossil Fuel Exit Program (May 1, 2014)
    A complete transition away from fossil fuels is necessary within a few decades. The question is how to construct an exit strategy that will accomplish this. James Hansen has provided a starting point for a realistic climate-change exit strategy.
  147. Call Climate Change What It Is: Violence (April 7, 2014)
    Social unrest and famine, superstorms and droughts. Places, species and human beings – none will be spared. Welcome to Occupy Earth.
  148. Alberta - tar sands emissions linked to health damage (April 5, 2014)
    A report by Alberta's energy regulator links emissions from tar sands oil production with serious health impacts that have forced families to flee their homes in the Peace River region.
  149. The Myths of 'Green Capitalism' (March 17, 2014)
    Environmental politics in the U.S. appears hopelessly polarized. Liberals and progressives try to sustain and occasionally strengthen environmental legislation, while those on the right are unalterably opposed, even seeking to defund core institutions such as the EPA.
  150. Agriculture: Steps to sustainable livestock (March 5, 2014)
    With improved breeding and cultivation, ruminant animals can yield food that is better for people and the planet.
  151. Fracking is the death spasm of a defunct economic order (March 5, 2014)
    Political support for fracking is not just about energy, writes Paul Mobbs. It reflects the greater ecological and resource crisis at the root of our current economic woes - and only postpones the essential shift to a new kind of economy.
  152. God's plan for climate change (March 5, 2014)
    How, and why, does the US Right and its evangelical 'Christian' wing campaign for mal-education, ignorance, corporate dominance, and the profligate consumption of fossil fuels?
  153. Romania - a Peasants' Revolt against Fracking (February 18, 2014)
    Earthquakes and poisoned wells are setting off a revolt against fracking in Romania, revealing deep fault lines between the rural heartlands and the urban political elite.
  154. Bias Towards Power *Is* Corporate Media 'Objectivity' (February 13, 2014)
    Journalistic bias in favour of the orthodox Western-centric socio-economic perspective is often framed as "objectivity", and departures from the orthodox Western-centric socio-economic perspective are often dismissed as "ideological'. A review of the incidence and framing of climate change reporting illustrates this.
  155. Lack of regulation behind West Virginia water disaster (January 14, 2014)
    A chemical spill at the Etowah River Terminal, near Charleston, West Virginia, resulted in nearly 300,000 people in the state losing access to drinkable water. Since then, several reports have been released detailing the decades-long lack of regulation by state or federal agencies of the site responsible.
  156. How Greens and Labor can Win ... Together (January 9, 2014)
    A review of Green Bans, Red Union: Environmental Activists and the New South Wales Labourers Federation by Meredith and Verity Burgmann (UNSW Press, 1998).
  157. Why environmentalists must support workers' struggles (December 18, 2013)
    This is to specifically address class struggle as it relates to the ecological crisis. It will not address all the other (many!) reasons that working class struggle must be waged and supported.
  158. The Mekong must run free! (December 14, 2013)
    The Mekong is among Southeast Asia's greatest rivers, sustaining tens of millions from its abundant fisheries and its floodwaters which both irrigate and fertilise. But Nature's bounty, and beauty, are at risk from a series of 11 dams.
  159. The Ecoterrorist and me (December 10, 2013)
    Marie Mason is five years into a 22-year sentence for participating in non-violent - but highly destructive - actions with the Earth Liberation Front. David Rovics met with her at the Carswell Federal Women's Prison in Fort Worth, Texas.
  160. Climate politics must be as radical as the climate crisis (December 8, 2013)
    If the climate action movement allows its goals to be shaped by what is permissible in a capitalist economy then it has already failed. To respond to the climate emergency, our politics must be as radical as our reality. Revolutionary changes needed for humankind to survive and thrive.
  161. Lobbying Elites: The Fast Track To Extinction (December 4, 2013)
    As we evaluate the outcomes of the recent UN climate negotiations in Warsaw, one lesson that we are invited to learn, again, relates to our strategy for getting effective action taken on the ongoing climate catastrophe and other critical environmental.
  162. Roadblocks to Climate Activism (November 22, 2013)
    The consequences of global warming. The evidence for the evolving dire effects of building CO2 and other greenhouse gases is getting increasingly conclusive. We are a species influenced by natural localism, and therefore the majority of Americans, and others in the West as well, are not going to abandon a present full of profit and relative comfort as long as the sky is clear in their own local place and time. As to the future beyond their grandchildren, it simply does not seem real.
  163. Greenhouse Gas Concentrations in Atmosphere Reach New Record (November 6, 2013)
    The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2012, continuing an upward and accelerating trend which is driving climate change and will shape the future of our planet for hundreds and thousands of years.
  164. Unregulated oil fracking boom does permanent damage (August 8, 2013)
    We know about the dangers of pollution from fracking. But its lethal, long-term byproducts and the ease with which they leak or are dumped may be causing worse problems in a state that can’t even question them.
  165. Keystone XL Activists Labeled Possible Eco-Terrorists (June 14, 2013)
    TransCanada has colluded with an FBI/DHS Fusion Center in Nebraska, labeling non-violent activists as possible candidates for “terrorism” charges and other serious criminal charges.
  166. 'The Planet Can't Keep Doing Us A Favour' (May 29, 2013)
    With humanity's huge impact on the planet's climate becoming ever clearer, the claim of 'history in the making' is truly deserved.
  167. Just the Beginning of Canada's Filthy Tar Sands (May 7, 2013)
    The technology used in Canada's tar sands will be used to open up other potential oil deposits that could more than double all know oil reserves. The disaster threatens to keep expanding.
  168. Marxism as if the planet mattered (April 10, 2013)
    Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels held that capitalism inevitably tears apart the natural conditions that sustain life. They argued capitalism's exploitation of working people, and the unsustainable exploitation of nature, were linked and part of the same process.
  169. The Environmental Movement at the Crossroads (March 7, 2013)
    There is a growing culture of resistance in the environment movement
  170. James Hansen and the Climate-Change Exit Strategy (February 1, 2013)
    Hansen has provided the starting point for a realistic climate-change exit strategy aimed at keeping the increase in global average temperatures below 2°C (3.6° F), an amount that constitutes the planetary tipping point with respect to climate change.
  171. What If America's Leaders Actually Want Catastrophic Climate Change? (November 28, 2012)
    Our leaders, political and corporate, may be puerile, egocentric greed-heads, but they are not stupid. They surely for the most part recognize that the Earth is heating up and heading at full speed towards ecological, social and political disaster. How else to explain, then, their astonishing unwillingness to take action?
  172. A Marxist Ecological Vision (November 1, 2012)
    The questions facing environmental activists, and socialists in particular, range from the sheer scale of the environmental disasters already underway to the problems of beginning a transition from a system organized around massive consumption of fossil fuels, vast megacities and global agribusiness.
  173. One of the Greatest Environmentalists of the 20th Century (October 10, 2012)
    Dr. Barry Commoner, equipped with a Harvard PhD in cellular biology, used his knowledge of biology, ecosystems, nuclear radiation, public communication, networking scientists, political campaigning, and community organizing to become the greatest environmentalist in the 20th century.
  174. Barry Commoner 1917-2012 (October 2, 2012)
    Barry Commoner, biologist, environmental, socialist, humanist, and one of the central leaders of the anti-nuclear-testing movement, dies at 95. He is particularly remembered for the “Four Laws of Ecology” he laid out in his book The Closing Circle: (1) Everything is connected to everything else. (2) Everything must go somewhere. (3) Nature knows best. (4) There is no such thing as a free lunch.
  175. The Ice Melts Into Water (October 2, 2012)
    Last month, climate scientists announced that Arctic sea ice had shrunk to its smallest surface area since satellite observations began in 1979. An ice-free summer in the Arctic, once projected to be more than a century away, now looks possible just a few decades from now. Some scientists say it may happen within the next few years.
  176. The Dark Side Of The "Green Economy" (August 23, 2012)
    Just a few years ago, the term "green economy" referred to economies that are locally based, climate friendly, and low-impact. But since the global economic meltdown began in 2007, the green economy has come to mean something more akin to the wholesale privatization of nature.
  177. At the crossroads between 'Green Economy' and rights of nature (June 28, 2012)
    Under the rhetoric of "green economy", capitalists are actually attempting to use nature as capital, proposing unconvincingly that the only way to preserve natural elements such as water and forests is through private investment.
  178. The false solutions of Rio+20 (June 28, 2012)
    Food production and people's sovereignty in Africa could be seriously compromised by carbon capture projects and the so-called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus (REDD+) mechanism.
  179. Way Beyond Greenwashing: Have Corporations Captured Big Conservation? (February 7, 2012)
    The global organic food industry agrees to support international agribusiness in clearing as much tropical rainforest as they want for farming. In return, agribusiness agrees to farm the now-deforested land using organic methods, and the organic industry encourages its supporters to buy the resulting timber and food under the newly devised “Rainforest Plus” label.
  180. The Four Laws of Ecology and The Four Anti-Ecological Laws of Capitalism (2012)
    An exponential growth dynamic is inherent in capitalism, a system whereby money is exchanged for commodities, which are then exchanged for more money on an ever increasing scale.
  181. A Death Sentence For Africa (December 15, 2011)
    Carbon emissions, already at their peak, will continue to increase for at least the next eight years, pushing humanity closer to the brink of climate collapse. Rather than address the madness of a global system of corporate-led capitalism that is bulldozing us to this disaster, the corporate media mouthed deceptive platitudes.
  182. Climate Crisis - The Collapse In Corporate Media Coverage (December 1, 2011)
    We find that Britain and the US - the two countries responding most aggressively to alleged 'threats' to human security in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya - are also the two countries least interested in responding to the very real threat of climate change.
  183. Connexions Archive Case Statement (September 24, 2011)
    Working together to secure a future for the past
  184. Mountaintop Removal: Environmental And Human Destruction For Profit (June 13, 2011)
    Coal River Mountain Watch (CRMW) is an initiative "to stop the destruction of our communities and environment by mountaintop removal, to improve the quality of life in our area, and to help rebuild sustainable communities."
  185. The well-intentioned dolts putting a price on nature are delivering it into the hands of business (June 7, 2011)
    It’s the definitive neoliberal triumph: the monetisation and marketisation of nature, its reduction to a tradeable asset. Once you have surrendered it to the realm of Pareto optimisation and Kaldor-Hicks compensation, everything is up for grabs. The well-intentioned dolts who produced the government’s assessment, have crushed the natural world into a column of figures. Now it can be swapped for money.
  186. Boom for whom? The Canadian Impacts of the Tar Sands (2011)
    A summary of the devasting impacts of the tar sands as they affect the different regions of Canada.
  187. Legal Lessons From the Green Scare (November 23, 2010)
    Green Scare prosecutors and their coordinators in Washington are willing to destroy individual lives to score political points, and to trample their own rules in the process.
  188. Not Another Disaster Movie (October 26, 2010)
    Whose will is it that keeps us going the way we are? The will of capital, albeit a capital that’s been refurbished for our modern times. That will cloaks itself in the garb of progress, science and technology. At the same time, it justifies itself by the invocation, in the developed countries and those (like China) on the fast track to development, of an apparently all but incontrovertible need to maintain “our way of life.” That way of life threatens to fairly quickly become a threat to the possibility of life in any form that we would want to be part of.
  189. Five Reasons To Plant Trees Now (September 21, 2010)
    To some people, planting a tree is the epitome of the environmental cliche. Planting a tree seems so simple, so easy, so... low-technology. In the midst of the economic upheaval we are experiencing now, in the face of massive challenges such as peak oil and climate change, why should we plant trees?
  190. Strong Meat (September 7, 2010)
    The meat-producing system Simon Fairlie advocates differs sharply from the one now practised in the rich world: low energy, low waste, just, diverse, small-scale. But if we were to adopt it, we could eat meat, milk and eggs (albeit much less) with a clean conscience.
  191. What Bhopal Started (June 15, 2010)
    Bhopal marked the horrific beginning of a new era. One that signalled the collapse of restraint on corporate power. The ongoing BP spill in the Mexican Gulf -- with estimates ranging from 30,000 to 80,000 barrels per day -- tops off a quarter of a century where corporations could (and have) done anything in the pursuit of profit, at any human cost.
  192. The Unpersuadables (March 8, 2010)
    In fighting for science, we subscribe to a comforting illusion: that people can be swayed by the facts.
  193. Gates of Delusion: Media Distortions and REAL Climate Scandals (February 22, 2010)
    Climate-related storms in a teacup have been appearing in the corporate media almost on a daily basis. This nonsense is distracting attention from a mountain of evidence that human-induced climate change is accelerating and poses a deadly threat to civilisation.
  194. Hard Core Green (January 14, 2010)
    Two uncompromised green activists and writers completely focused on winning, and utterly void of bullshit.
  195. The Dead End of Climate Justice (January 8, 2010)
    The notion of climate debt, highlighted as the principle avenue of struggle for the climate justice movement, poses some large problems. Contemporary demands for reparations justified by the notion of climate debt open a dangerous door to increased green capitalist investment in the Global South. Everything from energy to agriculture, from cleaning products to electronics, and especially everything within the biosphere, is being incorporated into this regime of climate markets. One can only imagine the immense possibilities for speculation and financialization in these markets as the green bubble continues to grow.
  196. Coal's Ruptured Landscape (January 5, 2010)
    It is more apparent now than ever before that coal mining, especially mountain top removal, is unethical and inhumane. It displays stark irresponsibility in land stewardship as well as depraved practices within a diverse region. It's time to shake off the flawed belief that we are reliant upon coal and other fossil fuels.
  197. Doom and Gloom (December 21, 2009)
    Jermey Brecher says that the social roots of doom are part of a common pattern that we can observe repeatedly in history. People live their lives and pursue their goals by means of strategies that have been developed over time. But sometimes they discover their established strategies aren't working. No matter how hard they try, their problems remain intractable. The natural result is despair. But the awareness that other people are experiencing the same despair changes the context in which it is experienced. It opens up new possibilities. Perhaps the problems that we despair of solving as individuals can be addressed through some kind of collective action. When people begin to explore that possibility, the result may be a social movement.
  198. Indian Waste-pickers Demand 'Climate Justice' at Global Warming Summit (December 14, 2009)
    As governments struggle to develop an international plan for combating climate change, a new report from a leading Indian environment group has found that informal recycling makes a huge but unappreciated contribution towards the reduction of greenhouse gases.
  199. Targeting Earth First! (December 11, 2009)
    The war on environmentalism.
  200. Climate change: the eco-socialist solution (December 9, 2009)
    Climate change reminds us, in a phrase attributed to Lao Tzu, that "if you don't change direction you may end up where you are heading." The road of capitalism is now lined with horrors and we must find a new direction home. After a long absence, sustainability must be restored to the relationship between society and nature.

Selected Websites and Organizations

  1. This is a small sampling of organizations and websites concerned with environmental issues Connexions Directory. For more organizations and websites, check the Connexions Directory Subject Index, especially under topics such as environment, globalization, global climate change, energy, pollution, toxic wastes, drinking water, environment and agriculture, conservation, and urban environment.

  • Alternatives Journal
    A quarterly magazine of news and analysis on environmental thought, policy and action.
  • Bat Conservation International
    Site devoted to bats.
  • Bees for Development
    An information service working at the centre of an international network of people and organisations involved with apiculture in developing countries. Beekeeping is an effective way for poor people to strengthen their livelihoods, and Bees for Development works to provide information to assist them.
  • Canadian Environmental Law Association
    Information on legal and policy aspects of environmental issues.
  • Canadian Environmental Network
    The Canadian Environmental Network (CEN) facilitates networking between environmental organizations and others who share its mandate - To Protect The Earth And Promote Ecologically Sound Ways Of Life.
  • Connexions Library: Health Focus
    Selected articles, books, websites and other resources on health.
  • Connexions Library: Rural Issues Focus
    Selected articles, books, websites and other resources on rural issues.
  • Edge: Evolutionarily Distinct & Globally Endangered
    The EDGE of Existence programme aims to conserve the world's most Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species by implementing the research and conservation actions needed to secure their future.
  • EnvironmentSources.com
    Web portal with information about environmental issues and resources, with articles, documents, books, websites, and experts and spokespersons. The home page features a selection of recent and important articles. A search feature, subject index, and other research tools make it possible to find additional resources and information.
  • Great Lakes United
    An international coalition dedicated to preserving and restoring the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River ecosystem. Useful background documents on water issues.
  • International Dark Sky Association
    Concerned with stopping the adverse environmental impact of light pollution and space debris.
  • Oeko-Institut
    German institute dealing with environmental issues including transportation and climate change.
  • System Change Not Climate Change
    A website with multimedia resources intended to educate and inspire people to take collective action for climate justice.
  • 350.org
    An international campaign to build a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis.
  • World Rainforest Movement
    An international organization involved in efforts to defend the world's rainforests. Works to secure the lands and livliehoods of forest peoples and fights commercial logging, dams, mining, plantations and other interferences that threaten the survival of these people and their habitat.

Other Links & Resources



Save the turtles


Books, Films and Periodicals

  1. This is a small sampling of books related to environmental issues in the Connexions Online Library. For more books and other resources, check the Connexions Library Subject Index, especially under topics such as environment, globalization, global climate change, energy, pollution, toxic wastes, environment and agriculture, conservation, and urban environment.

  1. Awake, A Dream from Standing Rock
    Author: Dewey, Myron
    Awake, A Dream from Standing Rock captures the story of Native-led defiance that forever changed the fight for clean water, our environment and the future of our planet.
  2. Biopiracy
    The plunder of nature and knowledge
    Author: Shiva, Vandana
    Internationally renowned Third World environmentalist Vandana Shiva exposes the latest frontier of the North's ongoing assault against the South's biological and other resources.
  3. Blue Gold
    The battle against corporate theft of the world's water
    Author: Barlow, Maude; Clarke, Tony
    International tensions around water are rising in many of the world's most volatile regions.This book exposes the enormity of the problem, the dangers of the proposed solution and the alternative, which is to recognize access to water as a fundamental human right, not dependent on ability to pay.
  4. Blue Gold: World Water Wars
    Author: Bozzo, Sam (director); Barlow, Maude; Clarke, Tony (writers)
    A documentary, based on the book Blue Gold, by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, which examines environmental and political implications of the planet's dwindling water supply, and posits that wars in the future will be fought over water. The film also highlights some success stories of water activists around the world and makes a strong case for community action.
  5. Boreal Forests in Crisis
    Author: Hamel, Peter
    Canada's assault on the Boreal forest rivals Brazil's exploitation of the Amazon. In both countries governments and multinational corporations are scheming to clear-cut forests for short-term profit. They treat rivers as sewers, poison the fish and drive aboriginal peoples from their ancestral lands.
  6. Climate Cover-Up
    The Crusade to Deny Global Warming
    Author: Hoggan, James; Littlemore, Richard
    Tracking the global warming denial movement from its inception, public relations advisor James Hoggan (working with journalist Richard Littlemore), reveals the details of those early plans and then tracks their execution, naming names and exposing tactics in what has become a full-blown attack on the integrity of the public conversation.
  7. Climate Insurgency
    A Strategy for Survival
    Author: Brecher, Jeremy
    Twenty-five years of human effort have failed even to slow climate change, let alone reverse it. Climate Insurgency lays out a strategy for protecting the earth s climate: a global nonviolent constitutional insurgency. This short book starts with a brief history of official climate protection efforts from above and non-governmental ones from below that explains why climate protection has failed so far. Then, it proposes a global nonviolent insurgency for climate protection to overcome that failure.
  8. The Closing Circle
    Man, Technology & the Environment
    Author: Commoner, Barry
    Commoner argues that economic life must be structured to conform to the principles of ecology, as opposed to the goal of unlimited growth that underpins capitalist economies.
  9. Conned, Carbon offsets stripped bare
    New Internationalist July 2006
    Discussion of the myths about carbon offsets, and details of more positive climate change steps to take. Carbon offsetting is exposed as a scam, one that's been sold to the guilt-ridden general public as an easy answer to a complex problem.
  10. Coughing up coal
    Author: Stirk, Sarah
    India is rivaling China -- in its plans to consume coal. India is aggressively expanding construction of coal fired power plants to meet growing energy needs. Emissions from coal power plants were linked to 80,000 - 150,000 premature deaths in India between 2011 and 2012 alone and to a wide range of diseases from cancers, to respiratory and cardiovascular disorders. Singrauli -- an industrial hub in north central India -- embodies the tragic human toll that a largely unregulated coal industry can extract.
  11. Creating an Ecological Society
    Toward a Revolutionary Transformation
    Author: Magdoff, Fred; Williams, Chris
    Because it aims squarely at replacing capitalism with an ecologically sound and socially just society, Creating an Ecological Society is filled with revolutionary hope. Fred Magdoff and Chris Williams, who have devoted their lives to activism, Marxist analysis, and ecological science, provide informed, fascinating accounts of how a new world can be created from the ashes of the old.
  12. Defending the Earth
    A Dialog Between Murray Bookchin and Dave Foreman
    A renowned political theorist faces off against a direct-action activist to discuss: What is the connection between theory and activism? What is the role of sabotage in creating social change? How can human beings fit into a stable ecosystem?
  13. Disputed Territory
    The green economy versus community-based economies
    Author: Overbeek, Winnie; Pazos, Flavio
    A story of the peoples of the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil, looking at what happens when so-called "green economy" projects move into the area, clearning the forest, and taking over the land.
  14. The Earthscan Action Handbook
    Author: Litvinoff, Miles
    A compendium of the world's major ills with suggestions for remedial action.
  15. Ecological Imperialism
    The Biological Expansion in Europe, 900-1900
    Author: Crosby, Alfred W
  16. Ecology as Politics
    Author: Gorz, Andre
    Socialism is no better than capitalism if it makes use of the same tools. The total domination of nature inevitably entails a domination of people by the techniques of domination.
  17. The Ecology of Freedom
    The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy
    Author: Bookchin, Murray
    Bookchin's synthesis of ecology, anthropology and political theory traces conflicting legacies of hierarchy and freedom from the first emergence of human culture to today's globalized capitalism, constantly pointing the way to a sane, sustainable ecological future.
  18. Ecosocialism: Why greens must be red and reds must be green
    Ian Angus argues for a movement based on socialist and ecological principles, to save humanity and the rest of nature from capitalist ecocide.
  19. The Enemy of Nature
    The End of Capitalism or the End of the World?
    Author: Kovel, Joel
    We live in and from nature, but the way we have evolved of doing this is about to destroy you. Capitalism and its by-products -- imperialism, war, neoliberal globalization, racism, poverty, and the destruction of community -- are all playing a part in the destruction of our ecosystem.
  20. Fracking Hell
    The environmental costs of the new US gas drilling boom
    Author: EFU Film
    The gas stored in the Marcellus Shale formation is the subject of desperate drilling to secure US domestic energy supplies. But the process involved - hydraulic fracturing - is the focus of a bitter dispute over environmental damage and community rights.
  21. Fractured Land
    Author: Gillis, Damien; Rayher, Fiona (directors)
    A Canadian feature documentary film profiling the Dene activist Caleb Behn as he goes through law school and builds a movement around greater awareness of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on First Nations lands.
  22. The Global Fight for Climate Justice
    Anticapitalist Responses to Global Warming and Environmental Destruction
    Author: Angus, Ian (ed.)
    A guide to the debate on climate change, a sourcebook that makes the case for anti-capitalist action as the only effective way to stop global warming.
  23. Green Business: Hope or Hoax?
    Toward an Authentic Strategy for Restoring the Earth
    Author: Plant, Christopher, Plant, Judith
    Is green business a viable strategy or a contradiction in terms?
  24. Green Cities
    Ecologically Sound Approaches to Urban Space
    Author: Gordon, David (ed.)
    Visions from around the world for an ecological urban model. Argues that putting wilderness in cities is good for conservation of wildlife.
  25. A Green History of the World
    The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations
    Author: Ponting, Clive
    Ponting tracks the "green" history of the world showing how throughout history civilizations have collapsed when they exhausted the earth's natural resources.
  26. Green Production
    Toward an Environmental Rationality
    Author: Leff, Enrique
    Explores the environment and sustainability development with a Marxist approach and provides an alternative vision for ecotechnology.
  27. Heat
    How to Stop the Planet From Burning
    Author: Monbiot, George
    Concerns about the effects of global warming on the Human species - especially those unfortunate enough to live in poorer countries - require drastic action, far outstripping the recommendations of the Kyoto protocol.
  28. The Heat Is On
    The Climate Crisis, The Cover-up, The Prescription
    Author: Gelbspan, Ross
    A book discussing the ever-worsening threat of global climate change.
  29. Home!
    A Bioregional Reader
    Author: Andruss, Van, Plant, Christopher, Plant, Judith, Wright, Eleanor
    A guide to the vision and strategy of bioregionalism.
  30. Marx and Nature
    A Red and Green Perspective
    Author: Burkett, Paul
    While recognizing that production is structured by historically developed relations among producers, Marx insists that production as a social and material process is shaped and constrained by natural conditions. Paul Burkett shows that it is Marx's overriding concern with human emancipation that impels him to approach nature from the standpoint of materialist history, sociology, and critical political economy.
  31. Meat: A Benign Extravagance
    Author: Fairlie, Simon
    An exploration of the difficult environmental and ethical issues that surround the human consumption of animal flesh.
  32. The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change
    Author: Godrej, Dinyar
  33. The No-Nonsense Guide to Green Politics
    Author: Wall, Derek
    In the near future there will be no politics but green politics…
  34. Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - November 21, 2015
    Climate Change and Social Change
    Author: Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
    This issue of Other Voices spotlights climate change, the escalating crisis that the upcoming Paris climate conference is supposed to address. But climate change is not a single problem: it is a product of an economic system whose driving force is the need to grow and accumulate. Nor does it affect everyone equally: those with wealth and power can buy themselves what they need to continue living comfortably for years to come - everything from air conditioning to food to police and soldiers to protect their secure bubbles - while those who are poor and powerless find their lives increasingly impossible. A serious effort to address climate change therefore means social change and economic change.
  35. Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - December 5, 2015
    Ecosocialism, environment, and urban gardening
    Author: Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
    This issue of Other Voices covers a wide range of issues, from the climate crisis and the ecosocialist response, to terrorism and the struggle against religious fundamentalism, as well as items on urban gardening, the destruction of olive trees, and how the police are able to use Google's timeline feature to track you every move, now and years into the past.
  36. Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - March 26, 2016
    Forests and trees
    Author: Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
    For countless centuries, forests, and the trees in them, have been seen as sources of life, livelihood, and spiritual meaning. For capitalism, however, forests are sites of extraction and profit-making, or obstacles in the way of 'development.' In this issue, we look at some of the threats to forests worldwide, and the ways in which people are resisting and defending the forests.
  37. Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - July 23, 2016
    Workers and Climate Change
    Author: Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
    Working people -- and most of us are workers -- are affected by climate change in every aspect of our lives. As climate change worsens, our lives will worsen. If we are successful in bringing about the needed rapid change away from a fossil fuel based economy, working people are the ones who stand to bear most of the costs, including the cost, for millions of workers and their families, of losing their jobs.
    Many elements of the environmental movement have been guilty of ignoring working people, while others actually blame ordinary working people for climate change and the injustices associated with it. Yet it is working people who are dying, in many places, even now, from excessive heat in factories, fields, construction sites, and homes. And million of working people stand to lose their jobs, homes, and communities in the transition to a low-carbon or no-carbon economy.
  38. Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - October 27, 2019
    What Next?
    Author: Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
    Millions of us, in many different countries, came out in late September to demand action on the climate crisis. Around the world, in diverse ways, we are working to keep up the pressure. Time is short, and the tasks are huge. In the midst of our activism and organizing, we need to keep asking ourselves some important questions: What are our goals? And what should we do to reach our goals?
  39. The Poverty of Power
    Energy and the Economic Crisis
    Author: Commoner, Barry
    Commoner argues that the environmental, energy, and economic crises are interconnected. The industries that use the most energy have the highest negative impact on the environment; the focus on non-renewable resources as sources of energy means those resources are growing scarce, thus pushing up the price of energy and hurting the economy. These problems can ultimately be addressed only by replacing capitalism with socialism.
  40. Red and Green
    The New Politics of the Environment
    Author: Weston, Joe (ed.)
    In order for green politics to work, we need to develop a total policy for the environment, a social policy which views capitalist industry as the destroyer of the world we live in.
  41. Red and Green Eco-socialism comes of age
    New Internationalist November 1998
    Why socialists and environmentalists need to work together to bring about lasting change. Discussion of how inequality and environmental destruction are directly linked. Articles on development in India, predictions for the future, working hours and global consumption.
  42. Sustainability Searching for solutions
    New Internationalist November 2000
    A look at the issues and facts regarding sustainability around the world.
  43. This Changes Everything
    Author: Lewis, Avi (director); Klein, Naomi (narrator)
    Directed by Avi Lewis, and inspired by Naomi Klein’s book This Changes Everything, the film presents portraits of communities on the front lines, from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing and beyond. Interwoven with these stories of struggle is Klein’s narration, connecting the carbon in the air with the economic system that put it there. Klein suggests that we can seize the existential crisis of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better.
  44. Tomorrow's power
    Author: Miller, Amy
    An award-winning documentary that follows stories of communities in Germany, Gaza and Colombia that are challenging current power structures, leading to possibilities of a future with both social and climate justice. Runtime: 76 min.
  45. Tree Spiker
    From Earth First! to Lowbagging: My Struggles in Radical Environmental Action
    Author: Roselle, Mike; Mahan, Josh
    Roselle - cofounder of the Rainforest Action Network and Earth First! - offers a memoir of his career in radical activism: from teenage Yippie to career environmentalist.
  46. What Every Environmentalist Needs To Know about Capitalism
    A Citizen's Guide to Capitalism and the Environment
    Author: Magdoff, Fred; Foster, John Bellamy
    A manifesto for those environmentalists who reject schemes of “green capitalism” or piecemeal reform. Magdoff and Foster argue that efforts to reform capitalism along environmental lines or rely solely on new technology to avert catastrophe misses the point. The main cause of the looming environmental disaster is the driving logic of the system itself, and those in power — no matter how “green” — are incapable of making the changes that are necessary.
  47. What's Left? Environmentalists and Radical Politics
    Author: Williams, Rick
    Environmentalist activism as radical practice.
  48. Workers and Trade Unions for Climate Solidarity
    Tackling climate change in a neoliberal world
    Author: Hampton, Paul
    Paul Hampton, a Marxist trade union researcher in Britain, addresses the role of workers in the climate justice movement, as well as the tasks of revolutionaries.
  49. The World Without Us
    Author: Weisman, Alan
    A thought experiment to see what would happen to the planet if human beings simply disappeared.


Learning from our History

Coming soon





Resources for Activists

The Connexions Calendar - An event calendar for activists. Submit your events for free here.

Media Names & Numbers - A comprehensive directory of Canada’s print and broadcast media. .

Sources - A membership-based service that enables journalists to find spokespersons and story ideas, and which simultaneously enables organizations to raise their profile by reaching the media and the public with their message.

Organizing Resources Page - Change requires organizing. Power gives way only when it is challenged by a movement for change, and movements grow out of organizing. Organizing is qualitatively different from simple “activism”. Organizing means sustained long-term conscious effort to bring people together to work for common goals. This page features a selection of articles, books, and other resources related to organizing.

Publicity and Media Relations - A short introduction to media relations strategies.

Grassroots Media Relations - A media relations guide for activist groups.

Socialism gateway - A gateway to resources about socialism, socialist history, and socialist ideas.

Marxism gateway - A gateway to resources about Marxism.