Who are the Davos class?
Just who makes up the global elite that has been gathering at Davos?
Red Pepper | 27 January 2012
04 February 2012
5 shot in conflict over oil palm plantation in Sumatra
Five villagers were shot in Indonesia's Riau Province on the island of Sumatra during a clash in a land dispute over an oil palm plantation, reports The Jakarta Post and Republika
mongabay.com | February 03, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentAfrica land grabs 'could cause conflicts'
The stampede by wealthy states for arable land across Africa and other developing regions could trigger a series of conflicts if governments fail to protect the rights of their people, two recent studies on land grabs warn
United Press International | Feb. 3, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentIndonesia to create the world's largest palm oil and rubber company
The Indonesian government plans to create a massive plantation firm next month when it will combine the assets of state-owned rubber and palm oil companies, reports Reuters
mongabay.com | February 04, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentRepublicans step up attacks on Obama's green agenda
Karl Rove's political action committee releases advert attacking administration for funding collapsed solar panel company
By Suzanne Goldenberg | The Guardian in BusinessGren | 03 Feb 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentIndonesia to require loggers prove their concessions free of overlapping claims
Applicants for forest concessions in Indonesia will soon be required to prove there aren't overlapping claims on their holdings, reports The Jakarta Globe
mongabay.com | February 02, 2012
Less bank-bashing, more action: time to Move Your Money!
A call is going out to every British citizen who wants the financial sector to clean up their act. Move your money from the big banks to local, ethical or mutual alternatives and send them a message in a language they'll understand
by Louis Brooke | Feb 2 2012 by OpenDemocracy in Energy Bulletin | Feb 2 2012
Move Your Money UK campaign video
Euro Parliament backs low-carbon road map
A European Parliament committee this week approved an EU "road map" to a low-carbon economy that seeks to go beyond current greenhouse gas reduction targets
United Press International | Feb. 3, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content03 February 2012
100 die in European deep freeze
Europe's Siberian freeze spread to France and Italy, with snow covering Corsica, Bologna and Milan, while the European death toll topped 100, officials said
UPI in Disaster News Network | February 2, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentWater leak shuts CA nuclear plant
A water leak led to the shutdown a California nuclear power plant, and officials said an "extremely small" amount of radiation may have been released
UPI in Disaster News Network | February 2, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentTurning Point: What future for forest peoples and resources in the emerging world order?
Reports about REDD tend to focus on the forests. It’s unusual for a report about REDD to start with an analysis of the economic crisis in Europe and the way in which the world is changing. Yesterday, the Rights and Resources Initiative released a new report that does precisely that
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 2nd February 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentOnce, men abused slaves. Now we abuse fossil fuels
Pointing out the similarities (and differences) between slavery and the use of fossil fuels can help us engage with climate change in a new way
Jean-François Mouhot | guardian.co.uk | 3 February 2012
'That US Congressmen tend to rationalise fossil fuel use despite climate risks to future generations just as southern congressmen rationalised slavery despite ideals of equality is perhaps unsurprising'. Photograph: Joseph Sohm/Corbis
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CIFOR Newsletter Deconstructs COP 17 for Forests
The latest newsletter of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) provides an assessment of the outcomes of the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), concluding that it delivered mixed results for forests
Climate Change Policy & Practice | 31 January 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentBUY OR SELL-Is there still a market for U.N. carbon permits?
U.N.-backed carbon permits were among the worst performing commodities in 2011 and trading volume fell more than 35 percent in January this year from December as the benchmark contract became very illiquid, renewing concerns about lack of demand
By Nina Chestney | Reuters Africa | Feb 2, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentSetting the record straight: Climate change experts respond
Do you consult your dentist on your heart condition? In science, as in any area, reputations are based on knowledge and expertise in a field, and on published, peer-reviewed work
ABC.net.au | 3 February 2012
02 February 2012
Emissions from palm oil biodiesel highest of major biofuels, says EU
Greenhouse gas emissions from palm oil-based biodiesel are the highest among major biofuels when the effects of deforestation and peatlands degradation are considered, according to calculations by the European Commission
mongabay.com | January 30, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentWall Street Journal under attack for climate op-ed
The Wall Street Journal is under scrutiny for publishing an op-ed attacking climate science last Friday, while turning down another op-ed explaining climate change and signed by 255 researchers with the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, which was eventually published in the journal Science
Jeremy Hance | mongabay.com | January 31, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentResilient people, resilient planet: a future worth choosing
Today our planet and our world are experiencing the best of times, and the worst of times. The world is experiencing unprecedented prosperity, while the planet is under unprecedented stress. Inequality between the world’s rich and poor is growing, and more than a billion people still live in poverty
by the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability | United Nations in Energy Bulletin | Jan 31 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentEnemies of the State
Almost exactly nine years ago, opposition to the US invasion of Iraq was reaching a fever pitch. On February 15, 2003 millions of people around the world rallied to protest the inexorable march to war, including in over 150 cities in the United States
by Asher Miller | Post Carbon Institute in Energy Bulletin | Feb 1 2012
Indigenous communities in Peru condemn the further adventures of an Australian carbon cowboy
In April 2011, the Inter-Ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon (AIDESEP) published the Declaration of Iquitos which opposed the proposed forest carbon trading activities of a Hong Kong registered company called Sustainable Carbon Resources Limited
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 31st January 2012
WEF Addresses Energy Poverty, Rio+20
The World Economic Forum (WEF) held its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, from 25-29 January 2012, gathering industry, business, government and other world leaders to discuss current issues, where UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warns “we cannot build a green economy on the backs of the poorest and most vulnerable people.”
Climate Change Policy & Practice | 30 January 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentWhat the Occupy movement must learn from Sundance
These great documentary films have a simple lesson: effective political protest needs good organisation and smart messaging
Naomi Wolf | guardian.co.uk | 31 January 2012
Trailer for Half Revolution, a documentary film about the protests in Egypt, by Omar Shargawi and Karim el-Hakim. Video: YouTube
31 January 2012
Can carbon finance protect forests and prevent climate change?
Some of our clients will remember that The CarbonNeutral Company started business in 1997 trading as Future Forests, and will know that our services have always recognised the central role played by ecosystems in maintaining a stable climate. Planting and protecting forests makes perfect sense because “trees suck up carbon dioxide and turn it into wood and oxygen”
By Jonathan Shopley | Eco-business | January 25th, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentMuara Tae’s last stand against big palm oil
The fate of a Dayak community deep in the interior of East Kalimantan demonstrates how Indonesia must safeguard the rights of indigenous people if it is to meet ambitious targets to reduce emissions from deforestation
Environmental Investigation Agency | January 24, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content'Peak timber' concerns in tropics
Current tropical timber practices are not sustainable and nations should consider the "implications of 'peak timber'", a study has suggested
By Mark Kinver | BBC News | 24 January 2012
Tropical timber production exceeds forests' ability to replace the felled trees, the study says
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Japan emissions rising after atomic crisis: report
Japanese manufacturer's greenhouse gas emissions are rising after the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, hurting the country's carbon reduction goals, a report said Sunday
AFP in Google News | 30 Jan 2012
Japanese manufacturer's greenhouse gas emissions are rising after the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster (AFP/POOL/File, David Guttenfelder)
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Q+A: When will the EU raise its green ambitions?
The European Commission's latest analysis on moving beyond its existing set of 2020 green goals, to be published on Monday, finds raising its environmental ambitions would be cheaper than originally thought
By Barbara Lewis | Reuters | Jan 30, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content30 January 2012
Cuba seeks new socialist model
The Sixth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), held in April, “endorsed for the first time a fundamental change in the political and economic model”, said Cuban political scientist and Temas editor Rafael Hernandez
By Marce Cameron | Green Left Weekly | January 28, 2012
Eurozone Fears Permeate Davos
The ongoing eurozone sovereign debt crisis has dominated the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with many private sector business leaders urging Germany to do more to alleviate Europe's fiscal woes. German Chancellor Angela Merkel formally opened the summit on Wednesday, calling on Europe to become "more European" (DeutscheWelle) and implement the fiscal compact agreed upon late last year by EU leaders
Christopher Alessi | Council on Foreign Relations | January 27, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentPalm oil does not meet U.S. renewable fuels standard, rules EPA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled on Friday that palm oil-based biofuels will not meet the renewable fuels standard due to carbon emissions associated with deforestation, reports The Hill
mongabay.com | January 27, 2012
Oil palm plantations and rainforest in Malaysia
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No oil for old countries
I THINK my colleague is right to take some encouragement from the latest Energy Information Agency outlook. As one would expect to occur amid a period of sustained, high oil prices, American oil consumption has fallen from 2005 while its production has risen
The Economist | Jan 24th 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentRenewable energy deals hit record high in 2011-PwC
Global deals climbed 40 pct to $53.5 billion in 2011. More consolidation as renewables markets mature. EU economy uncertainty could dampen deal flow in 2012
By Nina Chestney| Reuters | 30 January 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentCutting Climate Change is Simple: Just Stop Subsidising Fossil Fuels
I knew that this was true but I didn’t realise the effect was so great. The simple way to cut climate change is to stop subsidising fossil fuels
Tim Worstall | Forbes | 29 January 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentJapan finds water leaks at stricken nuclear plant
Japan's stricken nuclear power plant has leaked more than 600 liters of water, forcing it to briefly suspend cooling operations at a spent-fuel pond at the weekend, but none is thought to have escaped into the ocean, the plant's operator and domestic media said
Reuters | Jan 29, 2012
The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No.4 reactor building is seen before the removal of debris on the upper side of the unit in Fukushima prefecture, in this handout picture taken on September 22, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Tokyo Electric Power Co./Handout
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27 January 2012
Can REDD save the forests of Muara Tae in East Kalimantan, Indonesia?
The Dayak Benuaq Indigenous People of Muara Tae in East Kalimantan are defending their last remaining area of forest against two palm oil companies. “This is the last remaining forests that we have and the only land we have to survive. If my forests are gone, our lives will end,” says Pak Singko, a leader of the Dayak Benuaq of Muara Tae
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 26th January 2012
Finance for biodiversity is a “new face for capitalism”: Sign on letter to CBD from Acción Ecológica
“Conserving the planet’s species and habitats is central to sustainable development yet the global decline in biodiversity is accelerating,” says UN Secretary General, Ban-Ki Moon
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 27th January 2012
Wind power: Clean energy, dirty business?
In the developing world, where land-intensive wind turbines are being rapidly constructed, wind power has often turned clean energy into dirty business
By Erik Vance | Christian Science Monitor | January 26, 2012
Wind power is sweeping the globe: It's clean energy, but it does have some dirty business aspects that hit the developing world particularly hard. This is part of the cover story package in the Jan. 30 issue of The Christian Science Monitor magazine. Reuters photo
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26 January 2012
Green economy and growth: Fiddling while Rome burns?
“Fiddling while Rome burns” may seem a stale analogy, but when talking of “green growth” and “green economy” (GGE, for short), it is appropriate. Despite assertions to the contrary, the only thing innovative about the GGE concepts is the buzz that surrounds them
by Manu V. Mathai | OurWorld 2.0 | January 25, 2012
Fracking: Anatomy of a free market failure
A recent New York Times article reported that rural landowners who had signed leases with gas and oil companies exchanging drilling rights on their property for royalty payments have discovered that they may have been misled
By Robin Hahnel | Real Climate Economics | January 12, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related ContentNew video: “A Darker Shade of Green: REDD Alert and the Future of Forests”
A new video by the Global Forest Coalition and the Global Justice Ecology Project is deeply critical of REDD. Much of the criticism focusses on carbon trading, but through interviews with communities in Chiapas, Mexico, the video illustrates the perverse impacts that REDD can have on the ground
By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 25th January 2012
A Darker Shade of Green: REDD Alert and the Future of Forests
The scientist: Jim Hansen risks handcuffs to make his research clear
NASA's chief climate scientist built his career studying Earth's atmosphere and modeling humans' potential impacts on climate. Then he realized that laboratory work was only part of the equation
Interview conducted and condensed by Douglas Fischer | DailyClimate.org | Jan. 24, 2012
Only Civil Society Can Save Rio+20, Say Activists
Large-scale social mobilisation, including street protests and parallel activities, is the only thing can save the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) from ending in nothing but frustration, according to activists and analysts
By Mario Osava* | Inter-Press Service | Jan 24, 2012
Environmental activists from around the world will be gathering in Porto Alegre this month. Credit:Clarinha Glock/IPS
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In Famatina, Water Is Worth Far More Than Gold
Thousands of people in the northwest Argentine province of La Rioja are mobilising to stop an open-cast gold mining project in the Nevados de Famatina, a snowy peak that is the semi-arid area's sole source of drinking water
By Marcela Valente | Inter-Press Service | Jan 24, 2012
Read more... Sphere: Related Content25 January 2012
In Brazil, Fears of a Slide Back for Amazon Protection
Brazil has made great strides in recent years in slowing Amazon deforestation and showing the world it was serious about protecting the mammoth rain forest
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO | The New York Times | January 24, 2012
Deforestation in Brazil, driven largely by clearing land for cattle, as in Mato Grosso, above, has lessened. But there has been a shift under President Dilma Rousseff. Damon Winter/The New York Times
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FAO/UNEP Asia-Pacific Forest Meeting Identifies Climate Change Adaptation Strategies
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and RECOFTC - The Centre for People and Forests have released a policy brief resulting from a meeting on forests and climate change adaptation in Asia, held in October 2011
International Institute for Sustainable Development | 18 January 2012
Complications of Hacking the Planet
As scientists, with some reluctance, begin to study the idea of “geoengineering” the planet to slow or halt global warming, they are finding that any such program would quite likely have a complex array of effects, not all of them to humanity’s benefit
Green Blog NY Times | January 23, 2012
Laborers in Suchate Garh, India, near the border with Pakistan, planting rice seedlings. European Pressphoto Agency
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23 January 2012
Featured video: music in Madagascar to protest illegal logging
A new video highlights the plight of Madagascar's protected tropical forests, which are falling prey to illegal logging and foreign contractors. Featuring Razia Said, Malagasy singer and songwriter, the video shows concerts to raise awareness about illegal logging, especially near Maosala National Park
Jeremy Hance | mongabay.com | January 22, 2012
In February 2007, musician Razia Said returned to Madagascar to reconnect with the land she left as an eleven year-old child. For 6 weeks Razia and her band traveled around the island, and discovered the environmental damage taking place as the result of unfettered slash and burn agriculture, illegal logging and climate change
Corporate Rule Is Not Inevitable
7 signs the corporatocracy is losing its legitimacy ... and 7 populist tools to help shut it down
by Sarah van Gelder | YES! Magazine | Jan 20, 2012
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A parody of corporate personhood in D.C.
22 January 2012
Wind Power Without the Blades: Big Pics
Noise from wind turbine blades, inadvertent bat and bird kills and even the way wind turbines look have made installing them anything but a breeze. New York design firm Atelier DNA has an alternative concept that ditches blades in favor of stalks. Resembling thin cattails, the Windstalks generate electricity when the wind sets them waving
By Alyssa Danigelis | January 22, 2012
Why are convicted criminals driving the EU’s defence agenda?
Spare a thought these icy days of January for the arms industry. Recession has had such a devastating effect on makers of tanks and warplanes that the European Defence Agency is holding a conference later this month to mull over what can be done
David Cronin | New Europe | JANUARY 21, 2012
The future of food
By 2050 there will be another 2.5 billion people on the planet. How to feed them? Science's answer: a diet of algae, insects and meat grown in a lab
John Vidal | The Observer | 22 January 2012
Seaweed harvesting in Bali. From seaweed to slime, algae is the future of food, says Professor Mark Edwards Photograph: Ed Wray/AP
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21 January 2012
Theme and variations
State capitalism is not all the same. It is easy for a casual visitor to China to be fooled into thinking that he is in a normal capitalist country. The big cities are dotted with Starbucks and Kinkos. The newspapers run stories about small businesspeople falling prey to loan sharks
The Economist | Jan 21st 2012
Why now? What’s next? Naomi Klein on Occupy
Naomi Klein in discussion with Occupy Wall Street activist Yotam Marom
Naomi Klein, Yotam Marom | Red Pepper | January 2012
From Davos to Dystopia
Not long ago the World Economic Forum (WEF) found itself in the sights of the global economic justice movement. At the turn of the last century, before anyone was “occupying” public spaces in protest at the growing inequalities between the top strata of society and the rest, a broad global coalition of environment, development, and peace activists were targeting the public meetings of major institutions such as the WTO, the IMF, and the G8
By Ben Zala | Foreign Policy in Focus | January 19, 2012
World Economic Forum in Davos
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Indonesia to set aside 45% of Kalimantan for conservation
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) on Thursday announced a regulation that would protect 45 percent of Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, according to a statement issued by his office
mongabay.com | January 19, 2012
Rainforest in West Kalimantan
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FAO-EC project to promote climate-smart farming
Malawi, Vietnam and Zambia will benefit from collaborative effort
FAO | 16 January 2012
Farmers participating in an FAO land and water management project in Guthi, India, check a new drip irrigation system
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Fossil fuel subsidies: a tour of the data
Fossil fuels are subsidised in much of the world, causing billions of tonnes of addition CO2 emissions
by Duncan Clark | guardian.co.uk | 19 January 2012
Fossil fuels are subsidised in much of the world, causing billions of tonnes of addition CO2 emissions. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
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Greedy Lying Bastards: US filmmaker attacks oil industry
Craig Rosebraugh's new documentary highlights the 'influence, deceit and corruption' of fossil fuel industry
by Leo Hickman | guardian.co.uk | 20 January 2012
Provocative, frank and impossible to ignore. And that's just the title
UK 'subsidising nuclear power unlawfully'
Green energy campaigners are attempting to block new nuclear power stations in the UK by complaining to the European Commission that government plans contravene EU competition regulations
By Richard Black | BBC News | 20 January 2012
The Fukushima accident illustrates why governments pick up the bills for nuclear disaster
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Gas no good to bridge coal and renewables, says study
The amount of greenhouse gases released by unconventional gas drilling ''exceeds that of oil or coal'', an American study says in contradiction of some claims made by Australia's growing coal-seam gas industry
Ben Cubby | Sydney Morning Herald | January 21, 2012
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