'If We Leave the Euro, Everything Will Be Worse'

Greece is on the verge of economic collapse and yet the country's left wants to jettison austerity measures. Would this leave any alternative other than exiting the euro? SPIEGEL ONLINE invited the leader of Greece's pro-business Drasi party and an anti-austerity Syriza parliamentarian to debate the issues

Spiegel Online International | 05/16/2012

A Greek euro coin. Are the country's days as a member of the euro zone numbered? (dapd)

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Empire of Capital

Colonialism never ended, it continues by different means

By George Monbiot | The Guardian 1st May 2012 in monbiot.com | 30 April 2012

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Dark Hearts

We British have a peculiar ability to blot out our colonial history

By George Monbiot | The Guardian 24th April 2012 in monbiot.com | 23 April 2012

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France’s choice: naughty child or colourless adult?

I cannot vote in the French presidential election. While as an EU citizen with residence in France I have the right to vote for the mayor, I discovered that exercising that right requires extended negotiation with French municipal bureaucracy, an exercise on which no sane person would voluntarily embark. But the choice of president is a matter for the French alone

John Kay | johnkay.com | 02 May 2012

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How to Start Your Own Power Company, Stop Coal and Nukes, and Transform Your City

2011 Goldman Prize winner Ursula Sladek discusses how she became an unwitting energy mogul -- and a global environmental hero

By Sven Eberlein | AlterNet |March 28, 2012

Photo Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

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Massive Public Protest Spur France to Ban Plantings of Monsanto's MON810 GMO Corn

Last November, French authorities lifted a longtime ban that prohibited French farmers from planting MON810, a move that spurred nationwide backlash and protest

Jonathan Benson | Nation of Change | 1 April 2012

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As Norway funds rainforest conservation, its pension fund invests in companies driving deforestation

At the same time that it is committing hundreds of millions of dollars a year to protecting rainforests, Norway is investing more than 13 billion dollars a year via its pension fund in dozens of companies linked to deforestation, alleges a new report from Rainforest Foundation Norway and Friends of the Earth Norway

mongabay.com | March 30, 2012

Beauty and the Beast

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'Greed is the Beginning of Everything'

In a SPIEGEL interview, Czech economist Tomas Sedlacek discusses morality in the current crisis and why he believes an economic policy that only pursues growth will always lead to debt. Those who don't know how to handle it, he argues, end up in a medieval debtor's prison, as the Greeks are experiencing today

SPIEGEL Online | March 23, 2012

Czech economist Tomas Sedlacek: "The demands of people are the curse of the gods." Gunter Gluecklich / DER SPIEGEL

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From growth to green growth

What can be done to combine the need for growth with environmental constraints? This column argues that what is needed is to reconcile developing countries’ urgent need for rapid growth and poverty alleviation with the need to avoid irreversible and costly environmental damage

Marianne Fay, Stéphane Hallegatte, Geoffrey Heal, David Tréguer | VOX - Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists | 24 March 2012

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SAFI: Forest Department and Merlins Wood process in Pakistan neither consultative nor transparent

In February 2012, REDD-Monitor wrote about a London-based company called Merlins Wood and its REDD-type projects in Pakistan. Sarhad Awami Forestry Ittehad (SAFI), a local NGO, rejected the agreements the company had made in Pakistan. SAFI has now produced a resolution about Merlins Wood

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 23rd March 2012

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The oil price is the new eurozone crisis

No sooner has the pressure on markets from the eurozone crisis begun to ease than investors have found something else to worry about – the oil price

By Tom Stevenson | The Telegraph | 17 Mar 2012

An oil price spike is never welcome but it would be particularly damaging with the global economy in such a weak state Photo: AP

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Indonesia asks Britain to take back 1,800 tons of 'illegal' waste

Indonesia has asked Britain to take back 1,800 tonnes of waste after inspectors found liquid and illegal mixed waste in containers marked as "scrap metal," Britain's Environment Agency has said

The Telegraph | 16 March 2012

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Coal-reliant Poland increasingly out of step with Europe on climate change

Frustrations with Poland are growing in the European Union after the coal-powered nation for a second time blocked the EU’s long-term plans for cutting carbon emissions

By Associated Press | The Washington Post | March 14, 2012

Coal is transported at the Zeran Heating Plant in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Frustrations with Poland are growing in the EU after the coal-powered nation blocked for a second time last week. (Alik Keplicz/Associated Press)

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Former clean energy czar tries to stop Europe's dirtiest new power plant

In a letter to top-level U.S. Treasury officials, Daniel Kammen wrote that he will be "bitterly disappointed" if the World Bank finances a 600-megawatt lignite-fired power station outside the Kosovo capital of Pristina

By Lisa Friedman | E&E News in Bank Information Center | 14 March 2012

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The Shadow Government

Through a network of unbalanced, almost-invisible committees, the government gets what it wants

By George Monbiot | the Guardian 13th March 2012 in Monbiot.com | March 12, 2012

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Chernobyl’s Lessons for Fukushima on Earthquake’s First Anniversary

Contaminated food embargoed, residents evacuated swiftly—a year after Fukushima’s meltdown, it’s clear Japanese authorities avoided many of the Soviet Union’s catastrophic post-disaster missteps, though not all

by Owen Matthews, Anna Nemtsova | The Daily Beast | Mar 11, 2012

Tohoku, One Year Later - Sudden devastation struck Japan twice on March 11, 2011, when an 8.9-magnitude earthquake sent a wall of water toward Japan’s helpless northern coastal cities and villages.... Q. Sakamaki / Redux for Newsweek

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Why high oil prices are now affecting Europe more than the US

The world is presently sharing a limited supply of oil. When oil prices rise, oil production doesn’t rise very much, if at all

by Gail Tverberg | Mar 5 2012 by Our Finite World in Energy Bulletin | Mar 7 2012

Figure 1. Brent oil spot price and world oil supply (broadly defined), based on EIA data.

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Breathing difficulties: A market in need of a miracle

The European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), the world’s biggest carbon market, has two main aims. One is to restrict the carbon-dioxide emissions of the 11,000 companies trading on it to an agreed cap. The other is to give these firms an incentive to invest in clean technology

The Economist | Mar 3rd 2012

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Is aluminium really a silent killer?

Fresh concerns following the 1988 Camelford water pollution disaster will be aired this week

By Liz Bestic | The Telegraph | 05 Mar 2012

Fears: Aluminium expert Prof Chris Exley says he is concerned about the metal's ubiquity - in water, food packaging, vaccines, drugs and food and drink Photo: Guzelian

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German Apprenticeship vs US/UK Uni-Jobless System

It is no big secret that youth unemployment is especially high in Anglo-Saxon economies at the present time

Emanuel | International Political Economy Zone | March 1, 2012

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