Climate
From Wales to Colombia, the scourge of opencast coal mining is being driven by our continued dependence on this dirtiest of fossil fuels, writes Kelvin Mason
New extraction methods show the fossil fuel industry in confident mood. They are a new frontline in the fight against climate change, writes Charlotte Wilson
Anders Lorenzen looks at the growing movement against shale gas
Tony Bosworth and Helen Rimmer report on plans to expand fracking across the UK and look at why we need to leave shale gas in the ground
Kara Moses speaks to UCU's Graham Petersen ahead of the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Group's conference bringing together climate scientists, trade unionists and environmental activists.
Power company EDF hit the headlines by threatening to sue climate campaigners for £5 million. Ewa Jasiewicz, one of the protesters, explains why they targeted the company
Nick Buxton and Ben Hayes explore the growing emphasis on security and control over resources in response to climate change
As proposals for a new runway at Heathrow are resurrected, Isabelle Koksal visits the eco-settlement set up to stand in its way
As the UN climate summit in Qatar comes to a close, Mads Ryle reports on the grassroots action on climate change that offers a real alternative
Climate Justice Collective’s Alex Granger dispels the myth that investment in renewables is behind rising energy costs
The Rio+20 Summit was largely inaccessible to those most impacted by socio-environmental destruction, says Jeff Conant
Oscar Reyes reflects on the Rio+20 Summit, and whether the plans outlined for sustainability really do represent ‘the future we want’
Tom Robinson talks to the Chair of the Campaign Against Climate Change on how the creation of one million climate jobs could help save the economy and the environment
The UN climate talks in Durban followed a familiar script of inaction. Oscar Reyes asks if activists should still be focusing attention on them
Peter Robinson on the Durban climate talks and the challenges facing climate activists.
Philip Mitchell on how ‘fracking’ may have brought earthquakes to Blackpool
Art activists Platform look at BP's sponsorship of the Olympics
Nick Buxton speaks to Tim DeChristopher, an activist shaking up the mainstream US environmental movement
Vishwas Satgar on the World Social Forum, climate justice and the limits of anti-capitalist civil society
The agreement reached at the Cancún climate talks was actually a step backwards, writes Nick Buxton
The eco-village of Vauban in Germany signposts one answer to climate change, reports Heather Rogers
John Bellamy Foster opens a debate on ‘degrowth’, climate crisis and capitalism
In the context of austerity, it can seem almost frivolous to continue to talk about climate change. It is not, writes James O'Nions
Nuclear is no green alternative, writes Oscar Reyes
Kim Bryan examines a new report that sets out to show that it's possible to make Britain 'zero carbon' by 2030
Beyond the Tipping Point? Director: Stefan Skrimshire ‘That it goes on like this is the catastrophe,’ the German critic Walter Benjamin once wrote, a comment all the more prescient given that our present lifestyles threaten to change the climate beyond the point of reversability. This film is not about the climate science behind the suggestion […]
Andy Lockhart is concerned by the returning spectre of 'overpopulation' in arguments about climate change
As negotiations fell apart inside the Copenhagen climate conference, protesters from around the world came together outside. But was the counter-mobilisation a success? Ben Lear reports
Broken bones and bruises aside, what actually came out of Copenhagen? Oscar Reyes suggests much of the process was flawed from the beginning
Chris Baugh explains how the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union and other UK trade unions are beginning to respond to the urgency of climate change with an agenda of 'just transition'
As a global deal on climate change recedes into the future, perhaps the local level is our only hope of preventing climate catastrophe. Sarah Irving investigates the Transition movement, which aims to move us 'from oil dependency to local resilience,' using the power of community
With ministers and heads of states arriving in Copenhagen, protests surrounded the climate change conference venue, writes Oscar Reyes
Over the weekend, activists and social movements took to the streets in several large demonstrations around the world to confront the climate circus. Tamra Gilbertson and Ricardo Santos report back on some of the actions
As climate talks enter their final phase, Oscar Reyes outlines the hardball negotiating tactics being used to force a weak deal that favours industrialised nations
While climate change is an environmental problem, the way we deal with it will have a massive impact on economic development and inequality on a global scale. Tim Jones argues that a transfer of wealth and power from the global North to South is essential to averting climate catastrophe
A new 'technology mechanism' could reward untested techniques that damage the climate, warns Oscar Reyes
A leaked text of the political declaration that could conclude the Copenhagen conference reveals backroom dealings that offer little to the Majority World, writes Oscar Reyes
With the activists gearing up outside and developing countries in no mood for compromise - climate justice is definitely on the agenda this time round, reports Kim Bryan in Copenhagen
Tamra Gilbertson and Oscar Reyes set out the crucial debates at Copenhagen
Whenever global environmental crises, poverty or world hunger is at issue, the overpopulation argument is raised. It is now occurring in debates on the worsening climate situation, warns Sarah Sexton
Global trade rules are stacked in favour of a poor deal for the climate, argues Ronnie Hall
Imagine sending your own daughter on a plane that has only 50 per cent chance of landing. You would never do it. Yet sadly as we gear up for the biggest climate meeting in Copenhagen, this is what many developed countries seem prepared to do with our planet, argues Pablo Solón
A global climate change deal for the planet at Copenhagen needs to be about equality and freedom. Otherwise it's not a planet worth saving, says Paul Chatterton
On the occasion of mass protests at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, we should also celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Seattle protests, and the anti-globalisation movement they helped to establish
The UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December is a major event in the battle to strike a deal on cutting carbon emissions. Oscar Reyes picks his way through the plethora of campaigns and networks that are making demands and calling protests and actions
The global food crisis has prompted various rich countries to start buying up land in the poorer world to secure their food supplies. As well as affecting domestic food supplies in the countries affected, Sue Branford says it could be a time bomb for the world's ability to cope with climate change
Kate Ferguson interviews Ian Terry, a 23-year-old wind turbine worker involved in the occupation of the Vestas factory on the Isle of Wight
Beginning in 2006, Climate Camp has captured the imagination of activists and the interest of the press. At a more peaceful than usual gathering in Blackheath this year, Andy Bowman spoke to participants about their reflections on the past three years, and the way forward
Michael Meacher MP says the government's low carbon transition plan is built on an accounting trick whereby developing countries shoulder the burden
While the financial crisis seems to have knocked the wind out of the international community and the British government's environmental passion, one group is going from strength to strength, Sam Mohun Himmelweit reports
Larry Elliott welcomes Paul Mason's new book Meltdown, because it takes forward the urgent task facing the left of developing a coherent alternative to neoliberalism. But Elliott urges us also to seek solutions to the climate and energy crisis simultaneously with the financial crisis
Davy Jones talked to Caroline Lucas about the fate and future of the Green New Deal, which she helped to launch nearly a year ago along with the New Economics Foundation and others
Investing our hopes in green growth or new technological fixes will not avert the climate crisis. So what will? To inaugurate our new series on transitions to a world after fossil fuels, Oscar Reyes looks at the democratic deficit in the power sector
Contrary to media reports, people did not pelt the police as the man who died during the G20 protests was being taken out. Andrew Kendle reports from Wednesday night's protest frontline
The economic crisis is leading to falling carbon emissions - so why is it not good for the climate? By Oscar Reyes
Oscar Reyes interviews Matt Megarry about the upcoming Climate Camp in the City - what it's all about and what you can do
Martin Ryle and Kate Soper say that now is the moment to stop the economy killing the planet
The UN Climate Conference in Poznan, Poland failed to achieve any breakthrough towards a global climate deal - a sign not merely of bad timing, but of a fundamentally flawed system that takes no account of climate justice, argues Oscar Reyes
The Royal Bank of Scotland has long ploughed money into fossil fuels - but now we own it, shouldn't it stop? Kevin Smith looks at the campaign to get the bank to take responsibility for climate damage
Derek Wall looks at the many dangers of burning our waste
As the UN climate conference gathers in Poland, Janet Redman considers the prospects for a new deal on the climate
It is a long time since activists spray painted ‘We are winning’ on a wall at the Seattle meeting of the World Trade Organisation in December 1999. Movements for global justice have had little to celebrate since then. Will things be any different for the ‘carbon movement’ that is emerging around the Climate Camp – […]
The proposed new Kingsnorth power station promises 'clean coal', but the technology behind this claim is unproven. Ellen Potts looks behind the myths to examine why E On is lighting the path for a new generation of coal power
As fuel prices rocket, a new world energy order is emerging. It will bring with it a fierce international competition for dwindling stocks of oil, natural gas, coal and uranium, and also an epochal shift in power and wealth from energy-deficit states such as the US, Japan and the newly-industrialising China to energy-surplus states such as Russia, Venezuela and the oil producers of the Middle East. Michael Klare examines the likely consequences of the growing competition for the soon-to-be diminishing supply of energy
A new government 'kitemark' suggests that most carbon offset schemes are flawed, but fails to address the more fundamental problem of paying others to clean up after us, argues Kevin Smith
Deforestation is responsible for one-fifth of annual carbon emissions - more than the entire transport sector. Yet a new global scheme to 'reduce deforestation' could end up rewarding the companies and governments that cause it, writes Oscar Reyes
As the EU, the US and big business vie with each other to be recognised as taking serious action on climate change, Larry Lohmann wonders whether the real leadership is to be found elsewhere
Tackling climate change is likely to be at the top of the agenda at this month's G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. But the emissions trading schemes promoted by G8 countries are deferring genuine climate action, while generating massive profits for the largest polluters.
How do we go about getting more people involved in responding to climate change? Popular education is the key, say Alice Cutler and Kim Bryan of the Trapese Collective
With a much-touted documentary telling the British public that climate change is all an unsubstantiated myth, Andy Bowman unpicks the shady politics and cod science of Channel 4's latest attempt to up its ratings
With the Democrats rise to power in Washington, climate change has risen up the agenda in the form of carbon trading. Michael Dorsey critically examines emerging US climate policy
The Labour government has announced a new climate change bill for the coming parliament. Is this a positive development or a false dawn? By Oscar Reyes
The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change has forced even hardened neoliberals to acknowledge that there is a serious problem. But we need to look beyond Stern's emphasis on the market to provide a solution, writes Derek Wall
They might salve our climate consciences, but carbon offset schemes are no substitute for the kind of collective action and social change that is necessary to combat global warming, writes Kevin Smith
At the UN climate talks in Nairobi, Kenya, from 6-17 November 2006, many participants are likely to concentrate on defending and extending the Kyoto Protocol against the Bush administration's opposition. However, a new book critiques the embattled Kyoto agreement and other carbon trading schemes from a different social justice.
As the struggle for land and water resources in Brazil intensifies, Heidi Bachram discovers that the new carbon market is an added burden for vulnerable communities.
With some MPs now considering carbon rations as the cure-all for climate change, Heidi Bachram explores the effect it might have on the fuel-poor
As protesters prepare to give the G8 a warm Scottish welcome, Melanie Jarman predicts little chance of any agreement on climate change, save perhaps recognition, finally, that it is actually taking place
Red Pepper editor Hilary Wainwright introduces this month's features on climate change and the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster
Dear Subcomandauntie,
Having campaigned against the war for Iraq's oil, I am increasingly concerned about oil's effect on climate change. I really want to put my own house in order by cutting back my use of oil, starting with changing my electricity supplier to a 'green' one. But I don't really see the point as all suppliers are legally obliged to have a quota of renewable energy, anyway. Will switching merely take the heat off my conscience?
Olive Oil
The EU's much heralded Emissions Trading Scheme will do nothing to tackle the problem of climate change.
Campaigners in the US are pioneering the use of civil lawsuits to force business to act on climate change, writes Melanie Jarman
There are plenty of things to say about The Day After Tomorrow, the recent $125m eco-catastrophe film. It's overlong, implausible, deeply derivative (a Poseidon Adventure on Ice), moderately well acted, thrilling in parts, and a film that will appeal to the kind of boy who likes to build elaborate models and then stamp on them.
The prime minister seems to have woken up to the reality of climate change. So why is his government so recklessly keen on encouraging the aviation industry?
Mark Lynas spent three years travelling round the globe in search of one of the greatest untold tales of our time. Convinced that climate change was no longer a concern just for the future, Lynas set off to find that global warming is already having a tangible effect on people's lives. His wry observations and suggestions for change are brought together in High Tide: News from a Warming World, published this March. Melanie Jarman found out what he had to say for himself.
What do the production and distribution of Dido's Life for Rent album; Formula 1 racing; and more environmentally conscious air passengers have in common? All have had trees planted or preserved to compensate for, or "offset", their carbon-emitting behaviour. Unfortunately, however attractive such an equation between problem (climate change-accelerating carbon dioxide emissions) and solution (plant trees) might be, it doesn't actually work.
Imagine a planet which once held great oceans. Which had the warmth and water needed to support life. Now a freezing wind howls across rock strewn deserts whipping its red earth around high peaks and deep into valleys. With January's latest expeditions to Mars this, the Red Planet, is once again under scrutiny. For the first time, the robotic envoys of the human race will be searching for a history of water, a prerequisite for life on Mars. And although the planet's atmosphere is currently too heavy with carbon dioxide to sustain human life and the plants that would meet many needs, the question again rears its head - what would it take for human beings to live on Mars?
A major London think-tank with close ties to New Labour has highlighted the limitations of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and thrown its weight behind a radical green policy based on equal rights to the atmosphere for the world's population.
