The big fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota by a now-estimated 300-odd indigenous nations and tribes and allies can be viewed from many perspectives. Perhaps the least helpful or accurate interpretation is one that seeks to explain the contest through the lens of Western environmentalism. The Washington […]
Tag: environment
SXSW Eco: Encounters with Visionaries & Techno-Fetishists
AUSTIN, Texas—This week, at SXSW Eco, a prominent conference bringing together sustainable business leaders, planners, and others, there are innumerable sessions devoted to startup businesses, socially conscious consumption, “bio-based economies,” genetic engineering, and synthetic materials. It is, by and large, a tech conference targeting industry- and city-scale innovations intended to […]
This is How Fast the Arctic is Melting
On September 10th, the Arctic hit its annual summertime ice minimum. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, it was the second lowest summertime low since satellite record-keeping began. And as a series of new visualizations show, this trend is not going anywhere. The Arctic is the fastest-warming […]
Newmont (US) mine workers may be behind brutal attack on Máxima Acuña
This weekend, Máxima Acuña, winner of the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize, was assaulted on her property in Peru. Since 2011, Acuña has resisted the development of the Conga gold mine by U.S.-based Newmont Mining by refusing to vacate her home — and, for that, has faced both legal prosecution and […]
Lamar Smith: Guardian of Exxon’s Secrets
U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) called this week’s hearing of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology in the hopes of rounding up support. The defender of all things oily wanted to hear legal justification for his campaign to compel testimony from New York and Massachusetts states attorneys general […]
Saving ‘natural resources’ won’t save us
For most of middle America—or most of America, actually—protests of any sort demonstrate questionable behavior. People are suddenly “out of their place,” different kinds of people, people made strange by their willingness to do unfamiliar and possibly illegal things to advance their message. They draw attention to themselves, and thereby, […]
Cut down a tree, go to jail, Dominican (Republic) leader warns — Repeating Islands
President Danilo Medina on Sunday made another surprise visit to the interior, this time to farmers and villagers of the town Sabaneta, where he warned them to “save the mountains, because if not, there will be no water,” Dominican Today reports. The inhabitants reacted with surprise at Medina’s warning, who […]
On Animism…
Healing Depressions: Considering the Facsimiles of Possibilities
It was one of those Facebook reminders. “Three years ago today…” The time capsule I had unwittingly left myself was an enthusiastic message of wide-open spaces, creativity, optimism. It had been, I can see with even more clarity today, an unusual period of life. I had just completed several months […]
Beyond Doomsday
How environmental activism can eradicate the power of bad news Greg Harman Never before has the doomsday prophet been so closely in line with mainstream science. Every major environmental messenger these days—including virtually all scientists who study climate change—is reading from the same script. What they have to say is […]
On the morality of extinction
Why the climate movement needs a crash course in philosophy Greg Harman The environmental community has long illustrated the seriousness of climate change with intimidating facts and figures. The now-infamous hockey stick graph twining rising heat with rising greenhouse gases defined Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth. And though the science backing […]
Technology Is Ready For Synthetic Foods. Are You?
Driverless cars? Half of all Americans would climb aboard. Brain implants? Nearly 30% are open-minded. In-vitro meat grown in a laboratory? Hold the burger. Only two out of 10 Americans are willing to give lab meat – animal tissue grown without a living host – a go, according to a […]