- Your morning coffee may be at risk from climate change. Coffee farms have been moving 50m uphill every decade as global temperatures rise, and the Arabica strain may be in serious trouble before the end of the century.
- It’s looked for a while like there’s a deliberate anti-green movement within the Conservative party. Now we know that there is, as this Greenpeace undercover investigation describes.
- In an interesting move in the Netherlands, a campaign group is using EU human rights laws to take the government to court over its lack of action on climate change.
- If you’ve got time for a longer essay, The Commons as a Transformative Vision is introduction from a new book on the commons.
The Earthbound Report 
Hi Jeremy, some of the links above have led me through EDWARD ABBEY, EARTH FIRST, DEEP ECOLOGY, ECOPSYCHOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, and lastly, SOCIAL ECOLOGY. I’m glad to have found ideologies which are along the lines I’ve been expressing to you for some time now. Unless we admit to our human nature and all pervading connectedness, we will only ever deal with our political, ecological, economic and social ills on a cosmetic level, going back and forward, round and round. You have more than once indicated that this is work for the philosophers but they, along with the politicians, economists, theologians, sociologists, psychologists and the rest, all too often, stand in their own positions and cannot see the wood for the trees. We all need to recognise this critical connection and the more people make it known, the more we can hope to improve conditions on earth long term. Despite differences, the light twinkles in these places. Thanks for the links.
All interesting movements in their own way, and I agree with you that unless there is a change of mindset, we never get to the root of the problem.
The issue for me is not whether or not we need deep psychological change, but how that comes about. We can’t sit around waiting for some kind of miraculous cultural change, that’s just a recipe for despair. It’s our job to get on with fixing what we can, arguing the case, generating solutions, and campaigning for good ideas. And most importantly, modeling good ecological citizenship to our friends and neighbours.
Jeremy, you used this idea of not be able to sit around waiting for a miraculous cultural change before. But, I’m obviously not suggesting that! It’s just that I do realise it is possible for an ecologically sustainable society to be socially exploitative, just as it possible for a socially egalitarian society to exploit the Earth. Neither can survive harmoniously without the other. Maybe I’m wrong, but, in discovering, adopting and modelling good ecological citizenship, we seem to be doing too much of one without the other, (a little like churches who only preach the word without acknowledging that we need to respect God’s creation, the Earth, in our lifestyles). This must often be the cause of my comments in your blogs – trying to make a stronger connection of the two concepts if I see an opportunity. I often think I’ll shut up, but get drawn back again!
I agree, we need that balance. I think the reason we keep coming back to this is that I don’t always mention it. It’s inherent in the ethos of the blog, but perhaps not immediately obvious.
And don’t worry about bringing it up, we all need the reminders of what matters!