PEN America have just run Banned Books Week, highlighting the wave of censorship and paranoia in America’s schools and libraries. Take a look. Opposing book bans is about the freedom to think for yourself, to encounter new ideas. Book bans are a tool of totalitarianism.
Pope Francis has published a new encyclical, the first that is specifically about climate change. “Eight years have passed since I published the Encyclical Letter Laudato si’,” he writes. “With the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.”
During the summer I wrote about how a Dubai-based firm was taking control of 10% of Liberia in order to sell carbon credits. Blue Carbon have now signed an agreement with Zimbabwe. To be clear: this is a rich country paying a poor country to reduce emissions for them, so they can continue to profit from gas. I expect to hear a lot more about this at UAE’s COP28, by which time several other African countries are likely to have taken the money.
Is Norway’s oil policy racist? I was asked to contribute to a climate justice guide for the cultural sector in Norway, which was released this week. An English translation is available if you’re curious.
Chris Smaje responded to my review of his book Saying No to a Farm-Free Future with an essay. George Monbiot also published an essay responding to Smaje’s book this week. It’s not pretty, the mud-slinging over sustainable farming, but have a read if this is a debate you’re interested in.
Highlights from this week
The seasonal stresses of consumerism
Last week I was thinking about how different anti-consumerist movements have waxed and waned in the last few years – things like new materialism, experientialism, collaborative consumption, etc. Out of curiosity I ran a Google trend search on ‘consumerism’, and I found an interesting phenomenon: There’s a pattern here, reliably repeating over this ten years…
The Ballad of Rishi Sunak
In a break from my usual programming and in honour of National Poetry Day, here’s an epic poem about the Prime Minister, written in the style of Beowulf. If you missed what is being satirised here, this post will fill you in. Friends, gather round,for the tale I have to tell,of the hero long awaited,whose…
How MagRail could upgrade the railways
There has been controversy over railways in Britain this week. About half an hour ago Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scrapped parts of HS2, the country’s already rather modest second high speed rail connection. Announced in 2013 and due for completion far away in 2040, it’s become an almost mythical project in its longevity and its…
The Earthbound Report 