Geoff Mulgan in Prospect magazine writes about ‘the billionaire problem’, plutocracy, and the “extraordinary mismatch between billionaires’ pools of enormous wealth and the innumerable tasks in the world that require money.”
With 68% of buildings damaged, Gaza has now eclipsed WWII’s bombing of Dresden and Cologne to become one of the heaviest non-nuclear bombardments in history, says the FT.
Britain’s last opencast coal mine has closed. Now we wait to see if the company running it will fulfil their promises to restore the site.
Black and Hispanic households in the US own 24 cents for every dollar owned by white families, according to this overview of inequality in the USA.
I wrote about Manchester’s Renew Hub when it opened, so it’s great to hear that its three shops at waste depots have raised over a million pounds for local charities in their first year of operation – more on Renew here.
A Christmas list
I’ve compiled a presumptuously named list of giftable books on environmental and social themes on Earthbound Books, in case you’re looking for Christmas shopping inspiration for friends and family. Lots of positive and inspiring things, including some fiction, nature writing, poetry, science and wonder, some of which has been reviewed here.
I get a little percentage from each sale that helps support this website, so thank you to those of you who buy from Earthbound. All other books are available there too, and you’ll find them with the search bar.
Highlights from this week
The question of colonial emissions
When I give presentations about climate justice, one of my central themes is that climate change is unfolding in a historical context. It isn’t happening in a neutral world, but one that has been shaped by events. It is occurring within the ongoing legacy of colonialism, and the unequal power structures of empire are shaping…
The ‘normalising’ of extreme weather in India
“The new normal” is a phrase that often gets used in climate circles to describe the changing weather patterns the world is exploring. Big storms that might happen once every century now come around every decade. Heat records tumble so often that they’re hardly worth mentioning. The stability of the climate has been eroded, and…
Climate action plans for Luton schools
The UK’s stated climate target is to reach net zero carbon by 2050. Where I live in Luton we’re more ambitious and are aiming for 2040, and I’ve been involved in some of the work that’s going into how we do that. The people who will be running Luton in 2040 are in school at…
The Earthbound Report 
Until we get money & revolving doors out of politics plus reform the media we are heading over a cliff. & wealth addiction is a curse even the Ancient Greeks were aware of, so it seems no progress there either