Barclays has been one of the biggest funders of fossil fuels since the Paris agreement, and this month it was targeted by a new round of protests. Oxfam closed their accounts with them, among others. Two days ago Barclays announced that they would no longer finance new fossil fuels.
Following the example of France, Flight Free have set up a petition to ban domestic flights to destinations that can be reached in under four and a half hours by other means. Can you sign it?
Last week I wrote about possibilities for circular economy footwear. Here’s another option: a company called Polybion has produced a leather substitute by feeding waste fruit to bacteria.
This week I was talking to Luton’s Carnival Arts Centre about the sustainability of their flagship event, which reminded me of the Green Events Charter that Julie’s Bicycle launched recently – worth a look if you are involved in events management at all.
Bookshop.org are running a campaign called Read it Forward this month, and 10% of all children’s book sales will go to the charity Booktrust. Earthbound Books has a children’s section, naturally, with some recommendations here for books on the themes of this website.
Highlights from this week
Book review: Limitarianism, by Ingrid Robeyns
Whatever their political orientation, most people agree that there is such a thing as too much inequality. 84% of people in the UK think the gap between rich and poor is too large right now, even though most also underestimate how big it really is. Despite this broad agreement, there’s very little discussion of the…
The extremely wealthy against extreme wealth
Yesterday I reviewed Ingrid Robeyns’ excellent new book Limitarianism, which proposes a cap to wealth accumulation and a world in which nobody ever gets to become a billionaire. One of her arguments is that this would be better for everyone, rich and poor alike, and she talks to plenty of rich people who make that…
Where are the cheap electric cars?
If I had a pound for every time someone tells me they can’t afford an electric car, I could buy myself a very nice bike. It’s a recurring theme – EVs are all very well, but they’re too expensive for us ordinary folks. I guess I have no choice but to continue driving my diesel…
The Earthbound Report 
Banning short flights – that’s probably the one environmental petition or initiative that doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. A better idea is to put a price on carbon, then refund it to all citizens. Putting a price on carbon would make flights more expensive, and reflect the cost that aviation actually has on the environment, which would limit the numbers of people taking them. Am all in favor of people’s not flying to the casino in the neighboring state, but what about people whose parent or child has been involved in a life-threatening accident. A law making it impossible for them to reach their loved one’s bedside in time would not pass. We could also make energy retro-fits mandatory and have the state pay for them in cases where people live in poverty.
I get that, and it’s worth pointing out that this is a petition in the UK, where there is always an alternative to flying. You can get anywhere in the country by train or bus, and it’s often as fast or quicker than flying once you factor in security checks. That’s really not the case in North America, where I agree that this wouldn’t work!
Good point.
w for here can i find the course