environment
Articles about the environment, including ecology, climate change, pollution and more.
Manufactured scarcity - the profits of deindustrialisation
'Green capitalism': a new paradigm of sustainable production or a licence to shut down plants and print money? Basing this article on excerpts from his recent book, James Heartfield looks at the case of Enron, an influential pioneer in increasing profits by cutting output
Of course companies that sell climate change solutions stand to benefit as greenhouse gas emissions come to bear a price tag.– Daniel Esty Hillhouse, Professor of Environmental Law, Harvard University1
- 1. The Green List, The Guardian supplement, p.29, 5 November 2007.
Capitalism, Technology and the Environment
A (non-orthodox) Marxist critique of technology under capitalism as inherently antagonistic towards the environment as well as labor.
The Anarchist Federation on the Climate Camp
An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the 2009 Climate Camp, which took place in South London.
At the 2008 Climate Camp in Kingsnorth an open letter was circulated by anti-capitalist campers raising concerns that the movement was increasingly being by influenced state-led approaches to tackling climate change. A more developed version was later published by Shift magazine. The original argued broadly that the camp should adopt anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian principles and objectives.
Update on pollution protests in China
The huge number of cases of lead poisoning and other forms of pollution throughout China continue to trigger protests even as authorities attempt the issues. Here are some updates on what's going on.
In Wenping, Hunan, 15 people involved in a protest at the start of last month were arrested, then released with a reprimand. However, bizarrely, authorities claimed that followers of the banned religious sect Falun Gong were involved in the protest.
China pollution protesters storm lead smelter
Hundreds of Shaanxi villagers force their way into factory that poisoned more than 600 children.
Protesters on Monday 17 August broke into a smelting works responsible for poisoning hundreds of children. Trucks were smashed and fences ripped down according to state news agency Xinhua, and around 100 policemen were sent to the scene, along with the mayor of nearby Baoji city who appealed for calm.
Workers safer in green energy sector
A recent commentary - ‘Expansion of Renewable Energy Industries and Implications for Occupational Health’ - on the human costs of various methods of energy production says ‘green energies’ are less likely to result in death at work than fossil fuels.
Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (login required), Sumner & Layde note that considerations over the implementation of various energy types rarely take into account workplace safety.
Protests in China over pollution
.jpg "Xianghe Chemical Factory poisoned the water supply, making at least 500 people sick")
Authorities closed a chemical plant after local residents in central Hunan Province protested against cadmium pollution, which killed two people and affected hundreds of others, media reported on Monday, 3rd of August.
The closure follows a number of recent high profile "mass incidents" which turned violent and prompted media criticism of officials' failure to respond quickly.
Two villagers near the Xianghe Chemical Factory, which had produced zinc sulfate for six years, died in May and June. Autopsies found high levels of cadmium in their bodies, the semi-official China News Agency said.
Vestas occupiers sacked
On Tuesday night, eleven of the twenty-five Vestas wind turbine workers occupying their plant against closure were fired without offer of redundancy pay.
Eleven of the 25 workers at the Vestas factory in Newport, Isle of Wight, England who have been carrying out a sit-in since Monday July 20 have been sacked with immediate effect.
Wind turbine manufacturing workers occupy company offices
Workers from the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight who are set to lose their jobs are staging a sit-in protest at the firm's offices.
Danish company Vestas Windsystems is laying off 625 workers at the end of July, despite rising profits. It said the Newport factory was being closed due to reduced demand for wind turbines in northern Europe.
About 20 people inside the offices in Cowes have vowed to remain there until "somebody listens to us". They began their protest at about 1930 BST.
New clashes in Grammatico over open refuse dump
Clashes break out again over XYTA construction between locals and riot police with three protesters arrested.
New clashes between locals of Grammatico and riot police forces broke out in the morning of Friday 17/7 when the locals, opposed to the construction of an open refuse dump (XYTA) in the vicinity of their villages, moved to break the riot police blockade of the construction site and block company vehicles from replacing the ones that they had torched last week when their environmental struggle begu
