They say “may peace prevail on earth”, but every night, there are fires burning in the terrible slums of Nairobi, Jakarta, Guatemala City and Mumbai. The World Education Forum is now taking place in Seoul, South Korea. UNESCO and Korea organized this colorful event. Everyone is talking, others are singing, and a few are dancing. The Secretary General of the …
The Other One Percent – Ralph Nader
As a high school student, I came across an observation by Abraham Lincoln who said that “With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.” Today “public sentiment” would be called “public opinion.” Over the years, I have been astonished at how less than one percent of the citizenry, backed by the “public sentiment,” have changed our country …
OECD report: Global social inequality hits new record – Gabriel Black
Income inequality in many developed countries has reached an all-time high, according to a report released Thursday by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The report also notes that growth of social inequality has been accompanied by the growth of part-time and contingent labor, particularly for younger workers. The wealthiest tenth of the population in OECD member countries now earn …
Sri Lankan President orders to ban import of glyphosate with immediate effect
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena today announced that the imports and release of the agrochemical Glyphosate will be banned with immediate effect. The release of already imported stocks is also barred. The President made this announcement while participating in a function held to mark the International Day for Biological Diversity at the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment at Battaramulla. …
The methane apocalypse – Anil Ananthaswamy
They look like massive bomb craters. So far seven of these gaping chasms have been discovered in Siberia, apparently caused by pockets of methane exploding out of the melting permafrost. Has the Arctic methane time bomb begun to detonate in a more literal way than anyone imagined. The “methane time bomb” is the popular shorthand for the idea that the …
The massive generational divide on America’s role in the world – Ian Bremmer
America hasn’t had a coherent foreign policy strategy since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Is the U.S. president still “leader of the free world?” Under what circumstances should America go to war? Should we be doing more or less in the Middle East? In Ukraine? In Asia? Maybe the U.S. has been a superpower for so long that Americans …
EU dropped pesticide laws due to US pressure over TTIP, documents reveal – Arthur Neslen
* US trade officials pushed EU to shelve action on endocrine-disrupting chemicals linked to cancer and male infertility to facilitate TTIP free trade deal EU moves to regulate hormone-damaging chemicals linked to cancer and male infertility were shelved following pressure from US trade officials over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade deal, newly released documents show. Draft …
Black America and the Political Economy of Neoliberal Trade Deals – AJAMU BARAKA
President Obama and the corporate democrats continue to press Congress to provide Obama with trade promotion authority (TPA), or so-called fast-track authority to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the first of a series of pernicious so-called free trade agreements. The Flush the TPP website, a major resource for the anti-TPP movement characterizes the TPP as: “A secret trade agreement…(that) threatens to undermine …
2015: Is It The Year Marcellus Shale Gas Peaked And Then Began Falling As Fast As It Rose? – Nicholas C. Arguimbau
How easy it is to forget there are limits to growth, especially when what you observe is designed to make us forget. The great Marcellus is famous for having increased its production 12-fold in four years to become the US’ largest producing natural gas field, but things have not looked that great lately. The average daily production estimate reported by …
The Era of Impact – John Michael Greer
Of all the wistful superstitions that cluster around the concept of the future in contemporary popular culture, the most enduring has to be the notion that somehow, sooner or later, something will happen to shake the majority out of its complacency and get it to take seriously the crisis of our age. Week after week, I field comments and emails …