Paris: How can we start unpicking the spiral of humiliation and violence?
Last weekend’s dreadful events in Paris were appalling. Like many people I am still in shock and grief, and want to send huge love and support to everyone affected, especially our friends doing Transition across Paris. I hope they...
Can We Afford the Future?
As a child of the 1950s I grew up immersed in a near-universal expectation of progress. Everybody expected a shiny new future; the only thing that might have prevented us from having it was nuclear war, and thankfully that...
What are the essential elements for successfully building community resilience?
Introducing Six Foundations for Building Community Resilience, PCI’s new report which describes how communities can approach the full scope of the 21st century’s challenges equitably and sustainably. It’s all too easy to look at the news these days and...
Beyond Keystone: Why Climate Movement Must Keep Heat On
The key passage — the forward-looking passage — of President Obama’s speech last week rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline came right at the end, after he rehashed all the arguments about jobs and gas prices that had been litigated...
On Halloween costumes and Christmas cups
Over the last few days, my social media feed has been dominated by two stories: 1) student protests at the University of Missouri and Yale over the universities’ respective handling of racial incidents and concerns; and 2) Starbuck’s “controversial”...
Keystone XL: History Up Close
A Klee painting named “Angelus Novus” shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how...
Why COP21 matters, and why I’m going.
On Monday we launch our new book ’21 Stories of Transition’ and today we begin our build up to COP21 in Paris which starts at the end of the month. Often our default setting as people who are motivated...
Imagine if Exxon had told the truth on climate change
Like all proper scandals, the #Exxonknew revelations have begun to spin off new dramas and lines of inquiry. Presidential candidates have begun to call for Department of Justice investigations, and company spokesmen have begun to dig themselves deeper into...
The Benefits of Localism
Interview of Michael Shuman by Steve Dubb, Director of Special Projects, The Democracy Collaborative. Originally published at community-wealth.org. Michael Shuman is an economist, attorney, and globally recognized expert on community economics. He is one of the architects of the...
Study: Fracking Industry Wells Associated With Premature Birth
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Press Release Expectant mothers who live near active natural gas wells operated by the fracking industry in Pennsylvania are at an increased risk of giving birth prematurely and for having high-risk pregnancies,...