Vandana’s answer to the vegetarians

At the Asia Pacific Greens Network Conference in Taipei on 1 May 2010 someone in the audience asked a question about the “vegetarian solution”. I thought the answer given by Indian environmental activist Vandana Shiva very much cut to the point. I have transcribed the question and answer below. Question: According to the UN report [...]

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Al Gore in the news

Al Gore, the former US Vice-President that won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on climate change is in the news. Newsweek reports on the evolution of an eco-prophet, a behind the scenes look at Gore’s work and the writing of his new book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. Interestingly [...]

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The cost of climate change

Today is World Environment Day. The theme for this year’s event is “CO2, Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy.” I have already written a post about climate change and Taiwan at David on Formosa. I was struck by this alarming article from the ABC about how climate change is affecting the Pacific island [...]

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Karmapa on our connection to the environment

His Holiness the 17th Karmapa created a new logo for the Kagyu Monlam. It represents the connection between humans and the environment. Part of his explanation of the logo follows. “Ever since the human race first appeared on this earth, we have used this earth heavily. It is said that ninety-nine percent of the resources [...]

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Dismissing the global warming skeptics

Despite the fact that the evidence for climate change is now overwhelming some people still don’t want to believe. They would prefer to think it is some kind of conspiracy, hoax or scam. George Monbiot suggests four questions for the skeptics. 1. Does the atmosphere contain carbon dioxide? 2. Does atmospheric carbon dioxide influence global [...]

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Contraction and convergence

This is one of my favorite cartoons. It illustrates so many issues in world politics. It highlights the need for contraction and convergence as a solution to climate change. This would also solve many of the problems related to global inequality. If I had the artistic skills I would like to draw a similar cartoon [...]

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Climate change is real

This graphic comes from the Taiwan News, 16 January 2007. It shows very clearly the rapid increase in global temperatures, particularly since 1980.

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Washing without water

Australia is currently in the grip of a major drought and water crisis. It is said to be a one in a thousand year event. I discovered this idea to save water on the Open All Hours blog at The Age. It is a waterless car washing method used by a mobile car washing franchise [...]

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Ecological books

My mother recently asked me to suggest some books to read to better understand global environmental problems. Here is the text of the e-mail I sent to her. I have been thinking about a good book for you about the environment. While there are lots of good environment books I can’t think of one in [...]

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