Features

Tax will, sooner or later, have to follow the environmental agenda. Nicola Liebert reports on mixed experiences so far, even in Germany. Top dodger: The British Monarchy

A history of the eternal fate of taxation: to be the abused or abusive means towards noble or ignoble ends, never quite able to escape its association with extortion and war.

As the UN goes in search of more funds to eliminate poverty, David Hillman reckons he knows where they’re hiding. Top dodger: Tesco

The measure of just tax is the ability to pay. The world’s tax system today is unjust, shifting the burden from rich to poor – and failing altogether to address the green agenda. Here are the facts and figures.

How John Christensen made a banker hide his head in his hands in the tax haven of Jersey. Top dodgers: Leona Helmsley, The Prince of Liechtenstein

David Ransom listens to the false notes being played by an orchestra of financial instruments. Top dodgers: Bono, Rupert Murdoch.

They’re in our homes and our workplace, in the air we breathe and in the food we eat. Wayne Ellwood argues that toxic chemicals are changing the nature of nature.

The facts about plastic

It’s a fashion statement and an environmental nightmare. Zoe Cormier examines one of the most successful marketing ploys ever – bottled water.

Things you can do to avoid toxic plastics. PLUS the Action / Campaign directory.

A history of plastic.

As oil supplies dwindle, the plastic industry is pinning its hopes on biomass. Not a great idea, reasons Jim Thomas.

The good ship Alguita sails an ocean choked with plastic. Blog by Anna Cummins.

Women desperately want toilets – but not as a health aid. Libby Plumb reports.

Unbelievably, people still exist whose task in life is shovelling shit, as Mari Marcel Thekaekara explains.

Toilets have been around since the days of Elizabeth I. Systems old and new.

Everything you ever wanted to know about toilets.

David Satterthwaite speaks out in praise of sewers, and Mayling Simpson-Hébert retaliates on behalf of pits.

Toilet champions are not so rare a breed as you’d think. Here are some distinguished exemplars.

2008 is the International Year of Sanitation. Or, asks Maggie Black, is it the International Year of Silence and Embarrassment?