NI 451 - April, 2012

Adapt or die

A note from the editor

Lurching through the streets of Dhaka on a narrow rickshaw seat, I thought I would be catapulted out at any time.

Then I peered through the dust around me. I saw all sorts of precious cargo balanced on passengers’ knees: sleeping infants, panes of glass, towers of egg boxes.

The driver understood his environment well, I realized, and could navigate the many hazards on the roads.

A nail-biting journey by rickshaw struck me as an analogy for how Bangladesh is navigating the impacts of climate change: with grit, ingenuity, limited technology and no safety net.

I chose not to run photos of natural disasters and floods in this issue. Devastation is already well documented on rolling 24 hour news channels, but we hear less about Bangladeshis’ resilience in the face of encroaching seas and erratic rains.

I also met those people for whom the only adaptation option was migration. This brought with it the danger of cross country border-crossings or the misery of destitution in bursting cities.

Adaptation to climate change charts a path between ecology, climate science and competing models of development. The latter is the subject of both our Argument and special feature this month.

Our debaters consider whether aid should be cut to countries with poor human rights records, while Andrew Bowman considers some of the downsides to Bill Gates’ brand of ‘venture philanthropy’.

Worldbeater returns this issue, taking aim at Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang: ‘ruthless kleptocrat and good family man’.

Hazel Healy for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Hazel Healy

NI 451 - April, 2012

Adapt or die

A note from the editor

The big story

New Internationalist co-editor Hazel Healy travelled there to find out how people are adapting to a warming world.

Features

Why climate change poses a major threat for Bangladesh.

Microsoft's former CEO has made massive donations to global health programmes but an investigation by Andrew Bowman reveals some unpleasant side-effects.

Web exclusives

The Wikileaks founder on state surveillance, media scrutiny and the Cablegate affair.

Alternatives

It’s time for John Jordan and Isa Fremeaux to turn their dream into reality.

Libby Powell investigates the making of Green Beer.

Blogs

Get busy with it! Groups and campaigns fighting against global warming and supporting the poorest nations to adapt.

Opinion

A fresh wave of reports unveiling exploitation in the iPad empire are forcing Apple to clean up up its act, reports Mark Engler.

Human rights lawyer Errol Mendes and aid campaigner Jonathan Glennie go head-to-head - read their arguments and join the debate.

Agenda

22 April is Earth Day. Should punishment be made to those personally responsible for destroying our planet?

Aoife Allen describes how The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme is not doing enough to clean up the gems trade.

26 April World Intellectual Property Day

Regulars

Polyp on our addiction to growth.

Chinese artist Sun Ji blends past and present Shanghai in his photo collages.

One of the greatest Arab poets of our time speaks to Giedre Steikunaite about creativity and consciousness.

Time to take aim at the tyrannical President of Equatorial Guinea in this month's 'Worldbeater'.

Mary Namakando digs out facts and ratings on one of Southern Africa's most politically stable countries and probes President Sata's grapple with corruption.

Beauty contests are now big business, but have lost their appeal for Lauri Kubuitsile in her latest Letter From Botswana.

Neither humanity nor nature are commodities. It’s time the old ideology was dissolved, writes Jeremy Seabrook.

Having opinions on social justice may seem like common sense so why does it incite people to shout in your face? wonders Josie Long.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

Horatio Morpurgo discovers filmmaker Patrick Keiller’s unusual way of seeing the world.

Films, books and music from around the world.

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