Climate justice
A note from the editor
Taking the power back
'Is the economic crisis going to be the end of green?'
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has asked, provoking a furious debate online. I've been hearing such rumblings a lot lately. The financial meltdown has certainly eclipsed climate change as the crisis du jour: and if last month's UN climate talks in Poznan were anything to go by, it's making it even harder to get progress from governments that is anything other than cheap and half-hearted.
This is a most dangerous state of affairs. It's like finding out that you've got cancer, but then delaying going to the doctor's for treatment for a few months because you want to repaint your house. No doubt your house needs a lot of work, but ultimately there's little point if you won't be around to enjoy it.
Stopping climate change must be our number one priority – and this is the main theme of this month's magazine. But how we go about it goes hand in hand with the task of rebuilding a fairer economy, as we highlight in the 'Clean Start' special feature. The same crushing injustices that triggered the financial collapse have been driving global warming. Now, suddenly, we have an opportunity to change the system. Can we seize it?
With this in mind, the NI held a 'Clean Start' event on 15 December. Speakers included NI contributors Walden Bello and Susan George, and the lively discussion ranged from how we got into this global mess, through specific policies that would put us on a fairer greener path, to how we build a movement to make it happen. Don't worry if you missed it – you can watch clips of all the speakers on our website.
The stakes couldn't be higher. I urge you to get involved, at: www.newint.org/cleanstart
Jess Worth for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org
The big story
The answer is blowing in the wind, yet governments and industry stubbornly continue to expand coal power.
Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Power politics
419 - January, 2009
Stopping climate change will involve reversing some fundamental injustices, argues Jess Worth.
Features
Four principles for climate justice
419 - January, 2009
Social movements around the world are calling for urgent and radical action, broadly based on four main principles.
A million mutinies
419 - January, 2009
Sunita Narain looks to the environmentalism of the poor for answers.
Climate Justice - The Facts
419 - January, 2009
Climate change is causing human suffering all over the world and it's the poorest of the poor who are going to be worst hit.
Leave it in the ground!
419 - January, 2009
Activists Nnimmo Bassey and Mel Evans report from the frontline.
Just or bust
419 - January, 2009
Danny Chivers surveys the options for the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009, and asks if they can deliver climate justice.
Homegrown energy
419 - January, 2009
In Brazil, communities are forging their own solutions, reports Lucia Ortiz.
Don't panic: take action!
419 - January, 2009
You can play your part in the global movement for climate justice by getting involved in local and national campaigns wherever you are. Here are a few tips for taking effective climate action.
A new, green, democratic deal
419 - January, 2009
How the financial, social and environmental crises collide – the opportunities and the dangers. Susan George and Walden Bello get the debate going.
The real deal
419 - January, 2009
Unless it is fair, we will never get a successful international climate agreement. Tom Athanasiou has rolled up his sleeves and produced a proposal for how it could be done.
Currents
Remember, remember the fourth of November
419 - January, 2009
New law gives animal rights campaigners reason to celebrate.
Regulars
Mikheil Saakashvili
419 - January, 2009
The democratic credentials of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili are in tatters.
Interview with Jeff Halper
419 - January, 2009
The veteran activist Jeff Halper talks about his part in breaching the blockade of Gaza.
Concrete dreams
419 - January, 2009
India's middle class is becoming more antagonistic to the urban poor, says Jeremy Seabrook.
Belarus
419 - January, 2009
A country at the edge of Europe home to wolves, bears, lynx and Europe's last dictator.
Film, Book & Music Reviews
Mother-Earth! Father-Sky!
419 - January, 2009
Mother-Earth! Father-Sky! by Huun-Huur-Tu featuring Sainkho
Che - Part 1, Che - Part 2
419 - January, 2009
We get to see a lot of Che's iconic look in over four hours of film, but sadly, though long on detail, it's short on insight.
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