The weekend before last was one of the most exhausting but inspirational 72 hours that I’ve experienced; it might seem strange in the light of what we now know about just how much our “leaders” let us down over the last few weeks, but my visit to Copenhagen at the time of the climate conference energised me enormously and re-igniting my hope that a just and sustainable future is possible. (more…)
Although it’s difficult to overlook the relative success of the far right and the calamitous results for the centre-left at the recent European elections, environmentalists can perhaps at least console themselves with encouraging green party results in many European countries.
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It may not have grabbed many of the headlines this month – what with snow in the UK, fire in Australia and Holocaust denial within the Catholic Church - but on Sunday 1st February the world’s first openly gay Prime Minister or state leader took office. Johanna Sigurdardottir is now the Icelandic Prime Minister, replacing Geir Haarde (remember his car being pelted with eggs?). If sexuality is no longer a barrier to holding even the highest public office, some have claimed that prejudice & discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been more or less eliminated.
Campaigners from University College London (UCL) were celebrating over the new year at the news that UCL has finally implemented an Ethical Investment (EI) policy - a just reward after over two years hard campaigning by disarmUCL, the coalition of campaigning organisations including UCL People & Planet, UCL Stop the War & UCL Amnesty, who have worked together to bring about ethical investment at UCL. (more…)
