Environment
This section considers how we can build a world that works both for the planet and for its people. We draw attention to the perils of deep sea mining and continued coal extraction while considering solutions to the environmental crisis through interview pieces and critical analysis of current, technological solutions.
Old school adaptation
Moushumi Basu reports from Assam, India, on the people turning to traditional ‘home grown’ strategies to keep their communities fed and deal with the uncertainty of climate change.
Stay or go: villagers vs big coal
Germany may have committed to phasing out coal but that hasn’t stopped mine expansion plans which threaten two villages. Paul Krantz and Leo Frick report.
Saving the Wild Coast from Big Oil
Mike Loewe reports from South Africa on the community fighting to stop Shell from exploration along its wildlife-rich shores.
Do zoos cause more harm than good?
Do zoos represent pointless captivity or an opportunity for conservation and education? Linda Kimotho and Oluwaseun S Iyasere have different takes.
‘Fortress conservation’ is driving us from our homes
Pranab Doley, an Indigenous activist from the Mising people, condemns the militarization of the conservation industry in India and beyond, and its threat to the land’s best protectors.
Paradise lost?
A vast area of Namibia and Botswana is under threat from oil and gas exploration. Devastating consequences are feared for the people, wildlife and natural environment. Graeme Green reports on the fight to keep Kavango alive.
How we stopped coal in England
Isobel Tarr of Coal Action Network speaks to activists at the forefront of the decades-long movement to end new opencast coal mining about how change was won.
Without water, there is no life
Industrial agriculture is drying up the land in Almeria, Spain. Vitalie Duporge speaks to activists and small-scale farmers trying to avert local ecocide.
How to achieve full decolonization
Southern governments are captive to the demands of international capital, which stops them from meeting people’s real needs. Modern monetary theory offers a path to true economic sovereignty, says Jason Hickel.
Digital dinners
Pat Mooney explores what happens when Big Data meets Big Ag. Interview by Nick Dowson.
Let the water flow
Could solar-powered desalination help boost drinking water supplies in Kenya and beyond? Anthony Langat reports.
Where does all the food go?
There’s more than enough food – if it’s shared out evenly. A data visualization by David McCandless.
‘Food is love’
Urban growers Dee Woods and Stefanie Swanepoel compare notes across continents with Amy Hall.
Taking back the peanut basin
The soil is dying, the water’s running out, and climate change is rendering the future even more uncertain. Hazel Healy speaks to farmers in Senegal who are ready for a different system.
‘I’ve seen how it affects people’
As opposition and protest continues against a new high-speed rail network in the UK, Denise Laura Baker meets some of those taking a stand against HS2 along the line.
A bloody business
Iris Gonzales reflects on a violent national obsession that has only grown under coronavirus restrictions in the Philippines.
How shadow courts threaten the climate
An international energy agreement could leave governments across the Global South exposed to expensive lawsuits from corporate investors. Juliet Ferguson of Investigate Europe reports.
Introducing… From The Front
Over the next two years, our new series will explore pathways to peace and environmental protection.
Zambia’s meal-finishers
Audrey Simango reports on the phenomena of young men taking over abandoned meals.
When KFC came to Kenya
As Big Food spreads throughout the Global South using the tobacco playbook, Kabugi Mbae investigates the rise in obesity – and non-communicable diseases – in Kenya.
Freedom food
Rebel chefs are on a mission to decolonize diets across sub-Saharan Africa. Kareem Arthur goes in search of new ingredients.
Could an international ecocide law be around the corner?
Lawyers are drafting a legal definition of ecocide which could lead to prosecutions at the International Criminal Court. Anthony Langat explores how this could impact environmental justice struggles in Kenya and beyond.
The interview: Michael Fakhri
Michael Fakhri, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has a bold vision for a trade system that reflects how people actually eat.
Business interests have hijacked the UN food summit
Small farmers, social movements and human rights are being elbowed out, says Kirtana Chandrasekaran.
Fukushima communities are building a sustainable future
Ten years on from the devastating nuclear disaster, citizens are working together to show that nuclear power and fossil fuels are not the only way. Tina Burrett visits the red zone.
What kind of world do we want to retire into?
As a new report exposes the billions of pounds invested in fossil fuels by UK local government pension funds, Platform’s Laurie Mompelat questions who we can trust with the future.
The limits of eden
Indigenous people living in Peru’s Manu National Park have been locked out of its management. Could change be on the horizon? asks Jack Lo Lau.
Beyond the tourist trail
Conservationists in the Global South are seeking sustainable pathways, finds Graeme Green.
A new frontier for UK coal?
Daniel Therkelsen of Coal Action Network looks at how plans for the mine made it this far and how local people are stepping up to fight it.
