Environment

Environment

• Shamrocks and Oil Slicks - book review

  

  Wilcox’s Shamrocks and Oil Slicks recounts the inspiring resistance in county Mayo against their government and Shell Oil’s collusion to force oil development, finds Ellen Graubart

• Coronavirus, climate, and capital: capitalism's destructive irrationality

  

  Capitalism is subjecting itself to great strain and we must be prepared to help it on its way, writes John Clarke

• Why HS2 is on the wrong track

  

  Opposing HS2 in the name of reduction damages the working-class green movement, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Rail blockade: indigenous resistance shakes the Canadian state

  

  Indigenous groups resisting a destructive gas pipeline have blockaded one of Canada's busiest rail lines bringing business as usual to a grinding halt, reports John Clarke

• If you love the climate, you hate the Tories: reasons to join the Valentine's Day strike

  

  Time is running out but the Tories don't care, join the Valentines Day climate strike and build the resistance, writes Shabbir Lakha

• Fukushima: environmental vandalism on an industrial scale

  

  The Japanese government is planning to dump millions of tons of radioactive water into the ocean, reports Pete Morgan

• Coronavirus: an effect of global agribusiness

  

  Growing profit first and food second is the reason for the virus. Look to modern industrial farming for the culprit, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• As Australia burns, climate strikes set for a new phase

  

  Lucy Nichols reports on twelve months of student-led protest

• Australia fires: where climate inaction leads to

  

  The Australian government was warned, but it chose to ignore the warnings and the evidence, repeatedly, writes Pete Morgan

• Protest has helped define the first two decades of the 21st century – here’s what’s next

  

  We’re living in an unprecedented moment - the fortunes of popular protest will depend on the collective leadership of the movements, writes Feyzi Ismail

• The climate election that never happened

  

  As part of a series of opinion pieces on the election result, Elaine Graham-Leigh argues that the movement must turn to class on climate

• What are the Greens' true colours?

  

  The Green Party's electoral alliance with the Lib Dems is a tactic that will prevent a Corbyn government instead of getting the Tories out, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Fracking must stop for good, not just for the election: interview with activist at Preston North Road site

  

  After the government’s sudden u-turn over fracking, Counterfire’s Katherine Connelly spoke to Allan Todd, a Green Left member and Extinction Rebellion activist, about the cynical politics behind the announcement, the importance of the anti-fracking campaign and how we can ensure the victory isn’t as short-lived as the election campaign

• Election 2019: the chance for a green industrial revolution

  

  Electing a Corbyn government that can implement a green industrial revolution is the essential next step to taking on climate change, argues Alex Snowdon

• “We need to work together”: school student climate striker speaks to trade unionists about the way forward

  

  The speech given by the 12-year-old school student and climate striker to Unite the Union’s Suffolk Area Activists Committee

• Police ban on Extinction Rebellion is an attack on our civil liberties

  

  The threat to our civil liberties from the police banning Extinction Rebellion protests is dangerous and we must resist, argues Sweta Choudhury

• Education is a key front in the battle against climate breakdown

  

  At a climate emergency conference organised by the National Education Union, teachers and union activists discussed how to build the movement against climate change, reports Orlando Hill

• William Morris: father of socialist ecology

  

  William Morris is one of the greatest environmentalists of the socialist tradition and his work becomes more relevant by the day, writes Gabriel Polley

• Glasgow strikes for climate justice

  

  This is an issue that unites the class, writes UCU activist Vladimir Unkovski-Korica

• There are no jobs on a dead planet: we want system change not climate change

  

  The message from Newcastle is clear

• The Biofuels Deception: Going Hungry on the Green Carbon Diet - book review

  

  Biofuels turn out not to be a sustainable replacement for fossil-fuels, but just another way for agribusiness to maintain profits, finds Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Why we all have to support the climate strike

  

  On 20 September, it is essential that socialists and trade unionists support the climate strike, writes Richard Allday

• The planet is on fire: build the climate strike

  

  Business as usual makes a climate catastrophe inevitable. It is time to stop business as usual. Join the global climate strike on 20 September, writes Bill Perry

• The Amazon fire: a neoliberal crime scene

  

  The destruction of the Amazon rainforest is no accident, it is the product of Bolsonaro's neoliberal policies, argues Nathan Street

• Amazon fire: our lungs are on fire

  

  Chrissy Brand joined the demonstrators outside the Brazilian Embassy in London on August 23rd. She is one of millions who realise that climate change can only be held at bay by a fundamental system change

• Universities take global steps to fight climate disaster

  

  Universities around the world are organising together to declare an emergency and combat climate change, reports Pete Morgan

• The environmental cost of the United States war-machine

  

  The sheer scale and perpetual nature of US military operations make it unimaginably destructive for the planet, argues Pete Morgan

• School striker for climate: join the Trump demo

  

  Ahead of the Together Against Trump: Stop the State Visit Demonstration on Tuesday 4^th June, Nathan Street interviews Elijah Mckenzie-Jackson 

• Listen to the kids: school strikes for climate continue - video

  

  Thousands of students walked out of school once again to protest against inaction on climate change

• Manual for Survival. A Chernobyl Guide to the Future - book review

  

  An important new book rigorously examines the impact of nuclear accidents. The evidence underlines just how destructive nuclear is, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Dump Trump: Protest the State Visit, June 3/4/5 - Counterfire freesheet May 2019

  

  Protest against Trump's state visit, austerity and record levels of inequality, Algeria in revolt, Marxism made easy, Palestine, eco-demands and more in this month's Counterfire Freesheet

• Climate emergency and the power of protest

  

  The school strikes and Extinction Rebellion protests changed the political agenda, leading to Parliament declaring a climate emergency, reports Ellen Graubart

• We need the labour movement to win the fight against climate change

  

  The fight for workers' rights and jobs goes hand in hand with the fight against climate change, so we need the environmental movement and trade unionists to work together, writes Richard Allday

• Extinction Rebellion: a movement recharged

  

  Environmental politics has been given a much-needed shot in the arm, reports Bill Perry 

• Capitalism and climate change - can we avert disaster? - video

  

  At a London public meeting, Elaine Graham-Leigh explains why climate change is a product of capitalism and the solution has to be one that confronts the system

• The kids are still alright: the climate fightback continues

  

  Climate change is bringing young people on to the streets, where they are talking about system change, reports Newcastle Counterfire

• Seven demands for stopping climate change

  

  Environmental activist and author, Elaine Graham-Leigh, highlights seven key demands the movement against climate change needs to be making

• Strike to demand action on climate change

  

  Joanne Davis reports on the young activists leading the fight for our futures

• Keep fighting for Corbyn: Stop the attacks - Counterfire freesheet March 2019

  

  The soft coup against Corbyn and the weaponisation of antisemitism, Tory Brexit crisis, Winston Churchill, Venezuela, climate change, Palestine and more in this month's Counterfire Freesheet

• Climate strikers: ‘capitalism is ill-equipped to deal with the crisis’

  

  School students spoke to Feyzi Ismail at the second Youth Strike 4 Climate in London on Friday. They are informed, defiant and resolute

• US military: the world's biggest polluter

  

  The fight against ecological disaster must include fighting the war machine of the US state, argues Jago Corry

• Global school strike for climate kicks off

  

  Thousands of school students across the world have already taken to the streets in today's coordinated stand against climate change, reports John Westmoreland

• Climate Leviathan and A Foodie's Guide to Capitalism - book reviews

  

  Two books on environmental crisis say that anti-capitalist politics are needed, but mistakenly reject the existing revolutionary tradition, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• School's out for the Tories – weekly briefing

  

  Students have put politics back on the streets again: this is an object lesson for everyone who wants a better world, argues Lindsey German

• Youth Strike 4 Climate: we're fighting for our future

  

  A video report from the YouthStrike4Climate in London

• National school students' climate strike in pictures

  

  The hugely inspiring national school students' strike against climate change should be the start of a coordinated, international campaign, reports Jago Corry

• School climate strike: thousands of students shut down Parliament Square

  

  School students brought Westminster to a standstill as around ten thousand protested against government inaction on climate change, reports Thomas Gibbs

• What would a ‘Green New Deal’ look like in Britain?

  

  A Green New Deal, now a popular idea in Britain as well as the US, can help to merge environmental struggle with class struggle, argues Jago Corry

• Climate chaos is the most political issue of our time, to stop it we need systemic change

  

  Climate breakdown is a political issue, and to stop it we need to tackle it at the root, argues Jim Scott

• Revolt in France: could Macron be under threat?

  

  Yellow Vests mass protests enjoyed a third weekend of militant action across France, with trades unionists and other groups supporting. John Mullen reports from Paris

• Averting chaos: class, climate change and the movements

  

  Profit and powerful interests are precipitating planetary disaster. Protests such as Saturday's in London must be developed into a mass movement to force political change, argues Feyzi Ismail

• The People's Assembly launch the Britain is Broken campaign

  

  Austerity has failed but it continues to wreak havoc for millions of people. Shabbir Lakha reports from the launch of a new campaign to end austerity

• The public supports urgent action on climate chaos: it's government that is failing

  

  There's just 12 years left to keep our environmental inhabitable. Campaigning from below is crucial; we can't depend on the climate dealmakers, writes Nathan Street

• Stop Tommy Robinson, All out for 17 November - Counterfire Freesheet November 2018

  

  Opposing the far right, people's vote, police racism, precarious workers, climate chaos, universal credit and more in this month's Counterfire freesheet

• Marx and the fight against climate change - Counterfire Media Podcast

  

  Elaine Graham-Leigh and Tom Lock Griffiths discuss the Marxist perspective on ecology and the fight against climate change in the third episode of Counterfire Media's Podcast

• Decarbonisation, jobs and justice

  

  As the IPCC report stresses the urgent action needed to tackle climate change, we must challenge the narrative that an ecologically sound economy would be bad for workers

• Project Macron in crisis

  

  From the Benalla affair to the Hulot resignation and plunging poll ratings, there's no end in sight for the troubles of the French President, writes Susan Ram

• UK councils invest over £9bn in fracking industry

  

  Newly released data shows that councils in the UK are investing billions in fracking, we need to keep pushing for divestment commitments

• The summer of climate chaos

  

  The heatwave seems to be over, but with floods in Kerala to wildfires in California making history, capitalism still can’t fix climate change, writes Elaine Graham-Leigh

• The dynamics of disaster

  

  Capitalism will destroy humanity. Only working class mass mobilisation and struggle can stop this, argues John Westmoreland

• Adrift: A Secret Life of London's Waterways - book review

  

  The fight against rapacious developers is at the heart of a new account of life on London’s canals, says John Rees

• Town and country attitudes

  

  Is there really the great divide? John Rees examines the changing landscape of the countryside

• Justin Trudeau's dirty deeds for dirty oil

  

  He reps for poisonous pipelines whilst claiming climate piety; Trudeau’s slick cynicism springs protest from London to British Colombia, reports John Clarke

• A Redder Shade of Green - book review

  

  Ian Angus’ essays range across many issues at the intersection of politics and environmental science, illuminating the meaning of ecosocialism, finds Kevin Crane

• Marx the ecologist

  

  Some criticise Marx as anti-environmental, but understanding his ecology is essential to grasping his critique of capitalism, finds Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Environmental entropy is inescapable in capitalism

  

  No truly effective green politics can do without a coherent argument against the capitalist mode of production, argues Nathan Street

• Creating an Ecological Society: Towards a Revolutionary Transformation - book review

  

  Magdoff and Williams provide a powerful case that ecological disaster can be overcome by a revolutionary transformation of social relations

• Facing the Anthropocene: Fossil Capitalism and the Crisis of the Earth System - review

  

  The Anthropocene is the result of post-1945 capitalism, according to Ian Angus, in a vital contribution to the ecosocialist argument, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Suez Sita’s brand of eco-capitalism is a trap

  

  Hippy styled waste management in Doncaster has got workers’ resistance to look forward to, reports Mick Wattam  

• Capitalism in the Web of Life: Ecology and the Accumulation of Capital

  

  Jason Moore shows that capitalism is innately destructive of its environment, but the solution is revolutionary socialist organisation, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Monbiot and the media

  

  George Monbiot’s essays are a valuable and stimulating exception in the mainstream media where dissenting voices are rarely heard, argues Ian Middlebrook

• Only a People‘s Brexit will bring the change we need

  

  We need to get organised in order to avert the economic and ecological disaster that the Tories' Brexit will cause

• Beneath the bonnet: capitalism and cars

  

  A clash of new and old forms of capitalism exposes the anarchy and wastefulness within our rotten system, writes Chris Bambery

• Austerity Ecology And The Collapse-Porn Addicts

  

  Austerity Ecology provides a valid critique of lifestyle greenism, but its techno-fix approach is no replacement for a mass movement for system change, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Turquoise Tories? The government and climate change

  

  Cameron argued that his government would be the greenest ever, but market solutions are turning out to be no solutions at all, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• The Anthropocene. The human era and how it shapes our planet

  

  Our effect on the planet may well mean that we’re entering a new geological epoch, but what really matters is organising to fight for the world we need, finds Elaine Graham-Leigh

• A Diet of Austerity

  

  A Diet of Austerityargues that to fight climate change, we need system change, and the blame must not be shifted onto individuals, finds Orlando Hill

• A Diet of Austerity: Class, Food and Climate Change

  

  How and why the working class are being blamed for climate change, and what we can do about it

• Time to Act against climate change

  

  On March 7th more than 20,000 people marched in London against climate change. Elaine Graham-Leigh reports

• The Burning Answer. A User’s Guide to the Solar Revolution

  

  The Burning Answer shows that all our energy could come from clean, renewable sources without much technical difficulty, but getting there is a political problem, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• The Green surge and the new politics in Britain

  

  The surge in membership of the Green party shows that British politics is not marching to the right - James Meadway looks at the implications for the Left

• This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate

  

  System change not climate change: ultimately revolutionary change is needed. This is the message of Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Green Capitalism: Why It Can’t Work

  

  The urgency of action on climate change is undeniable, but Green Capitalism: Why It Can’t Work, shows clearly why capitalism is the problem, argues Marienna Pope-Weidemann

• The People’s Climate March: thousands demand action

  

  Elaine Graham-Leigh: The People’s Climate March sent a clear message to the politicians - climate change remains an issue of central importance and we are watching what they do

• Direct action success for anti-fracking camp

  

  Matt Bonner reports how activists from Reclaim the Power targeted thirteen companies, government departments and academics who stand to profit from the industry