The Old Yoke. Was the green man, that pagan spirit of nature, in fact England’s secret symbol of resistance to Norman oppression? | Aeon
Green men they are called; or, less poetically, ‘foliate heads’. They captivated me from a young age, and I have been collecting them, on and off, for years. I have more than a dozen dotted around my house
We Need To Talk About Ableism | ABC Life | By Ellen Fraser-Barbour
What is ableism? It is the favouring of able neurotypical people, and the exclusion and devaluation of people who are disabled and neurodivergent. Ableism may not be intentional (in the same way that racism or sexism may not be intentional) but that doesn’t mean it’s not harmful.
Reorganizing Anger Into Energy and Action | Spirituality and Health
“The emotion of anger is designed to spark transformation. … Anger is how your spirit tells you not to bow to injustice any longer. [It’s] is the sacred messenger communicating that something in your life needs transforming.”
The United States Needs a Third Reconstruction | The Atlantic
Whatever its shape, the era ahead must rekindle the aspiration of a nation molded in the ideal of perfect equality. The next period of Reconstruction must contend with the effects of the prior era’s deconstruction.
Revolution and American Indians: Marxism is as Alien to My Culture as Capitalism
The following speech was given by Russell Means in July 1980, before several thousand people who had assembled from all over the world for the Black Hills International Survival Gathering, in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is Russell Means’s most famous speech.
We Deserve To Be Taught About It: Why Students Want Climate Crisis Classes
In five years’ time, every student at Sheffield University – whether they study maths, music or drama – will also need to get to grips with sustainability. Be it the climate crisis, global poverty or gender inequality, every course will examine some of the major challenges the world faces.
Why Starbucks failed in Australia | TED ED
Starbucks can be found all over the world, from Shanghai to Guantanamo Bay. But there is one continent that was uninterested in the coffee giant. Australians largely rejected Starbucks’ attempted takeover, which led to an embarrassing retreat for the brand. CNBC explains what went wrong.
‘Adults are asleep at the wheel’ in climate crisis, says co-founder of youth-led…
Starbucks can be found all over the world, from Shanghai to Guantanamo Bay. But there is one continent that was uninterested in the coffee giant. Australians largely rejected Starbucks’ attempted takeover, which led to an embarrassing retreat for the brand. CNBC explains what went wrong.
Practical, smart Advice For Changemakers, From A Young Climate Activist.
In the summer of 2017, then-high school students Jamie Margolin, Nadia Nazar, Madelaine Tew and Zanagee Artis decided that #thisisZeroHour to act on climate change and they founded Zero Hour, a youth-led climate movement focused on climate change and environmental justice. Now at New York University, Margolin is currently the co-executive director of Zero Hour.
The Data Scientist Exposing US White Supremacists: ‘This is how you fight Nazis’
Since 2018, the 38-year-old data scientist has been exposing members of the far right and cataloguing white supremacist violence across the US through her site, First Vigil. The project grew out of…
Celeste Ng Reflects on Our Era of Rage—and Illuminates the Path Forward
I used to call my senators and representatives several times a week. I knitted a pink pussy hat and made signs and went on marches. I donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ACLU, and Planned Parenthood. In the aftermath of the 2016 election, I popularized the hashtag #SmallActs to drive people to take modest steps to further political resistance and social inclusion. Now? I’m exhausted and sometimes demoralized. I’m not proud to admit it, but I’ve thought about giving up.
How Racial Injustice And The Climate Crisis Are Inseparable Emergencies
For many people, the climate crisis is a modern-day phenomenon. But for black and indigenous people, as well as other colonised people of colour, we know that the roots of the environmental crisis go back much further and are inseparable from racial injustice. The exploitation of our planet’s natural resources has always been closely linked to the exploitation of people of colour.
When “Creatives” Turn Destructive: Image-Makers and the Climate Crisis
If money is the oxygen on which the fire of global warming burns, then P.R. campaigns and snappy catchphrases are the kindling. Past sins are past no more: an overdue historical recalibration is under way, with monuments being pulled down, dorms renamed, restitution offered. People did things, bad things; even across the span of centuries, they’re being held to account, and there’s something noble about that.
The Diversity and Inclusion Industry Has Lost Its Way | BAZAR
As news comes of the Royal family’s desire to hire a Diversity and Inclusion consultant, Kim Tran explores how the industry is at a crossroads and if it could find its roots again.
Addressing Trauma as a Pathway to Social Change | Stanford Social Innovation
In the 1860s, American abolitionist Frederick Douglass noted that people invested in social change “endeavor to remove the contradiction” between “what ought to be” and “what is.” This contradiction seems ubiquitous today as social change advocates struggle to address multiple, overlapping crises.
Jane Goodall: ‘Change is Happening. There Are Many Ways to Start Moving in the Right Way’
The primatologist and ecological activist on why population isn’t the only cause of climate change, and why she’s encouraging optimism
The Guardian View On German Politics: Is Green The New Normal?
These are heady days to be a German Green. Last month, Die Grünen chose 40-year-old Annalena Baerbock as their candidate for chancellor in September’s federal election. Since then there has been a huge influx of new members excited by the prospect of what is shaping up to be a generational shift in the country’s politics.
Interview: Michael Stipe: The male idea of power is so dumb
The last time I saw Michael Stipe, he had a beanie hat on and was wandering between the tents at the Extinction Rebellion camp in Trafalgar Square.
What Mentors Wish Their Mentees Knew
The mentor-mentee relationship is a tango between a more senior person and a junior one. Just as in dance, coordination and orchestration between parties is necessary for grace and success. And while we and others have written about what makes the ideal mentor, comparatively less attention has been given to the other partner.
Mark Rylance: Arts Should Tell ‘Love Stories’ About Nature To Tackle Climate Crisis
Sir Mark Rylance has called on the arts to help solve the climate crisis by telling stories that persuade people to “fall in love with nature again” and prompt government to back green policies.
How The Sustainability Movement Has Villainised The Disabled Community
When I was in my early 20s, my partner and I shared a canary yellow Queenslander with a group of his tie-dyed, New-Age friends from high school. We were all a conscious bunch, but eventually battles of sustainability began to play out across the kitchen.
How the World’s Only Feudal Lord Outclassed the Nazis to Save Her People
When Germany invaded the Isle of Sark—the last foothold of feudalism in the western world—Dame Sibyl Hathaway protected her people with the unlikeliest of weapons: Feudal etiquette, old-world manners, and a dollop of classic snobbery.
Cancel Amazon Prime: The subscription service is Amazon’s greatest—and most terrifying—invention.
“Amazon is a beast we’ve never seen before,” Alimahomed-Wilson told me. “Amazon powers our Zoom calls. It contracts with ICE. It’s in our neighborhoods.”
The Cost of State Surveillance
Surveillance programs are not only damaging to their targets but ineffective in achieving their stated aims.
I Want Caring To Be Cool’ — One Woman’s Instagram-Sriven Effort To Help The Homeless
Bella Baskin poses near Sunset and Alta Vista boulevards. Looking every bit the hip L.A. millennial, with her sleek black hair, long eyelashes and ripped jeans, she holds a pink drawstring bag in one hand and the leashes of her two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels in the other.
We Can’t Fight the Climate Crisis Without Fighting the Military-Industrial Complex
If we’re serious about stopping impending climate disaster, we have no choice but to radically rein in one of the world’s worst polluters: the US military.
Pinker’s Progress: The Celebrity Scientist at the Centre of the Culture Wars
In a recent afternoon, Steven Pinker, the cognitive psychologist and bestselling author of upbeat books about human progress, was sitting in his summer home on Cape Cod, thinking about Bill Gates. Pinker was gearing up to record a radio series on critical thinking for the BBC…
UK’s Climate Targets Will Cost Less Than Battling Covid, Says OBR
The UK’s climate targets will cost the government less over the next 30 years than the price of battling the Covid-19 pandemic if it acts quickly, according to the UK’s fiscal watchdog.
Shipping firm Maersk Spends £1bn on ‘Carbon Neutral’ Container Ships
The world’s biggest shipping company is investing $1.4bn (£1bn) to speed up its switch to carbon neutral operations, ordering eight container vessels that can be fuelled by green methanol as well as traditional bunker fuel.
Denmark Wants To Make It Illegal To Ignore Climate Change
The parliament of Denmark has recently adopted a new law on climate. The Denmark climate law commits to cut emissions drastically and reach a level that is 70% less than the nation’s emissions in 1990.
Using Maps to Empower Indigenous Communities
Amid a national conversation about race, colonialism, and justice, Native mappers and runners are reclaiming Indigenous cartography, names, and land