The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
Michelle Pressend -
The three day G8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan ended with disappointing outcomes on climate change commitments from the most powerful countries in the world.
The G8’s communiqué on environment and climate change released on 8 July 2008 reconfirmed the significance of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and recognised the need for a 50 percent reduction in global emissions by 2050. However this commitment is a far cry from the developing countries consensus in...
Michelle Pressend -
The rising price of electricity has dominated the media and many public debates in the last month. Indeed, concern about Eskom’s proposed 53 percent tariff increase was at the centre of discussions at the Energy Summit, which took place on 16 May 2008, in Sandton.
The 'price issue' is a critical debate because it has huge implications for people's affordability and access to electricity, particularly the 'energy poor' in this country - 30 percent of South Africans do not have...
Leonardo DiCaprio argues that human addiction to oil has brought us to the brink of destruction. Our burning of oil and other fossil fuels has dumped over seven hundred billion tons of carbon pollution into the atmosphere, causing global warming. At the same time, big corporations and politicians have not done enough to save us. They have gained too much money and power off our addiction to oil, making them resistant to change.
Saliem Fakir -
The key to the success of the Kyoto Protocol, which is meant to protect us from climate change, is dependent on collective global action.
Collective action is a product of enlightened self-interested power using its soft power to garner the world’s support and leadership. It too, requires a shared system of values and beliefs.
But whatever there was of this enlightened self-interest before 9/11 has gone to the wind. When you run the world economy and geo-politics on the winner takes...
Michelle Pressend -
It’s business as usual for Northern countries that have made the quick connection between climate change and climate trade. These days even pollution has a price, rather than a cost. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are trading at about €20 per ton and are forecast to increase to €24-30 per ton in trading emission schemes.
This picture gets bleaker still as proposals to deal with the ecological crisis facing our planet are decidedly more business-friendly than they are people...
