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?
Scientists in the U.S. say that rising sea levels now threaten a third of Florida's beaches, but state employees allege that they are prohibited from talking about climate change. Frustrated, Florida state employee, Kristina Trotta, left her job because dealing with the crisis of rising sea levels became too difficult, as no one was allowed to talk about climate change.
Christopher Berg, formerly an attorney for the state of Florida working to protect its waterways, reports, "They...
Glenn Ashton -
Both the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party and the South African flag have prominent splashes of green featuring in their respective colour scheme. After 1994 the new government was keenly focussed on demonstrating its green credentials in line with our constitutional commitment to environmental protection and sustainable use of our diverse natural resources. Twenty years into democratic experiment we need to reassess how green our political commitment remains.
Liberation...
English comedian, actor and satirist, Marcus Brigstocke, joined a group of fellow comedians for a comedy night on the topic of "climate change". In a side-splitting delivery, he highlights the somewhat awkward relationship between democracy and climate change.
Given the general inertia on the crisis of climate change, organisers of the event, The Royal Society of the Arts (RSA) in the UK, got creative and hosted the comedy night to “inject fresh life and verve into what...
Glenn Ashton -
Naomi Klein’s latest book, “This Changes Everything – Capitalism vs the Climate” explains how the dominant economic system is destroying the life support systems of humans and all other life on earth. Klein proposes that in order to prevent catastrophic climate change we need to fundamentally shift away from the existing materialist based capitalist system.
The 1970’s and ‘80’s were decades where human threats to planetary ecosystems were not only...
Samantha Hargreaves and Hibist Kassa -
Battles between coal mining companies, the municipalities that host them and affected local residents are now drawing blood with last week’s rubber-bullet shootings and arrests of activists (including key women organisers) fighting coal and demanding a decent life in Emahlahleni (formerly Witbank).
This battleground stretches east across the continent’s main coal seam, out to Mozambique’s Tete Province. There, Mama Life (we use a pseudonym to protect her from reprisal), a...
Alexander O'Riordan -
Green energy could be something of a magic bullet for social and economic justice because it will inevitably erode elites’ grubby hold on energy resources such as coal, oil and gas in much of Africa. Small scale and affordable green energy solutions democratise access to energy because instead of having to broker a deal with an often vested elite, families and small businesses can buy and install their own ‘off the shelf’ solutions without permission needed from anyone....
