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?
Glenn is a multidisciplinarian with a background in geography. Besides being a published author, he also edited "A Patented World? The Privatisation of Life and Knowledge," published by Jacana in South Africa. He currently is on the editorial board of the SA Journal of Natural Medicine.
Additionally, Glenn has written many commentaries and analyses of wide ranging issues including waste management, water use, food security, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, health, agricultural fuels, marine resources, climate and many other environmental and socially relevant issues.
He has also presented many papers and talks to a wide range of audiences. He specialises in communicating complex scientific issues in an accessible manner. He is a freelance writer and researcher.
Glenn Ashton -
Significant developments in the energy sector are underway in western Limpopo because of the extensive coal resources in that region. Besides Eskom’s massive Medupi power station, near the existing Matimba power station, there are several other mega-projects in the pipeline. The question is whether these are sustainable or in some cases, even viable.
Other developments in the area include expanding the massive Exxaro Grootgeluk mine, which supplies Matimba and Medupi, as well...
Glenn Ashton -
There is deep scepticism as to whether the COP 17 meeting in Durban will achieve much at all. Why is it that such an urgent matter has taken so long to achieve so little at such great cost? Despite constant refrains from the global public, backed by scientific experts, there appears neither inclination nor momentum to solve this problem.
The biggest reason that resolution of this essentially straightforward problem is stalled is because the economic forces of private capital have usurped and...
Glenn Ashton -
If we had to choose a country to host the COP17 international climate change negotiations and broker a consensus deal to manage the increasingly urgent matter of human induced climate change, we could not do much worse than choose South Africa.
It is not that South Africa won’t be a gracious host. This is a nation renowned for its hospitality and its open, welcoming nature, across all cultures in this multifaceted society.
South Africans are certainly excellent negotiators as well....
Glenn Ashton -
If you have not noticed that zombies are emerging everywhere, perhaps you are one of the undead. Many parts of the world are clearly in the throes of a zombie invasion.
While it may be easy to reject this as not being a hard, serious news story, zombies have been subjects on council meetings and have even been the subject of a warning by the respected US Centre for Disease Control. Zombies regularly go on walkabouts and even hold conventions. Zombies are everywhere from protests...
Glenn Ashton -
South Africa continues to haemorrhage jobs. This in a country that by the kindest description is already beset by unemployment, with estimates of unemployment varying between an optimistic 23% to a more realistic 35%. What factors underlie our failure to open up employment to more people?
Despite improved levels of education and huge resources being poured into job training schemes through the controversial SETA programmes, opportunities for matriculants – and even graduates - to...
Glenn Ashton -
Climate change predominantly impacts those who have benefited least from fossil fuelled industrialisation. The poor have less social, economic and political capacity to adapt to climate change than the rich. The arrival of the global climate negotiating lobby on African shores must focus the minds of the world on how climate change impacts developing nations and how we propose to solve this problem.
When the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Framework Convention...
