Consumption

Humanism has elevated humanity above its natural condition, but our relationship to animals remains in a state of war.

To solve its exacerbating urban-rural divide, Spain needs to decentralise energy production.

Swen Ore looks back at the history of rationing to imagine how a progressive decline in energy use might be managed.

Democracy has always been a core principle of the many shades of green politics. We explore the intellectual roots of degrowth theories in democracy.

Prohibiting cannabis has been a failure. The number of consumers is constantly high, cannabis is available for everyone everywhere. In Germany, over 2.3 million adults are using cannabis. Twenty-two per cent of teenagers aged 15 to 16 are known to have already used the substance. In response, the German Greens have designed an alternative plan to regulate and control the cannabis market.

A big risk for Europe stems from its dependency on Russian natural gas and oil.

In the dismal reality of the deepening financial crisis in the European Union, exploiting the natural environment is seen by troubled member states as a quick-fix solution for rapid economic recovery. Following decades of massive spending on an unsustainable economic and development model, the EU’s policy response is essentially a recipe for a much deeper and longer-term environmental crisis.

The decisive question for the coming decades is not ‘if’ but ‘how’ the global economy will grow. We are currently in the middle of a green revolution in which millions are already participating. To advance, however, we need effective environmental policy at national and international levels. And above all, we need a European Green New Deal.