January 24, 2023

About refrigerators

By Mina Kouvara Triggered by examples of vernacular technologies, I wonder how things would have evolved if the technological rupture of the late 18th century hadn’t occurred—provided that cultivating a healthy self and society was integral to civilisation.
April 25, 2019

Traveling abroad to “save” the planet

By Laura Betancur Alarcón. White savior complex, elite studies in the green Scandinavia and other millennial adventures. Can the political ecology approach shed light on the incongruities, flaws and political struggles behind “traveling abroad to save the world”?
December 20, 2018

Who is guarding whom?

By Mihnea Tanasescu Does good environmentalism mean humans have to become guardians of nature? Triggered by her research in New Zealand, Mihnea Tanasescu reflects on this idea, which is so widespread as to go unnoticed.
January 8, 2018

The planned development of Hellenikon: A sacrifice that needs to be contested

What will happen in the area of ​​the former Hellenikon airport and the coast of Ag. Kosmas is not only an issue that concerns the inhabitants of the neighboring municipalities. It transgresses locality – affecting all citizens of Athens – and it questions environmental justice in the city, the access to green and blue amenities, and the sale-out and privatization of common goods. Communication from the initiative “A Park for all in Hellenikon” The case of Hellenikon appears to be “done and dusted”. The contract has […]
May 18, 2017

Negotiating longing and despair as frontier citizens of the Indian State

By Mabel Gergan * Mabel Gergan reflects on the shifting relationship between the Indian State and its North-Eastern and Himalayan frontier, exploring the colonial roots of racial discrimination in Indian cities and activist critiques of ongoing development interventions in the region.
May 2, 2017

Tania Murray Li: There is no one trajectory of development

The world’s global institutions and governments with decision power on the future of millions of people living in rural areas want to continue with business as usual: industrialization and urbanization. Number two of a two-part video interview with Tania Murray Li.
January 10, 2017

Let’s Degrow Up and Grow Down!

By François Schneider * François Schneider responds to Miklos Antal’s criticism of the use of the term degrowth for the alternative economics movement.
November 16, 2016

Hurricane Matthew is just the latest unnatural disaster to strike Haiti

By Jason von Meding and Giuseppe Forino* In the wake of hurricane Matthew, destruction and suffering in Haiti has returned to the headlines. If we don’t acknowledge that the roots of risk and vulnerability lie in colonial history and structural injustice we will see this happening again and again.
August 18, 2016

‘Green’ development and democracy? Hydropower in Northeast India

Hydropower projects, disguised and depoliticized as green and sustainable, are being imposed as a development solution across the Himalayas. The dam conflicts presented here illustrate how civil society groups have become political actors, rising up against assaults on democracy.*
November 13, 2014

Diarrhoea and sanitation: let’s get over “panacea” approaches to disease

by Panagiota Kotsila About a year ago, journalist Rose George gave a TED-talk about sanitation and diarrhoea in which she invited people to “talk crap, seriously” and got almost 1.5 million views. Today, after four years of researching this topic, I realize we need to question George’s speech. It is indeed a frustrating reality that she is drawing attention to: “diarrheal disease kills more children than AIDS, tuberculosis and measles disease do, together”. This is happening despite the fact that there exist ways to prevent […]