They’re focusing on the wrong problem — Failed political leadership is a major reason the climate crisis continues to get worse. Our political leaders aren’t brave enough, vocal enough, or visionary enough to pursue policies that will enable us to overcome the crisis. This view is true, but only up to a point. Failed leadership isn’t the…

Necessity is the mother of invention — Unprecedented heat waves, biodiversity collapse, severe droughts and catastrophic flooding. That’s what the world is set to face if global temperatures increase by 4 °C by the end of the century. The risks of a warming planet are so severe many scientists believe social collapse is a real possibility. As…

Freedom of the capitalist variety is a little overrated — Take away someone’s freedom and you suck the air out of their lungs — you blind their eyes, cut out their tongues, block their ears. The West likes to label itself the ‘free world’. In the free world, you can buy what you want, go where you want, do what…

The homeless serve an important social purpose — There’s a common perception that the homeless are to blame for their situation. They haven’t worked hard enough; they have the wrong attitude; they’re failures. If there were a handful of people living homeless, the argument might be valid. But, when over 225,000 people in the UK and over 500,000…

The triple bottom line provides an illusion of change — John Elkington coined the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) in 1994. The TBL is a “sustainability framework that examines a company’s social, environmental, and economic impact.” The concept consists of the ‘three ‘p’s’; people, planet, and profit, and it has become highly influential in business to communicate how companies embrace a…

Nothing is valued unless it can make money — Every decade of the twentieth century was defined by a distinctive sound. Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry in the 1950s. The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix in the 1960s. Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd in the 1970s. Queen and Michael Jackson in the 1980s. Nirvana and Notorious B.I.G. in the 1990s…

America represents individual freedoms, not control — The freedom of the individual underpins what it means to be American. It’s the land of the free, where each person enjoys the freedom of speech, freedom of representation, and freedom of expression. These freedoms are cornerstones of American ideology. …

Economic incentives reward environmentally destructive behaviour — The mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, recently posted a tweet comparing the cost of a return journey from Manchester, UK, to various destinations. Burnham found return flights from Jamaica* (a 9180-mile round trip) for £343. From Ivory Coast* (a 9660-mile roundtrip) for £319, and a trip from Brazil* (a 10,112-mile…

Consumerism is eating the world alive — They live in million-dollar mansions, drive sports cars, and wear diamond-encrusted watches. They fly around the world in private jets, relax in lavish hotels, and only eat at the finest restaurants. The rich and famous live in the materialistic land of plenty, a fairy tale world everyone is desperate to…