The Scottish diet is famous for being the worst in Europe, write Pete Ritchie and Miriam Ross. Yet the country has rich land and sea resources, and exports large quantities of high quality food. By treating food as a common good instead of leaving the market to provide, Scots can start to transform their food future.
Coca-Cola is the latest company to join the agricultural 'scramble for Africa', writes Miriam Ross. Backed by £600 million of British aid under the guise of 'food security' and 'nutrition', a vast give-away of Africa's land is under way that will condemn small farmers to landlessness and poverty.
£600 million of UK aid money is going to help companies like Unilever and Monsanto take over African land and agriculture, writes Miriam Ross. The corporate power-grab will be disastrous for the small-scale farmers who feed at least 70% of Africa's people.
New rules come into force today that require big UK companies to make their carbon emissions public but - explains Miriam Ross - this won't put an end to the environmental degradation and breach of human rights caused by the UK-financed coal mining boom in Kalimantan, Borneo.......
The UK’s new Energy Bill, to be scrutinised by a House of Lords committee next week, will do little to change the UK’s economy’s addiction to fossil fuels. London resident Miriam Ross reflects on living in the coal capital of the world....