Gas-related earthquakes stirred Groningers into action a long time ago, but they are now joined by over 700 activists from all over Europe, who put their bodies before a crucial gate for tankers right now. NICK MEYNEN reports
The entrance to the headquarters of KBC bank in Brussels was taken by environmental activists Thursday concerned about the financial and climatic risks of coal investments in the Czech Republic. Hours later, the bank surprised the activists by announcing an end to all new coal investments. NICK MEYNEN reports in the inaugural post for our ENVJUSTICE series
The Flemish highways agency this week admitted it was cutting down trees to stop migrants hiding behind them. NICK MEYNEN argues that the story is a perfect illustration of tunnel vision applied in and beyond Belgium
The building boom in China and worldwide demand for consumer goods containing ilmenite has enriched criminals who specialise in stealing sand - sometimes whole beaches. NICK MEYNEN investigates
The Sardar Sarovar Dam in India is already one of the world’s most controversial. With last month’s decision to forcibly displace another 40,000 families without proper relocation and compensation, Indian authorities seem eager to make it the worst dam ever. But an increasingly publicised hunger strike is putting pressure on India's prime minister, reports NICK MEYNEN
Polish activists have this week chained themselves up to machines used to cut a 9000-year-old forest in a bid to stop the destruction of trees for what is clearly commercial gain. NICK MEYNEN reports
A crucial component of concrete, sand is vital to the global construction industry, writes Nick Meynen. China alone is importing a billion tonnes of sand a year, and its increasing scarcity is leading to large scale illegal mining and deadly conflicts. With ever more sand fetched from riverbeds, shorelines and sandbanks, roads and bridges are being undermined and beaches eroded. And the world's sand wars are only set to worsen.
This year's prestigious Leontief Prize for economics has been awarded to Professors James Boyce and Joan Martinez-Alier for their ground-breaking theoretical and applied work integrating ecological, developmental, and justice-oriented approaches into the field of economics. They are worthy winners, says NICK MEYNEN
On 10 January 2017 a new emergency plan was presented in a commission in Belgium's Parliament. The evacuation perimeter was conveniently halved to 10km to avoid an evacuation of Belgium's second and third cities in case of a meltdown. The plan has been called totally inadequate. NICK MEYNEN reports
Conventional economic analyses of trade tend only to discern the flows of money, writes NICK MEYNEN. But by also considering biophysical metrics - such as material and energy flows, and embodied water and land - ecological economists can identify the asymmetric flows of resources obscured by the apparent reciprocity of market prices.
There are 48 mapped struggles against the fossil fuel industry in India And whilst families run from justice for trying to protect their lands, it's the coal mining companies and police chiefs that should be brought to justice writes NICK MEYNEN
The alternatives to neoliberalism - including a new community type of agriculture and community-owned green energy, local currencies, peer-to-peer networks and a sharing economy - are already here and unfolding right now. All we need is a revolution writes NICK MEYNEN
Reporting from The 5th International Degrowth Conference in Budapest - which continues today and tomorrow - NICK MEYNEN explores the new narrative of ‘sufficiency' being discussed and and asks will it catch on before it's too late?
Uranium mining is a dirty business that we didn't clean up but sourced out to less demanding countries, so why isn't this being discussed in any debate about nuclear energy asks NICK MEYNEN
Instead of leaching the world's resources to support out-of-control consumerism, EU leaders could do worse than ponder novelist Victor Hugo's claim that whilst "you can kill people, you can't kill an idea whose time has come", writes NICK MEYNEN