Citizens of Cáceres, Spain, are opposing lithium mining project that jeopardises World Heritage and sustainable livelihoods at a new extractive frontier.
Climate change is doom and gloom. But the Balearic Islands of Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera are demonstrating how much can be done. ROSALINDA MUCH investigates
Progressive environmental and social policies have been won in Barcelona and across Catalonia. This has led activists around the world to examine Spanish grassroots movements. LUKE STOBART, who is researching a book for Verso on the new politics, warns that hard lessons do have to be learned
One of our new Ecologist Voices, "Brexpat" Robert Alcock writes from rural Spain where deep down - under the shock and sorrow of Brexit - he believes there may be the seed of an unexpected hope that could give us the best chance of an emerging and real respect for our cultural and ecological heritage
Europe's economic crisis has offered vast business opportunities to an all-powerful nexus of financial interests that have snapped up valuable state assets at bargain basement prices, defrauding the poorest countries of countless billions of euros, write Sol Trumbo & Nick Buxton. The EU's highest institutions are in the grip of a deep, systemic corruption that knows no boundaries.
Bullfighting may cause suffering to animals, but that does not mean the EU should ban it or withdraw farm subsidies, writes Robin Irvine. Traditional bull-breeding estates are valuable reservoirs of biodiversity in intensively farmed landscapes, and without the bulls there would be nothing to sustain them.
New reports show the huge potential of renewables in Southern Europe to rekindle prosperity, writes Helle Abelvik-Lawson, using clean, low cost energy from wind, solar and geothermal sources backed up with pumped storage hydro, displacing dirty lignite and oil fired generation.
Lettuces, peppers and other vegetables grown under 'semi-slavery' conditions in Spain are filling supermarket shelves in the UK, writes Almudena Serpis. Workers are routinely abused, underpaid, sprayed with pesticide, and sacked if they dare complain, an C4News / Ecologist investigation has found. But now they are getting organised to defend their rights.
Europe's biggest organic fair kicks off today in Valencia, writes Pedro Burruezo - 30 years after the first ever BioCultura event in Madrid in 1985 kicked off Spain's organic revolution. Since then Spain has become Europe's biggest organic producer, and the sector is growing at a dizzying rate of over 10% a year.
CSP, the 'other' solar power technology, has been largely forgotten as solar PV price falls have transformed energy markets, writes Chris Goodall. But it's set to take a big role in the future energy mix, and huge price falls are coming. Just one question - how to reduce CSP's thirst for water?
The Sahrawi people of Western Sahara have been waiting 40 years for a self-determination referendum, writes Oscar Güell. But thanks to the passivity of the EU, the US and the rest of the 'international community' their wait for justice won't end any time soon. Meanwhile, Morocco settles the country with colonists and exploits its natural resources.
The growing popularity of olive oil has driven more intensive systems of olive tree cultivation, writes Kieran Cooke. But they are vulnerable to the kind of extreme weather that has brought pests and disease to olive crops across southern Europe, damaging crops and pushing up prices.
The appointment of Spain's Miguel Arias Cañete as the EU's Energy and Climate Commissioner is in doubt as MEPs rally against the man dubbed 'petrolhead' by the Sunday Times. Adding to his woes, an Avaaz petition against him has topped 438,000 signatures, and counting.
Vultures have become one of the most threatened families of birds on the planet thanks to poisoning by the veterinary drug diclofenac. Now Birdlife has discovered that it's on sale in Europe - threatening to wipe vultures out and undermine significant EU investments in vulture conservation.
Amid Spain's general depression, Marinaleda - an Andalucian town sometimes dubbed the 'communist utopia' - is bucking the moribund trend with a heady mixture of direct action, community-level democracy, cooperation and mutual aid.
Spain's Coto Doñana shows the value of EU conservation law, writes Laurence Rose, as the UK tries to get rid of the Birds and Habitats Directives. Both have proved essential to the protection and restoration of one of Europe's greatest wetlands.
With the help of some clever engineering, writes Paul Brown, the power of the Sun can now produce electricity on demand - day and night, bright or cloudy. The key technology has just won a prestigious DESERTEC Award.
The regional government of Castilla y León cancelled the plan for further coal mining by Mountain Top Removal Coal Mining in Spain's Laciana Valley. It's a huge victory for campaigners, but now a new kind of economy is needed for the already depressed area.
The tree-clad hills of Spain's Sierra de Huelva retain their beauty, wildlife and traditions, writes Jan Nimmo, who has speant a decade exploring the area on horseback. Just one thing is missing: the throngs of people that once inhabited and managed the land.
