Our current industrial food system, and the policies that prop it up, are a central part of the climate crisis, and transforming them must be a central part of the Green New Deal solution.
The real answer to the climate change crisis lies in changing the way we manage, extract, use and distribute Earth’s natural resources.
Why do we need genetically engineered proteins when many other safe, sustainable and healthy non-GMO or organic plant-based meat and dairy replacements, and other plant proteins, are available and growing in popularity?
In a world of international bodies, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development might not be one that rises to a household name. Yet, decisions made in its back rooms determine whether most of the largest economies of the world will direct billions of dollars in public financing to fossil fuel projects that push climate change to catastrophic levels.
The public financing in question comes from an…
Raising children in the age of global warming OK, I admit it; I am one of those parents who wants to shelter his kids from the worst of what’s out there. Don’t get me wrong; I know it I’ve got to keep my papa bear protective instincts in check, lest my kids end up unprepared for the real world that awaits them as adults and even teenagers. But at the same time, I want them…
As the Board of the Green Climate Fund prepares to consider its first high risk projects at the upcoming GCF meeting in South Korea October 12-14, more than 100 groups have issued the following statement to express deep concern about the inadequacy of policies and practices in place for financing activities of high social and/or environmental risk. Here's the statement.
Civil Society Statement, September 22, 2016 Concerns Regarding Green Climate Fund and Support…
I’ve just returned from attending the 13th meeting of the Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Many of us GCF old-timers[1] can’t help but feel a sense of sincere disappointment. How can anyone who, perhaps naively, looked to the GCF as a people’s alternative to the World Bank not feel at least a bit deflated? Most of the GCF’s resources look to be captured by the same old, same old (i.e. World Bank,…
Ahead of this week's meeting of the trust funds of the World Bank’s Climate Investment Funds, 100 groups have called for the CIFs to finally sunset, now that the Green Climate Fund is clearly operational. Two-thirds of the groups are from developing countries.
Here's the letter.June 14, 2016
Dear Trust Fund Committee Members of the Strategic Climate Fund and Clean Technology Fund:
Now that it has approved projects and is beginning…
Either Wednesday or Thursday of this week, the Board of the Green Climate Fund will decide whether or not banking giants HSBC and Credit Agricole will become "accredited entities" of the GCF. Accredited entities are official partners of the GCF; they can receive and manage GCF funds. Here are five simple reasons why the GCF Board should reject their applications for accreditation. Number 1: Scarce public finance must be used to support communities in developing…
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation provides financing to projects in the name of helping countries develop. The problem is that often these projects seem to help large corporations more than the average person in the developing world. Too often local communities bear the brunt of the environmental and social impacts of projects that come into their community with little consultation, let alone consent. Meanwhile, U.S. companies receive taxpayer dollars to support…