Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank revolutionised credit for the poor, won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and micro-finance became a household concept. The maxim – “teach people how to take a small investment, grow their business and eventually become self-sufficient”. The micro-finance sector is in the middle of a boom: “Micro-finance will grow more and more,” claims Nairobi-based director of Inclusive Financial Systems, Stephan Staschen. “More commercial entities will also get involved as they realise its profitability and the result will be that many poor people will be served.” Yet , this report , questions its effectiveness ....
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Editorial from the forthcoming January 2008 issue of the Socialist Standard This article, aimed at the British Green Party, can be just as easily applied to the Green Party here in the States. Capitalism, no matter how progressive, can never be reformed in the interest of the working class or the planet. People are right to be concerned about what is happening to the environment. Materials taken from nature are being transformed by human activity into substances which nature either can’t decompose or can’t decompose fast enough. The result is pollution and global threats such as the hole in...
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Fundamentally there are three elements to the climate change debate, elements of dissimilar weight and influence: first there are the governments and the economy to which they are bound; second is business and the corporations, including the media; and third are the citizens. There is deliberately no mention here of the planet, the environment, changing weather patterns or natural catastrophes as the planet itself is in no imminent danger. The Earth will continue to survive in one form or another. Humans are not destroying the planet, merely hastening its change and their own demise if they destroy and poison...
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The government, the churches, the charities are all trying to make us feel guilty by saying that we as individuals are to blame for global warming. Some say that, by our chosen lifestyle, we personally emit too much CO², directly, when we drive a car or, indirectly, when we leave the lights on or heat our homes without them being properly insulated, or when we fly to our holiday destinations. Others take the total amount of CO² emitted from all sources in the country where we live and simply divide it by the total population, attributing the result to...
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It is not good news for the future of the continent of Africa from climate change according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Greenhouse gases will later this century put up to 1.8 billion more people in Africa at risk of water stress. Even a modest temperature rise could lead to falls in water flows in some river systems equal in volume to one large dam being lost annually. Arid and semi-arid lands are likely to increase by up to eight per cent . Sea level rise, especially on the east African coast, will increase flooding...
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The autocratic ruler of Jordan, King Abdullah II, enjoys barbecuing in the palace garden. Recently, however, he felt obliged to send a letter of complaint to Israel’s environment ministry regarding an unwanted and unsavoury export from that country. Indeed, the stench of manure from a kibbutz was so objectionable that he cancelled a planned international conference at the Aqaba palace as well as, presumably, further BBQs. Needless to say, as a right royal parasite he has the freedom to complain about whatever he wants – a privilege not shared by the vast majority in his country. In fact, somewhat...
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In the second week of February the United Nations convened a meeting in Bangkok that, despite its importance, failed to make newspaper headlines or feature anywhere in news broadcasts. The lack of apparent newsworthiness, however, belies the meeting’s significance, for in time the issue under discussion could well turn out to have profound consequences for the world’s food supply. At this meeting the Canadian government attempted to overturn the 1998 international moratorium on the commercialisation of ‘sterile gene technology.’ The Canadian delegation, acting on behalf of the multinational seed companies as well as the US government – not a...
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A recent episode of the PBS program Now, broadcast nationwide in most states on 4/22/2005, announced gravely not only that “scientists are convinced our Earth is warming, and with scary consequences,” but also and even more gravely that “meanwhile industry funds a campaign to do nothing.” The program quoted Dr. Richard Alley, professor at Penn State University, a paleoclimatologist, one who studies the Earth utilizing data from glacier ice and ice sheets. According to Dr. Alley, our planet has on numerous occasions previously experienced a phenomenon known as “abrupt climate change.” His concern, and that of scientists whom the...
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Green without being Green
October 25th‘s New York Times contained a special full-color insert titled “Corporate Social Responsibility – Designing a Sustainable Future”. The introduction, given by the President and CEO of Business for Social Responsibility Aron Cramer, tells us that “Consumers are paying more attention to the sources of the food they eat and the safety of the products they buy for their children”, implores business to heed “a new urgency for business strategy integrate social and environmental impacts with opportunities”, and goes on to say “The most exciting chances to leverage business success for broad social benefit involve innovations that deliver...
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