We need to talk about digital pollution
The Bookseller - 2023
Publishing must tackle the environmental impact of e-books, as well as print.
No such place as the cloud
Le Monde diplomatique - 2021
Our increasingly online lives are not truly lived in the ‘cloud’. They depend on myriad huge, energy-guzzling data centres here on earth. As artificial intelligence takes off, that trend will only grow.
China set to lead in electric car race
Le Monde diplomatique - 2018
The world now has 47 urban agglomerations with more than 10 million inhabitants. Rapidly worsening air pollution, which may cause millions of premature deaths each year, is a major concern for the four billion of us who live in cities.
Do we really want electric vehicles?
Le Monde Diplomatique - 2018
Assessments of the carbon dioxide emissions produced by electric vehicles over their lifetime vary greatly. A report by the French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (Ademe) in 2016 highlights their lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduced dependence on fossil fuels; but it doubts that electric vehicles can provide ‘a real solution to energy efficiency issues’ and concludes that the ‘negative impact on the environment, mainly during the manufacturing phase, [is] comparable for electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles’ (1).
China now top in renewables
Le Monde Diplomatique - 2017
Donald Trump’s 1 June announcement of US withdrawal from the 2015 Paris climate agreement coincided with the 19th bilateral EU-China summit in Brussels, giving China’s prime minister, Li Keqiang, an opportunity to reaffirm China’s intention to implement the accord. The success of COP21 (the UN Climate Change Conference) owed much to China’s role in the negotiations.
Red China’s green crisis
Le Monde diplomatique - 2017
Chinese environmental activists have a difficult relationship with a government that both represses and relies on them to pressure local authorities into preventative or clean-up action.
De Correspondent Project
Security for Sale - 2015
The European Union has deep pockets when it comes to security. Major defense contractors and tech giants compete for generous subsidies, to better protect us from crime and terrorism. At least that’s the idea. But who really benefits?
The public or the security industry itself?
Russia: the bear blunders
Le Monde diplomatique - 2014
Russia’s future is always fragile — its vast eastern territories are bleeding people, it can’t move economically beyond selling raw materials, and its use of soft power is clumsy.
The Sochi Games
Le Monde diplomatique - 2014
Chaos and corruption and ludicrous expenditure have created an Olympic ski resort complex at and near Russia’s Black Sea coast resort. They may also have wrecked its future.
South Africa’s hospital train
Le Monde diplomatique - 2013
Nelson Mandela will be remembered at every level, but not least for his ambitious programme to develop public infrastructure. Where that is not enough, a health train rolls around the country to serve areas that lack the simplest medical services
African Odissey turn to the South
Le Monde diplomatique - 2012
Fewer than 5% of African migrants now want to reach Europe or America. They’re looking instead to neighbouring countries, or the continent’s dreamland, South Africa. It’s a long, hard way there, and they may be no better off if they reach it.
Soda pop diplomacy
Le Monde diplomatique - 2011
Sudan produces half the world’s supply, and the best quality, of gum arabic, which is almost as crucial to modern life as oil; it’s in every bottle of Coca-Cola for a start. Even fierce sanctions against Sudan didn’t apply to gum arabic supplies
Coca-Cola and gum arabic
Geo Magazine - 2011
The trade in gum arabic hides secrets about its most powerful client, Coca-Cola. When Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters tried to get a bill passed in 2007 to ban all trade in Sudanese gum arabic, assistants to members of Congress say they were approached by lobbyists representing the company.
