Currently Browsing: Politics
Jan 27, 2011
Facebook as an Oppositional Tool for Activists? A Highly Qualified Defence of Social Media
Until 2011, I spent a total of about 4 minutes on social media like Facebook, MySpace, etc. I signed up for an account a couple of years ago, but then immediately forgot my password and, until very recently, never looked back. Like many others, I feel that social media is consuming an alarming amount of people’s time and energy, often in ways that seem rather wasteful and uninspired. (Tweet: “I just... read more
Jan 13, 2011
The Need for a Politics of Voluntary Simplicity
The Voluntary Simplicity Movement has been criticized, at times, for being ‘escapist’ or ‘apolitical,’ a criticism which, it cannot be denied, has some weight.[1] Leading sociologist on voluntary simplicity, Mary Grigsby, notes that participants in the Simplicity Movement ‘don’t generally talk about policy initiatives, instead focusing on the individual as the primary mechanism for... read more
Jan 9, 2011
Stepping Lightly on the Planet
As well as personal, communitarian, and humanitarian reasons for living simply, there are, of course, also environmental reasons. It has long been recognized that consumption and ecological impact are correlated,[1] and from this correlation it follows that reducing consumption can be an effective means for reducing ecological impact. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly clear that simpler living, in the... read more
Jun 9, 2010
Life after Growth (Short Film)
The economic crash of 2008 revealed not only the frailty and vulnerability of the economic system, it also showed the false basis that the growth economy is built upon. The prescription from mainstream economists is more growth – but is this just taking more of what ails us? Has growth become uneconomic? Is there another way? There is, and the link below provides an inspiring introduction to it in... read more
