May 28, 2010: At the end of a ramshackle jetty where the Ganges flows from India into the sea, a small family group pays homage to the holy waters. The chief celebrant, head swathed in a shawl, rings a bell and chants prayers as he floats an offering of flowers on to the muddy waves. A small girl hammers at a gong as an older man – unshaven with a white vest and loincloth – sounds a conch shell.

April 19, 2010: from The Nation, March 22, 2010: This piece by Johann Hari takes mainstream environmental groups to task for selling out their principles, often in exchange for money from the worst polluters. A range of green groups mentioned in the article responded to Hari's arguments and you can read what they have to say by visiting the link at the end of this extract.

March/April 2010: Bill McKibben, www.350.com writes about "The Only Way to Have a Cow -- A call for America to divest its heart and stomach from feedlot beef" in the March/April 2010 issue of the famous Orion magazine.

February 27, 2010: We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change by Al Gore in the New York Times. It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it.

February 17, 2010: San Francisco has always been ahead of the pack in the USA when it comes to thinking about better ways to negotiate climate change. Here one of the most rational and vocal experts speaks about the manner in which the nuclear industry is pulling the wool over the eyes of a trusting public. Ed.

January 26, 2010: Dr. Vandana Shiva on getting real about climate change in the Himalaya – beyond panic and complacency. The IPCC got the date wrong, but Himalaya, the mountains of snow, are losing their snow. The IPCC has apologized for mentioning an unfounded date of 2035 for the disappearance of snows in the Himalaya, but this takes nothing away from the serious danger from glacial melt.

January 19, 2010: Bittu Sahgal, Editor, Sanctuary Asia on the Himalayan Controversy
 
The champagne bottles are being uncorked. Climate skeptics are in full cry in India, with the Himalayan glacier story criticising the IPCC report hitting the airwaves. The original IPCC report stated that the total area of Himalayan glaciers would likely shrink from 500,000 sq. kms. to 100,000 sq. kms by 2035.

January 15, 2010: The UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen demonstrated that the threats of catastrophic climate change are still not sufficiently perceived as real and urgent to overcome the entrenched special interests and the pressures of domestic politics. 

December 21, 2009 Copenhagen Update: People will be discussing the Copenhagen climate conference for years to come. Opinions will be mixed as to whether it was a step forward or a failure. Only history will tell whether it was a turning point or a tipping point.

December 21, 2009 Post Copenhagen by George Monbiot: The last time global negotiations collapsed like this was in Doha, in 2001. After the trade talks fell apart, the World Trade Organisation assured delegates that there was nothing to fear: they would move to Mexico, where a deal would be done. The negotiations ran into the sand of the Mexican resort of Cancún, never to re-emerge. After eight years of dithering, nothing has been agreed.