Oceania

A gyre in oceanography is any large system of rotating ocean current, particularly those involved with large wind movements. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary spin or vorticity along with horizontal and vertical friction causing drag, that determines the circulation patterns from the torque of the wind caused… »

A new book, edited by Nick Buxton and Ben Hayes, both involved with The Transnational Institute, brings together a thoughtful collection of scholars, journalists and activists to explain the pre-eminence of the military and corporations in shaping the global response to the climate catastrophe as an ‘opportunity’. See The Secure… »

This testimony was written in collaboration with Mama Tineke and Daniel Rayer, two West Papuan activists who survived the Biak Massacre, and David Denborough from the Dulwich Centre. It contains the voices of many of the people of West Papua Jason* has collaborated with and is in part based on… »

It has been argued that nonviolent struggles to liberate occupied countries – such as West Papua, Tibet, Palestine, Kanaky and Western Sahara – have failed far more often than they have succeeded but that secessionist struggles (that have sought to separate territory from an existing state in order to establish… »

What do the Pyrenean ibex, St. Helena olive, Baiji dolphin, Liverpool pigeon, Eastern cougar, West African black rhinoceros, Formosan clouded leopard, Chinese Paddlefish, the Golden Toad and the Rockland grass skipper butterfly all have in common but which is different from the Dodo? The answer is that these species all… »

I confess that I am a terrorist sympathiser. Of course, it is a profanity, a kind of blasphemy, to admit to such a thing, perhaps the greatest blasphemy in our society at the present time. Some may also consider that this is not the right time to make this confession… »

  Australia has positioned itself as the de facto leader of a loose grouping of US-allied nations working to prevent the start of negotiations on a global treaty outlawing nuclear weapons. At this year’s session of the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on disarmament, Australia coordinated several joint statements intended to… »

Dear friends of the rainforests, Time is running out for Papua’s nature. Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo intends to sacrifice 1.2 million hectares of forest and smallholder land in Papua for industrial rice plantations. This would spell the end for a unique ecosystem of rainy and dry forests, wetlands, savannas and… »

We must engender and perpetuate the spirit of care, love, joy and kindness and never give in even to the most harrowing incidents. That poignant, powerful message emanated from the bottom of the world in an astonishingly moving and ever so fitting epitaph event yesterday (Saturday 21st ) in sport… »

  As expectations build for a global consensus to emerge from the United Nations climate conference in Paris, starting on 30 November 2015, that could agree to taking action to limit any rise in global temperature to 2 degrees celsius, I would like to explain why these expectations are misplaced. »