Issue 235 • March/April 2006

Welcome

FROM OWNERSHIP TO RELATIONSHIP • Satish Kumar

We have built a system which turns food and water into commodities to be bought and sold.

Frontline

TREE TONIC • Laurie Kaufman

TreePeople's TREES project advocates trees, forests and forest-inspired technologies as solutions to pressing environmental problems.

SEEDS OF SUFFICIENCY • Lorna Howarth

Introducing the Resurgence School of Organic Gardening and Cooking.

SPIRITUAL ACTIVISM • Jordi Pigem

The Network of Spiritual Progressives aims to empower spiritually inspired approaches to politics in the USA.

A PRECIOUS FREEDOM • Shirley du Boulay

The Prison Phoenix Trust brings meditation and yoga to people in UK prisons.

Current Affairs

THE LONG WAIT • Tony Juniper

It will take fifteen years for new nuclear power stations to come on stream. If we are to tackle climate change, we have to start now.

SOLAR SOCIALISM • Alan Simpson MP

The UK's energy systems are inefficient and wasteful. We need a national system of local energy networks.

ROADS TO RUIN • Ian Roberts & Mayer Hillman

More roads in Africa would result in more exploitation of Africa.

Undercurrents

FUTURE SCENARIOS • Jonathon Porritt & Sir John Whitmore

Should we reform or replace capitalism?

WORK, GIFT AND THEFT • Ian Hopton

Poverty is caused by the growth and maintenance of ownership in large concentrations that take from society more than they give.

In My Own Words: RED ALERT • Jeremy Leggett

Half Gone, by Jeremy Leggett: oil depletion and global warming are the two great oversights of our times.

THE GREEN VOID • Bill Pickering

Most people in Britain cannot name even ten wild flowers.

SECRETS OF THE SOIL • James Merryweather

The key to healthy soil is the vast web of complex symbiotic relationships held within it. The importance of mycorrhizal partnerships.

A GOOD DEATH • Felicity Warner

It is a basic human right to die in dignity. The Hospice of the Heart aims to change the existing paradigm of death and dying.

Keynotes

COMPASSION IS THE KEY • Karen Armstrong

The author of A History of God examines fundamentalism and the theology of nonviolence.

THE LOCAL LIVING ECONOMY • Judy Wicks

Transforming business life with the White Dog principles.

CHILD HONOURING • Raffi Cavoukian

A 'children first' approach is the key to building a humane and sustainable world.

PESTER POWER • Jonathan Freedland

As children increasingly become the 'new' market, advertising is turning its beam on the young.

MY YEAR WITH NIKE • Rachel Cloues

How corporations corrupt schools.

Regulars

Poetry - AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY POEMS • Peter Abbs

Poems by Lynne Wycherley, Jay Ramsey, Paul Matthews and David Barnett.

Voice From The South - WATER FUTURES • Vandana Shiva

The World Bank policies of water privatisation in India will cause a hydro-apartheid.

The Long View - PLATO, ARISTOTLE AND THE COMMONS • Harry Eyres

We will only be saved if we realise how much we have in common and need to hold in common.

Visionaries - PATRICK GEDDES • Jonathon Porritt

The life of a pioneer of sustainable development.

Gardening - FIELD FLOWERS • Brigitte Norland

The purpose of weeding is not to eliminate, but to enter into a spirit of co-operation.

Small Steps - COTTON BOTTOMS • Sophie Poklewski Koziell

Alternatives to conventional disposable nappies.

Recipes - CHILDREN'S FOOD • Daphne Lambert

Children benefit in many ways from helping out in the kitchen. Wild garlic soup, a penne dish, rhubarb crumble and fruit muffins.

Letters to the Editors

The Arts

EVERLASTINGLY FRESH • Philip Vann

An open-minded approach will encourage us to fully appreciate works of art.

FLAWS OF THE PERFECT CIRCLE • Gina Im

The sublime and subliminal work of Lee Waisler.

GOLD LEAF AND STONES • Alyson Hallett

Art at the Small School with Bertrand Licart.

THE JOY OF MAKING • Carmela Federico

We are living in an increasingly deskilled society.

Reviews

STARS IN THEIR HANDS • Paul Engles

Dyad by Peter Oswald and Sean Borodale

ALCHEMICAL GOLD • Lindsay Clarke

Hermes & Magdalen by John Moat

MEDITATIONS • Ulric Van Den Bogaerde

Findings by Kathleen Jamie

WAR AND PEACE • Jules Cashford

The War at Troy by Lindsay Clarke and The Return from Troy by Lindsay Clarke

BOOKS IN BRIEF • Lorna Howarth

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, The Public Value of Science by James Wilsdon et al., A Good Life by Paul Peacock, The Bedside Book of Birds by Graeme Gibson, Allotment Gardening by Susan Berger

Web Exclusives

Article - ALICE IN OXFORD • Sara Hudston

Jeweller Wendy Ramshaw steps through the Looking-Glass.

Article - GREEN STREETS ARE 'NAKED' STREETS • Philip Booth

Removing 'clutter' can help to reclaim our streets and make them safer.

Article - AMBASSADORS OF PEACE • Ian Prattis

A determination to be peace, and courage to stand for it, no matter what, create the energy and power for change.

Review - A NEW TACK • Chris Baines

Beyond Conservation by Peter Taylor

Review - A RETURN TO GOOD SENSE • John Coleman

Direct Democracy by Douglas Carswell

Review - GARDENING VIGNETTES • Brigitte Norland

Why We Garden by Jim Nollman

Review - GOOD PHILOSOPHY FOR OUR MAD TIMES • Frances Howard-Gordon

Confessions of a Radical Traditionalist by John Michell