Issue 236 • May/June 2006

Welcome

THE PHILOSOPHY OF FARMING • Satish Kumar

Human-scale farming methods are the most sustainable, the most compassionate and the most pleasurable.

Frontline

YOU ARE NOT MY ENEMY • Marc Ian Barasch

Building Bridges for Peace is bringing together young people from Palestine and Israel.

PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT • Paul Kingsnorth

Evo Morales is Bolivia's first-ever indigenous president.

CYCLE STATIONS • Oliver Lowenstein

The Cycle Station Project is developing places of rest along the UK's National Cycle Network.

COTTONING ON • Harriet Lamb & Kate Eshelby

Arguments for Fairtrade and organic cotton.

AMBASSADORS OF PEACE • Ian Prattis

Friends for Peace organise Canada's annual Peace Song Circle and Peace Prayer Day.

Current Affairs

SUBSIDISED THEFT • Craig Sams

The US government pays huge subsidies to US farmers at great cost to the health of humans and the global economy and to the stability of our climate.

THE NEW GASTRONOMY • Carlo Petrini

Slow Food: agriculture, the land and the table are totally interconnected.

Undercurrents

WHICH WAY CHINA? • Herbert Girardet

Dongtan, the world's first eco-city, is leading the way in urban sustainability.

BUILDING MILES • Rob Hopkins

Sourcing materials locally will enable us to build more efficiently.

EARTH DWELLINGS • Katy Bryce & Adam Weismann

Cob building encompasses the spirit of simplicity and elegance: wabi-sabi.

SECURING THE FUTURE • Jonathan Dawson

People's Pension Funds: making our savings work for people and planet.

Keynotes

COMMON SENSE • HRH The Prince of Wales

Healthy ecosystems are fundamental to healthy business.

MAKING ROOM FOR BEAUTY • Oliver Letwin MP

Politicians need to realise that beauty and sustainability are two sides of the same coin.

The Arts

NOBLE DESIGNS • Simon Olding

Guy Martin's furniture attemps to make an aesthetic expression of ecological principles.

STATE OF PLAY • Hannah Prothero

Sandy Brown's new work in clay is inspired by the eternal dance of life.

MOVEMENTS AND MAGIC • Peter Randall-Page

An interview with belly-dancer Sam Hasthorpe.

Regulars

Gardening - IN FULL FLOWER • Brigitte Norland

The delights of peonies, poppies, honeysuckle and lilac.

Deep Spirit - BATHROOM RITUALS • Thomas Moore

A bath is a 'solution' in which the problems of life are soaked and sorted.

The Occasional Didymus - WRINKLY GREEN • John Moat

A modest contribution to saving the planet from global warming.

Notes From The Underground - THE UNDERGROWTH OFFENSIVE • David Nicholson-Lord

London's vegetation is adopting the tactics of guerilla warfare.

A Sense of Place - HIGH CHURCH • Philip Marsden

The monastery of Abba Yohannis in Ethiopia.

Voice From The South - IN THE NAME OF DEVELOPMENT • Vandana Shiva

Development' has become a camouflage for capitalist growth.

Visionaries - MAUDE BARLOW • Jerry Mander

A global activist is resisting Canada's loss of sovereignty.

Sensible Solutions - TIME FOR CHANGE • Oliver Tickell

Small ways to make a big difference: cars, trans fats, smart electricity meters, saving envelopes, water efficiency.

Perspectives

Paper, holidays, domestic energy, recycling vs virgin wood pulp, biodegradable mobile phone cases, nuclear power stations, golf courses.

Letter from America - THE POWER IN OUR POCKET • Nicols Fox

Choosing how we spend our money is a tool for transformation.

Letter from Key West - OUR FATE IS YOURS • Rosalind Brackenbury

Every serious writer must be a radical environmentalist.

Poetry - CLARE BEST • Peter Abbs

Poems by a writer-in-residence on an organic farm and the children she inspired.

Letters to the Editors - ANIMATE EARTH

Reviews

THE BIG PICTURE: Vanishing Act

How animals use the art of camouflage. From Vanishing Act by Art Wolfe.

In My Own Words: ANIMATE EARTH • Stephan Harding

Animate Earth by Stephan Harding

EDEN EXAMINED • Philip Marsden

Fencing Paradise by Richard Mabey

ART & RELIGION • Suzi Gablik

Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art (eds) Jacquelynn Bas and Mary Jane Jacob

BACK TO THE FUTURE • John Lane

Architecture in Wood by Will Pryce

THE LABOURERS' CHAMPION • Philip Conford

The Life and Adventures of William Cobbett

A MYTH OF PROGRESS • Jules Pretty

Outgrowing the Earth by Lester Brown

REDESIGNING CAPITALISM • James Sainsbury

Capitalism As If the World Matters by Jonathon Porritt

NOSES TO THE GRINDSTONE • Dorothy Schwartz

Willing Slaves by Madeleine Bunting

BANKING ON CORRUPTION • Peter Lang

Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins

WE ARE WHAT WE EAT • James Wells-Bruges

Not on the Label by Felicity Lawrence

Web Exclusives

Review - EGO-LED vs. EGO-LESS • Steve Taylor

The Fall by Steve Taylor

Review - GROWN-UP SCIENCE • Chris Clarke

Pathways of Chance by F. David Peat

Review - THE CREATIVE IMPULSE • John Lane

On the Nature & Significance of the Crafts by Brian Keeble

Review - VOCIFEROUS WORLD • Kate Rawles

Animism by Graham Harvey