When disassociation and apathy hit rock bottom, it’s common to reach for online distraction. Or is it the other way round? Digital fatalism labels interests and involvement as copes. Could denial and lost time be recouped through transparent technological structures and self-organization?
Almost half of European green investment funds go to fossil fuel giants. Legislation regulating sustainable energy is in place but doesn’t allow for action. A recent investigation reveals just how much consumer money spent on renewables is unwittingly supporting the oil industry.
Veganism, the ethical choice, was once born of necessity. Today’s regular omnivore diet was previously a luxury for the wealthy, ill afforded by peasants. Preserving food was a means of subsistence. Can pickling and jamming traditions, now making a comeback, be recognized for their cultural heritage in addition to gentrified sauerkraut and cherry compote recipes?
As we move on from cutting christmas trees to cutting personal ties, most of us are set on forging stronger bonds and resolutions this upcoming new year. Hopefully, we won’t get canceled as fast as Starbucks or Elon Musk. Our final episode for this year on Standard Time.
Returning champions and the future of Europe: our recap of this year and its most popular articles in Eurozine.
Humanism has elevated humanity above its natural condition, but our relationship to animals remains in a state of war. The legally sanctioned slaughtering machine now operates globally, with the poultry industry in particular wielding huge market power.
A back-handed Christmas present: the EU takes dire steps to erode the right to asylum. Even the ‘warm welcome’ of Ukrainian refugees is crumbling. The holiday episode of Standard Time is here.
In the 1990s, Ukraine again became one of the world’s leading grain exporters after decades of Soviet agricultural mismanagement. It retains this status despite the major disruptions to the European grain market caused by the war.
Artistic expression can surface from desperate situations. Despite oppression and impoverished circumstances, the self-organization of Ukrainian creatives has led to a special kind of resistance. Collectively taking care through adversity, their practices focus on treating emotional wounds, from the Bucha Massacre to the Holocaust.
Ongoing instability, due to conflict, environmental crises and economic hardship in parts of Africa, forces many to migrate. Those who make it to Tunisia’s borders face state violence and informal trading. Can the EU’s failing cash for immobility plan be anything more than legitimization of Tunisia’s authoritarian regime and Italy’s perilous politicization of immigration?
There seems to be too much of it, yet still too little. The vital compound that enables life on Earth is often taken for granted. As we go about our bustling urban lives, we begin to lose grip of what it demands of us. New talk show episode premiere.
During communism, extensive irrigation systems turned the regions along the Romanian Plain into major producers of fruit and vegetables. But when the infrastructure collapsed, so did the ecosystems built around it. Today, farmers are digging wells to deal with desertification: a risky strategy.
When a neighbourhood collapses into a warzone, from one day to the next, citizens become refugees. Securing safety and caring for those who remain creates a dual burden. Ukrainians, turning to their diaspora, have experienced both support and tension. Returning or remaining has become a political and deeply personal dilemma.
Turkey’s official history claims that the struggle for women’s rights was born alongside the Republic. The narrative according to which the founding fathers ‘granted’ rights to women was only challenged much later, with the discovery of a pre-republican feminist tradition.
Public trust in media is breaking down. Admittedly, in many countries there was no golden age to return to – distrust and uncertainty are a survival strategy. Mercy Abang, Péter Krekó and Lina Chawaf talk credibility, hidden agendas, and what professions they want their kids to avoid.
Radical reform is needed to make Europe’s agricultural sector financially sustainable and environmentally resilient. Yet Europe’s biggest farming lobby, together with the EPP, opposes any policy inimical to the interests of large landowners.