World Rainforest Movement
The articles in this Bulletin are written by the following organizations and individuals:
Justiça Ambiental! (JA!), Mozambique; the African ecofeminist alliance WoMIN; Acción Ecológica, Ecuador; Instituto Terramar, Brazil; Rainforest Rescue; and members of the WRM international secretariat in close collaboration with several allies who are part of grassroots groups in different countries.
This bulletin aims to reflect on the extraction, violence and oppression related to the so-called energy ‘transition’ and its ‘green’ camouflage. A transition from what? And towards what?
Electric cars have become the symbol of the ‘low carbon’ economy. As an item of consumption first and foremost for the wealthy, the negative impacts of the required minerals and metals that are extracted are frequently downplayed.
This article highlights the voices of Justiça Ambiental! in Mozambique and the African ecofeminist alliance WoMIN.
Balsa wood is an important input for windmills. Ecuador is the world’s largest exporter of this wood. The invasion of millions of wind turbines in China, Europe and the US means the extraction of metals to build them, as well as the brutal felling of balsa wood trees.
Industrial-scale renewable energy infrastructure has seen a revival in the agenda of the ‘energy transition’ and as part of the economic recovery plans in front of the pandemic. Besides, the production of ‘green hydrogen’ from these projects adds another layer of injustices.
In dominant models of energy production and consumption, the centralization of the energy matrix and the concentration of decision-making power remain, and with all the marks of inequalities, patriarchy and environmental racism, even if the source of energy has changed.
The so-called ‘digital economy’ is usually promoted as one that has a relatively low impact on the environment, one in which material resources are largely unnecessary. But what (and who) is being hidden by such images of an almost ethereal and cleaner economy?
Certification schemes seeking to legitimize activities that harm the environment and its people, with terms like “sustainable”, are a survival strategy for capitalism. In the framework of the energy transition, even the mining industry seeks to validate its unstoppable growth.
A report from the organization London Mining Network highlights that extractivism is a militarised process: it violently ruptures ecosystems and habitats. In doing so, it displaces then polices communities with (Read More)
Fossil fuel companies and interest groups in Europe captured tens of billions of public money from Covid-19 recovery packages. On top of this, groups from the Fossil Free Politics campaign (Read More)
In February 2021 more than 500 scientists and economists issued a letter urging to stop burning wood as a means of making energy in converted coal burning power plants and (Read More)
This is the title of an open access book with 15 chapters focusing on the meanings, agendas, as well as the local and global implications of bioeconomy and bioenergy policies (Read More)