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We are not who we were very long ago. A lot of new ideas have emerged from Buddhism and other traditions emphasizing compassion, equality, nonviolence and critical perspectives on materialism and capitalism

When news of Thich Nhat Hanh’s death spread around the world, I saw far more people than I’d have expected say how he affected them, through a talk, a book, a retreat, an idea, an example. It was a reminder of the huge impact Buddhism has had in the west as a set of ideas that has flowed far beyond the limits of who belongs to a Buddhist group or has a formal practice. You could think of Buddhism in this context as one tributary of a broad new river of ideas flowing through the west, from which many have drunk without knowing quite where the waters came from.

A Vietnamese monk who founded meditation centers on four continents and published dozens of books, Thich Nhat Hanh was one of the great teachers who came from Asia in the 20th century, along with Zen monks from Japan and Tibetan rinpoches. He stood out because he came to the west as an explicitly political figure, arguing against the war in Vietnam (though the Dalai Lama’s opposition to the Chinese occupation of Tibet is certainly political too). His death seemed to me not an ending but a reminder that something far grander than this great teacher began sometime in the last century and continues to spread.

Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. Her most recent books are Recollections of My Nonexistence and Orwell’s Roses

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Blockchain infrastructure provider Toucan Protocol has released the criteria for offsets to qualify for its soon-to-be-launched Nature-based Carbon Token (NBT), with up to 95% of nature-based Verra credits set to be eligible.

World's biggest offshore wind farm wins ground breaking contract to provide grid services, helping pave way to fossil fuel grid.

The post Biggest offshore wind farm lands ground-breaking deal to manage grid voltage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Chevron is accused of polluting the Amazon for 26 years. The only people who’ve paid the price are a human rights lawyer and those whose land was poisoned

Most people have probably heard of Chernobyl, or the BP oil spill. You may also know about my legal battle over contaminated water in California, dramatized in the movie Erin Brockovich. Yet far fewer people have heard about what transpired in the Ecuadorian Amazon – though it’s considered by some activists, journalists, and members of US Congress to be one of the world’s worst environmental disasters.

What if I told you that a multinational oil company allegedly polluted the Amazon for almost three decades? And that the oil company has spent even more years refusing to accept liability? Or that a US attorney who agreed to represent thousands of Ecuadorian villagers in a lawsuit against that oil company has lost his law license, income, spent hundreds of days under house arrest in New York, and in 2021 was sentenced to six months in prison?

Erin Brockovich is an environmental advocate and author of the book Superman’s Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It. She is a Guardian US columnist

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Exclusive: Lib Dems analysis shows scrapped zero carbon standard would have saved owners £200 a year

The UK government’s decision to allow homes to be built to low standards of energy efficiency cost owners of newly built homes about £234m last year, analysis shows.

The zero carbon homes standard was supposed to come into force in 2016, but the measure, which was introduced under Labour, was scrapped by the Conservative government in 2015.

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Fraunhofer in Germany unveils new process that recycles tens of thousands of tonnes of silicon from discarded modules.

The post Solution found to make PERC solar cells from 100% recycled PV silicon appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New Zealand carbon allowances rose to record high levels again on Tuesday, as buyers keep lifting available offers ahead of what is expected to be a highly competitive quarterly auction next month.

An Australia-headquartered company has signed a long-term, fixed price offset deal with Shell to cover the majority of carbon emissions from two of its oil fields off the shore of Brazil.

WWF report says reduction must be made in the next 10 years to tackle climate crisis and nature loss

British farmers must reduce their production of meat and dairy by a third in the next 10 years if scientific advice on limiting greenhouse gas emissions is to be met, the conservation charity WWF has said.

Even greater cuts may be needed to the UK’s pig herds and poultry flocks, because of the imported feed they eat, and people will need to eat much less meat than they do today, the charity warned. But the result would be lower greenhouse gas emissions, a countryside with more wildlife and flourishing nature, and better health, according to the report.

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Australian oil and gas company Santos has “booked” 100 million tonnes worth of CO2 storage capacity in South Australia’s Cooper Basin, in a move the company claimed on Tuesday is the first such action taken by an operator that complies with established global industry guidelines for CO2 storage management and resource assessments.

China’s announcement this week that its steel sector will peak its carbon emissions by 2030, and not 2025 as previously reported, is a major setback and indicates a lack of ambition, according to observers.

Exclusive: Cambridge Water admits supply to homes contained above the legal limit and customers never told

Drinking water containing dangerously high levels of toxic chemicals has been pumped into the homes of more than 1,000 people, the Guardian can reveal.

Cambridge Water has admitted it removed a supply containing four times the legal limit of perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) from the homes of customers in south Cambridgeshire in June last year. But the 1,080 customers living in Stapleford and Great Shelford were never informed that they had been exposed. The company has not revealed for how long the water had been tainted.

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UGL will supply two 'hydrogen ready' gas turbine units for Snowy Hydro's Kurri Kurri gas plant under $185 million contract.

The post UGL nets $185m contract for Kurri Kurri’s ‘hydrogen ready’ turbines appeared first on RenewEconomy.

What’s ahead for the solar industry, with Warwick Johnson from Sunwiz.

The post Great Solar Business Podcast: Solar industry forecasts for 2022 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Tim Wilson suggests debate cooling over emissions targets, but Labor, the Greens and Independents are ready for an election climate fight.

The post Independents and Greens hope to break climate deadlock by seizing balance of power appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Australia is one of the world’s top exporters of grain. Producing it at lower emissions is crucial for global climate action. Maartje Sevenster, Research Scientist Climate Smart Agriculture, CSIRO Aaron Simmons, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, University of New England Lindsay Bell, Research scientist, CSIRO Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Industrial demand is pushing interest in hydrogen electrolysers, with Australia ranking highly but questions raised over venture between Fortescue and Plug Power.

The post “Forget about hydrogen cars:” Industrial demand to push exponential growth in electrolysers appeared first on RenewEconomy.

One wind farm delivers capacity factor of 64 per cent in record-breaking January, meaning its output ranked higher than many coal generators.

The post Renewable energy records blown away in January as wind farms match coal output appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Threatened Species Scientific Committee is seeking comments on a proposal to list Acacia baueri subsp. aspera, Acacia constablei (Narrabarba wattle), Acacia gordonii, Correa lawrenceana var.

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