Keeping global average temperature rise to 2ºC ? An optimists’ view of the future. Keeping C02 concentrations to 350 ppm? So two years ago. Nuclear? Making a comeback. My own efforts? Surely only scratching the surface….

The last few months I’ve found that I needed a lot of reassuring. Is any of this any use? Is it working? Is there anybody out there?? …
Well, yes actually, and in increasing numbers. The proof came out of the blue, with the new joint magazine Resurgence & Ecologist. The Ecologist had disappeared from print in 2009 much to my annoyance (more on that story later), and – ahem– I hadn’t heard of Resurgence before, but I was pleased to find a mix of points of views and approaches to the environmental debates.

In this Autumn’s edition, amidst the arts, the poetry and many reviews, you will find diverse articles on action from the grass root, soil erosion, the overpopulation debate, the effects of microwave pollution, building sustainable cities and human adaptation. The books reviewed deal with genuine change, cooperation, green philosophy, wellbeing, education, war economy and real activism.
Two articles struck a chord with me: Charles Secrett’s ( FoE) who “ calls for environmentalists to bond together and forge a new type of ProActive Sustainability Movement” on p. 40, and Andy Atkins’s (FoE too), urging everyone to engage and scale up the action. Environmental action is everywhere and growing in all directions, but needs coordination and visibility in order to have the impact it aspires to. There is a lot going on and it is bound to make a difference if we all keep working together so don’t despair MCFly reader, because you too are part of this revolution and making it happen.

I must say that the overall impression of this magazine of two halves is very strange: you permanently swing between poetic picturesque nature-loving articles and serious activism. I guess you can tell who wrote what, but it worked for me, as amongst the usual down-to-earth and gloomy concerns you could also find a positive vision of what a sustainable movement wants to deliver. The public needs to see and read this too, and I am very glad that there is a worthwhile alternative to gossip mags on the shelves…

Oh, and actually I wish I could tell the Ecologist “I told you so”. Back in 2009, I was a paper subscriber but was left with having to read online or nothing. I aired my views in an email on the merits of a paper presence: public visibility, new readers, worthwhile copies kept for future reference and no need for a state-of-the-art, smart electric permanently updatable device to read stuff in digital form. Of course the expected reply cam back: paper/ink are a drain on environmental resources, everyone wants digital, and that there are plenty of readers to reach online thank you. So they lost me as a keen reader.
And now look who’s back.
And look who’s bought it again.

Laurence Menhinick