AlterNet.org: Vision

The World's Insurers Brace For Climate Change -- Except In America

Ben Schiller, Yale Environment 360 — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:00:01 PDT

Climate change is increasing insurance costs all over the world. But a recent Ceres report finds that American firms are still in denial.

Doomed To Repeat It: Is Tennessee's New "Monkey Law" Just Scopes All Over Again?

Glenn Branch, National Council of Science Educators — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:00:01 PDT

The Volunteer State has set itself up for a replay of its 1926 Scopes Monkey Trial humiliation. And the ACLU attorney who won Kitzmiller v. Dover can't wait.

Occupy The Progressive Movement: Why Occupy Should Embrace "Co-Optation"

Jonathan Matthew Smucker, Beyond The Choir — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:00:01 PDT

An Occupy organizer asks: When established groups show up wanting to help, then who's really co-opting whom?

Nature Is Not A Commodity: The Path to Rio+20

David Korten — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:00:01 PDT

David Korten: Indigenous wisdom reveals a path to the future that does not include a buy-out of the earthâ€™s natural systems.

How a Rising Block of Countries Will Challenge America

Pepe Escobar, TomDispatch.com — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:00:01 PDT

There's a rising new bloc on the planet: BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). What does that mean for America?

How I Left My Evangelical Christian Faith

Valerie Tarico, AlterNet — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:00:01 PDT

Lots of people have successfully left their religious faith behind. Here's what the path out looks like.

The Self-Made Myth: Debunking Conservatives' Favorite -- And Most Dangerous -- Fiction

Sara Robinson, AlterNet — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:00:01 PDT

A new book makes a strong case that nobody ever makes it on their own in America.

$5,000 For a Pair of Sandals: The Rich Are Different, Right Down to Their Shoes

Sara Robinson, AlterNet — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:00:01 PDT

In a world where kids are starving and ice caps are melting, how can people spend $5K on shoes?

How "Real America" Was Utterly Screwed by Political and Economic Elites

Alex Pareene, Salon — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:00:01 PDT

The crumbling of once-great institutions isn't to blame for middle-class decline and anger.

Occupy v. Whole Foods? Activists Take Over Land Slated for Development and Start a Farm

Jeff Conant, AlterNet — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:00:01 PDT

The Gill Tract is prime agricultural soil that activists hope can feed hundreds. But the UC Berkeley-owned land may be sold to Whole Foods.

Noam Chomsky on America's Declining Empire, Occupy and the Arab Spring

Joshua Holland, AlterNet — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:01 PDT

According to Chomsky, America's declining power is self-inflicted.

Apocalypse Soon: Why Are Christians So Obsessed With the End Times?

Adam Lee, AlterNet — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:00:01 PDT

How can Americans make major life decisions on the basis of faith that the world will end in the very near future?

10 of Thomas Friedman's Dumbest "Big Ideas"

BelÃ©n FernÃ¡ndez, AlterNet — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:00:01 PDT

You know the world is flat -- and hot and crowded -- but that's just the tip of Friedman's iceberg of hackery.

The Soul of the Christian South: Fundamentalist and Progressive Churches Square Off in Gay Marriage Debate

Lynn Parramore, AlterNet — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:00:01 PDT

N.C. is the only state left in the Southeast without a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. What voters decide on May 8 will send a strong signal throughout the nation.

One Family's Unconventional Solution to Save Water

Margaret Morganroth Gullette, AlterNet — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:00:01 PDT

Self-composting toilets make a lot of sense when water is already a cause of national uprisings and covert wars.

Earth Day 2012: Environmental Movement at a Crossroads

Gar Alperovitz, AlterNet — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:00:01 PDT

Forty-two years after the first Earth Day, the biggest environmental task -- changing our economic system -- still lies just ahead.

Earth Day: 9 Films That Will Change the Way You Think About the World

Scott Thill, AlterNet — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:00:01 PDT

This Earth Day consider adding a few of these these mainstream and indie documentaries to your must-see list.

The Far Right Takes Root in Europe

Mariano Aguirre, openDemocracy.net — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:00:01 PDT

Anders Behring Breivikâ€™s attacks are part of a worrying trend in Europe: the far rightâ€™s rise within mainstream politics.

Getting Paid 93 Cents a Day in America? Corporations Bring Back the 19th Century

Steve Fraser, Joshua B. Freeman, TomDispatch.com — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:00:01 PDT

Nearly a million prisoners are working in call centers, working in slaughterhouses, or manufacturing textiles while getting paid somewhere between 93 cents and $4.73.

Can There Ever Be Good Corporations?

Marjorie Kelly, YES! Magazine — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:00:01 PDT

When the employees own the company, it changes absolutely everything.