Articles

Welcome to the new look Ecologist, which, I hope, will make negotiating our monthly cornucopia of in-depth investigations and stories a little easier for everyone. More important than what’s on the outside, however, is what’s on the inside – which is as thorny as ever. Reading our special investigation on meat I am reminded of […]

Sometimes even the greenest of activities have hidden impacts on the environment. Pat Thomas explains why eco-minded cyclists should break the chain of lubrication dependence. I know, I know. Every time you think you’ve gone your greenest, some killjoy comes along and raises the bar a little higher. Apologies in advance. There are an estimated […]

The environmental movement has long thought that the answer to many of our societal ills is simply to slow down. We already have slow food, slow cities, slow travel. Pat Thomas suggests that it’s time for slow sex. In my days as a therapist, I once sat in a room full of women and my […]

Years ago, when Jonathon Porrit said that capitalism was ‘the only game in town’ it was not a ringing endorsement of the free market but rather a pragmatic, grudging acknowledgement of the reality of a world ruled by the current capitalist structure. His hope was that environmentalists would recognise this, factor it into their campaigns […]

Marketed as a superfood with almost magical properties, soya protein is found in almost everything we eat. It’s a shame its health claims aren’t worth a bean, says Pat Thomas. Within a very short time frame – a decade or two – soya has infiltrated our daily diets to a spectacular degree. Believe the PR […]

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a natural sweetener with a great taste and zero calories. That is the promise of Truvia, the latest product to hit the guilt-free-sweetener market. Truvia is made from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant, a native of Paraguay, that has been used for years as a […]

It’s time to come clean, says Pat Thomas – anti-dandruff shampoos are nothing but advertising puff and chemicals. Take a look at the multitude of celebrity advertisements and outrageous claims for shampoos on TV and in magazines and it is easy to lose sight of the simple truth: the main function of a shampoo is to […]

It’s fair to say that we have our share of robust discussions in this office. Opinions get aired, fingers get pointed, occasionally voices get raised. It’s all in a good cause. Setting the world to rights isn’t always a civilised tea party. Most of what we talk about is predictable: climate change, land use, peak […]

Recent reports of catastrophic declines in bee populations have had scientists buzzing around looking for a plausible explanation. Is it mites? Is it GM crops? Is it mobile phones or habitat loss? It’s all of these things, says Pat Thomas, but it’s also so much more than that. Forget everything you thought you knew about […]

There are two things bothering me. Okay, actually, there are a lot of things bothering me, but let’s keep the list short. The first is a recent report that the FBI thinks ‘eco-terrorism’ is the number one domestic terror threat in the US. Greens, it seems, really are the new reds. The second is the […]