Why was organic policy blamed for Sri Lanka’s financial crisis?

Academic research offers a different story from news media on Sri Lanka's short-lived ban on agrochemicals. Bertie Harrison-Broninski explores what really happened, and whether there's a future for national-scale organic policy.

Introducing The future unrefined

Our latest collection unearths the 21st Century challenges with raw materials.

Is corruption and slavery the cost of a mobile phone?

Guinean bauxite is the source of aluminium in everything from our office buildings to our cars - but the bauxite supply chain is a black box of human rights issues.

Sacrifice in the salt flats, for a greener future

Dr Camila Vergara sifts through the politics of lithium extraction in Chile.

Will the EU Battery Regulation change anything?

Land and Climate Review breaks down the basics on the big battery law.

Sick of smelly, plastic clothes? Blame oil and industrial farming.

Bertie Harrison-Broninski explores sustainable fashion in a review of Lucianne Tonti's book, 'Sundressed: Natural Fibres and the Future of Fashion'.

Cobalt mining kills. Who is sorting it out?

Siddharth Kara's deep dive into Congolese mining is diligently researched, but suffers from old-fashioned and clichéd writing, says Lauren Sneade

There is so much to say about plastic pollution. Why are we not talking about it?

In a review of Matt Simon's book 'A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies', Bertie Harrison-Broninski asks whether plastic pollution gets enough attention.

Who are you calling barren?

Lauren Sneade reads Rosetta Elkin's "Plant Life: The Entangled Politics of Afforestation" and asks a controversial question: is the very concept of afforestation rooted in colonial violence?

Paddy farming below sea level – how traditional knowledge could save the future

Climate adaptation should not be approached with universal solutions. Designed primarily by and for affluent communities, the solutions considered best practice are often examples of “maladaptation,” causing more problems in the long term than the challenges they are trying to solve.

Back to the future: is wood really that good?

As timber becomes more widely-used in the construction industry, our assistant editor compares new timber materials to concrete and steel, asking the question 'is wood good?'

Rock stars: the academics answering the construction sector’s hardest question

Our assistant editor talks to the PhD students on a mission to crack low carbon cement.

Should rivers have rights?

Polluted with waste and chemicals, and threatened by sprawling urbanisation, our rivers are dying. Some countries are giving them legal personhood for protection - will it work?

Laying waste to waste

The Design Museum in London's 'Waste Age' exhibition shows that we cannot afford to wait to transition towards a circular economy, says Lauren Sneade.

Central Asia’s minerals offer hope for the clean energy transition

Roman Vakulchuk of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs discusses his research into untapped minerals in Central Asia that could be used for the global clean energy transition.

Swamplands: Edward Struzik’s bog book is a call for cultural change

Launching our new culture section, our Assistant Editor reviews the new book on peatlands from Island Press.

Reforesting Europe would increase rainfall

Elizabeth Lewis (Newcastle University), Edouard Davin and Ronny Meir (both of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) discuss new research on reforestation.

Peat bogs: restoring them could slow climate change – and revive a forgotten world

Professor Ian Rotherham (of Sheffield Hallam University) explains why restoring peat bogs is so important for combating climate change via carbon recovery.