A new movement called degrowth is being mentioned more and more often in the media around the world. The aim of this movement is to address current environmental challenges by abandoning the ‘economic growth paradigm.’ However, life and humanity as we know it today exist only because of economic growth. We would not be dealing with the environment today without years, decades, and centuries of economic growth.
Currently, Europe is focusing on other issues, particularly environmental protection and the fight against climate change. To this end, a broad investment strategy has been developed, which is detailed in the Green Deal and other related plans. A key component of these strategies is the energy sector, where the European Union has set ambitious targets for transitioning away from coal-fired energy sources and promoting the use of renewable sources.
Human-centric cities are much more pleasant than the centrally planned monstrosities during communism, but it is not only people but the flora and fauna that can also be thankful for free markets and democracy. One of my favorite books as a little child was a story of Krtek, the beloved mole from the cartoons of Czech artist Zdeněk Miler. The story, written during communism, depicts how the little mole with his critter friends find themselves in the middle of a city development project.
The next COP27 Climate Summit was held in Egypt. The very choice of Egypt as a country of the COP27 Presidency was strongly criticised by the communities involved in human rights activities. The consequences of the climate crisis are increasingly being felt around the world; droughts, violent weather events, food security threats, and climate migration pose new challenges to an old unresolved problematic and ineffective world strategy.
Hundreds of tones of dead fish have recovered from the Oder river. First dead fish were spotted already in late July. In early August, some anglers and local politicians from Lower Silesia alarmed regional authorities. There was no reaction. The mass die-off was detected when locals came across thousands of fish corpses near the village of Widuchowa on 11 August.
The civic legislative initiative “Legal abortion without compromises” was rejected by the Sejm. The draft law assumed legalization of abortion in Poland up to the 12th week of pregnancy. After this period, termination of pregnancy would be possible in the case of a threat to the life and health of the mother.
Sejm has approved removing the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, a body used by the PiS government to sanction outspoken independent judges, and which has drawn condemnation from the European institution.
The Polish Deal was a new socio-economic programme of PiS for 2021-30. It was announced in May and approved by the government in September 2021, before coming into force at the start of 2022.
The Lithuanian government seems to have a clear vision and arguments about how we should move towards the green economy. More importantly, everyone is invested in making an actual change happen. Increased public awareness is already impacting our habits and behaviors.
In cultural anthropology, among many typologies of social cultures, there is also a division into masculine and feminine cultures. This division results from the difference in characteristics attributed to men and women. The basic difference arises from biology, which determines the role of women and men in the process of procreation.
