Al Jazeera English has just published my commentary on the Occupy movement, climate change and president Obama, which argues that the movement could still redeem the failed promise of Obama’s presidency by pushing him to champion more progressive policies–as has in fact just occurred with his administration’s announcement that it will delay a decision on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from Canada. ‘Occupy Wall Street’ and Obama If ‘Occupy’ keeps up the pressure, Obama could be compelled to adopt more progressive policies. By Mark Hertsgaard Last Modified: 10 Nov 2011 14:03 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – The bursting to life of the Occupy Wall Street movement is the most hopeful development in American politics since Barack Obama was elected president three years ago this… Read more

Le Monde Diplomatique, the monthly foreign affairs publication of the venerable French newspaper Le Monde, has published my article, “A Great Green Wall for Africa,” in its French, German and Spanish editions of November 2011. An excerpt from the French edition follows below; to read the entirety, you need to subscribe online. An English language version of the article has been published by The Nation but for the moment is behind a pay wall. I’ll post an electronic version when it’s available, though of course you can always buy a hard copy on the newsstand or, better yet, subscribe! This article will also be published soon by the two leading newspapers in The Netherlands and Italy, the NRC Handelsblad and La Repubblica, respectively. Le Monde Diplomatique, November… Read more

The Nation, November 2, 2011, by Mark Hertsgaard: Providing yet another reason for its 9 percent approval rating, Congress is attempting to write the nation’s next farm bill in secrecy—sneaking it into law as part of the deficit reduction package to be produced by the “supercommittee.” This anti-democratic maneuvering could determine the shape of one of the most important—and controversial—pieces of legislation Congress considers, sometimes called the food bill because of its enormous influence over what Americans (especially children) eat, what food costs (here and overseas), whether our food is safe to eat and whether 45 million impoverished Americans (again, about half of them children) continue to receive food stamps. The bill also helps determine whether agriculture… Read more