And so another year has passed, and, as was the case with the first of these new year posts that I wrote a few years back, the world is plodding slowly through financial and economic crisis, towards Euro-zone doom and environmental catastrophe. Happy New Year!

Two years ago, I called for a more honest debate, and last year, for worthwhile action. Frankly, with both of the major crises facing us—not to mention the innumerable other lasting tragedies of our world—both of those things are lacking. (more…)

“Fix both!” is what I found myself yelling at the radio this morning, and it certainly was a cheerful piece for an environmentalist to wake up to: the One Planet programme on the BBC World Service had a piece on the economy vs. the environment, complete with vox pops from the streets of Detroit and Monrovia showing an unsurprising preference for more jobs, and the news that India had announced that it would be focussing on economic growth instead of committing to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

I got into the green movement through a campaign on poverty in the developing world, so it always baffles me when people see poverty and the environment as mutually exclusive policy areas. The Green New Deal—our version, the UN’s version, or Obama’s version; take your pick—is a great example of how ideas straight from the green movement can provide practical solutions to complex inter-linked policy areas (by the way, can you tell I’ve just done a degree in politics?). But what chance is there of the Indian government realising that?

Ok, so imagine it’s economic “good times”, the credit flows freely, and people can basically afford lots of consumer goods to keep themselves happy. In that scenario people are fairly docile, and not too interested in protesting. Simply, enough people feel satisfied with the state of their lives. Obviously, there are the dedicated protesters, and the single issue campaigns still going, but widespread unrest doesn’t really happen.

Now lets look at where we are today: unofficial strikes in the energy industry across the UK, caused by fear of (or experience of) unemployment. Recent widespread strikes in France over the government’s handling of the economic turmoil, and anti-government protests throughout Russia – something which would have been unthinkable until very recently.

The British strikes are the ones which worry me the most just now. There is an alarming degree of what looks like xenophobia in a lot of the protests. I wouldn’t for one moment accuse all strikers of that, and there are certainly real concerns and issues to be tackled in employment here, but I just can’t help but feel this is partly a symptom of the shift towards the acceptability of the far-right in European politics again. The Netherlands have slowly been moving away from their renowned toleration and liberal attitude; Austria’s far-right is growing stronger; and domestically, the British National Party is collecting increasing numbers of local council seats.

Simultaneously, Russia seems to be having what might be a shift to the left. The protests there seem to be primarily led by the Communist party. I doubt that Putin or Medvedev will be pushed out of office by a little dissent, but the political colour of these demonstrations illustrates another facet of the problem in Europe: things are becoming more extreme. No-one really knows how long the recession will last, but I would venture a guess that if it goes on for long enough, the more extreme elements of the political spectrum (both ends of it) will gain a foothold. People seem more open to the soothing lies of the far-right, and the prospect of the alternative economy of the far-left, when their livelihoods are threatened in the way that they are now.

The problem for the “alternative centre” (that is, those towards the centre of politics, but not tied to the traditional centre parties), and for Greens in these times is to assert positive alternatives to the business as usual approach at the heart of the traditional centre, and get those sensible ideas heard over the emotional arguments shouted out by the extreme movements.

The Green New Deal is a great tool to use in achieving this, but we also need to properly address the issue of free movement of labour throughout the Union. Ordinary people aren’t EU policy experts, and if they see workers brought in en masse from abroad, when there is increasing domestic unemployment, then they will quite naturally be unhappy. I don’t yet know what the answer to this one is. My gut feeling (once described as being a “European nationalist” viewpoint) tells me that the free movement of labour must be preserved, but how can this be achieved without prolonging the unrest, or causing future strikes? Every government in the Union should be looking at this issue. It’s one which could easily harm the EU and Britain’s place in it.

For the past few years, I’ve written a post on my personal blog summing up the year, and now that I have the Thursday Briefing, I thought I’d start a new habit by doing the same here.

So what have been my political highlights of last year? I think I’d have to put following the Climate and Energy Package up there pretty highly, though in terms of what people visit this blog for, the Torpedo Amendments of the Telecoms Package are a close contender. I’m still at the top position on Google in the UK for the search on them. In domestic politics, the change at the helm of the Scottish Greens was obviously significant, and I don’t think I’ll ever see such an impressive and heartfelt farewell as was given to Robin at the party conference in September.

Personally, this year has been dominated by my discovery of European politics. Surprisingly, the first time I got involved in the Federation of Young European Greens was only February! Since then I’ve certainly experienced quite a lot, including learning how to deal with vehemently pro-European Belgians (though I’m certainly still learning that).

On last year’s end of year post, I wrote about what I wanted to see in the coming year. Proving that, despite feeling recent, the ‘credit-crunch’ has been with us for plenty of time now, I looked forward to “subdued consumerism” and the ensuing environmental benefits. Well thanks to the extensive media coverage of it all – not to mention the year to mull things over – I’ve realised that it’d be nice to have a decent economy which works for people and planet, rather than the short-term gain from the current troubles. Fortunately the Green New Deal came along with a perfect Green rescue plan, and was even picked up by the UN, albeit in a slightly watered down form. Hopefully 2009 will see the first steps of the “carbon army”.

On a different level, I’d like to see greens in the UK realise that there’s a whole continent out there, and so many opportunities to work with fellow greens, to really get our message across, and make sure that we get as many people into office as possible, giving us a chance to prove that it is possible to repair the damage to the environment, prevent future degradation, and reconnect people with both their planet, and their fellow people.

Grand words, I know, and I’m sure I’ll face accusations of forgetting the grassroots and local basis of the green movement.

2005 really was the year when green was trendy. We still had plenty of borrowed money floating around, so it was fine to conspicuously consume the Fairtrade coffee, Duchy Originals biscuits, and People Tree clothes. New Consumer magazine was in its heyday, and even scored an interview with Leonardo di’Caprio.

However, while the economic downturn has moved people from Waitrose to Lidl, and from Duchy to digestives, I’ve noticed something else start to happen. Something very heartening indeed, so long as you don’t manufacture organic hemp jeans. Green policies are slowly being picked up in the significant levels of government. The people who make the decisions are finally starting — and I emphasise ‘starting’ — to make the right decisions, not just those which look good. The Green proposed plans for universal free insulation in Scotland are a great example of this.

So, let 2009 bring copious insulation,  more elected Greens, and a rejigged Green economy.

When, on Tuesday, I wrote a twitter update saying: “I hope my bank can make it to the end of the week.“, I was joking! Well the Royal Bank of Scotland has made it to the end of the week, but only just. On Monday, the UK government is going to take a majority stake in it.

By the way, I think this is possibly the first post I have written on the financial turmoil (I can’t stand the term “credit crunch”). Don’t know how I managed to last this long.