Dear Common Dreams Readers:
Subhankar Banerjee
Subhankar Banerjee is a photographer, writer, and activist. Over the past decade he has worked tirelessly for the conservation of ecoculturally significant areas of the Arctic, and to raise awareness about indigenous human rights and climate change. He founded ClimateStoryTellers.org, and is editor of the anthology Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point which was published in paperback on August 20, 2013 (Seven Stories Press). He was recently Director’s Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Fordham University in New York, received Distinguished Alumnus Award from the New Mexico State University, and Cultural Freedom Award from Lannan Foundation.
Articles by this author
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Views Monday, March 07, 2011 India Must Free Binayak Sen Immediately In 1970 Howard Zinn began his now–famous speech “The Problem is Civil Obedience” with these words: “I start from the supposition that the world is topsy–turvy, that things are all wrong, that the wrong people are in jail and the wrong people are out of jail, that the wrong people are in power and the wrong people are out of power, that the wealth is distributed in this country and the world in such a way as not simply to require small reform but to require a Read more |
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Views Monday, February 21, 2011 Earth Activism: What We Don’t Want Recently I watched an old Bollywood classic Sholay during a long flight to India to see my ailing parents. I’ve seen this film before, but this time the familiar macho–masala plot with song–and–dance entertainment helped me think about climate change activism afresh. Retired policeman Thakur Baldev Singh wants to end the tyranny of notorious dacoit Gabbar Singh. Thakur hires two small–time but infamous thieves Jai and Veeru to accomplish his wish. Read more |
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Views Thursday, February 10, 2011 From Toilet to Planet: A Brief Journey of Survival Today Representative Darrell Issa (R–California), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is starting a series of hearings to deregulate the US. Before I get to his initiative I’d like to say a few words about climate change deniers. Read more |
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Views Friday, February 04, 2011 Extreme Weather Report From Home: The Thong Will Drop People across half of the US just experienced unprecedented cold, snow and ice brought in by a record setting winter storm. Climate deniers have been wondering, we thought it's gonna be warm with global warming, so why is it so cold? The climate scientists on the other hand have been pointing out that as the Arctic warms we’ll experience more frequent and severe intensity winter storms with colder temperatures and more snow—all due to human–made climate change. Read more |
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Views Monday, December 06, 2010 After The Arctic Spill—Shell, Palin and Obama I’ll tell you a fictional story ‘After The Arctic Spill,’ but first some announcements from the real world. Last week was filled with news about offshore oil drilling in the U.S. and it came in all flavors—“the good, the bad, the ugly.” Read more |
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Views Tuesday, November 30, 2010 Cancún Opens for GREEN Business But REDD Will Destroy Indigenous Forest Cultures The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) COP16 opens this week in Cancún, Mexico to discuss green business (November 29 - December 10, 2010). No one is expecting any global climate treaty to be signed at this conference. However there is hope that some progress could be made. Read more |
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Views Friday, November 26, 2010 Where Polar Bears Roam, Shell Should Not Tread On Wednesday, November 24, the Obama administration designated 187,157 square miles (approximately 120 million acres) in Arctic Alaska as a ‘critical habitat' for polar bears threatened by disappearing sea ice due to climate change. Read more |
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Views Monday, November 15, 2010 Another One Hundred Years of Fossil–Digging in North America? Soon I'll will tell you about five Godzilla-scale fossil-digging projects in North America that if approved will set us on a course to repeat our past with grave implications for the future of our planet. You may have already heard about some of these projects individually, but the urgency to stop them collectively is more than ever before. Read more |
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Views Tuesday, October 05, 2010 Youth Across North America Are Fighting for Their Future Climate I recently urged young people to start a climate revolution in a post titled "Letter to Young Americans." Here are some of the comments that were posted in the blogosphere 1 | 2 in response to that post: "Your letter will be thrown into the marginalized bin and be lost forever. Read more |
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Views Friday, September 10, 2010 Letter to Young Americans You’re young. You may have just started or returned to college for fall semester; maybe you’re starting senior year in high school; maybe you finished college last spring but haven't been able to find a job yet; maybe you already have a job; maybe you have nothing to do with college or a job and you are just trying to figure things out... or so many other scenarios that I don’t know about. Read more |