Thinking global, living local: Voices in a globalized world

  • Banking on Mobiles: Africa leading the way

    The rise of telecommunications in Africa is causing a revolution in mobile banking Some people are the bringers of new sounds. Whilst Elvis Presley sent the rumbling of rock and roll to the UK through the radio, Mo Ibrahim brought the dial tone to Africa through telecommunications and for the […]

  • Itaipu Dam. Photo by Angeloleithold on WkimediaCommons. CC BY-SA 3.0

    Brazil and the limits of the possible

    Written by

    Meet Marina Silva. A former senator and minister of the environment for the ruling party, PT (the Brazilian Workers Party), in 2009 she left to joing the PV, Brazil’s small green party. Next year she finished third in the presidential race, with almost 20 million votes – an astonishing feat […]

  • Turkey’s Construction Economy and its Environmental Impact

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    Last summer, I went to pick up a backpacking German friend in Ankara’s busy bus station. After exchanging greetings and talking about how life had been, I asked about his initial impressions of Turkey. “The countryside is impressive,” he said, “but the cities are quite weird”. When I asked him […]