Food is fast becoming one of the defining political issues of this century. Last week the G20 held its first ever agricultural ministers’ summit in Paris to discuss rising food prices and the impacts of commodity trading.  Similarly, the OECD and UN Food and Agricultural Organisation last month published a new report saying that high prices are here to stay.  

This weekend saw the launch of Haringey 40:20 by our council - a membership organisation bringing together businesses, community groups, and all those living and working in Haringey to support and drive action to deliver on our promise to cut carbon emissions by 40 per cent by 2020.

This week Labour's environment team launches the green strand of our policy review.

This week's fisheries statement is a triumph for the Fish Fight campaign led by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and supported by more than half a million people.

Labour's challenge is both for a big idea and a coherent alternative to the cuts agenda. The Green New Deal is, in my view, the answer.

Nearly ten days after negotiations started in Cancun and virtually no-one in the UK has heard of the major UN effort being undertaken in Mexico to agree a new global deal on climate change.

With national delegations and campaigners starting talks in Cancun this week on future obligations on climate change, it is not hard to avoid the conclusion that environmental issues have faced a series of set-backs over the last 12 months.

As a new study tells us the ice caps are disappearing even faster than we thought, now is the time to speed up, not backpedal, on moves to cut carbon emissions and fight climate change