At Icarus Complex, we’re leaning ever more deeply into our analysis of the systemic roots of the climate crisis. Taking a step back and looking at the systems in place, reveals that our continued propping up of fossil fuel companies not only increases atmospheric carbon but undermines our economies, our democracies, and the very notion of justice. This allows for a deeper conversation that goes beyond temperature fluctuations and graphs. This issue focuses on some of the systemic challenges of continuing our relationship with fossil fuels. In The Shadow Court, journalist Emma Bryce delivers a fascinating investigation into Investor-State Dispute Settlements, where fossil fuel companies game the legal system to their advantage, forcing taxpayers to pay them millions in compensation for decarbonisation efforts. They also use the courts to silence organisations and individuals through SLAPP suits, which we examine more closely in Democracy Dies in Darkness. In The False Economics of Feasibility, Stefano Cisternino explores how billions in taxpayer and government money rig the economic market in favor of fossil fuels, creating a false sense of affordability and dependence. Taking a step back and looking at the systems in place, reveals that our continued propping up of fossil fuel companies not only increases atmospheric carbon but undermines our economies, our democracies, and the very notion of justice. This allows for a deeper conversation that goes beyond temperature fluctuations and graphs. In Reflections we invited artist Francesco Pasquini to share his poetry with us, in Voices we speak to Dr. Nicole Redvers and architect Mariam Issoufou. The Moon Did Not Meet The Crab is a touching photo story by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Felix Marquez. And finally Gold-mining in Napo is the result of writer and researcher Daniela Beltrán’s important work on gold-mining in the Ecuadorian Amazon, highlighting all the environmental, social and economic tensions it represents. For readers of Delayed Gratification and The Beautiful Truth.
