"The Two Degrees Dangerous Limit for Climate Change: Public understanding and decision making" is a (very) new book by academic Chris Shaw. Here he responds to a series of questions about the two degree limit, the recent Paris conference, and 'what next'. [The book itself is a good 'un - if anyone in Manchester wants... Continue Reading →
Paris changed everything. Erm #climate calamities continue
We'll get to the climate calamity in a second, promise. First, some remedial Greek mythology: Paris was “nice but dim”, and chosen to settle an acrimonious dispute between some powerful actors. He fell head over heels with a rather beautiful creature,full of promise(s). For a little while everything seemed fine, but sadly, relationships broke down,... Continue Reading →
2 beautiful (horrible) metaphors of what is coming #climate
The stories that we tell each other (and ourselves) matter. They frame what we (can) see, and what pictures we make. I remember the moment of 'oh, wow', when, thanks to Noam Chomsky's World Orders, Old and New I figured out that all the individual acts of overthrowing democratically-elected governments (Guatemala 1954, Iran 1953, Chile... Continue Reading →
Why the hype over Paris and #COP21? Politics, psychology and money
An essay on hype, history, denialism and the fossil fuel lobby. I hope I am wrong, and that Paris is indeed the “turning point” it is being hyped as. It won't take us long to find out – two or three years, I reckon. Personally, I think it will run into the sand in much... Continue Reading →
“After sustainability” – good questions…
So, if there were a functioning climate movement in Manchester, it would, imho, be answering some of the questions in bold (scroll down if you want to see them). But there isn't. Ho-hum, #gladtobe45andchildfree. Global Discourse special issue: 'After sustainability - what?' Call for Papers Guest editor: John Foster (j.foster@lancaster.ac.uk) It is no longer... Continue Reading →
Fetish night at Bruntwood: sustainability gets VERY interesting. #Manchester #climate
Cross posted from here. Not that kind of fetish (sorry for the clickbaiting). I mean the original, anthropological meaning of “fetish” - a god that we create, then forget that we created as we come to worship it. That kind of fetish was being discussed tonight at the latest and best-I've-been-to meeting of the excellent... Continue Reading →
On deliberately lousy cons and the (selection) logic behind them
We've all had emails from the sons or daughters of Nigerian dictators asking your help to get a load of cash out of the country, with a nice little reward for you yourself. And then there are the 'you've won the lottery' ones. There are variations, all collectively known as advance-fee scams. If you're like... Continue Reading →
Climate change and World War 2 analogy
Someone who went on the climate march didn't see the organisers taking the coffins away from protesters and calling for police support. He did however comment "that there were more young faces in the crowd than usual". Memories are funny things. I remembered at that moment my grandfather and one of the recollections he shared... Continue Reading →
The immovable object and the State
On Monday night Manchester was the scene of a crime. It was a crime committed, as the tabloids would always tell you most are, by a young(ish) Black Man, the son of one of those immigrants allowed to come to England decades ago. It was a serious crime, a crime against the state.... If, that... Continue Reading →
On existentialism, guilt, Godard and … Shell’s corporate framing strategy
Shell has a new advert – another clever and slick one extolling the virtues of burning gas, which, by pure coincidence, they happen to sell. Why now with this? Well, a mere three decades after the scientists started saying “we're gonna fry ourselves if we don't get off the fossil fuel habit” we rich white... Continue Reading →
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