Ten years ago today Four Corners broadcast a programme on “the greenhouse mafia”. In hindsight it can be seen as the starting gun for a two year sprint that led to “the first climate change election” It's worth knowing the history and actions of one of the groups revealed by that documentary. The first time... Continue Reading →
Film Review: “The Big Short” and the air-brushed women
My brilliant friend (he really is) and I went to see "The Big Short" on Saturday. We both really liked it. It's clever without being tricksy, its well-paced and brilliantly acted. We noted the maleness of it, but weren't particularly concerned (though alarm bells should have been ringing for me, since I've seen "Inside Job".... Continue Reading →
Advocacy Coalitions Framework – a video
The "Advocacy Coalition Framework" is a very useful tool for researching and thinking about how public policy does - or doesn't - change, especially on really contentious issues. It looks at how groups of actors that have enough in common bond together to try to get all/most of what they want. I'd heartily recommend you... Continue Reading →
Brilliant satire and observations of the games of academia/science
"The first step is to create a task force to develop a proposal for funding for a workshop as a preparatory step toward a conference. Once you get funding for a workshop, you’re pretty well along for getting funding for a conference, because the workshop can compile a list of problems that the funding agency... Continue Reading →
Repost: Kevin Anderson interviewed on outcomes of Paris
Reposted from Manchester Climate Monthly. Professor Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre Manchester kindly agreed to a further interview. In this first part we discuss the outcomes of the recent UN climate conference in Paris, the reality of fossil fuel subsidies and the signal the Paris agreement may (or may not) send to big business... Continue Reading →
Looting the Ivory Tower: On #climate adaptation and local authorities
reposted from here. Paper(s) under discussion Porter, J.,Demeritt, D. and Dessai, S. 2015. The right stuff? informing adaptation to climate change in British Local Government. Global Environmental Change, Vol. 35, pp. 411-422. What’s the issue? (and why should we care) Are British local authorities pulling their fingers out and taking long-term adaptation action? If not,... Continue Reading →
Star Wars non-review. Good links
I was going to review Star Wars The Farce Awakens. Actually can't be bothered. Here below are the links I had accumulated that were pretty cool. The wife liked it, but then she has had years of practice at keeping her expectations reaaaallllly low. Retro-futures and lack of imagination On the gender dynamic and here.... Continue Reading →
Interview with an academic – on “Two Degrees”, Paris, #climate and so on
"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 →
