Professor Matthew Paterson gave a seminar on "the Cultural Politics" of Climate Change at the University of Manchester. See also this interview conducted via email before the event. This was part of the Sustainable Consumption Institute's external seminar series. Here is the video (which was static, while the speaker was not!) And here is the... Continue Reading →
The brilliant “Selma” and after. Of Elliott Gould, movements, authenticity and… feminism
Please see this excellent and important film. Covering a few vital months in the history of the US Black Civil Rights struggle in the mid-60s, it sweeps you along, forcing you to think, feel and hope. It received justifiably positive reviews in the States (with predictable carping about historical accuracy (1). Opening with Martin Luther... Continue Reading →
Screw Paris. No, seriously, screw Paris. A rant on #climate and the #endtimes
Will there be a long loud legal global (LLLG) signal coming out of Paris? No (two words – "US Senate"). Two linked questions; a) In the absence of a LLLG signal/deal, will there be the enormous investment in renewables, energy efficiency and 'leap frog' technology transfers that would be necessary to change humanity's energy systems?... Continue Reading →
“Green Transformations,” Leonard Cohen and the Elephant
A lively debate about the near and long-term future of western civilisation took place yesterday in central London, at the launch of the book “The Politics of Green Transformations”. The edited volume based on work of the STEPS centre, was the centrepiece of an event at the National Liberal Club, and provoked a conversation about... Continue Reading →
Academic (self)-branding and Andon Boards, or “The Panspectron as Tetris”
Was at an event only advertised on Twitter (how 21C is that?) I met some interesting people. One of them was the chief twitterer himself, Mark Carrigan (see post "coping with acceleration.") In a discussion about the ‘need’ for branding and the intensification of academic (if not intellectual) life, Carrigan approvingly cited the work of Will Davies,... Continue Reading →
More fun in the multiplex (maths) than the multiplex (cinema)
"Some of you may have had occasion to run into mathematicians and to wonder therefore how they got that way, and here, in partial explanation perhaps, is the story of the great Russian mathematician Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky a blog post! You have to stretch yourself, swim out of your depth on occasion. The seminar I... Continue Reading →
“Cistern failure” or “Waste is a terrible thing to mind…”
What does the ‘waste’ go when you flush? The citizens of Baltimore found out the ‘hard way’ in 1989, and again in 2014. Johns Hopkins Assistant Professor Graham Mooney (separated at birth from his identical twin) gave a thoroughly enjoyable seminar about something we don’t like to think about – “biosolids” (or, to you and... Continue Reading →
Googlebinge from “Ode to Youth” to “Big Daddy Paper Doll”
I don't know about you, but I make lists of things I don't know (from reading the FT or whatever) and when I have enough, I go on a google binge. Here is the latest... Adam Mickiewicz 1820 Ode to Youth Martin Amis' notion of “species shame” 1975 article by Steven Kerr folly of rewarding... Continue Reading →
What is innovative, and social, about Social Innovation?
I don't know. And I don't really address that in this blog post. Apologies if you feel click-baited or rick-rolled. I went to a seminar on Wednesday about “Social Innovation Futures: beyond policy panacea and conceptual ambiguity” It was good – clear presentation of relevant work, good questions (except perhaps the first one, which was... Continue Reading →
Geo-engineering – last throes of the dice/species
So there is a new National Academy of Sciences report on the idea of 'geo-engineering.' That's a soothing sounding term for "doing technical stuff at a global scale to escape/lessen the consequences of having ignored the climate scientists' generation of warnings to cut back on the carbs". For instance there's - mirrors in space to reduce... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 