This below, minus the hyperlinks, appeared on reneweconomy.com.au Engaging with climate and energy policy in Australia can be bad for your neck. Either your head is in your hands as the latest political idiocy unfolds, or you suffer whiplash as you encounter smart concerned people who are dealing with real world issues. It’s a long... Continue Reading →
Of plastic documentaries, heroism and Spanish Researchers
The Spanish Researchers UK network is kinda cool. They were created to ”promote communication within the community of Spanish Researchers working in the United Kingdom by creating a social network that facilitates the sharing of professional and life experiences. The association has encouraged this communication via the establishment of Constituencies throughout the UK.” Last year... Continue Reading →
Brilliant students in and out of a goldfish bowl….
Last semester, I had the good fortune to be the Teaching Assistant on fascinating third year/Masters course called Wildlife in the Age of Humans. Taught by Dr Aurora Fredriksen and Prof Noel Castree, it's a thorough exploration of issues of conservation (of what, by who, for what?), (de)-extinction and so much more. This semester, same... Continue Reading →
Event: “The Resilience of Unsustainability: Cultural Backlash, Authoritarian Reflex and the Great Regression” #TransitionImpossible
After last night’s keynote, tonight it was the turn of Professor Ingolfur Blühdorn, Institute for Social Change and Sustainability, WU Vienna to deliver a talk. His title was “The Resilience of Unsustainability: Cultural Backlash, Authoritarian Reflex and the Great Regression,” which is academic-speak for “Dudes, lemme say, we’re, like, totes fubarred” This blog post gives... Continue Reading →
Excellent Event: Ambiguous Transformations: Governance, Democracy, #Climate Transitions
Here’s the gist of a very long blog post. A senior academic (Professor Karin Bäckstrand) gave a very clear summation of the relative importance of the Paris Agreement, the distinctions between ecological democracy and environmental democracy and the (possible) path of transformation that Swedish society is undergoing. She did this in the context of an... Continue Reading →
On the importance of ignorance and empathy – #TBCtraining and swanning around
One of the ways we fail (and there are many) is when we don't understand/contain our emotions around failure. Yesterday at the training session for 'Brilliant Club' (a very cool charity which aims to get students who wouldn't otherwise go to 'top' universities, the trainer said at one point 'get a piece of A4 paper,... Continue Reading →
Technology to the rescue? #HybridWorldAdl
In 1759 the English essayist Samuel Johnson had some wise words about techno-hype. He said… “When the philosophers of the last age were first congregated into the Royal Society, great expectations were raised of the sudden progress of useful arts; the time was supposed to be near, when engines should turn by a perpetual motion, and... Continue Reading →
Books I absolutely did not buy #94. Absolutely not… (forgive me, Dr Wifey)
I didn't go to the secondhand book fair on Fullarton Road today. I didn't buy the following books. And I give my reasons why I didn't buy each on I didn't buy this 1975 disaster novel for a buck, written as it is by the guy who a couple of years later did the... Continue Reading →
Waste is women’s work? #Adelaide #auspol
The question was designed to be difficult, and the answers were in equal parts cautious and revealing. Rather than about recycling – the topic of a tightly run panel discussion put on at the King’s Head by Adelaide Sustainability Connect and the SA Young Professionals Group of Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA) – the question was... Continue Reading →
#climate justice or just us? Of learning, time machines and the “what should have been done”#AFoI2018
May as well put cards on the table. I think we’re fubarred. I think that we’ve now left it “too late” and a grim meathook future is all we have to look forward too. There is probably still time to learn a bunch of new skills, use our technology specifically to soften the coming climate blows. ... Continue Reading →
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