I went to a meeting (won't say if it was activist or academic or whatever - that's not the point). There was explicitly 'no agenda'. And we were then, without warning, asked to introduce ourselves (say what we had done, were doing and what we wanted to do around this particular issue/topic). And did they give... Continue Reading →
Last week in #Australian #Climate Politics – a bluffer’s guide
What happened? This week the government executed a massive policy backflip and its backbenchers weakened a leader who they despise and will probably knife quite soon. The opposition rolled its eyes and sighed and secretly squealed with delight. There were assurances that Australia is on track to meet its international obligations on emissions reductions when in... Continue Reading →
The neo-liberal state and its legitimation crisis: @OpenStateSA in South Australia
South Australia’s government is running an ‘Open State’ festival with all the usual buzzwords about innovation, participation, engagement blah blah blah. I’ve been to three of its events, all of which were good for thinking with – not about ‘innovation’ and ‘democracy’ (the events were deeply problematic) but about how the neoliberal state tries to... Continue Reading →
Solar Citizens launch at Adelaide Festival of Ideas #AdlFoI
[Fourth of a series of blog posts about sessions at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas on Saturday 22nd October] Next up was the launch of Solar Citizens. It covered the ‘solar rooftop revolution’ (1.5million Australian houses with solar panels, from a basically standing start 8 years ago), the start of solar citizens and its plans for... Continue Reading →
Athenian Democracy? A few funny things will need to happen on the way to the forums… #AdlFoI
[First of a series of blog posts about sessions at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas on Saturday 22nd October] Nicholas Gruen started out with a stark example of the limits/dangers of ‘Vox Pop Democracy’. In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis the Obama Administration asked for people’s suggestions/priorities. And the answers were not ‘health/education’... Continue Reading →
Innovation journeys and “proof of concept”
New technologies have the "liability of newness". People are understandably worried about what might go wrong, who would be paying for the cost of the clean-up and so on. And those who are quite happy making money/sustaining their power from the current way of doing things (aka "incumbents") are not above a little lying/fixing of... Continue Reading →
Blame games and framing battles over renewables in South Australia
Adelaide and energy systems have one thing in common – they rarely dominate the news agenda in Australia. However, twice in the past three months they have been front and centre. That reveals something interesting about the 'framing battles' taking place over renewable energy and whose vision for Australia's future will win. Price spike and... Continue Reading →
Beating nukes into plowshares
I thought I was cynical enough. Nope, not by a gazillion miles. Turns out both the US and the Russians were keen on using nukes for peace. Some of this I knew, but I didn't realise it was quite so extensive... "Project Plowshare was the overall United States term for the development of techniques to... Continue Reading →
Video: The Greening of Industry/Eco-innovation
More or less the script I burble. Stuff in square brackets didn't get said or referenced, because the damn thing was already 5 and a half minutes... The whole field of “green innovation” is a Rorschach test. We see in the blobs what we want and need to see. Capitalism mutating into something ecologically friendly,... Continue Reading →
Proposed script for video on “the Greening of Industry”
The whole field of “green innovation” is a Rorschach test. We see in the blobs what we want and need to see. Capitalism mutating into something ecologically friendly, capitalism wrecking the planet. The system working, the system shirking… This video throws out questions raised by the idea of “eco-innovation.” It also gives a quick overview... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 