[Update: I got it down to five papers for the next one, and four for the one after that!] Hmm, let this be a lesson to me. Nobody, probably even me, is going to read all of this. I need to do write-ups every three or four articles (which, given the amount I read, means... Continue Reading →
For “success”? Timing and conformity as key. Barry Jones, #Keynes and #climate
Barry Jones was the Australian Science Minister between 1983 and 1990, and a key figure in the coming of climate awareness to that country. He is also a pretty smart guy (didn't help him as a politician, naturlich). Keynes said something different but similar - We needed to be transruptive [another of my shoddy neologisms],... Continue Reading →
“This Changes Everything” changes nothing #smugosphere #emotathons #samemistakes #RoadtoParis
Here we go. Here we go with the summit-hopping and the protestations that we have to Build a Mass Movement and the only/best/sensible (delete as appropriate) way to do that is to have a big march/ruck at (Prague/Genoa/Copenhagen and… Paris. (Yeah, well – screw Paris. No, seriously, screw Paris.) Here we go with the sages... 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 →
Do digital natives learn electronically? Or “The Panspectron and the Ivory Tower”
Can information technology help us “in the real world”, as students and scholars? Marc Hudson attends a link-heavy lecture and comes away inspired and a bit overwhelmed. The startling factoids come thick and fast in Professor Derek France’s talk; Over 90 percent of students have a smart phone or mobile device, The average number of... Continue Reading →
On the stepper 11th January 2015: Wind power romance, past warnings, science hacks, climate histories
Trying to form a new habit – typing up what I read “as I go”. And connected to that, giving an account of what I read while on the stepper for 90ish minutes a day (mostly). The habit is not “fully bedded in” as a habit yet, but I refuse to use that as an... Continue Reading →
The Joy of … Big Numbers; the Simpsons, Hype Cycles and George Monbiot
Here's 3 quotations about energy provision. They're from 1973, 2001 and 2010. Skim, don't ponder. I've put the relevant bits in bold. The tl;dr is that politicians like Big Numbers (duh). “Project Independence was an initiative announced by U.S. President Richard Nixon on November 7, 1973, in reaction to the OPEC oil embargo and the... Continue Reading →
“Technology versus the Leviathan”. But does it need a Leviathan? #innovation #democracy
TLDR: It's a dilemma that has never gotten old. How do you overthrow an ossified system of control without becoming that same thing? “Met the new boss,” and all that. Or, worse and more likely, you run out of steam, lose heart, your best ideas get “borrowed” and prop up the thing you were trying... Continue Reading →
Prelude in LNG major: Of Shell, #climate change and innovation
Innovation is double plus good? Well, depends... The oil giant Shell is building a new ship, the BBC reports. Half-way through the story, after manfully capturing the scale of this big boy (it's the biggest ship EVER. Over 400m long) we get, as they say in Hollywood, the “reveal.” It's going to be the FNG... Continue Reading →