another in the fun series "Marc clears his gmail while hunting down thesis additions" On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense 1873 Essay Translated from: Über Wahrheit und Lüge im außermoralischen Sinn I Once upon a time, in some out of the way corner of that universe which is dispersed into numberless twinkling solar systems,... Continue Reading →
Something fishy in the lake: of politics and power
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening The old saw goes 'give a man a fish and you have fed him for a... Continue Reading →
Brilliant neglected book: “Ecological Pioneers” #Australia #environment
I like to believe I've read a lot these three and a half years (even by my own somewhat Rabelaisian standards). Specifically, on the Australian environment movement/climate change/climate policy etc. I've read a few excellent books, a few stinkers and lots in between (thankfully mostly at the 'excellent' end, and towering piles of journal articles... Continue Reading →
James Rockford and sustainability in the twenty-first century, or “the reel of the desert”
James Garner was a cool American actor. He had starred as ‘Maverick’ in a 1950s comedy-drama Western TV series. In the 1970s he was James Rockford, a private-eye (“two hundred dollars a day plus expenses”) in a genre-shifting TV show called ‘The Rockford Files’ (1). What the hell has this got to do with sustainability in... Continue Reading →
Civilising hypocrisies and fundamental questions: on “Emancipating Transformations
Manchester Tyndall Centre today hosted a provocative and highly interesting seminar. Professor Andy Stirling, who spent the 80s in the trenches for Greenpeace, had schlepped up to deliver a seminar on “Emancipating Transformations.” What they? Read on for an (almost) blow by blow account. [My multiple two centses are in square brackets like these.] Stirling... Continue Reading →
I just saved a life!
Okay, it was a snail. But it was interesting nonetheless, and surely racks me up some karma points (I am not yet sure if those are transferable with my good guy tokens)? Cycling along Higher Cambridge Street I almost squished a snail who'd started a long and perilous journey across the road, and wasn't looking... Continue Reading →
Hookworm and the class struggle…
Wow. It's almost as if there is a long-running class war where the rich try to demoralise and demean the poor, kick them in the teeth and then blame them for not having a nice smile. I know, I know, crazy conspiracy theory... "Bringing a condition under human control often poses a challenge to old... Continue Reading →
A lively dodo!! On extinction, Derrida and solastalgia
Went do a corking seminar this afternoon, at the end (well, middle) of a corking day (more on that another time). It was by Gitanjali Pyndiah, a third year PhD student at Goldsmith's University (scene of a crime against academia and activism 10 days ago, but I digress). She's looking at how 'we' (people from... Continue Reading →
Oh, btw, Shell, we have that ‘hybrid world’ – thanks in part to you…
Yesterday I posted a piece on Shell's beautiful (in a Leni Riefenstahl kind of way) new advert in which two vegan, pierced women act as spokespeople for the exploration, extraction and burning of natural gas. I should have pointed out that this advert is also an appropriation of the whole "we need more women in... Continue Reading →
Of Monbiot, Manchester and miserable ‘feral’ futures.
Nature as redeemer, nature as escape, nature as the solace for our "gridded, controlled, mannered urban lives." So far so romantic. Well, nature is on the road, and she’s gunning for the lot of us. We’ve poked the beast, and now it really is waking up. On a quiet day, you could hear it snoring.... Continue Reading →
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