There are many topics on which I am a dreadful bore. On a subset of those I am a dreadful SMUG bore. On a subset of those I am a dreadful smug bore who will one day be thumped by a breeder. That subset is actually one item - the "I had a vasectomy in... Continue Reading →
Converging what where? – Of helixes, quasi-industrial policy and incantations
There’s a story, surely apocryphal, of Shakespeare being locked in attic room and only given food in exchange for pages of an overdue play script. That tactic - “sliding pizza under the door in exchange for good ideas” is something that gets talked about in “strategic niche management.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrEYl9Kl4ZU Its cousin, pump-priming and state-agency-as-facilitator/networker was... Continue Reading →
Feeling grimy at your complicity? Wash away the sins of ecocide, racialised patriarchal oppression with Ideology Soap
Would that it were so easy to be ideologically pure.
Thelma and Louise and Australian COVID & Climate Responses, via Donald Horne
Just under thirty years ago, about 100m from where I am right now, I saw the wonderful Thelma and Louise. There's a short clip that stayed with me that I think we need to remember. https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/2b001c5a-43ea-41f8-9271-219994adf091 Well, I was watching Insiders (Sunday morning current affairs, mix of interviews, humour, panellists, on the national broadcaster ABC)... Continue Reading →
Excuses, excuses (or “archive hunting for fun and zero profit”)
I am trying to be less chaotic. Or rather, I am bringing all the random memory sticks (there are lots) together in one place and will then do some light/heavy raiding. Yesterday I put up something from 2009. Today it's something from 2012. On 4th November 2012 I was clearly at some dreadful climate event... Continue Reading →
GroundCop Day, over and over again. COP6, COP26, whatever.
The year is 2048. COP46, delayed twice already because of the ongoing Covid-43 pandemic, is due to take place in the Dutch archipelago. Activists are encouraging everyone to join in a canoe flotilla to shout at the plutocrats and securocrats as they meet to discuss who is going to get what compensation (nobody and nothing)... Continue Reading →
“Technofixes for environmental problems? Not gonna work” – a warning from… 1972
Benny Rothman was a mensch. This I knew. What I didn't know was that his son, Harry Rothman, was an academic at University of Manchester. In 1972 a book of his was published- "Murderous providence : a study of pollution in industrial societies" According to one blurb- "The author argues that pollution is basically a... Continue Reading →
“The Dominion of Man: The Search for Ecological Responsibility” 1970…
I find the whole Malthusian Moment (roughly 1969-1973) fascinating. I guess because I grew up in its aftermath, where it was still resonating, there were aftershocks. (This is partly because I mostly grew up in Australia, which was then even more of a backwater than it is now. I'd see movies from the era (The... Continue Reading →
Capitalism? It’s only natural… aka “A Fable of the Bees for the Anthropobscene”
tl;dr We use "nature" to justify whatever we want to justify. A couple of days ago Kevin Anderson (the climate professor, not the South African tennis player) tweeted about a new paper which shows just how rubbish the Dasgupta review was. https://twitter.com/KevinClimate/status/1397891825260769282 [I could go on about how aggravating it is when people retweet bits... Continue Reading →
Letter in #Manchester Evening News abt Labour’s contempt for democratic norms
ONLY one member of the public attended Annual Council today. That's probably good, because outrageous contempt for democratic norms and conventions was on full horrible display. New councillors (there are 10) usually get their first choice of which of the six scrutiny committees to sit on. Scrutiny is vital to try to stop the Executive... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 