A few days ago I published something under the title "XR- useful, useless or worse than useless?" Given that I wrote it, there were of course no tpyos, no sweeping generalisations and no inflammatory denunciations whatsoever.Someone I know slightly kindly wrote an email, and I encouraged them to turn it into a longer comment. Originally... Continue Reading →
The evergreen “JOBS!!!” tactic versus anything… green
Incumbent tactics in the nominal democracies (i.e., where the ones were fatal violence is rarely dished out to citizens who are 'in the way') are fascinating. (The shifts and continuities of tactics were the subject of my PhD). Anyone paying any attention for more than five minutes will know that one favoured tactic - deployed... Continue Reading →
Kwasi Kwarteng at #Smartenergysummit
I've had several pieces published on the excellent reneweconomy.com.au recently (see here, here and here).One I wrote which I think didn't make the cut (#themomenthaspassed) was about the performance and reception of Kwasi Kwarteng, UK minister for business, energy and clean growth at the recent Smart Energy Summit. It would be a tragedy if these... Continue Reading →
Australia as renewable energy superpower? Report on ANU Energy seminar 24 September 2020
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 →
Every day is Groundhog Day for Australian climate politics #Auspol
The wonderful news and analysis source Reneweconomy pubilshed this piece below on Wednesday 23rd September. The Czech writer Milan Kundera once observed that “the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” The same goes for the struggle for adequate climate and energy policy in Australia. The first instinct is always... Continue Reading →
On #climate bullshit – interview with Dr Hayley Stevenson
A couple of weeks ago the academic journal Globalizations published a new article. "Reforming global climate governance in an age of bullshit" by Dr Hayley Stevenson. I'm the social media editor of another academic journal, Environmental Politics, and I tweeted it from @Env_Pol. It got a lot of Twitter love... I asked Dr Stevenson, who... Continue Reading →
Academic article on social tipping dynamics – or “Oh for cockpity’s sake…”
Ignore my snark later on - this is a good article, that you should take the time to read. Crucially though, understand that the authors - like most academics - are addicted to trying to play what Haraway calls "the God Trick" and has also been called "cockpitism". To be expected, I guess, since the... Continue Reading →
“Social innovation” acceleration and the belling of cats
So, my intellectual energies have been mostly devoted to the Active Citizenship Toolkit, which is a project of the group I am part of - Climate Emergency Manchester. I've researched and written a couple of novice's guides - to Manchester City Council's budget process, and to the thorny question of allyship. Other two page guides... Continue Reading →
Online meetings as skeuomorphs – the old pathologies imported, affordances not afforded (cyber)space
If you suck at designing and facilitating meatspace meetings, then - everything else being equal - you are probably going to suck big hairy dog's balls at online meetings. Is it just me? (1) Am I the only one who has been in several really painfully bad online meetings during this lockdown? Where the organisers... Continue Reading →
On the tribal barriers to cat-belling
Think in systems, dammit. When I am frustrated (i.e. always) with the "left" endlessly reheating and repeating the same things ("wasn't 1970s social democracy great?", "the main problem is we don't have enough diverse voices" (1) ) through truly wretched online events that are every bit as stultifying and wrist-slashingly excruciating as their meatspace equivalents,... Continue Reading →
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