IMO, we need a new word: The Anthroposcene. Defined as: the space (scene) where everyone who uses the word Anthropocene unself-consciously (without finger-wavy ‘air quotes’) gathers to exchange book recommendations, memes, attention, credibility etc. And where everyone who has just woken up – thanks perhaps to the IPCC’s 1.5 degrees report – to the fierce... Continue Reading →
I don’t know how much rethinking economics is actually going on (I have my suspicions, but no hard data). I do have a good idea of how much rethinking politics/academia/civilsocietying is going on, and it’s not much at all/zero. The latest piece of hard data came tonight, at the University of Manchester. The debate/discussion was... Continue Reading →
May as well put cards on the table. I think we’re fubarred. I think that we’ve now left it “too late” and a grim meathook future is all we have to look forward too. There is probably still time to learn a bunch of new skills, use our technology specifically to soften the coming climate blows. ... Continue Reading →
Sometimes small tweaks can have big impacts, and can sidestep showdowns with the powerful and their (often) big brittle egos… At the Adelaide Festival of Ideas (of which more later) today, I saw a brilliant little facilitation trick/hack/patch/whatevs (1). It’s so simple, so elegant and – today at least – so effective that I’m a... Continue Reading →
How many innocents lose their lives, In the gloss of the packaging? Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay, by the great British punk singer TV Smith. Bag It is a good documentary, in the vein of Roger and Me (where Michael Moore tried to get a face-to-face interview with a General Motors chairman), Supersize Me (where a now-disgraced film-maker... Continue Reading →
The organisers of #IST2018 have worked extremely hard, and pulled together what has already been an interesting and thought-provoking programme (with a day and a half still to come). Barring a few things in the conference programme (the floor 1 and 4 switcheroo), it's been a well-oiled machine - in part thanks to the affable... Continue Reading →
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 →
It's easy to get lost, to feel lost, especially when you're diving into new literature(s). Your supervisors can do just so much (mostly tell your thesis is not up to scratch (yet), or point you in the direction of some really good literature (institutional work, much?) But for the bigger/biggest picture? Well, who has the... Continue Reading →
aka some cishet white guy's uninvited commentary on two feminist literary icons. But it's his website and he can say what he likes. Nobody is forcing you to read it, 'kay? Rebecca Solnit will be known to the casual reader as the woman who wrote the (fantastic) 'Men Explain Things To Me’. Last night she... Continue Reading →
On Wednesday morning Jay Weatherill and 200 or so of Adelaide’s soi-disant cognoscenti gathered at Adelaide Oval, scene of triumph, disaster and foreigners hurling dangerous things at locals. Everyone was there for the launch of the programme of the second ‘Open State’ festival, which will chart the potential triumphs and disasters of our species as it careens into the 21st century, with... Continue Reading →
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