Asides from other frustrations ("250, 150, 100, 65 and oblivious" is all I will say right now) there are a couple of deeper ones. Or rather, one beast, two heads: what is the actual point of academics and think-tankers? Seriously? What is the point of them, for progressive social movements? Yesterday I asked a simple... Continue Reading →
Of former friends and financial metaphors
Two things on my mind: A former friend made a very good point as we parted ways, about my sometime hazy (cough cough) attention to finer detail. Blah blah extraversion blah blah ... but actually, this is something I need to work on a bit more. Hmmm (grim reality is that as an old dog... Continue Reading →
Activism and the #emotacycle: opinions/suggestions sought.
Hello everyone, In July 2019 I will present a paper at an academic conference entitled “Political Emotions.” The abstract is below. I’m posting a very first draft/series of thoughts in the hope that I can stea… sorry, borrow, insights from smart people. Let me know what you think of the emotacycle concept, the details. What’s missing,... Continue Reading →
Ego-foddering: Why is it awful, who benefits, what is to be done? #oldfartclimateadvice #climate
I believe that one of the biggest problems “we” face as individuals-in-groups-trying-to-unfuck-the- world, is the seductive call of ego-foddering. This piece explains what I mean by ego-foddering, the two main types that I have spotted (there may well be others!). It then moves on to who benefits from it, who does NOT and what consequences... Continue Reading →
Three questions about social movements
A friend of mine just shared this blog post by Duncan Green which begins Tomorrow night I am doing an ‘ask me anything’ session on skype with some students from Guelph University in Canada, who have been reading How Change Happens. They have sent an advance list of questions, which are really sharp. I’d appreciate your views... Continue Reading →
Infiltration and environmental movements – what is to be done? #ExtinctionRebellion #climatebreakdown #spycops
The future is not written, but there are several excruciatingly safe bets about the years ahead. atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane will continue to rise poor people will suffer the resultant impacts of #climatebreakdown hard and first the state will try to suppress social movements which seek to do anything about rendering these... Continue Reading →
Hope, false hope, stupid hope and #climatechange: From Paris to Extinction (Rebellion)
Here's the tl:dr - The Paris Agreement and Extinction Rebellion are two sides (or symptoms) of the same coin, i.e. the suspension of critical faculties by people who know better but are in desperate search of reasons to be hopeful about our grim meathook future.... Back in 2015 I wrote a piece about the Paris... Continue Reading →
Anthroposcenic Anthropological gits and shiggles. #moraledrain #oldfartclimateadvice
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 →
Is Capitalism unsustainable? The jury’s out-ish. Is ego-fodderfication unsustainable? Sadly not/hell yes.
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 →
#climate justice or just us? Of learning, time machines and the “what should have been done”#AFoI2018
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 →
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