Quickly, because looong day (but good one) and my guilty pleasure Michael Connelly awaits. THIS SORT OF THING PISSES ME OFF. It implies that "world leaders" are asleep, not aware what is going on. a) that is horseshit b) if it were true, what would it say about the efficacy of 30+ years of academic,... Continue Reading →
Shooting from the lip on hopium and “social tipping points”
So, a friend tagged me in a Twitter (RIP?) thread which mentioned a rare (1) new article by Benjamin Sovacool, who is my boss and also - sorry, I know this is excruciatingly sycophantic and would get me a Private Eye OBN - a thoughtful and kind person, whose work is really useful (full disclosure... Continue Reading →
“Assume the position”! Of Gramsci, “transitions” and how someday our modern prince may come (but too late)
tl:dr - Two academics have written a good "here's how Tony Gramsci can fill in some of the major gaps in the MLP and maybe make it useful" article. On the downside, it's probably only particularly accessible to folks who know their Gramscia and their sustainability transitions stuff. The article is called "Regime resistance and... Continue Reading →
Which Deus? From which machina? Or ‘Can “the state” save us? From what? Under what circumstances?’ #climate #transitions #sustainability
Marc Hudson reflects on two academic events, and wonders if the right questions are being asked, or if "we" are pootling along happily in our comfort zones, slouching towards tenure (well, he's not) and apocalypse (well, all of us are). Over the last 24 hours I've "been" to three online seminars. The one in the... Continue Reading →
Worse-than-useless documentaries about “activism” – the why, the how, the what instead
We are allowing ourselves to brightside ourselves. FFS This is no better than the fucking gaslighting by those who would have us sleep through the apocalpyse. [Sweariness warning. I am trying to be more Omar - not the killing people bit, but the not cussing. Today, I'm failing. If that means you can't fucking share... Continue Reading →
Climate scientists attacked for 30 plus years. Sure, so what is to be done? #action #climate
So, as per my recent Conversation article, the climate scientists have been attacked for (more than) thirty years. The UNFCCC is a hopeless case (see slightly-less recent Conversation article). It is easy to talk about how everything is fubarred, and what am I against. This below expands on the theme of attacks on climate scientists,... Continue Reading →
Black Lives Matter to Fossil Fuel incumbents and #climate denialists – as a cloak and stabvest
People of Colour are gonna be shocked - SHOCKED - to learn that rich white people are sock-puppeting them in an effort to stay rich. Because, you know, it's so unusual for powerful interests to totally disregard the actual long-term health of everyone else, and to claim to be benevolent while continuing to despoil and... Continue Reading →
The four Cs- Coronavirus, Capitalism, Climate and Cats (“belling of”)
Another hot take about what may be coming. The USP for this one is that It tries to use some academic theories but in plain English It admits up front - “who the hell knows?” It actually foregrounds the crucial question other posts (e.g. this otherwise interesting one) ignore - “who is going to bell... Continue Reading →
Excellent Event: Ambiguous Transformations: Governance, Democracy, #Climate Transitions
Here’s the gist of a very long blog post. A senior academic (Professor Karin Bäckstrand) gave a very clear summation of the relative importance of the Paris Agreement, the distinctions between ecological democracy and environmental democracy and the (possible) path of transformation that Swedish society is undergoing. She did this in the context of an... Continue Reading →
Of manels, transitions and Ottawa. #IST2018 and #IST2019
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 →