Words, ideas, videos
The Glasgow thing is starting already. "COP26, the international climate meeting that was supposed to take place in November 2020 but will now - perhaps- happen in November 2021- has changed its meaning from "magnet that will get all the iron fillings pointing in the same direction" (see this December 2019 blog post) to a... Continue Reading →
Letter in the Manchester Evening News- Bill Flynn's excellent letter ('Nothing new in risk to rights of workers', Viewpoints, MEN, 2nd January) gives a compelling and enraging account of the way workers' rights have been eroded over the last 40 years.Thanks to the first-past-the-post voting system and the ownership of the mass media by billionaire... Continue Reading →
I remember Zoolander. I remember sitting in the Odeon Cinema near the central library (the cinema is long gone) and howling with laughter - properly howling we were - with my friend Matt. At the climax (spoilers) the baddie, Murgato (Will Ferrell) is exasperated with the cluelessness of Derek Zoolander, male model and, well, moron.... Continue Reading →
3 billion animals killed in the Australian fires. Economic and psychological devastation from Covid lockdowns Trump-ism stronger (whether he wins or loses this election - the closeness of it means whatever happens, more bad shit happens.) Climate "action" (always a feeble joke) even more stalled. The ex-participants in so-called "social movements" having learnt that "activism"... Continue Reading →
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 →
Super-useful on DECC (RIP) and the "Community Energy" strategy - the costs of getting it. Should be read alongside that paper by Phil Johnstone Andy Stirling and Ben Sovacool about Policy Mixes for Incumbency Honest about risk of academic blindness from using one theory (SNM) and not paying close enough attention to interviewees, and what... Continue Reading →
Heaps of good stuff - conceptually, methodologically, empirically, in here. Useful for mice who want to bell the cat (though the article itself doesn't suggest a particular way/particular ways). The title: The Acceleration of Urban Sustainability Transitions:A Comparison of Brighton, Budapest, Dresden, Genk, and Stockholm The authors: Franziska Ehnert, Niki Frantzeskaki , Jake Barnes, Sara... Continue Reading →
So, as promised, I am going to start "looting the ivory tower" for useful work on social innovation (despite my reservations about the term - see here and here). First up, well - a brilliant article ... The title: “Between innovation and restoration; towards a critical-historicizing understanding of social innovation niches” The authors: Bonno Pel &... Continue Reading →
The Sustainability Transitions Research Network today proudly announces a Mutual Love Partnership (MLP) - with the influential Bilderberg Group. The STRN, which has been in operation for almost a decade, acts as a platform for the exchange of ideas and a forum for chest-beating and prestige battles. It will be subsumed within the Bilderberg Group,... Continue Reading →
Over the last few days I've seen some facebook posts/tweets/etc expressing anger/bewilderment that a) people are phoning up the cops to inform on neighbours who are going out more than the narks think they should b) the approval ratings for clearly failed "leaders" like Trump, Johnson and Morrison are going UP even though they are... Continue Reading →
