Went to a reading group. The article under discussion was Jason “Capitalism in the Web of Life” Moore's 2014 article on the End of Cheap Nature.. It got a bit of a kicking from a couple of people (me, I thought it was okay). The convenor of the group introduced the paper and pointed out... 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 →
Brilliant students in and out of a goldfish bowl….
Last semester, I had the good fortune to be the Teaching Assistant on fascinating third year/Masters course called Wildlife in the Age of Humans. Taught by Dr Aurora Fredriksen and Prof Noel Castree, it's a thorough exploration of issues of conservation (of what, by who, for what?), (de)-extinction and so much more. This semester, same... Continue Reading →
Of words words words, Machine Dreams, Pynchon and Holden Caufield….
Like any teenager of a certain cohort or three, I read The Catcher in the Rye. At one point its protagonist, Holden Caulfield observes: “I used to think she was quite intelligent, in my stupidity. The reason I did was because she knew quite a lot about the theatre and plays and literature and all... Continue Reading →
More apocalyptic word salad
A species corsuscating on thin ice, Snap, crackle, pop. Faster faster (or else), kill (the) pussycat. How I wonder what you’re at. Kill them all Let the gods we kept creating in our own image sort them out. A fetish for fish, a fetish For bondage, human bondage. Ah, a sondage would show -has... Continue Reading →
Event: “The Resilience of Unsustainability: Cultural Backlash, Authoritarian Reflex and the Great Regression” #TransitionImpossible
After last night’s keynote, tonight it was the turn of Professor Ingolfur Blühdorn, Institute for Social Change and Sustainability, WU Vienna to deliver a talk. His title was “The Resilience of Unsustainability: Cultural Backlash, Authoritarian Reflex and the Great Regression,” which is academic-speak for “Dudes, lemme say, we’re, like, totes fubarred” This blog post gives... 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 →
On the importance of ignorance and empathy – #TBCtraining and swanning around
One of the ways we fail (and there are many) is when we don't understand/contain our emotions around failure. Yesterday at the training session for 'Brilliant Club' (a very cool charity which aims to get students who wouldn't otherwise go to 'top' universities, the trainer said at one point 'get a piece of A4 paper,... Continue Reading →
Strange poem
On the Chaos of the Disciplines and the disciples Academic stars, they flash like a comet As the mangy dog returns to its vomit Deja vu - nihil novi sub sole We lie and die in a darkening hole.
Punditry effort beyond the coming days: #Australia #auspol #climate #coal
What next? Not next week, or next month, but in the coming years? These are the questions our media pundits, caught up in the merry-go-round of faces are not asking, at least, not in public (e.g. Insiders was pretty vapid on Sunday 26th August). There are several good reasons for this present-ism, not least that... Continue Reading →
