The "Advocacy Coalition Framework" is a very useful tool for researching and thinking about how public policy does - or doesn't - change, especially on really contentious issues. It looks at how groups of actors that have enough in common bond together to try to get all/most of what they want. I'd heartily recommend you... Continue Reading →
Brilliant satire and observations of the games of academia/science
"The first step is to create a task force to develop a proposal for funding for a workshop as a preparatory step toward a conference. Once you get funding for a workshop, you’re pretty well along for getting funding for a conference, because the workshop can compile a list of problems that the funding agency... Continue Reading →
Repost: Kevin Anderson interviewed on outcomes of Paris
Reposted from Manchester Climate Monthly. Professor Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre Manchester kindly agreed to a further interview. In this first part we discuss the outcomes of the recent UN climate conference in Paris, the reality of fossil fuel subsidies and the signal the Paris agreement may (or may not) send to big business... Continue Reading →
Looting the Ivory Tower: On #climate adaptation and local authorities
reposted from here. Paper(s) under discussion Porter, J.,Demeritt, D. and Dessai, S. 2015. The right stuff? informing adaptation to climate change in British Local Government. Global Environmental Change, Vol. 35, pp. 411-422. What’s the issue? (and why should we care) Are British local authorities pulling their fingers out and taking long-term adaptation action? If not,... Continue Reading →
Star Wars non-review. Good links
I was going to review Star Wars The Farce Awakens. Actually can't be bothered. Here below are the links I had accumulated that were pretty cool. The wife liked it, but then she has had years of practice at keeping her expectations reaaaallllly low. Retro-futures and lack of imagination On the gender dynamic and here.... Continue Reading →
Interview with an academic – on “Two Degrees”, Paris, #climate and so on
"The Two Degrees Dangerous Limit for Climate Change: Public understanding and decision making" is a (very) new book by academic Chris Shaw. Here he responds to a series of questions about the two degree limit, the recent Paris conference, and 'what next'. [The book itself is a good 'un - if anyone in Manchester wants... Continue Reading →
Paris changed everything. Erm #climate calamities continue
We'll get to the climate calamity in a second, promise. First, some remedial Greek mythology: Paris was “nice but dim”, and chosen to settle an acrimonious dispute between some powerful actors. He fell head over heels with a rather beautiful creature,full of promise(s). For a little while everything seemed fine, but sadly, relationships broke down,... Continue Reading →
2 beautiful (horrible) metaphors of what is coming #climate
The stories that we tell each other (and ourselves) matter. They frame what we (can) see, and what pictures we make. I remember the moment of 'oh, wow', when, thanks to Noam Chomsky's World Orders, Old and New I figured out that all the individual acts of overthrowing democratically-elected governments (Guatemala 1954, Iran 1953, Chile... Continue Reading →
Why the hype over Paris and #COP21? Politics, psychology and money
An essay on hype, history, denialism and the fossil fuel lobby. I hope I am wrong, and that Paris is indeed the “turning point” it is being hyped as. It won't take us long to find out – two or three years, I reckon. Personally, I think it will run into the sand in much... Continue Reading →
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