Random ramblings

Moving on

2011-07-10T20:09:00.002+01:00

I find it hard to believe that it's already mid-July. The countryside round here is changing colour daily as the crops ripen. A month ago it seemed all green but now there's much more contrast....makes it easier to paint! I've been spending more time at my desk that I like but when I have got out there's been some splendid sights of summer.

Monbiot's invitation to argue

2011-01-19T10:35:00.004Z

I don't always agree with George Monbiot's point of view but do find he makes me think and there's been many a time that he's made me aware of events and issues I didn't know much about. I value conversation and a dialogue that moves on and used to think that these forms of communication were at odds with 'debate'. I've changed my mind about that. I think skilled argument and debate has a key role in moving us on, so I note with interest Monbiot's tour of the UK to engage in arguments and debates and will try and get along to one of these events.

Whole system reform - evidence of systemic or systematic thinking?

2011-01-18T10:27:00.008Z

Michael Gove in his speech to the Education World Forum on 11th January commented that

"....whole-system reform is needed to every aspect of our education system if we are to build a truly world-class education system."

The current UK Government seems to have latched on to the idea of whole-system reform not just in education but in many other areas such as health and planning. While I recognise some needs for change I'm very uneasy about the scale of these proposed changes all at the same time. I do wonder if Gove and his colleagues recognise that 'whole-system reform' is not something they'll be able to control. So I doubt it will work out as a fair process for all even if that's what's intended. There are likely to be many unintended consequences. It'd be good to see this sort of comment as evidence of systemic thinking but I get a sense that it's more about systematic change.

An update

2011-01-14T10:52:00.004Z

Quite a gap here since my last blog entry but a lot going on. I've been blogging a little on another site within the OU in my role as Chair of TU812 Managing Systemic Change - a new OU course that started in November. I wanted to try out the blogging tools on our VLE. I'm also chairing TD866 Environmental Responsibility at present and have been enjoying the student forums.

There are times when my reflections don't reach my blog but I find it useful to note down what I've been up to so I can keep track. Things I've been thinking about since my last blog entry:

Cemetries and green burial sites - new territory for me because of a recent bereavement. What purpose do permanent memorials serve? I think they are pretty important but can take many different forms and are about the living as much as the dying. There's a peace of mind that comes with knowing that there's somewhere respectful, peaceful and beautiful to sit and remember. There are some lovely places around UK where this is possible - an increasing number of them associated with 'natural death'.

At the end of October I enjoyed a day out at the Resurgence conference in London - 'To be a pilgrim or tourist?' The idea challenges consumerist views of tourism and is about trying to shift the balance more towards appreciating nature and culture. I found Satish Kumar inspiring as were several of the other speakers. Loved Deborah Harrison's poems, the energy and thinking of Peter Owen Jones and thought Ursula King's overview was great.

Right now I'm thinking about the flooding in Brazil, Australia and Sri Lanka. Trying to make sense of what's going on and the continuing commentary - human suffering and resilience, La Nina weather patterns due to ocean cooling, the nature of links with climate change. Heartbreaking to see people in Brazil searching for lost relatives.

Two summer trips

2010-08-27T16:37:00.018+01:00

This summer I've been lucky enough to go on two trips. The first was to Vienna to the International Farming Systems Association conference. I haven't been to a conference for a while and it was good to get out and meet fellow researchers and to participate in some workshops and a fieldtrip to the Hungarian border, where we saw the grey horned cattle that have lived there forever, now owned by the National Park. We also met and talked there with a couple of farmers - interesting to hear of their experiences. I chose to focus on climate change in the conference through this workshop . There's a copy of my paper posted here. I also attended a lot of the sessions in this workshop.
The second trip was to mid-Wales for a break. Great place to go in August - green, quiet and quite splendidly scenic.

Our new books and courses

2010-08-27T16:05:00.008+01:00

Our books for the new Open University Masters Programme: Systems Thinking in Practice are now all available. The books are:
(i) Blackmore, Chris (Ed.). (2010) Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice. Springer: London.
(ii) Ison, Ray (2010) Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World. Springer: London.
(iii) Ramage, Manus and Shipp, Karen (2009) Systems Thinkers. Springer: London.
(iv) Reynolds, Martin and Holwell, Sue Systems Approaches to Managing Change. Springer:London.

We have now completed the two core courses of our new Masters in Systems Thinking in Practice (STiP) one of which is already being studied by over 90 students. This first core module is " Thinking Strategically: systems tools for managing change" (OU code TU811).
The second core module, "Managing systemic change: inquiry, action, and interaction" (TU812) will be presented for the first time in November 2010.

iSpot

2010-04-07T16:50:00.002+01:00

Interesting to see that 'iSpot' is now up and running. It's linked to the BBC radio series on 'Saving Species' - a collaboration between The Open University, BBC Radio 4 and the BBC Natural History Unit intended to highlight the challenges, successes and failures of conservation around the world. I like the way it looks like it values everyone's contributions as observers rather than just taking an expert-led approach. Not sure everyone will want to 'join a group' but an interesting gallery. Not always easy to identify some of the images. I'll be keeping an eye on it to see how it develops.

Too late to save the world?

2010-03-30T17:03:00.003+01:00

I was looking at a blog I read from time to time, called How to save the world from the prolific Dave Pollard when a colleague alerted me to this article on James Lovelock's latest interview in which he is reported to be claiming that it's too late to try and save the planet. Two quite different perspectives on 'saving' our world. Pollard's is about searching for better ways to live and making a living and striving to understand how the world works. Lovelock talks of great uncertainty about the future of the planet and how little we can predict and control how we affect climate. I find both in their own ways are reminders of the complexity of life on this planet.

Whose technology? - not mine?

2010-03-30T14:14:00.003+01:00

In the past week I've had to 'register' no less than six times to be able to interact with friends and colleagues in their preferred - different - online spaces. I'm reasonably skilled in using such spaces but nonetheless this takes up time I don't feel I can spare. I'm beginning to experience these so-called opportunities for sharing and learning as an imposition and very much about 'someone else's technology'. In parallel with this we've had lots of issues about group websites - losing a much-visited old one because of a server problem, one new one not being accepted within a working group though well accepted at the next level up, vice versa for the other new one. The time that is taken up in servicing such online communications before actually doing any interaction and the emerging issues of power and participation are I think verging on the unacceptable. Also in parallel I'm experiencing - through emailed instructions - many assumptions that academics should engage more and take more ownership of some aspects of collective activity. My difficulty with all this is that because no face-to-face conversations take place very little checking is done about whether we have the capacity to engage in the ways chosen by those initiating changes. So I'm thinking about what strategy I should adopt? Ignore? Opt in? Opt out? Muddle along? Challenge?

Musings about counter-intuition

2010-03-11T07:47:00.003Z

Sitting this morning looking out across the Bay of Volos...aka the Paghasitikos Gulf. Like elsewhere in Europe it's unusually cold at present. Many shades of grey: cloud, sea, sky, smoke. The general mood in Greece is also rather gloomy at present with 'austerity measures' beginning and the price of fuel rising sharply in the past few days. I was just thinking how difficult it is to juggle actions that are counter-intuitive and how difficult it is to take a long term view. Intuition is an important part of knowing, difficult to ignore, however rational one claims to be. It's not possible for us humans (even scientists!) to just step outside our contexts, though using systems thinking can encourage us to consider our experiences in a broader context.

Three examples come to mind here today concerning: global warming, fish stocks and the economy.

Experiencing the coldest winter in parts of Europe for several decades, inevitably makes it harder to think about the climate warming - changing yes, but how hard it is to think of heat when feeling cold or drought when in a flood or vice versa. As humans are we actually able to tune into climate rather than weather?
The Bay in front of me is very nearly fished out at present. Yet off the coast nearby are protected reserves and in the years we have been coming here we've experienced times when fish numbers have risen and fallen. Although it's obvious that if left alone fish stocks will recover and quite quickly, for those in the small boats fishing the Bay, instinct seems to say 'fish today' because by tomorrow someone else will have taken the fish. How can all be encouraged to hold off and let fish stocks recover when so much else pushes in the opposite direction?
As far as the economy is concerned, most people here seem to think that wages cuts and tax and price rises of the kind now being imposed in Greece will not alleviate the country's economic problems but will have the opposite effect. What kind of interventions would really help improve this situation?

In their different ways each one of these examples is about a need to go against intuition. Is there therefore a link between knowledge that influences our behaviour that comes from intuition and short termism?

Snowdrops in the snow

2010-02-23T21:15:00.007Z

I've been snowdrop viewing at this time of year for quite a few years now and usually blog about it - see here for example. This year the good old Great British Gardens snowdrop page led me to Evenley wood garden near Brackley. A delightful garden and because there was snow on the ground I got a reduced entrance fee, even though the snowdrops were out. Must remember to visit this garden again later in the Spring, the gallery looks promising. It's the first time for a long time that I remember seeing snowdrops in the snow.

Year of the tiger

2010-02-14T16:47:00.003Z

To mark the start of the Chinese Year of the Tiger the BBC has put up some lovely clips of tigers. I saw a wild tiger in the wild just once - a young one. We were in Corbet National Park in the foothills of the Himalayas, out on elephant back. The monkeys with their alarm calls alerted us to it. We waited...and eventually a young tiger darted across our path - lithe and beautiful, just a flash of movement and colour. Yesterday I visited the National History museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition - quite a few of the big cats photographed there -lovely to see. You can browse some of the pictures here.

New blog - Fee Romein in Sierra Leone

2010-02-14T14:38:00.003Z

Great new blog just starting here from Fee Romein who has just arrived in Sierra Leone to spend a while with the Environmental Foundation for Africa. I'm looking forward to hearing more. It's quite a while now since I lived in Sierra Leone myself but it's great to hear about the work of this consortium of NGOs and universities, which according to their webpage is as follows:

The Environmental Foundation for Africa (EFA) aims to protect and restore the environment in West Africa. For over 15 years, EFA has:
- led environmental education (EE) and awareness raising campaigns;
- restored degraded lands and conserved pristine forests;
- minimized the impacts of civil war on the environment and its inhabitants and;
- equipped thousands of people with sustainable livelihood skills such as agroforestry.

Big picture - frozen Britain

2010-01-08T13:48:00.004Z

....and while on the subject of 'bigger pictures' - I love this one of frozen Britain taken by Nasa'a Terra satellite on 7th January.

The bigger picture of below average temperatures

2010-01-08T13:33:00.002Z

Interesting to see the Met Office's plotting of how some places around the glode are experiencing warmer as well as colder weather. I'm also reminded how difficult it is to imagine temperatures very different from those experienced at the time. So I don't find it unduly surprising that this cold snap in Europe is being seen by some as evidence against global warming as reported here by Leo Hickman and George Monbiot. (I was interested to see the diversity of perspectives in the discussion following this article also.)

How do we break a system?

2010-01-04T21:19:00.007Z

This is the question George Monbiot asks about 'consumer hell' which he claims is a system we have internalised. I think systems thinking could help here in recognising what and whose systems of interest are in view and would add something to Monbiot's insightful analysis of how the system he refers to currently functions. Bringing about change of the kind he calls for requires social learning and would rely on multi-level concerted action by many stakeholders. But could we have the processes and motivation to work together to do that? The individualism that Monbiot refers to suggests not.

Monbiot's question about breaking a system is contextualised in some of his other comments in the same article:

How do we pursue happiness and well-being rather than growth? I came back from the climate talks Copenhagen depressed for several reasons, but above all because, listening to the discussions at the citizens’ summit, it struck me that we no longer have movements; we have thousands of people each clamouring to have their own visions adopted. We might come together for occasional rallies and marches, but as soon as we start discussing alternatives, solidarity is shattered by possessive individualism. Consumerism has changed all of us.

Michael Maniates analysis of individualisation provides some further useful insights here. I've found some interesting links between Monbiot's and Maniates' viewpoints before - see here.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T18:12:00.005Z

Happy New Year! A new year, new decade, feels like a new start. We've been out walking in the countryside and thinking about the year ahead. I've really enjoyed the bright cold days. Just now been looking at some of my pictures from late December.

The Commonwealth conversation

2009-11-27T14:10:00.002Z

Interesting blog here led by Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, the Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society. I like the idea of a 'Commonwealth Conversation'. I've had mixed impressions of activity that comes under the Commonwealth umbrella in the past - not quite sure what to make of it. But the topics covered here certainly have contemporary relevance. According to this website The idea of the Commonwealth conversation is as follows

The Commonwealth turns 60 in 2009. This landmark year offers the perfect opportunity to reflect upon the past and to consider what the future may hold for the association.With this in mind, the RCS is facilitating the largest, global dialogue ever undertaken between the peoples of the Commonwealth about their association.

Why can't I take pictures like this?

2009-11-15T19:29:00.002Z

Some of the pictures and films that most impress me are beautifully composed pictures of things that it's difficult enough to see let alone photograph! This kingfisher is a case in point. It suggests to me infinite patience. Love it!

Copenhagen - negotiating text

2009-09-30T13:56:00.002+01:00

I wasn't surprised to read, in the Guardian, that the draft text for the Copenhagen climate change agreement is long, confusing and contradictory at this stage as all parties have added in their 'corrections' on the initial draft. The process is probably as important as the product but it's depressing to recognise that such agreements do often end up as the lowest common denominator. Pulling it together into a meaningful agreement will require a lot of different skills and understanding. As the article highlights, the big question is "How far will it go to address the traditional sticking points that have delayed progress?" i.e.

How much are rich countries willing to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, and by when?
Will large developing nations such as China make an effort to put at least a dent in their soaring levels of pollution?
How much money must flow from the developed world to developing countries to grease the wheels and secure their approval? How much to compensate for the impact of past emissions, and how much to help prevent future emissions?"

Eco-font

2009-09-30T13:29:00.002+01:00

No it's nothing to do with water-saving church ceremonies - it's hole-y fonts rather than holy fonts. Interesting to hear via Mark Yoxon that we could be saving 20% on ink if we download a Dutch ecofont which retains the pattern of letters without them being solidly inked-in.

Wonderful photos

2009-09-25T21:17:00.003+01:00

So glad to see that Graham Jeffery, whose sensitive light pages I've much enjoyed in the past, is back behind his camera. He takes some wonderful pictures and of so many different subjects. This one I particularly like. How does he do that?

Digital habitats

2009-09-11T09:12:00.002+01:00

I'm looking forward to getting time to read Digital Habitats: stewarding technology for communities, a new book just out from Etienne Wenger, Nancy White and John Smith. I've been very impressed by the communications skills and depth of understanding of the issues and the wealth of ideas shown by these people in the past and their blending of theory and practice. Promises to be a good read.

Great place to go in August!

2009-08-24T14:55:00.005+01:00

Just back from a few days break in mid-Wales. Wide open landscapes, great walking, wonderfully peaceful, few tourists away from the honey pots and not a computer in sight. Watched red kites feeding here - quite remarkable. Even with my little compact camera they were close enough to look like red kites. Learnt a bit about how not to cross bogs also....but lived to tell the tale.

Thinking in Systems

2009-08-07T10:13:00.006+01:00

I've long been a fan of Donella Meadows, of Limits to Growth fame so was pleased to get a reminder in my email this morning of a book published earlier this year that she was working on at the time of her death called 'Thinking in Systems'. It made me track down an article that appears there called Dancing with Systems in which she presents her ten 'systems wisdoms'. I like the one that says 'Pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable' but they're all pretty good.

Media perspectives on climate change

2009-08-04T16:23:00.003+01:00

Internews, Panos and IIED got together to bring forward a range of perspectives on negotiations about climate change with the 'climate change media partnerships'. This year's 40 fellows seem to cover a wide range of issues and different parts of the world. Unintended consequences of interventions feature quite strongly on this site, for instance this one on forestry, where landless farmers evicted by forest restoration projects managed by an NGO consortium have been protesting. Whose rights get taken into account in such situations and what should happen is something we consider in our OU course Environmental Responsibility.

Niger migration

2009-07-29T09:26:00.005+01:00

It's now over 3o years since I travelled through Niger to the edge of the Sahara. Even our last visit to West Africa was back in 2000, to Gambia. Between those two times migration within West Africa had increased a great deal. The Tuareg people are among those who've long lived as nomads in the area. But it seemed to us in 2000 that so many more people were on the move, not really living nomadic lives but trying to escape wars, drought and poverty and generally seeking better ways of life. There were still people very strong in spirit and enjoying the present though and these pictures of migration from West Africa, across the desert to Europe, I find very poignant. A reminder of how much I take for granted as an employed Western European citizen. One prediction concerning climate change is that there will be a lot more mass migration from parts of the world debilitated by droughts and floods. Many are also made homeless by large-scale development projects. I was thinking Jim Lovelock's predictions, that climate change could kill nearly all of us, are too gloomy. But I think we've certainly yet to face up to what many in West Africa have already experienced, in terms of what mass migration might mean.

Satish Kumar - to be an Earth Pilgrim

2009-07-27T10:29:00.005+01:00

Hearing Jonathon's talk made me look for the first Richard Sandbrook memorial lecture, which I'd somehow missed. Good to see a summary of it on Satish Kumar's blog. In his memorial lecture in 2008 he talked about revering Nature and the relationship of 'friendship' with the earth, based on reciprocity. He sees acting like a pilgrim, rather than like a tourist, on Planet Earth as the way to forge the friendship that is needed with the Earth.

"When we are at home, we have a special relationship with a place, and we need to rekindle our relationship with Nature. Perhaps more than just friendship is required – we need to fall back into love with Nature, romance with Nature. And the best way of forging this relationship is to be with Nature, sitting under a tree, working in an allotment, walking on Dartmoor – a pilgrim and not a tourist on Planet Earth."

Porritt on optimism and action

2009-07-27T09:51:00.004+01:00

Jonathon Porrit gave the second Richard Sandbrook memorial lecture on 25th June, three extracts of it are up on YouTube and worth a listen in my view. He talked about reactions to climate change, the case for hope and optimism, how we can ward off despair and why we should get angry. He argues history has showed that leaders of change can't motivate through preaching Armageddon. He identifies three kinds of optimism

Lovelockian school of optimism - the world will be a better place in 2-300 years because 5 billion people will have died. This is based on his understanding of life in Earth.
War footing optimism. Where is the Pearl Harbour moment? Moving onto a different footing, a war footing. Perception that climate change has to be addressed in the way that war is addressed. (Rationing, controls etc in interest of greater good)
We still have a window of time' optimism that enables us to come through into a better world. [This is the camp Porritt identifies with]. If this window were to close he wouldn't know how to cope with the despair - a response that it's too late to act.

He went on to talk about how to take advantage of the window, the diminishing opportunity, who will be the agents of change and political leadership that recognises the window of time for action. How we ward off despair?

Anger. He is surprised at low level of anger at what is going on in ratcheting up irresponsible economic activity. Difficult to get people motivated to act without anger.
Positive visions. Martin Luther King didn't go around the world saying 'I have a nightmare' but 'I have a dream'. Historically we have been better at the negative stuff than the positive. But, as Richard Sandbrook used to say - how can we get anywhere without being able to summon up positive visions? Need to be better at celebrations than wakes.
....the third isn't covered in the video clips. I'll look out for it....or perhaps think about one for myself?

Finding a balance in natural history programmes

2009-07-13T21:25:00.004+01:00

I find TV programmes that are all doom and gloom regarding our natural world so deeply depressing I can't often watch, however shocking. So I find a personal dilemma in George Monbiot's challenge to the BBC. Should I enjoy 'beautiful thrilling programmes about the world's wildlife' or join Monbiot in calling for more acknowledgement and explanation of political and environmental contexts? I do think he has a good point but I also don't agree that people necessarily believe, as a result of seeing these programmes, that all is well with the world's ecosystems. My research has shown that people develop many simultaneous understandings about our enviornment, not just one, and I think there's plenty around that shows all is not well. Though if, as he says, no BBC programme has as yet taken a look at effects of climate change in East Africa then I also think that needs to be addressed.

Mixed messages on state of the future

2009-07-13T21:00:00.006+01:00

Interesting article in The Independent on impacts of the recession on taking action concerning climate change.
On the one hand

...researchers warning that global clean energy, food availability, poverty and the growth of democracy around the world are at risk of getting worse due to the recession...too many greedy and deceitful decisions led to a world recession and demonstrated the international interdependence of economics and ethics

and on the other hand

The good news is that the global financial crisis and climate change planning may be helping humanity to move from its often selfish, self-centred adolescence to a more globally responsible adulthood... Many perceive the current economic disaster as an opportunity to invest in the next generation of greener technologies, to rethink economic and development assumptions, and to put the world on course for a better future.

The Great Glen Way

2009-06-22T10:11:00.011+01:00

At the end of May we walked 73 miles from Fort William to Inverness along the Great Glen Way. Stayed at the Great Glen hostel in North Laggan and the Loch Ness Youth hostel - both very good. The route is shown here. We got pretty wet in the first couple of days, as the rest of the UK basked in sunshine. But it was good to see the forests, the Caledonian canal, the lochs and the hillsides in all weathers. Fantastic plants! Felt great to be out walking each and every day, catching up with old friends, and away from desk, computer and the general busy-ness of life in southern England. The walk was more varied than I expected. Here's a little of what we saw.

Accept uncertainty, prepare for surprise

2009-06-12T10:54:00.004+01:00

Interesting article from Ian Scoones on UK preparations for swine flu. He refers to Emery Roe and Paul Schulman's recent book High Reliability Management. Scoones is critical that 'early warning approaches' that rely on local knowledge have been largely ignored in our top-down culture. He concludes:

Preparing for a pandemic means preparing for surprises – and being ready to respond rapidly and flexibly under conditions of uncertainty. As the experience with avian influenza has shown, this may require more than simply the top-down, "active and aggressive" technocratic responses being urged.

Roe and Schulman also suggest a need to work more with local knowledge and to value the skill and judgment of middle-level professionals often taken for granted. Skills are needed to work with uncertainty and to prepare for surprise, including systemic thinking. Our government seems to have focused on trying to control....including trying to control how we sneeze. Scoones' article points to rather different priorities and lessons to be learnt here.

The year moves on

2009-04-24T07:10:00.005+01:00

I love this time of year!

G20 and global justice?

2009-03-29T11:23:00.004+01:00

35,000 people marched through London yesterday ahead of this week's London summit of the G20 demanding action on poverty, climate change and jobs and calling for a new kind of global justice. This and other protests in Germany, France and Italy have highlighted many of the interconnections of social, environmental and economic concerns. Though seeing the summit primarily as 'make or break' for the world's economy is evident in other news coverage. The G-20 is

"made up of the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and also the European Union who is represented by the rotating Council presidency and the European Central Bank."

Early spring flowers

2009-03-01T14:42:00.007Z

A beautiful morning for snowdrops, hellebores and crocuses at Coton Manor today.

Impressive reduction in plastic bags

2009-02-27T09:47:00.003Z

Once in a while the sheer scale of what's going on in the UK in relation to its use of resources and production of wastes hits home. It did with the numbers given in this article. The Independent reports that:

Shops gave out 3.5 billion fewer plastic bags last year under a voluntary scheme which has, for now, headed off the threat of a government ban on free carrier bags. Figures from Wrap, the Government's anti-waste body, show that the number of plastic bags dispensed fell from 13.4 billion in 2007 to 9.9 billion last year, a drop of 26 per cent.

Wall street journal - obnoxious on global warming

2009-02-27T09:21:00.005Z

Interesting piece from Stuart Gaffin of Columbia University on Reuters environment blog. He's critiquing yet another attempt to argue for the status quo regarding taking action to reduce CO2 emissions in the US:

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editorial page occupies a uniquely obnoxious place in commentary on global warming.....In response to President Obama’s revolutionary new efforts to cap CO2 emissions, WSJ editorial member Holman Jenkins Jr. tells us to “…Put away the global warming panic…” and writes an impressive number of fictions in two sentences...
in the same sentence that claims science knows nothing about CO2, somehow he [Jenkins Jr] (or science?) knows enough about it to conclude that “ …the impact is too small to untangle from natural variability …” Which one is it?

The rush to nuclear power

2009-02-24T17:08:00.003Z

The Economist a while ago descibed a power struggle with France leading the way in a global revival of nuclear energy. ....and now it's Italy making a deal with France to step up Italian nuclear power. India too seems to have signed up with the 'French nuclear giant Areva' for six new nuclear reactors and we're told in this article that

The Areva-designed pressurized water reactors, which are meant to replace aging reactors around the world whose designs date from decades ago, are already under construction in Finland, France and China. Areva also has plans to build the new reactors in Britain and the United States

Although this has obviously been developing over quite a long time the press coverage does make it feel like there's almost a rush to get on the nuclear power bandwagon. There's a lot riding on this technology - hope it can stand the test of time. What's changed in the past few weeks? Is this because nuclear power has suddenly gained political acceptability and 'green' credentials in the context of climate change and those concerned have become convinced that it's the only way to go? Or are there other political and economic drivers? I can see that some nuclear power might have to be part of our future but what does this mean for investment in renewables?

Nuclear power debate

2009-02-23T17:02:00.005Z

According to the Independent

Britain must embrace nuclear power if it is to meet its commitments on climate change, four of the country’s leading environmentalists – who spent much of their lives opposing atomic energy – warn today

Monbiot also has changed his tune, seeing nuclear power as less threatening than the effects of climate change. He claims he hasn't gone pro-nuclear but his position is that he will no longer oppose nuclear power if four conditions are met:

1. Its total emissions - from mine to dump - are taken into account
2. We know exactly how and where the waste is to be buried
3. We know how much this will cost and who will pay
4. There is a legal guarantee that no civil nuclear materials will be diverted for military purposes.

Not sure how we could ensure all those conditions are met and it's assumptions about what we can and can't control that bother me but at least Monbiot's taking a well-argued position and his article logs lots of changing circumstances and views. This move in favour of nuclear power isn't exactly news as the debate about renewable v nuclear power and fossil fuel v nuclear has been hotting up for quite a while now with many like James Lovelock arguing in favour of nuclear on grounds of reduced emissions, safety and practicality. The safety arguments in terms of what hasn't happened recently compared with other sources of power are I think increasingly impressive e.g. in this article comparing dangers in nuclear and wind energy. Though they do seem to me to make assumptions about stability in future and I'm not sure nuclear would look as favourable if necessary institutions and infrastructure were to start to break down. But increased carbon emissions seem to be seen as a bigger threat to life on earth as we know it.

Just recently pro-nuclear power arguments do seem to be gaining ground with long-opposing countries like Sweden lifting its ban on nuclear power. There are allegedly still lots of myths around concerning conventional v renewable energy. It'll be interesting to see how this shapes up as we head towards COP15, the United Nations next major climate change conference to be held in Copenhagen in December.

Snowdrop time again

2009-02-20T15:32:00.003Z

We observed our ritual of seeking out snowdrops again, this time in Moggerhanger woods. Almost as much as the flowers, I like the stories of them, which I've written about in previous years. They're allegedly two weeks later this year than they have been in recent years.

From airport protests to migration

2009-02-19T10:26:00.004Z

Interesting article from Leo Hickman in yesterday's Guardian about two opposing protests due today, one against airport expansion and one in favour. Reading the tongue-in-cheek tone of those in favour reminds me that environmental arguments are so often couched in very serious terms which I think leaves them open to quite successful opposition. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trivialising the issues of the effects of increased airport expansion and I'm not in favour of expansion. But like many I do fly sometimes and have an ongoing struggle with issues of individual and collective responsibility and action and the lack of congruence between what I espouse and what I sometimes actually do. Quite a contrast between these protests and last night's superb Nature's Great Events BBC programme on the salmon run which took wildlife filming to yet another new high. Hard to see these situations as connected but I suppose it wouldn't take that much for climate change to disrupt the salmon migration which could see the total collapse of all we were looking at.

Environmental Responsibility Reader now out!!

2009-02-17T11:51:00.004Z

This reader, edited by Martin Reynolds, me and Mark J Smith, has now been printed. Zed books is the publisher. Here's the link. Great to see it after a lot of hard work. Here's what reviewers said about it:

'This collection brings together in one place key texts of leading thinkers in environmental ethics. No one who takes environmental responsibility seriously will want to be without this book.'

- Ruth Chadwick, Director, ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (Cesagen) Cardiff University

'In these tumultuous times, I shall keep this rich mix of classic texts close at hand. They combine inspiration, ethics and pragmatic reflection on why we have reached the crisis we face today and tomorrow. This kind of deep thinking will be key to whether we can shift to become global citizens with an eye to the future.'

- Dr Camilla Toulmin, Director, International Institute for Environment and Development

'A welcome and timely reminder that we need to take up our environmental responsibilities now following the inspiring guidance provided by this excellent collection.'

- Wendy Harcourt, Editor of 'Development' and the forthcoming Zed Book Series on 'Gender and Environment'

'The environmental challenges of the 21st Century are the most complex, difficultand dangerous that humanity has ever faced. Perplexity is a common human response to complexity. Inaction is what follows from perplexity. The readings brought together into this volume provide hugely valuable insights into how best we could navigate this landscape of environmental risks and opportunities more successfully.’

- Tom Burke, founding director of E3G

Limits to tourism

2009-02-13T10:34:00.003Z

Interesting piece on Reuters environmental blog suggesting limiting visitor numbers to Galapagos and Antarctica to protect wildlife. Besides the link with Darwin that's much in the news on the 200th anniversary of his birth, I connect to this because (i) we have a brand new OU course on Environmental Responsibility starting in May and eco-tourism is the topic of the final project so our students will be looking for such accounts that connect ethics, policy and action and (ii) because I've just been probably as close as I'm going to get to Antarctica in visiting Patagonia so am aware of the huge importance of tourism in local economies and the challenge of managing this activity in ways that are sustainable both ecologically and socially.

Attenborough on Darwin

2009-02-12T12:00:00.004Z

I've been listening to quite a few broadcasts and comments recently from Sir David Attenborough on Charles Darwin. Attenborough is still, at 82, one of the most convincing presenters I've ever heard. There's a written account that captures quite a lot of it here. Lots of controversy about what Darwin did and didn't know and the reporting of it, as discussed by David Chapman but Attenborough himself I find truly inspirational.

Australian bushfires

2009-02-12T11:35:00.002Z

Terrible bush fires in Australia ....so shocking and sad to hear about them, particularly all the lives lost and disrupted. Hard to imagine such a situation as we sit surrounded by snow and ice. Talk of new policy, and a climate-change wake-up call are prominent in our press here and elsewhere.

Prize for climate change bullshit

2009-02-12T11:27:00.002Z

Beware....Monbiot has announced the Christopher Booker prize for

"... whoever in my opinion and assisted by climate scientists and specialists manages, in the course of 2009, to cram as many misrepresentations, distortions and falsehoods into a single article, statement, lecture, film or interview about climate change."

This quote and further details in his blog and the Guardian.

Snow

2009-02-03T17:01:00.003Z

Well the snow and ice we've got right now might be causing mayhem but it certainly lifts our local landscape.

Backtracking on energy

2009-01-28T10:36:00.004Z

Our guide on one trip in Patagonia talked of a new resurgence in coal production because of some of the political problems being experienced regarding alternatives. This reminded me of some of the issues of building a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth, previously discussed in this blog here and still very much at issue. Some of the details about why can be found on this 'nonewcoal' site. 'Clean coal' is by many accounts a fallacy so whether in Chile or UK planning to use more coal seems a backward step compared with opting for investing in more renewable energy in the longer term. Also regarding renewables, I found it sobering to read George Monbiot's recent article about his conversation with Shell's Chief Executive, Jeroen van de Veer. Whereas in 2000 the company allegedly claimed to be making large scale investment in renewable energy and was at that time very open about the amounts being invested, they now seem to be very vague about just how much they're investing and Monbiot fears that this reluctance to be more sepcific is because their spending in renewables has fallen sharply. While Monbiot doesn't blame Shell or its Chief Exec for doing what the market demands if discharging their duty to shareholders, he's critical that they create the impression that they have a different agenda. He's also critical of government for letting companies seek profit without taking much account of the consequences of doing that for people and environment.

What shade of green?

2009-01-28T10:15:00.002Z

Headlines I'd heard before reading this article talked of the UK Government bailing out the car industry but the emphasis here seems to be as much on investment in 'green technology'. On the surface that looks good but I can't really tell what shade of green Mandelsson is referring to. And what connections are there here to Obama's announcements of a couple of days ago? .....mentioned here. The UK could so easily have re-routed it's industrial base to go the way of Denmark with developing green energy technologies (specifically wind turbines) many years ago. Good to see more happening on this front now but a shame more didn't happen earlier. The too little too late tone of the Independent article could apply as much to the investment in green technology as to the bail-out. But I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing and we must start from here.

Chile, pictures and the Frutic conference

2009-01-27T17:44:00.005Z

I'm glad to see that my local robot enthusiast has also put some pictures of Chile up on his website . The Frutic symposium in Chile that led to this trip focused on information and technology for the sustainable production of fruit and vegetables, nuts, wine and olives....a topic that I think many could identify with one way or another. All delegates were given an MP5 player as a name badge and conference information pack. I believe it was also needed to get your lunch which provided an incentive to re-charge it at end of the day.

Winter birds

2009-01-27T17:31:00.004Z

Some great pictures on Bird Guides photos of the week site. Winter birdwatching here certainly has its rewards.

Obama on environment

2009-01-27T17:01:00.004Z

Good to hear via the New Scientist blog that Obama has been prompt to take action on environment regarding (i) more jobs in renewable energy (ii) measures for increasing car fuel efficiency and (iii) instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to review a decision made in Bush's time that blocked California's action to forge ahead of other states in limiting car emissions. More on this in the Independent's article on America going Green.

Ever seen one of these?

2009-01-23T17:02:00.007Z

...I mean the one on the foreground. We hadn't, though I'd never seen a penguin in the wild either until this visit to Otway Sound in Patagonia. The interloper visiting the penguins' burrows, presumably in search of eggs, is allegedly a 'quique' or 'lesser grison' (galictis cuja), listed on one website as a type of ferret. Nearby penguins were uneasy and behaving as though they could sense it, though we didn't see a face-to-face meeting while we were there. We were already amazed to see the Magellan penguins, only afterwards did we realise just how lucky we'd been to catch sight of this animal also.

Art in Chile

2009-01-23T16:38:00.012Z

Saw some superb works of art in Chile.The first of these is part of Jorge Gonzalez Camarena's famous 'Presence of Latin America' displayed in Concepcion - full of stories and this little picture doesn't really do it credit. It is a huge mural and quite magnificent. The others are less famous but also great in different ways. The second is a sculpture seen in a modern shopping mall, also in Concepcion. The third another sculpture, located at Casanueva vineyard in the Itata valley where the owner keeps art and wine side-by-side. The fourth is on a house on the sea front in the Patagonian town of Punta Arenas and the last is to be found on the side of a building in a busy market street at the port of Talcahuano.

In Patagonia

2009-01-23T15:50:00.010Z

Just back from Chile and I feel very fortunate to have visited Patagonia. Incredibly scenic. I loved the wide open spaces, the big skies, the wildlife, the light, the mountains, glaciers and waterfalls. I was intrigued to see so many lupins....they certainly look better like this than they do in my garden.

Capturing autumn light

2008-11-13T21:07:00.005Z

I was pleased with these pictures, taken in the Netherlands last weekend while walking with friends. The low afternoon light in the trees was beautiful.

Research methods - Denmark

2008-11-13T20:50:00.006Z

Last week I visited Denmark again for the first time in just over three years to make a contribution to this course on Research Methodologies in Organic Food and Farming Research. My role was to give a bit of an overview and background to systems methodologies as well as getting students to try out a few techniques in the context of their own PhD research. We visited a highly diverse organic farm as part of the course so were able to draw on that experience also. The event was held in a hostel in the forest - simple rooms, log fires, lots of space - wonderful place for such a course and it was great to hear about all the projects going on and to be able to contribute a few ideas.

Doing things differently

2008-09-30T18:00:00.005+01:00

Jonathon Porritt reflecting on the 'death throes of capitalism' and 'scary times' says:

"From a sustainability perspective, it’s difficult to exaggerate the significance of this moment. Depth-driven consumerism, underpinned by a corrupt, self-serving and unaccountable financial system, has been at the heart of 20 years of environmental devastation. It’s over. If we chose, we could now do things very differently once we’ve negotiated our way through the recession."

I'm sure he's right where there are cost savings to be made but history has shown that environmental measures that require investment don't do well when times are hard. There must be many different paths to take in the actual process of 'negotiating our way through the recession'. I find it hard to anticipate the systemic effects but like Porritt, think there'll be opportunities as well as problems.

Greece again

2008-09-30T17:26:00.006+01:00

Yes - sometimes it does rain in Greece but I've seen enough rain in UK this summer so here are some brighter moments. The church is in Skopelos and the others are of the wonderful Pelion region we've been lucky enough to visit quite a bit these past few years, through our links with the University of Thessaly in Volos.

Gurkhas to stay in Britain

2008-09-30T17:07:00.002+01:00

Looking around for some good news among all the doom and gloom I note that retired Gurkhas have won the right to stay in UK. Sounds as though it doesn't affect many and I can't pretend to know all the issues. But it seems to me an important point of principle that given history and the Gurkhas service to the UK, they be allowed to choose.

Illegal logging

2008-08-22T11:40:00.004+01:00

I've recently engaged with the work of the Environmental Investigation Agency on illegal logging in Indonesia. I find I react strongly on hearing about some of the situations they've been investigating in Indonesia. I find it deeply disturbing to hear details of this sort of environmental crime including the sheer scale of it! Sobering also to hear how such products find their way to Europe in spite of many companies' stated intentions not to support unsustainable forestry. So it's cheering to hear the US start to extend its own wildlife trafficking legislation - the Lacey Act - to include timber, wood products and plants. This would in effect prohibit the import, sale or trade of illegally harvested wood products. Responsibility will therefore lie with importers, retailers and traders in the US, not just with those doing the logging. Whether the bill will go right through and how such legislation would work in practice remains to be seen. To me, it seems long overdue and I hope there will be pressure for the EU and UK to do likewise. EIA, as a campaigning organisation, are facilitating individuals to call for such action. They've drafted a letter that can be sent to local MPs.

Reason - its use and abuse

2008-08-13T15:02:00.008+01:00

Thanks to David Chapman for the link to this interesting set of articles on 'why people hate reason' from the New Scientist. An impressive line-up of authors offering some very different disciplinary perspectives. Quite a lot of common themes among the different contributors discussed in the Editorial

"The first problem our contributors have identified is not with reason itself, but with its abuse. The second unifying theme among our contributors is the concern that science and reason are increasingly seen as providing not just scientific, technical and military fixes, but answers to everything that matters in the world. Some of our contributors bring a third charge: that even on its own terms, reason must own up to some serious limitations."

....though it's concluded that

"some of the expectations of reason are ...unreasonable."

In our Open University Environmental decision making: a systems approach course we consider different approaches to decision making, some very rational others much less so. We need all the approaches so I see rational and less rational means more as a duality than a dualism. A few years ago I became aware of precision farming approaches that enabled farmers to move from intuitive to more rational approaches and findings that farmers' decision making was actually highly rational. Having worked through a lot of environmental decisions where Simon's ideas of limited rationality seemed to resonate very strongly, this research made me think, as I was becoming used to claims that we need to value intuitive approaches more highly than the strictly rational. I agree we need to accept the limitations of reason but not sure I hate reason - its clearly got users as well as abusers.

The trap of conventions

2008-08-05T12:50:00.010+01:00

I've recently been reading Michael Maniates' analysis - Individualization: Plant a tree, ride a bike, save the world - in which he illustrates very well how we are trapped in our thinking into doing what is familiar rather than engaging meaningfully with our ability to do things differently, which could mean fairly radical social change. He talks about it partly in terms of limiting our collective imagination. The need for this 'second-order' change - doing things differently - rather than 'first order', i.e. change that amounts to doing more of the same, came up again in reading George Monbiot's posting on the proposed coal-fired replacement of Kingsnorth power station. Monbiot explains that whether we prevent runaway climate change hinges largely on us stopping using this most carbon-intensive fossil fuel and that there are a lot of issues of practicality and cost around 'cleaner coal'. I was struck by the phrase from the power plant's proposer E.on in alleged correspondence with a civil servant that " the government has no right to withhold approval for a conventional plant”. Aaagh! In this day and age how can such an argument hold? In this context ....conventional, traditional or familiar...doesn't necessarily mean good!

It's still summer

2008-08-05T12:24:00.012+01:00

A visit to Hidcote's wonderful gardens and sitting admiring an early evening Oakham sky reminded me it's still summer...which stuck at my computer I sometimes forget!

Environmental decision making books

2008-07-28T21:26:00.003+01:00

Trawling through Amazon to find books on environmental decision making I might have missed, I noticed this one came in at number 6. Not exactly a user friendly description but a move in the right direction...and according to the record there's one left! :)

Emissions awareness

2008-07-27T23:06:00.004+01:00

So nearly three out of four motorists don't know how much Co2 their cars emit, according to this article in the Independent. I'm surprised one out of four do - it's a bit like being able to reel off the details of how much gas and electric your household consumes rather than how much the bill comes to. Fuel consumption - yes, engine size - yes.....but perhaps like most of the British public, I've never owned a new car, when specifications are very much on show so it's in second hand markets that these details need to be available?

Wrest Park in July

2008-07-27T22:43:00.004+01:00

Definitely a good day for Wrest Park today. Lovely to sit in the peaceful shade of its wonderful trees on this hot and humid July day.

Harvest

2008-07-27T22:04:00.004+01:00

The year marches on. We hand over our Environmental Responsibility book at the end of the month to the publishers so a lot to do over the next few days. I'm conscious as I'm sitting at my computer of combines harvesting nearby fields well into the night. We've watched the crops grow from seed. I find harvest time quite exciting - the general transformation captured by this sort of site I think, rather than just the excitment of the big machines, though the activity is all part of it. Interesting to take a look at how some of the farming community views this time and at some of the Farmers Weekly site's blogs.

Government response to Environmental Education petition

2008-06-06T18:18:00.004+01:00

The National Association for Environmental Education (NAEE) started a petition this Spring to put environmental education at the heart of the UK schools curriculum. A lot of people signed and we now have a response. Interestingly a decade ago is now thought of as something of a golden age in environmental education whereas there seems just as much if not more need today. Environment's in today's curriculum but not as much in the fore of some areas as it needs to be. Seems a contradiction of some of the statements coming from Government. I look forward to hearing about the promised 'sharper focus on sustainable development' from September 2008.

80 ways to celebrate World Environment Day

2008-06-05T18:18:00.003+01:00

Today's World Environment Day - allegedly one of the UN's "principal vehicles for stimulating worldwide awareness of the environment and enhancing political attention and action. " They've identified 80 ways to celebrate and with my work hat on I note "Xpect environmental responsibility" is one of them. This year New Zealand have hosted the main celebrations, in partnership with UNEP.

The Great Glasshouse

2008-05-30T14:43:00.008+01:00

It wasn't the brightest of days for our visit to the National Botanic Garden of Wales last Monday but we were passing and it was still very worthwhile. Norman Foster's 'raindrop' , the largest single span glasshouse in Europe, was impressive in its design, the interior design of 'the Great Glasshouse' was done by Gustafson Porter. Filled with mediterranean plants, on a cool rainy day it was a lovely place to be.

The cranes are back

2008-05-30T14:15:00.003+01:00

Interesting to hear on Springwatch that wild cranes are back in Britain. There are recent pictures of them at Horsey in Norfolk on the Birdguides site. I've not known them here in my lifetime so think it'd be exciting if they did start to survive here once more. I wonder what might today be in their niche though. Is this trying to turn the clock back? Restoration or conservation?

Your majesty, please save us from ourselves

2008-05-30T14:01:00.003+01:00

Monbiot's on form - with a letter to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia asking him to ignore our Prime Minister's request to increase oil production. He does point out a lot of contradictions and I'd be interested to see responses to this letter.

Environmental responsibility

2008-05-16T11:45:00.003+01:00

We're in the process of developing a new course on Environmental Responsibility for next year, drawing out aspects of ethics, policy and action. Interesting how many different meanings are found in this term which I suppose is hardly surprising as there' s a large literature around different meanings of the constituent concepts of environment and responsibility. Interesting for example that we can be perceived to be responsible and irresponsible at the same time and that one person's expression of environment will be nearly all about biophysical factors whereas in another's biophysical barely features. For me there's often some big starting assumptions in evidence about what we can be responsible for and about the relationship between individual and collective responsibility...and whether legal or moral responsibility is in mind. Interesting paper from Alexander Dahlsrud who analysed 37 definitions of corporate social responsibility and drew out five dimensions: environmental, social, economic, stakeholder and voluntariness.

Even in Bedfordshire

2008-05-15T10:06:00.002+01:00

...can hoopoes be seen...and a couple of red-footed falcons...allegedly. Nice pics from Steve Blain.

Making the connections

2008-05-14T16:15:00.004+01:00

Interesting comment from Jonathon Porritt who was taking stock of how our sustainability and environment agenda has changed over the past year:

So, food security is back on the political agenda. Climate change is omni-present. Peak Oil is rising. The credit crunch is the new player on the block. Resource wars are looming. Rainforest destruction just won’t go away. Species loss is as bad as ever, but no one cares – for now. Water shortages are chronic.
But much, much more worrying are the linkages between all these notionally “separate” phenomena. The synergies, feedback loops, interdependencies. At long last, people are starting to make the connections – and are even beginning to link all those separate symptoms back to their root cause: today’s literally insane notion of getting richer by trashing the planet and screwing the poor.

Human behaviour and climate change

2008-05-14T15:48:00.002+01:00

Phil Downing, Head of Environmental Research at Ipsos Mori, gave a seminar yesterday at the OU which I attended. It was part of a short series we've held over the past couple of months to explore what systems ideas have contributed to the discourse on climate change. Phil and his colleagues' work on public attitudes to climate change was of interest to us in terms of trying to understand multiple perspectives on our various systems of interest in the context of climate change. Two points he made that I found interesting from a systems point of view. One was 'rebound effect' - where people save money on say saving energy and then spend it on a flight to New York or a high energy using plasma TV. This is an example of an unintended consequence of an intervention. Reinforces for me that human behaviour isn't straight forward and can't be simply 'controlled'. The other point of interest was his mention of 'cognitive polyphasia' - where we can hold two conflicting beliefs at the same time. There's something illustrated there about ideas not being independent of contexts and the dynamics of our thinking and beliefs. Does make me wonder about interviews that aim to find out what people think though.

Feeding the world without destroying it

2008-04-21T10:36:00.004+01:00

The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) - set up to take stock of our knowledge, technology and policy, and help find a way to feed the world without destroying it - is due to report. Some interesting articles in 5 April's New Scientist about it including one from Janice Jiggins, who highlights quite a dilemma about 'transferred technologies' and those developed for particular contexts. The quote below is taken from that article, which can also be found here with the other articles.

"Scientists driven by the intellectual excitement of their work had difficulty grasping how a technology could be benign or harmful in different contexts....In general, however, there is a mismatch between the generalising nature of scientific and technological solutions that have to exploit market opportunities, and the obstinate specifics of farming. The assumption that external solutions can be effectively transferred to small farmers has often proved false. This has left too many farmers without access to science and technology, and a lot of technology irrelevant to farmers' real problems. Transferred technologies can even cause environmental or social harm. Conversely, knowledge and technologies originating from farmers themselves, or through civil society organisations working closely with them, are often so closely tailored to a particular context they cannot be applied generally."

Spring in Greece

2008-04-10T16:57:00.008+01:00

Does consultation count as 'strong action now'?

2008-03-13T16:02:00.003Z

Interesting piece in the Guardian climate change blog today from Bibi van der Zee. She comments on some of the anaomalies from this week's budget. To me this budget was rather pale green and a particular challenge for those of us advocating participation in decision making are the many proposed consultations announced. I share some of the concerns expressed in this article. Also not clear yet about the nature of these proposed consultations....a delaying tactic, political tool or genuine attempt to focus on the right thing?

Behind the costing of Heathrow's Third Runway

2008-02-28T16:50:00.010Z

Well written piece here from Jonathon Porritt explaining some of the issues behind 'shadow charging' for carbon and DEFRA/DfT's mis-use of the Stern report figures in context of proposed third runway at Heathrow. Paul Ekins originally picked up on this.

A third runway for Heathrow?

2008-02-28T14:25:00.007Z

I was invited to blog a piece by this title to accompany tomorrow's BBC Money Programme about the proposed third runway at Heathrow, much in the News this week because of 'Plane Stupid's' protest at the House of Commons and the Greenpeace protest at the airport itself . I'd question some of the assumptions behind this proposed decision. The decision-making approach adopted doesn't, to me, look systemic. It also highlights some very different meanings behind the term 'sustainable development'. I think systems approaches to decision making have something to offer in this kind of context.

Unintended consequences

2008-02-22T10:07:00.008Z

George Monbiot's article, 'An Exchange of Souls' I found very chilling. He's highlighted the pitfalls of using cost benefit analysis in the context of climate change where human lives are at stake and challenged the assumptions behind working out the costs in monetary terms in Nicholas Stern's review of the economics of climate change. Besides claiming that subsequent analyses have shown that the government numbers are wrong, he seems to be saying that attaching numbers to environmental and social costs leaves open an option for others to argue that all costs of new developments can be outweighed purely in terms of economic benefits. The proposed third runway at Heathrow is his starting point. Monbiot's also recognising that this is an unintended consequence and that there's no way that Stern and his team intended the findings of their report to be used in this way. I've read this report and it makes all sorts of points about how these numbers should and shouldn't be used. Perhaps a salutary reminder that we can't control how people will respond to an analysis. Readers won't necessarily share the values of authors so can use it for different purpose. Monbiot concludes

I can accept that a unit of measurement which allows us to compare the human costs of different spending decisions is a useful tool. What I cannot accept is that it should be scrambled up with the price of eggs and prefixed with a dollar sign. Human life is not a commodity. It cannot be traded against profits or exchanged for convenience. We have no right to decide that others should die to make us richer.

Clean, green climate-friendly towns

2008-02-22T09:59:00.003Z

I like Greenpeace's work on showing that we have many de-centralised energy options not just those we're going with at a national scale. Mainstreaming this kind of thinking seems to me to be one of the main challenges. Interesting animation here where they're urging us to 'Visit EfficienCity: a clean, green climate-friendly town'.

England in February

2008-02-21T19:13:00.008Z

....can be splendid! These photos taken on a recent visit to Exmoor, stopping in Salisbury on our return.

UK 18 year-olds thoughts on the future

2008-02-04T13:43:00.000Z

Interesting to see Jonathan Porritt's comments on the outcomes of an extensive 'future leaders' survey done by Forum for the Future with UCAS and all applicants to UK Higher Education. Quite a few comparisons across generations though I'm always a little suspicious of percentages that summarise what people think. Surely even when it's reported that "84% think that......" there must be a lot more diversity in thinking there?
According to the Forum for the Future site:

The survey paints a picture of a generation that is intensely aware of the big challenges facing the planet and eager to see broader social and political change, but which is less willing to adapt individual personal behaviour.
The survey results do, however, begin to highlight ways through this paradox. Respondents would like to see tougher action by government, business playing a positive role, and less of an obsession with material affluence.

Systems and Climate Change seminars - coming soon

2008-01-27T18:43:00.000Z

What do systems ideas offer to help us understand and live with climate change? The Open Systems Research Group is exploring this theme in 3 inter-linked lunch-time seminars at the Open University on March 11th, April 15th and May 13th. Details can be found here.

Snowdrop hunting

2008-01-27T16:11:00.001Z

Today I've been over to Anglesey Abbey on what has become a bit of a ritual for this time of year - hunting for snowdrops. The Great British Gardens site is a great help. Besides snowdrops, there's a wonderful winter garden at Anglesey Abbey - very clever planting for colours, contrasts, fragrances and shapes. I note from my old blog that my previous few years' snowdrop trips to Audley End and Benington Lordship were quite a bit later than this one. Does this mean we're in for an early spring?

I've become fascinated by snowdrops. They don't grow well in my garden so I'm not a collector but happy to just see them growing elsewhere. I love to see them flowering early in the year as the days just start to lengthen - a very cheering sign of spring to come. I also find interesting the stories people tell about them. From the Abbey's leaflet :

"Snowdrops ...have a long association with monastic sites and are linked with the church festival of purification....snowdrops cross-pollinate easily, so wherever there are a number of varieties present there is a good chance that some new types will develop. The Anglesey Abbey collection now contains over 170 varieties..."

And from the Audley End website some time ago...

“The common snowdrop has been known throughout Europe for centuries and believed to have been grown from earliest medieval times. Then the soldiers returning from the Crimean War (1853 – 54) brought back snowdrops (theGalanthus plicatus) in their backpacks and by 1891 snowdrop passion had taken a firm hold.”

Thinking on thinking

2008-01-25T10:56:00.000Z

I deeply admire the writings of Sir Geoffrey Vickers who in retirement from public life wrote to make sense of his experiences. He served as solicitor, soldier, adviser to the National Coal Board and member of a great many public and professional bodies including the Medical Research Council. Looking through his 1970 book Freedom in a Rocking Boat this morning for some readings for students, I found his following comment thought provoking. For me, one of Vickers great skills is in how he captures the dynamics of life. In this introduction to his book he is striving to acknowledge those who have influenced his thinking:

....my sense of indebtedness leaves me dumb. Socialized and humanized by being claimed from birth onwards as a member of so many communicating human groups; ushered into self-awareness through a language, every word of which resonates with the meanings of ancient usage; heir to several cultural traditions, each far too abundant for my assimilation - how can I name or number or know the living and the dead who have shaped my thoughts and me?

Remarkable strength of spirit

2008-01-25T09:15:00.000Z

I watched Channel 4's 'A Boy called Alex' yesterday. What a remarkable attitude to life he and his family showed. Truly inspirational.

Nuclear power?

2008-01-14T17:20:00.000Z

So our Government's definitely backing a new generation of nuclear reactors. Very interesting to see the diverse views here about whether people feel this is right or wrong. To me it feels a bit like going back in time. When the first round were built it was partly because nuclear power was perceived as a cleaner cheaper option to other possibilities at that time. There was faith in the future that safe long-term ways would be found to dispose of their waste and health and safety issues were played down. As I understand it technology's moved on but we still haven't sorted the disposal of wastes issue nor some of the health and safety issues. Though many see little choice and think that nuclear weighs up well against other options and needs to be part of the solution to our energy supply problems. But if the true costs of the nuclear option were weighed up in terms of waste disposal wouldn't it compare less well with renewable energy options which would be my first choice?

Kenya - a complex situation

2008-01-07T21:18:00.000Z

I had a New Year letter with a difference from a friend who has made her life in Kenya. Her story of the politics, emotions, relationships, movement of people and disruption of infrastructure she was experiencing highlighted for me how complex and serious the situation there has rapidly become. Also how variable it is from one part of the country to another and among different communities. Fortunately she feels herself to be in a relatively safe area. But she was highly critical of the international news coverage which she found far from accurate as journalists work to get their soundbytes, based on their own limited experience and interpretation of events. It has made me question the role and nature of journalism in such situations. It's one thing to let the rest of the world know what's going on but quite another to report without understanding the depth of the situation and without acknowledgement of complexity and variability, hence playing into the hands of one group or another. I wonder generally about the nature of the intervention and reaction of the international community. I'm really surprised to see such a turn of events in Kenya and I do so hope that the international community can learn from past occasions in Africa and help ease the situation, not polarise groups or inadvertently extend the conflict as it plays out in front of the world's media.

Carbon footprint & the New Year resolutions league table

2008-01-07T17:36:00.000Z

I hear from this DEFRA page "According to a YouGov poll, just 15 per cent of Britons have resolved to reduce their carbon footprint in 2008, compared to 38 per cent pledging to lose weight and 20 per cent aiming to make more money."

I don't find this very surprising. It seems to me to echo wider priorities that come across in news coverage and Govt policy.

As the New Year starts

2008-01-03T11:26:00.001Z

I remember life in Sierra Leone where at New Year people danced and sang 'Happy New Year me no die-o' just celebrating being alive for the start of another year. I love watching fireworks but increasingly the New Year displays around parts of the world seem a bit excessive, a competition among cities to out-blitz each other. To me they seem less celebratory about what really matters than the Sierra Leonean way. Still - some energy savings in the celebrations in New York I note.

Looking for 'environmental good news' to start the year took a bit of doing but I am cheered to think that travelling by Eurostar to Paris amounts to only one tenth of the environmental effects of taking a plane. In addition, according to this article, Eurostar offsets carbon emissions on that amount. I think this sounds great but given the huge recent re-construction at St Pancras do wonder a little where boundaries have been drawn on counting the costs.

Following the consumerism of Christmas in the UK I'm wondering if we all really have to go at the pace we do. If we all slowed down a bit and cut out consuming what we don't really value anyway and do say 80% of the consuming we're currently doing, I suspect for many of us our quality of life would improve a great deal. Schon's 'reflection-in-action' comes to mind as a way of achieving it.

Happy Christmas!

2007-12-21T13:08:00.001Z

As the year closes...

2007-12-21T12:38:00.000Z

I have these questions in mind....

How will ELQ funding cuts affect the Open University?

How will adopting a roadmap help in dealing with issues of climate change?

How can I work smarter next year?

Will systems thinking and practice be more in evidence next year.....and the word systemic be used to describe more than failure or sleaze?

How can I make the most of what Etienne Wenger calls the 'unique trajectory' each of us has among the communities we're part of - both in terms of renegotiating my own identity and in terms of my responsibilities to those communities?

....I have a lot of less profound questions in mind also about just managing in my daily life. Time for a break I think.

Two sides of winter

2007-12-19T17:04:00.001Z

The first is today - freezing fog in middle England. Pretty hoar frost and it felt timeless and closed-in and never really got light. The other is a cold but bright north-eastern UK beach where we were this time last year. I loved the blue sky and the way the wind blew the incoming waves back....and those oyster catchers!

Etienne Wenger and Yrjo Engestrom

2007-12-19T16:40:00.000Z

Last Tuesday - 11th December I was lucky to be able to attend an event of the OU's Practice-based professial learning Centre in memory of the OU's Peter Knight who died earlier this year.

Etienne Wenger and Yrjo Engestrom whose learning theories I've engaged with quite a lot both made presentations. The morning in particular was very rich in ideas.

Two things among those I took away to think on....

Etienne's comments on identities as systems of expressability and accountability. In passing he commented that if you are not engaged in something you don't feel accountable. Although at one level it's an obvious comment his phrasing of it in the way he did got me thinking about how it helps to explain many people's lack of accountability regarding environmental practices regarding climate change....how can people feel accountable if not engaged in a particular way?
Yrjo's focus on climate change as an example of a 'runaway object' (borrowing from Giddens' 'runaway world') and his use of the metaphor of mycorrhizae....what's going on beneath the ground, invisible and huge.

Crisp winter morning

2007-12-13T22:07:00.000Z

Winter at it's best. Cold, frosty and bright.