Inequality and Sustainability Transitions

Why is inequality related to environmental destruction, and how does considering inequality clarify understanding of sustainability transitions? This paper explores first how domestic inequality in developed countries helps explain the causes of environmental degradation through unequal influence on governance and managing common pool resources.... Read more 19 Dec 2022 - less than 1 minute read

Policy Proposal: Pcycling (Nutrient Recovery from Urine)

To respect planetary boundaries and ensure global food security, society must become more circular and recycle all waste. Biogeochemical flows of nitrogen and phosphorus are among the most transgressed planetary boundaries. Fertilizer runoff and sewage containing nitrogen and phosphorus are dumped into rivers and coastal waters, killing aquatic ... Read more 18 Dec 2022 - 1 minute read

Term 1 Week 10: US Climate Czar John Kerry

I’m writing from the train back from London after attending a Fulbright lecture video by US Special Climate Envoy John Kerry (for the zoomers, he’s a former MA Senator, 2004 presidential candidate, Secretary of State under Obama, this position is brand new under Biden, and every article you read will refer to him as Climate Czar) about the urgen... Read more 09 Dec 2022 - 2 minute read

Term 1 Week 8: Carbon Colonialism and Positive Tipping Points

COP27 COP27 finished over the weekend (COP = UN Conference of the Parties, annual convention for global leaders to meet and agree on climate things. You’ve probably heard of the Paris Accords – that was the 2015 COP where the world agreed that +2C was a very dangerous amount of warming and we should be shooting for 1.5C). This COP was in Egypt. ... Read more 21 Nov 2022 - 5 minute read

Term 1 Week 7: Tipping Points and Planetary Boundaries

This week is pretty depressing. You may cry a bit. Planetary Boundaries “Climate change” as a term has come to be all-encompassing for environmental degradation, rather than just the problem of carbon in the atmosphere. Carbon is also the problem we have tended to focus most on as a society, e.g. all the recent net zero pledges around greenhous... Read more 19 Nov 2022 - 7 minute read

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