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An examination of clean technology entrepreneurship finds that “green capitalism” is more capitalist than green. Entrepreneurs and investors in the green economy have encouraged a vision of addressing climate change with new technologies. In Planetary Improvement, Jesse Goldstein examines the cleantech entrepreneurial community in order to understand the limitations of environmental transformation within a capitalist system. Reporting on a series of investment pitches by cleantech entrepreneurs in New York City, Goldstein describes investor-friendly visions of incremental improvements to the industrial status quo that are hardly transformational. He explores a new “green spirit of capitalism,” a discourse of planetary improvement, that aims to “save the planet” by looking for “non-disruptive disruptions,” technologies that deliver “solutions” without changing much of what causes the underlying problems in the first place. Goldstein charts the rise of business environmentalism over the last half of the twentieth century and examines cleantech's unspoken assumptions of continuing cheap and abundant energy. Recounting the sometimes conflicting motivations of cleantech entrepreneurs and investors, he argues that the cleantech innovation ecosystem and its Schumpetarian dynamic of creative destruction are built around attempts to control creativity by demanding that transformational aspirations give way to short-term financial concerns. As a result, capitalist imperatives capture and stifle visions of sociotechnical possibility and transformation. Finally, he calls for a green spirit that goes beyond capitalism, in which sociotechnical experimentation is able to break free from the narrow bonds and relative privilege of cleantech entrepreneurs and the investors that control their fate.
Climate change has shifted from future menace to current event. As eco-conscious electricity consumers, we want to do our part in weening from fossil fuels, but what are we actually a part of? Committed environmentalists in one of North America’s most progressive regions desperately wanted energy policies that address the climate crisis. For many of them, wind turbines on Northern New England’s iconic ridgelines symbolize the energy transition that they have long hoped to see. For others, however, ridgeline wind takes on a very different meaning. When weighing its costs and benefits locally and globally, some wind opponents now see the graceful structures as symbols of corrupted energy politics. This book derives from several years of research to make sense of how wind turbines have so starkly split a community of environmentalists, as well as several communities. In doing so, it casts a critical light on the roadmap for energy transition that Northern New England’s ridgeline wind projects demarcate. It outlines how ridgeline wind conforms to antiquated social structures propping up corporate energy interests, to the detriment of the swift de-carbonizing and equitable transformation that climate predictions warrant. It suggests, therefore, that the energy transition of which most of us are a part, is probably not the transition we would have designed ourselves, if we had been asked.
Putting Mankind First is a humorous novel, which sees an impending alien invasion being fought by a management committee. When an alien fleet is detected approaching the Earth, the world’s governments must decide what to do about it. In the UK, the Prime Minister convenes a meeting of COBRA, which writes a report titled ‘Putting Mankind First’. “There is an alien fleet somewhere out there which may, or may not, be intent on destroying the world.” As the fleet enters our solar system, the country’s greatest brains discuss the Earth’s response. What should be done? Who should do it? And what colour paper should the report be on? Meanwhile, the aliens have their own agenda and intentions which – if mankind only knew them – would cause even greater panic on Earth. As the alien fleet gets ever closer, it becomes clear that the danger is so great that even COBRA’s neatly-typed paperwork may not be enough to save the Earth... A tall, dark stranger, a plucky young heroine, an adorable basset hound, a peculiar cat and a myriad of historical and alien characters come together in this biting satire on modern management practices that starts in the Home Counties, but spans thousands of centuries and millions of miles.
The book seeks to explore ways in which education research, policy and practice ought to be re-thought and re-enacted under present bio-political predicaments. It brings together scholars working in the intersections of education for sustainable development, philosophy of education and curriculum theory who contribute original and radical analyses of education in an increasingly unpredictable and unintelligible world. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), humanity is closer to irreversible tipping points that, once reached will lead to accelerating transformations that will drastically change life on earth during the coming decades. Responses from education studies to these precarious social-ecological conditions range from pointing out necessary ways forward for education grounded in human accountability, responsibility, justice, ethics, and care; to dark ecology-oriented interventions unnerving the very premises that education relies on. When education is deeply entangled with, and contributing to, a catastrophic global development, the idea of education as a nostalgic promise for a common good and a better future comes under scrutiny. This volume re-configures education as inextricable from other anthropogenic threats and natural forces that seem to become increasingly intertwined in joint production of our current predicament. It urges educational theorists, practitioners, and policymakers to engage with thinking, practicing, and revolutionizing educational futures. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal Educational Philosophy and Theory.
God¿s Call to Planet Earth looks at the Bible¿s great themes of redemption, the Christian experience, and last-day events. All these themes are explored in the context of the last chapters of the book of Revelation. God gave a judgment message in Noah¿s day before the flood. Scripture reveals God is giving a similar message today. In the pages of this book you will learn God¿s message for you. You will also learn how to be victorious today and how to be one of God¿s faithful in the midst of the great events destined to shake this planet in the years ahead.
An Apollo 11 astronaut and the Nebula Award–nominated author of Directive 51 present a novel that “conveys the wonder and promise of space” (Publishers Weekly). Born the year of the Moon landing, Chris Terence spends his life fighting to return humanity to that pinnacle. An engineering student with dreams of spaceflight, he finds upon graduation that the United States no longer has need for astronauts. Years of bureaucratic meddling have reduced the space program to a shell of itself, and it will take the greatest scientific find in history to send humanity skyward once more. After years battling budget hawks, Chris finally gets his chance to walk on the Moon. While there, he finds evidence of an ancient alien civilization, the Tiberians, who visited Earth’s satellite eight thousand years before. Understanding what happened to those long-forgotten travelers will define the lives of Chris and his son, as they fight against all odds to unlock the secrets of the universe. “The collaboration of the first man to pilot a moon lander (Aldrin) with a major voice in contemporary science fiction (Barnes) has produced a fascinating chronicle of man’s first encounter with alien intelligence” (Booklist).
An easy-to-use field guide for teaching on climate injustice and building resilience in your students—and yourself—in an age of crisis. As feelings of eco-grief and climate anxiety grow, educators are grappling with how to help students learn about the violent systems causing climate change while simultaneously navigating the emotions this knowledge elicits. This book provides resources for developing emotional and existential tenacity in college classrooms so that students can stay engaged. Featuring insights from scholars, educators, activists, artists, game designers, and others who are integrating emotional wisdom into climate justice education, this user-friendly guide offers a robust menu of interdisciplinary, plug-and-play teaching strategies, lesson plans, and activities to support student transformation and build resilience. The book also includes reflections from students who have taken classes that incorporate their emotions in the curricula. Galvanizing and practical, The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators will equip both educators and their students with tools for advancing climate justice.
A groundbreaking look at Gaia theory’s intersections with neocybernetic systems theory Often seen as an outlier in science, Gaia has run a long and varied course since its formulation in the 1970s by atmospheric chemist James Lovelock and microbiologist Lynn Margulis. Gaian Systems is a pioneering exploration of the dynamic and complex evolution of Gaia’s many variants, with special attention to Margulis’s foundational role in these developments. Bruce Clarke assesses the different dialects of systems theory brought to bear on Gaia discourse. Focusing in particular on Margulis’s work—including multiple pieces of her unpublished Gaia correspondence—he shows how her research and that of Lovelock was concurrent and conceptually parallel with the new discourse of self-referential systems that emerged within neocybernetic systems theory. The recent Gaia writings of Donna Haraway, Isabelle Stengers, and Bruno Latour contest its cybernetic status. Clarke engages Latour on the issue of Gaia’s systems description and extends his own systems-theoretical synthesis under what he terms “metabiotic Gaia.” This study illuminates current issues in neighboring theoretical conversations—from biopolitics and the immunitary paradigm to NASA astrobiology and the Anthropocene. Along the way, he points to science fiction as a vehicle of Gaian thought. Delving into many issues not previously treated in accounts of Gaia, Gaian Systems describes the history of a theory that has the potential to help us survive an environmental crisis of our own making.
The concept of crisis is a recurrent staple in representations of modern forms of insecurity - from nuclear proliferation to cyber-security, armed conflict, the instability of political institutions, from pandemics to risks of social and financial collapse. Amidst this seeming ubiquity and ever-presence, the onset of climate and ecological emergencies as potential planetary-scale threats to the habitability of the Earth raise particularly urgent questions for how we conceive of and deal with crisis insecurity. How these forms of planetary insecurity come to be known, understood, and managed is thus of pressing importance. Security in Crisis seeks to provide an analysis of the complex combinations of political and technological understandings entailed in what it terms as 'planetary crisis management'. Arguing that the emergence, scope and scale of planetary insecurity and crisis management challenge traditional disciplinary boundaries of the study of International Relations and security, the book adopts an interdisciplinary outlook. It integtrates ideas and approaches from across political theory and anthropology (on conceptions of crisis) including climate science and the wider study of environment and ecology in the 'Anthropocene' (on planetary insecurities and ideas of geoengineering); science and technology studies (on the 'technopolitics' of crisis management and the 'sociotechnical imagination' of planetary futures); and critical security studies (on critical approaches to the international and to security). In the process, the book considers how technopolitical 'fixes' for planetary crisis and emergency are often bound up with vexed questions of who 'we' are, and what it means to imagine and secure a planetary future. ABOUT THE SERIES: Voices in International Relations, published under the auspices of the European International Studies Association (EISA), furthers the development of research at the frontiers of International Relations (IR). It expands the remit of the field by including innovative scholarship that broadens key debates in the discipline, but it is more interested in reconfiguring such debates by approaching them from inside and outside the conventional core. Thematically, we aim to publish research that pushes the limits of IR conventionally defined from within and connects it to debates developing outside the discipline. We are committed to furthering diversity and inclusion in terms of authorship, location, topics and approaches from both inside and outside Europe. We have an inclusive approach to neighbouring disciplines, be it sociology, history, anthropology, geography, economics, political theory or law. Series editors: Debbie Lisle, Tanja Aalberts, Anna Leander, and Laura Sjoberg.
WHEN JOHN MASON JUNIOR IS INFORMED THAT HE HAS BEEN SELECTED AS THE NEW PLANETARY PRESIDENT HE IS INDIGNANT AS HE REALISES THAT HE HAS BEEN A PAWN OF THE WORLD COALITION GOVERNMENT EVER SINCE HE BEGAN MAKING CHANGES AND ESTABLISHING A NEW UNDERGROUND SOCIETY THAT HAS THRIVED AND GROWN UNDER HIS CAPABLE SUPERVISION. NOW, AT SIXTY THREE, HE IS FACED WITH SOME OF THE GREATEST CHALLENGES OF HIS LIFE. HE CAN FINALIZE THE INVESTIGATION INTO THE ETERNITY CLINICS THAT HAVE BEEN SO MUCH A PART OF THE DEATH ORDER CULTURE ON THERA FOR THE PAST TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AND DICOVER THEIR TERRIBLE SECRET. DISCOVERING THE COLONISTS ORIGINAL CHARTER HE DECIDES THAT FUTURE LAWS WILL BE ESTABLISHED ON THE PRINCIPLES OF THAT CHARTER. BASING HIS FIRST EXECUTIVE ORDER ON THE SEVENTH PRINCIPLE IN THE CHARTER, JUNIOR ABOLISHES THE CLASS DISTINCTIONS LAW THAT HAS SEPARATED EXECUTIVES AND WORKERS FOR SO MANY CENTURIES. REVIVING THE SCIENCES THAT WILL ALLOW THERANS TO VENTURE OUT INTO SPACE, JUNIOR STARTS SETTING UP VARIOUS NEW GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES AND APPOINTING FORMER WORKERS AS GOVERNMENT MINISTERS. HOWEVER, JUNIOR FACES HIS GREATEST CHALLENGE EVER WHEN HE IS ATTACKED AND STABBED BY AN ASSASSIN.