Talks and Presentations

  • There's a really good living to be made out of climate change

    There was evidence for this aplenty in Oxford the other day as the idea and practice of capitalism came in for another routine bashing. That's a great thing about capitalism, of course, it affords niches not just for business and social...

  • Fairness and Physics

    Peter Harper, variously of the Centre for Alternative Technology, Schumacher College, and the University of Bath is presenting a lecture tonight at BRLSI on Energy: Fairness, Physics and Sustainability.  This is the blurb: The atmosphere is a shared resource.  Therefore the...

  • The most terrifying video you'll ever see

    This is how this YouTube clip is introduced.  Really, I thought – has no one seen this YouTube gem which I defy anyone to watch without reaching for the valium. No matter how often I watch the "most terrifying" YouTube video, it just...

  • "I think sustainability will make everyone happy."

    You can still come across poor presentations at conferences, and often these are not because of incompetence, but owing to a poor attitude towards the audience, one that is frequently rooted in insecurity. I sat through an ECER presentation of...

  • Creating a Learning Society in Edinburgh

    Joseph E. Stiglitz will deliver the 2014 RSA Scotland Angus Millar Lecture on the topic of Creating a Learning Society.   The RSA’s blurb says: It has long been recognised that most standard of living increases are associated with advances in...

  • A small town in Germany

    I was at the University of Vechta in Lower Saxony on Monday making a presentation at the start of a summer school on Empirical Research on Education for Sustainable Development – Themes, Methods and Trends.  I was the warm-up act for what...

  • Contemplating Steve van Matre

    On Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th September, at the Bishops Wood Centre in Worcestershire, you can, if you pay enough money, contemplate with the Earth Ed Guru himself: Steve VM. But, really, why would you – despite the tempting take-away...

  • The wider benefits of food growing

    This is the talk I gave last Friday at the launch of Food Growing Schools: London, a Big Lottery-funded initiative by Garden Organic, supported by the Mayor.  I was asked to talk for 10 minutes about the wider benefits of...

  • Is leadership for sustainability possible in a market economy?

    This was the title of a debate at the University of Worcester last Friday.  I was on the panel.  I made notes beforehand but forgot to take them with me.  The panel was eclectic: a consultant oncologist; a social entrepreneur...

  • Systems Thinking, Education and the Circular Economy

    Here's a recent talk by Ken Webster at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.  There is much in it about the real world, and about sustainability and learning – though not about ESD.  A stimulating way to start the day.