{"id":7191,"date":"2018-03-13T06:21:45","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T06:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=7191"},"modified":"2018-03-13T06:21:45","modified_gmt":"2018-03-13T06:21:45","slug":"listening-to-the-book-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2018\/03\/13\/listening-to-the-book-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening to the book launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you missed the launch of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/The-World-Well-Leave-Behind-Grasping-the-Sustainability-Challenge\/Scott-Vare\/p\/book\/9781783537730\">The World We'll leave Behind<\/a> the other week, never fear, as you can catch up with it <a href=\"https:\/\/uniofbath.cloud.panopto.eu\/Panopto\/Pages\/Viewer.aspx?id=ce8e480c-70ae-4b44-99ac-117edcecc27d\">here<\/a> c\/o Bath's panopto recording of its seminars.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, you'll just have to visualise the powerpoint, especially Paul's pictures of the 1780s. \u00a0Meanwhile, I'm rather childishly happy to note that it was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.milieufocus.nl\/milieuboeken-top-100\/algemeen\/boek-van-de-week-the-world-well-leave-behind.html\">book of the week<\/a> in atlas one bit of the Netherlands.<\/p>\n<p>However, if you'd prefer to read, then here is what I (but not Paul) said:<\/p>\n<p>....................................................<\/p>\n<p>Paul and I are delighted to be here to talk about our new book.\u00a0 This attempts to do 3 things. \u00a0First, it identifies the main sustainability issues and challenges that humanity now faces and which some summarise like this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>How can we all live well now, in a way that will enable everyone in the future to live well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The book then explains the ideas that underpin these issues, and their inter-connection, and finally, it discusses a range of strategies through which the issues might be addressed and possibly resolved. \u00a0We did this in around 63,000 words.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to talk about writing the book and the decisions you face if the contents are to be accessible, reasonably authoritative and comprehensive enough to be useful.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going to begin by talking about the book as a whole.\u00a0 Paul will then discuss writing one particular chapter and then say something about writing a book like this in a different age.<\/p>\n<p>Why, then, did we write this?\u00a0 Well, we\u2019ve both been writing about sustainability and learning for quite a few years now.\u00a0 And I think I read somewhere that a typical academic paper about learning and sustainability is downloaded by only 3 people<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The first does so by mistake, prints it in error, and then immediately puts it in the compost.<\/li>\n<li>The second does mean to read it but never gets round to it.<\/li>\n<li>The third actually reads it but is so outraged by what it says that they write a paper giving their side of the story.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2026 which then only 3 people ever download \u2026<\/p>\n<p>This is obviously a slight exaggeration, but it was to escape this tyranny that we decided to write a book that people might actually want to read.\u00a0 By people, we didn\u2019t just mean the sort of folk who turn up to I-SEE seminars, but ordinary people as well.\u00a0 We wanted to write a book for everyone who might have an interest in the environmental and social issues facing us today.\u00a0 And to do so in a way that shows how intertwined all these are.<\/p>\n<p>But we didn\u2019t want to write an in-depth account of the issues, or a deep historical perspective on their development.\u00a0 These books already exist.\u00a0 Neither did we want to produce yet another toolkit, self-help book or a set of moral instructions for good living.\u00a0 These books exist as well.\u00a0 Rather, we wanted to summarise ideas in a way that would help readers think about things, and join in the everyday family, public and political debate with a little more information and insight.\u00a0 That is, informed not just about a few facts, but insightful about where ideas are contested, and where values are in play.\u00a0 In short, we wanted to help people think about the world that we shall \u2013 in all probability \u2013 leave behind.<\/p>\n<p>But we needed to find a structure that would allow us to do that.\u00a0 We needed some inspiration. \u00a0It came from AC Grayling and his book:\u00a0The Meaning of Things \u2013 applying philosophy to life. \u00a0This was one of a series of books based on his Guardian column, The Last Word.\u00a0 The Meaning of Things has 61 short chapters some of which are only two or three pages long \u2013 between 6 and 12 hundred words.\u00a0 Here are 24 of the issues that Grayling\u2019s book deals with :<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Age \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ambition\u00a0\u00a0 Betrayal\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blasphemy\u00a0\u00a0 Death\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Education\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Faith\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fear<\/p>\n<p>Happiness\u00a0\u00a0 Hate\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Health\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hope\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Love\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Loyalty\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lust\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Poverty<\/p>\n<p>Peace\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Racism\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Revenge\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sorrow\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Speciesism\u00a0 Tolerance\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Virginity<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As you see, it covers a wide range of everyday life issues \u2013 starting with Age and ending with Virginity \u2013 and you can read these short essays in whatever order you like.\u00a0 You could, for example, start with Virginity and end at Age, pausing on the way for Lust, Hope, Sin and Sorrow.\u00a0 You could also, of course, make that same journey via Love, Loyalty, Peace and Happiness.<\/p>\n<p>Grayling organized his 61 chapters into three sections:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Virtues and Attributes \u2013 including the chapters on Betrayal \u00a0\u00a0Hope\u00a0\u00a0 Love<\/li>\n<li>Foes and Fallacies \u2013 including the chapters on Blasphemy \u00a0\u00a0Faith \u00a0\u00a0Sin<\/li>\n<li>Amenities and Goods \u2013 including the chapters on Age \u00a0\u00a0Ambition \u00a0\u00a0Peace<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And the Financial Times reviewer said this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThis is a book to be dipped into and savoured over time.\u00a0 \u2026 deeply humane and subtle in its thought as well as being imbued with a rare spirit of the enlightenment.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The first point was just what we had in mind.\u00a0 \u00a0As for the second, well: if only, we thought.<\/p>\n<p>So we had our template \u2013 short chapters \u2013 around 1000 words we thought \u2013 three sections \u2013 covering the breadth and essence of things accessibly \u2013 in a non-linear, dipping in and dipping out sort of way.\u00a0 We also had our subject: The Sustainability Challenge \u2013 which we hardly need explain.<\/p>\n<p>So what guided the book?\u00a0\u00a0 What kind of thinking did we bring to it?\u00a0 We had a focus and a purpose, we were bringing environmental and socio-economic issues together, and we had Grayling\u2019s structure as a guide.<\/p>\n<p>We also had a few early chapter ideas.\u00a0 For example, these<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Nature \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Meat eating\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The circular economy<\/p>\n<p>Globalisation\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Resilience; \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sustainable development<\/p>\n<p>Climate change \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Poverty\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Species loss<\/p>\n<p>Education\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Legislation\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mindfulness<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We think that if you were to set about writing such a book, you might have at least a few of these as well.\u00a0 But probably not them all as this list is peculiar to the two of us.\u00a0 It reflects our shared interests and experience of writing together, our different backgrounds, and our very different career and work experience.\u00a0 I for example, am a lapsed chemist and a slowly recovering academic.\u00a0 Paul is a frustrated artist who worked for NGOs for a long time, and is still an academic.\u00a0 These differences were a great strength in bringing together disparate ideas, insights and perspectives.<\/p>\n<p>Most of these chapters ideas we both knew we had to include \u2013 but we each brought our own interests as well.\u00a0 For example, I contributed the circular economy idea partly because I\u2019d worked with Ken Webster and colleagues at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.\u00a0 And Paul contributed Mindfulness to the list because he spends a lot of time thinking about such things.<\/p>\n<p>So, we had our grand theme and a few chapters, but we didn\u2019t have our three sections and it was agreeing those that gave our book its final coherence.\u00a0 We eventually settled on these \u2026<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[i] Issues \u2013 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 These are the real challenges we now face because of our own past and present activities.<\/p>\n<p>[ii] Concepts \u2013 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 These are the ideas and mental frameworks that we use us to think about and understand these challenges.<\/p>\n<p>[iii] Strategies \u2013 \u00a0\u00a0 These are the means through which such challenges might be addressed and possibly resolved or overcome.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u2026 although in our first proposals to publishers the Concepts section came before Issues.\u00a0 This switch was made over a beer at the Green Dragon Inn in the Cotswolds, which was where we made all the important decisions about the book.\u00a0 Creating this structure was important as it allowed us to think more clearly about what the book would focus on.<\/p>\n<p>Following this, we rapidly came up with a long list of about 70 possible chapter titles, many of which then disappeared in discussion.\u00a0 These, for example:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Business as usual \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Deep ecology\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Earth education \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a Good life<\/p>\n<p>Mitigation\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sociobiology\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Technological fixes<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There are no chapters in the book with these titles. \u00a0But in most cases it was the names that disappeared rather than the topics, and we were still chopping and changing chapter titles as deadlines loomed.<\/p>\n<p>It might seem odd, but the sample chapters we sent to publishers were these:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Nature \u2013 an issue<\/p>\n<p>Eating meat\u00a0 \u2013 a concept \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and<\/p>\n<p>The circular economy \u2013 a strategy<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And at this point we didn\u2019t have a title.<\/p>\n<p>We had a frustrating time with publishers which we\u2019ll talk about later if you like.\u00a0 Eventually, a contract emerged with Greenleaf \u2013 which was a small specialist publisher in Yorkshire.\u00a0 And it was Greenleaf who came up with the idea of the title.<\/p>\n<p>Our schedule was to write (and re-write) a chapter a week.\u00a0 The positive word for this is \u201cexhilarating\u201d.\u00a0 So we set about writing, and we wanted all the chapters to have both an environmental and a socio-economic focus because they are all about sustainability. \u00a0Although we never expected anyone to read the book from cover to cover, we wanted to mix things up, so that chapters with more of an environmental focus alternate, more or less, with ones that have more of a socio-economic theme.\u00a0 And you will see this in the list of chapter titles on the hand out.\u00a0 For example, the opening chapters in the Issues section are:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Global warming and climate change<\/li>\n<li>Inequality<\/li>\n<li>Species loss<\/li>\n<li>Human population<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>We didn\u2019t, of course, write the chapters in this order.\u00a0 Rather, we began with the easy ones.\u00a0 That is, the ones we were either most interested in, or thought that we knew most about \u2013 or both.\u00a0 Although we had a list of chapters, we found that writing created not just new ideas for chapters but the need for new chapters.\u00a0 Sometimes this was because you really did need 2000 words and not 1000.\u00a0 For example, there are two chapters on population:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>CH 4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is about Human population as an issue. \u00a0It deals with the numbers, and with inequalities across the planet.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and<\/p>\n<p>CH 41\u00a0 is about strategies for feeding 10 billion people.\u00a0 It starts in the 1820s with Thomas Malthus and, because he\u2019s never really gone away, it ends with him as well \u2013 as we suggest that his ghost is waiting in the wings to say, \u201cI told you so!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Sometimes writing was even more complicated and chapters had to co-evolve.\u00a0 For example,\u00a0Chapters 3 on Species loss, 13 on Elephants, rhinos and donkeys, 26 on Charismatic megafauna, 49 on Protected areas, and 52 on Rewilding had to be written with an awareness of what the others were saying.\u00a0 And sometimes new chapters forced themselves upon us.\u00a0 Writing about Nature also meant writing about Gaia.\u00a0 And writing separately about nature and the environment meant we had to write and re-write each of those chapters in line with what the other was trying to say.\u00a0 Not for the first time we owe Stephen Gough\u2019s ideas a debt of gratitude.\u00a0 Writing about natural resources and living within limits meant we had to write about the Club of Rome and Limits to Growth, about the circular economy steady state economics, and about Kate Raworth\u2019s doughnut model.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes writing took an unexpected turn.\u00a0 For example, we didn\u2019t set out to write about ecological handprints, but writing about ecological footprints simply forced us to.\u00a0 The chapter on energy policy, oddly perhaps, is mostly about Germany and the repercussions of Mrs Merkel\u2019s uncharacteristically bold decision to phase out nuclear power.\u00a0 And we wrote separately about development as an idea and sustainable development as a strategy.<\/p>\n<p>The chapter on sustainable development is really about needs and wants.\u00a0 It begins with Our Common Future and focuses on the most quoted (and most problematic) bit of the report about meeting the needs of both present and future generations.\u00a0 This emphasis leads to Amartya Sen and then to Karl Marx and Louis Blanc.\u00a0 And, as we trace ideas back, it leads to an obscure French 18th century utopian and then to the Acts of the Apostles.\u00a0 And then in order to discuss wants, the focus shifts to advertising, the Indian and Chinese middle class and the circular economy.\u00a0 All this in 2 pages \u2013 something of a triumph, I allowed myself to think at the time.<\/p>\n<p>The chapter on Neoliberalism was, perhaps, the trickiest to write because Paul and I have somewhat different views on the value (and values) inherent in the so-called Washington Concensus.\u00a0 We begin like this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cNeoliberalism is a catch-all term that is often used pejoratively to describe a range of economic policies.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And, then, unlike most people who write about it, we took liberalism seriously as we traced its enlightenment roots.\u00a0 The chapter ends with our coming together:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIf we are to learn how to deal with our sustainability predicament, we will need to collaborate in ways that a blinkered faith in markets does not allow.\u00a0 That said, the real problem might not be the market, but the blinkered faith.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As I\u2019ve been talking, you might have being playing the \u2018What\u2019s missing\u201d game.\u00a0 That is, saying to yourselves where\u2019s the chapter on X\u201d\u00a0 And you might have noted that, most surprisingly, perhaps, there isn\u2019t a chapter on the SDGs.\u00a0 This is because we write about the goals in 11 of the 55 chapters \u2013 and deciding whether to concentrate writing, or spread it out is always one of the key decisions to be made in a book like this.<\/p>\n<p>The final chapter in the book is about the Montreal protocol because we wanted it to have a reasonably positive ending.\u00a0 The chapter is something of a history and geography lesson.\u00a0 It begins with James Lovelock in the south of England, shifts to the British Antarctic survey, moves through Vienna to Montreal and then to Paris in 2015, and ends with the 2016 Kigali Agreement which promises rare good news about greenhouse gases. \u00a0In this sense the book is perhaps more positive in its end than it was in its beginning.<\/p>\n<p>In a book like this which both contains data and has a focus on real-world developments, the risk of being out of date is inevitable.\u00a0 So much so, perhaps, that it\u2019s more a certainty than a risk.\u00a0 The publishers suggested a few changes at the copy-editing stage to reflect developments, but sometimes you are caught out by events.\u00a0 For example, although the Air Pollution chapter is largely about NOx, there is no mention of the duplicitous German car companies or the EU\u2019s pro-diesel policies, or the latest detail of UK pollution-related death statistics. \u00a0Personally, I think that in any second edition \u2013 this is wishful thinking, of course \u2013 VW might have a chapter all to itself.\u00a0 But that\u2019s for another time \u2013 maybe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you missed the launch of The World We'll leave Behind the other week, never fear, as you can catch up with it here c\/o Bath's panopto recording of its seminars. Sadly, you'll just have to visualise the powerpoint, especially...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates","category-talks-and-presentations"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}