Joshua Kauffman’s Post

"In a world of accelerating climate breakdown, technological breakthroughs, and social upheaval, transformative ideas abound: Teslas, lab grown meat, geoengineering, AI. But how can we assess if one such solution is indeed socially and climate just?"...this very interesting paper tries to answer this hard question...

Another #degrowth paper alert ‼️ 💪🏾 Well done Chris Vrettos for leading this wonderful paper as an output from your MSc. Such an important contribution on how to link #transformativecapacity with #degrowth and #postgrowth theories grounded in a Greek case study in renewable energy cooperatives 🌞 🌍 In a world of accelerating climate breakdown, technological breakthroughs, and social upheaval, transformative ideas abound: Teslas, lab grown meat, geoengineering, AI. But how can we assess if one such solution is indeed socially and climate just? ⚡ We introduce the concept of "Degrowth Transformative Capacity", a tool to assess whether an initiative indeed fundamentally breaks from the status quo and can bring about broader systemic change (think workers owned cooperatives that re-invest their surplus in local environmental projects).

How can niche initiatives catalyze degrowth transformations? And how might they be able to increase their capacity to do so? Here's a paper that presents a framework for understanding and analyzing the degrowth transformative capacity of niche initiatives, published in the new Degrowth Journal: https://lnkd.in/dxFRvW6g We're hoping the framework is useful for both academics and practitioners. The first author, Chris Vrettos, has already found it helpful for his work on the ground. Many thanks to both Chris and Laura Pereira for this fun and important collaboration! #degrowth #postgrowth

🔬 Fresh Off the Press! 🌟 Our latest article is making waves: 🔗 Full Article Here: https://lnkd.in/dnAtPkwV 🔬 Join the conversation and delve into the forefront of research today! #ScienceCommunication #NewDiscovery #JournalName

Democracy is broken. We keep electing the people least suited to governance when what we need is a way to empower those with the most wisdom and bring wisdom to those with power. So what can we do? The Humanity Project is exploring exciting, living, vibrant answers, right at the emergent edge of inter-becoming. We don’t have a democracy, we have a kleptocracy that elevates to positions of power those amongst us who are most comfortable with leaning into their inner Dark Triad of Psychopathy, Narcissism and basic low cunning. Then, when they get there, we’re surprised that they go on to wreak havoc with all that we believe to be good and right and beautiful. Doing the same thing time after time is the very definition of insanity – clearly we need a new way of connecting, of communicating, of articulating our needs and wants that give us a sense of connection, agency and sufficiency, that bring out the best of us, not our own inner dark triads. We need a new means of governance that works from the ground up and works for a thriving future for the human and more-than human world. This week’s guest is absolutely immersed in the questions of how we transform our governance. More than this, he is immersed in actually making it happen. Alex Lockwood was a Senior Lecturer in Professional and Creative Writing at Sunderland University and he practiced what he taught – because he’s also the author of a novel, The Chernobyl Privileges and a non-fiction memoir, The Pig in Thin Air. More recently, he was actively involved in Animal Rebellion, a kindred organisation to Extinction Rebellion and then that evolved into becoming a founder member of The Humanity Project, an astonishing, life-affirming, inspiring collective movement for change. At the times when the news about climactic tipping points and the loss of sulphur particles and the impact of el Nino combines with the horrors of political destruction around the world, it’s really good to remember there are highly motivated, highly intelligent people getting together to create visions for change that will work and to which we will all look forward. This podcast rekindled my belief in a future that can work. I hope it does the same for you. https://lnkd.in/egCjm6cF

"Connecting minds, advancing research: Leveraging the power of social media to amplify scientific discourse and collaboration. Join the conversation, let's shape the future of knowledge together. #ResearchCommunity #SocialMediaForResearchers"

We talked about enabling #researchtranslation; working to improve #STEMdiversity; how to do #strategy; the golden-but-possibly-transient era of female-led change in science (#womeninSTEM); doing science in a language other than English; AND our shared passion for all things #scicomm. Such a great conversation! Thanks for having me on Associate Professor Jen Martin and Michael Wheeler. Love what you do. PS You were discussed too Elizabeth Giovannitti-Nowak ;)

The 11th r3.0 International (online) Conference 'Tipping Points on Tipping Points - Building Necessary Collapse Resilience' on September 10/11 has four main themes, each with extraordinary speakers. Session 1 on 'Tipping Points - the Positives & the Negatives': exploring both sides of rapid phase shifts in complex adaptive systems. We'll consider not only adverse effects that can trigger tipping points -- hothouse earth, wet bulb temperature thresholds, gross racial & wealth inequality, etc... -- but also beneficial tipping points, with a particular focus on those that avoid or ameliorate ecological and social collapse dynamics. The science is pretty clear that they do exist. So it’s a question of what role they can be anticipated to play. We have 4 extraordinary speakers for this session, which we profile one on one this week. Jem Bendell will draw on his Breaking Together book to ground the dialogue in the context of ongoing collapse, in particular introducing a reality check on the degree to which positive tipping points in social systems can possibly achieve commensurability with negative tipping points in ecological and social systems. That’s only the start of a courageous discussion with the 3 other speakers and the online audience. Get your ticket at https://lnkd.in/e8QSWjVX and be with us for all 4 conference topics, discussed on September 10/11 online.

The 11th r3.0 International (online) Conference 'Tipping Points on Tipping Points - Building Necessary Collapse Resilience' on September 10/11 has four main themes, each with extraordinary speakers. Session 1 on 'Tipping Points - the Positives & the Negatives': exploring both sides of rapid phase shifts in complex adaptive systems. We'll consider not only adverse effects that can trigger tipping points -- hothouse earth, wet bulb temperature thresholds, gross racial & wealth inequality, etc... -- but also beneficial tipping points, with a particular focus on those that avoid or ameliorate ecological and social collapse dynamics. The science is pretty clear that they do exist. So it’s a question of what role they can be anticipated to play. We have 4 extraordinary speakers for this session, which we profile one on one this week. Jem Bendell will draw on his Breaking Together book to ground the dialogue in the context of ongoing collapse, in particular introducing a reality check on the degree to which positive tipping points in social systems can possibly achieve commensurability with negative tipping points in ecological and social systems. That’s only the start of a courageous discussion with the 3 other speakers and the online audience. Get your ticket at https://lnkd.in/e8QSWjVX and be with us for all 4 conference topics, discussed on September 10/11 online.

Science isn't just for scientists! 🧪🌎 Today, on World Science Day for Peace and Development, let's celebrate the power of science in shaping our daily lives and our society as a whole. Join the conversation and let's engage in the exciting debates around emerging scientific issues. #WorldScienceDay #ScienceForPeaceAndDevelopment 🌟