๐ขBan on Fossil Fuel Ads ๐ Fossil Free Books ๐ Blue Earth Summit
Bi-weekly explorations at the intersection of climate justice, climate science and climate technology.
Hello lovelies,
By now I am sure everyone is all caught up on the shifts and transitions I am making so I wonโt repeat those here.
Itโs been a very intense and busy month or so for me, in the interest of your time, Iโll share a few highlights!
โจ I published my first, first-author academic paper.
A chapter of my PhD was accepted and published at the Conference on Human Factors for Computer Interaction, the premier international conference of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). My paper, Justice-oriented Design Listening, presents a new method of culturally appropriate and decolonial technology design/participatory design when working with rural/forest communities and reflects on the engagements I have had with the community I work with in Ghana.
My paper was awarded an honourable mention, highlighting it as a paper with a key and original contribution and has already been taught and presented to design students!
โจ I moderated a panel at the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Copenhagen Global Fashion Summit, the leading conference bringing industry professionals together to address the critical intersection of sustainability and fashion.
I was invited to moderate a panel on Elevating the Consumer-Citizen Role, exploring how in a year of global elections, democracies can empower and enable citizen-level action towards circular economies on a massive scale.
I was joined by a wonderful group of individuals โ Eshita Kabra (Founder and CEO, By Rotation), Daphne Seybold (co-Founder, co-CEO and CMO,ย Sky High Farm Universe), Shona Quinn (Senior Director of Social Consciousness, Eileen Fisher), Navjot Sawhney (Founder of The Washing Machine Project) and Cecilie Rosted Bahnsen (Founder of Cecilie Bahnsen womenswear) โ all who are tackling this issue from different perspectives and with different methods.
I gave a keynote talk at Friends of the Earthโs Summer Soireรฉ
Last week I had the honour of giving a keynote talk on the centrality of justice in the environmental movement, alongside the absolute icon that is Kevin McCloud for the Friends of the Earth (FOE) Annual Summer meeting. The meeting was a chance to amplify the organisationโs campaigns of the last year and look forward at their upcoming campaigns this year, especially in light of the upcoming general election!
FOEโs work is incredibly inspiring and effective! There's never been a more important time to be a friend of the earth.โฏAnd this election couldnโt be more important.
Regardless of party, FOE will be working to urge our leaders to:โฏโฏ
- Commit to climate action where we all benefit from a clean, green futureโฏ
- Create a fair, effective new climate action plan to meet climate goalsโฏ
- Enshrine the right to a healthy environment into lawโฏ
- Ensure companies are held legally accountable for environmental destruction and injusticesโฏ
- Invest in a council-led home insulation programme to bring down bills and emissionsโฏโฏ
Check out their green elections tool below.
Okay, letโs get into it!๐๐พ
๐ On The Bright Side
Investment in clean energy to overtake fossil fuel spending in 2024 [The Daily Climate]
Indigenous communities make clean energy drive work for, not against, them [Mongabay]
How One South African Community Stopped Shell Oil in Its Tracks [Yale e360]
๐ Upcoming Events and Appearances
My first DJ Gig @ The Symbiocene [22.06.24]
The Symbiocene is a world-building movement fighting for symbiotic futures. At the symbiocene world-building is a way of shapeshifting culture and strategy through storytelling and much more. They are developing new forms of play and action to explore possibilities of a future designed by people and nature. Last year, I had the pleasure of attending the Symbiocene as a speaker on a panel with Daze Aghaji, Kalpana Arias, Isaias Hernandez and Tori Tsui.
Their new summit will take place as part of London Climate Week, featuring 12 panels, 10 workshops and 3 music acts, including my new DJ project, Subsolar Soundsystem, a collaboration between me and my wonderful pal Imogen Malpas who runs the ClubSol. Weโll be bringing the heat to the Symbiocene, through uptempo, energetic selections from across the planet: with a heavy emphasis on afrobeats and afrohouse, hilife, dancehall, gqom, amapiano, samba and reggaeton. Come join us on the dancefloor: we're all one underneath the sun ๐.
Blue Earth Summit [16-18.10.24]
Iโm excited to be speaking at Blue Earth Summit, the leading event on a mission to put business at the centre of a more sustainable future for people and planet. The 3-day Summit will see 5000+ attendees, connect with 1.5k+ businesses and offer panels and talks on 15 stages from 300+ speakers including, Deborah Meaden, Jamie Laing and Ben Goldsmith.
If you grab your ticket in June, you can access a discount of 25% using the code BLUEEARTH25.
Seeds of Radical Renewal with Emergence Magazine [multiple dates]
Earlier this year, I gave my first guest lecture as part of EMergence Magazineโs 10-week leadership course, Seeds of Radical Renewal.
For the first time, Emergence are offering the leadership course as an online and in-person hybrid event, facilitating a deeper immersion into the practical application of spiritual ecology and adaptive leadership. With a UK and a US iteration, this course will introduce emerging leaders to the values of renewal, reciprocity, and reverence in building relationships with human and more-than-human communities and offer mentoring on applying those values to real-world projects.
Participants will take part in a six-part online workshop exploring the philosophy and possibilities of spiritual ecology, culminating in a four-day in-person retreat held at either Sharpham Trust in Devon or the Whidbey Institute in Washington State.
Iโll be joined by a wonderful group of experienced and passionate teachers including Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, Dana Karout, Sam Lee, and James Bridle.
๐ณ Green Policies and the General Election
With British general election campaigning now in full swing, Friends of the Earth carried out a rapid assessment of where the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green parties stand right now on climate, energy, nature and the environment, and where theyโre strongest and weakest. Theyโve scored them out of 10 on the 10 biggest green challenges for the next government and will be using this to encourage the parties to strengthen the areas where policy is weak or lacking, and even to firm up areas where theyโre currently strong. ย
Check out the link below to see how the parties have scored on their green promises so far.
๐ข UN Chief Calls for Ban on Fossil Fuel Ads
Last week, UN Secre tary General Antรณnio Guterres said that โfossil fuel companies should be banned from advertising in every country, akin to the restrictions on big tobaccoโ.
As shared by Clean Creatives โ a movement bringing together leading agencies, creatives, and their clients that decline work with the fossil fuel industry โย Guterresโ announcement marks โa turning point in the advertising and PR industryโs relationship with fossil fuels. There is no longer any cover for agencies to say that they are doing the right thing when working with polluters. Everyone knows this is wrong, and everyone needs to actโ.
๐ Fossil Free Books
Fossil Free Books is a movement of workers organising for a book industry free from fossil fuels and fossil fuel finance.
Fossil Free Books is working to facilitate meaningful and productive engagement between festivals and the authors, illustrators, translators, editors, publishers, festival staff and other book workers whose labour they rely, on to build a literary culture with human life and freedom of expression at its core.
New data, obtained by Fossil Free Books and published today by The Herald, confirms that Scottish asset manager Baillie Gifford, one of the major sponsors of book festivals across the UK, has ยฃ61m invested in Babcock International - an arms company with links to Israel.ย
Learn more in the post below๐๐พ.
๐จ Job Opp: Assistant Professor of Instruction in Biological Sciences Northwestern Universityโs Department of Molecular Biosciences
Northwestern Universityโs Department of Molecular Biosciences invites applications for a full-time, benefits-eligible, non-tenure-eligible faculty appointment as Assistant Professor of Instruction, beginning as early as September 1, 2024. Duties include teaching six quarter-long undergraduate courses per academic year, or the equivalent in student advising, in the Biological Sciences major. Preference will be given to candidates who have demonstrated excellence, breadth, and innovation in teaching. The successful candidate will exhibit a strong interest in education scholarship and sharing of best teaching practices. We seek candidates with experience and teaching interests in Genetics and Evolution, Epigenetics/Genomics, Population Genetics, Molecular Evolution, and Biostatistics, but these may vary based on the expertise of the candidate.ย
Minimum qualifications include a PhD in Biology or a related field, which must be conferred by September 1, 2024. Applicants should submit (in PDF format): a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and detailed teaching portfolio (including teaching interests and philosophy, sample syllabi, and teaching evaluations). Please request at least three letters of recommendation focusing on teaching skills and interactions with students. Details on preparing and submitting the application can be found on the Molecular Biosciences homepage (http://www.molbiosci.northwestern.edu). Review of application materials will begin on June 15, 2024, and will continue until the position is filled. Inquiries can be sent to molbioscisearch@northwestern.edu.ย