The Coming of the Ecological University

“Universities have been with us on this Earth for at least one thousand years and will surely be with us in the future; perhaps so long as there is life on this planet that has any well-being. There is now something in not just the name of the institution but in the idea of the university that seems to have durability. But the question imposes itself again: just what is it to be a university?(Barnett,2011)”

Ronald Barnett sets out a masterly critique of our ideas of a university. By offering a forensic analysis of their past and present trajectory he posits that there is a positive and ontological case for the evolution of an Ecological University. As he argues, we need to develop feasible utopias as part of what he describes as social philosophy, with a critical edge ,which seek to develop ideas which address the question of how to create universities which might be the best fit for this world, and not the best in all possible worlds.

These ideas are perpetuated and reinforced in a world of increasing uncertainty and unpredictability. Hence, there are strong arguments as advocated by Facer(2021) that business as usual is an insufficient response to the crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Climate Crisis. In these circumstances Barnett coins, the descriptor –the therapeutic university—a stance based on the idea of helping the world live purposely with uncertainty-which he advocates is based on the reality that the world cannot be controlled and that for any university, control is an anathema to their core values. And its pedagogy becomes less epistemological and more ontological in character. In this orientation its policies and practices play out in its concerns for human flourishing and the connection to the wider dimension of well-being along with concerns about ethical dilemmas.

But most of these orientations have both negative and positive and even pernicious possibilities. Another more acceptable alternative offered by Barnett is the idea of the authentic university. – one that is true to itself. But as he argues the pushes and pulls from its environment make this hugely difficult especially those that come from regulation and funding mechanisms. Hence, he questions whether we can realistically speak of a responsible university, because these external pressures make it impossible to speak of the university and authenticity in the same breath. His answer is that these apparent tensions between authenticity and responsibility -between the inner and outer calling of the university can be resolved by a different concept – the Ecological University.

This is a university which seriously focusses on both its interconnectedness with the world and the interconnectedness of the world. Its tangible learning outcomes being towards developing students as global citizens with a care or concern for the world and their contribution via civic engagement towards the realisation of a more environmentally and socially just sustainable world. This characterisation also encompasses the idea of a networked university– which engages actively both locally and globally to bring about a better world.

“This is a university neither in-itself( the research university)nor for itself(the entrepreneurial university)but for others. Or we might even say simply, for -the-other, for the ecological university has an abiding sense of alterity ,of there being external realms to which it has responsibilities, even while holding fast to its traditional interest in the emancipatory power of understanding for enlightenment”.

Ronald Barnett (2011) The coming of the ecological university, Oxford Review of Education, 37:4, 439-455.

Keri Facer(2021) Beyond business as usual: Higher education in the era of climate change. HEPI Debate Paper 24.

Martin S., Ives C., Carney B. (2023) Universities as Agencies of Human and Social Change: From Green Academy to Ecological Universities, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Sustainability in Higher Education: An Agenda for Transformational Change.

The Future is Bright

Solar Power Reviewed by Carbon Choices 22 August

Falling Costs

The cost of electricity produced by solar power has been falling for the last two decades. This trend is likely to continue due to the increased efficiency of panels, lower cost of silicon, improved manufacturing techniques, and economies of scale – the higher the demand and deployment, the lower the cost. Costs have fallen by 80% in the last 10 years.

In the UK, electricity from solar farms can be sold for as little as 5p per kWh. In sunnier countries it can be produced at even lower prices – cheaper than any other renewable or fossil fuel competitor.

Solar Panel Efficiency

In the early days, standard silicon panels could convert around 6% of sunlight into useful electricity. By the early 1990’s this had increased to 15%, which along with falling costs made them commercially competitive for the first time. Solar panels are now around 22% efficient. These improvements have been achieved through research and innovation into new materials, and cells that capture a wider range of the light spectrum. Innovation continues, for example, perovskite cells may capture even more than the current silicon-based panels.

Where can Solar be Deployed?

To maximise solar radiation at mid-latitudes, solar panels are best deployed at an angle, either placed on the ground or, in the northern hemisphere, on a south-facing sloping roof. Nearer the equator they can be deployed horizontally on roofs or laid flat on the ground. I have also seen solar panel arrays in Spain that track the sun during the day, increasing their output by 30%. Although not as efficient, they can be deployed vertically, for example on walls.

Solar is very compatible with offices, schools and other public buildings which are mostly occupied during the day. It is also compatible with the global increased demand for air conditioning which often coincides with hot and sunny weather.

Traditionally there were two main categories: solar farms and rooftop solar – sub-divided by commercial and domestic roofs. Now there are far more options:

Floating solar panels on reservoirs can supplement hydro-electric power
Solar panels above irrigation channels help to reduce evaporation
In arid regions, solar panels power irrigation water pumps to replace diesel generators
Railway companies are deploying solar panels alongside their tracks, and they can be deployed along road verges to double up as sound barriers
Solar panels on the bonnet and roof of an electric vehicle can increase its range
France requires the owners of car parks to deploy solar panels above car park spaces, to feed into electric vehicle charging points or to the grid
Solar panels can be installed on multi-ownership apartment blocks with the electricity supplied to each apartment
Germany allows residents to deploy vertical plug-in solar panels on apartment balconies without any complicated electrical connection

Innovation

Solar panels lose efficiency when they overheat under a hot sun. At the BE-ST innovation centre in Hamilton, water is circulated under the solar panels to reduce this overheating and increase the panels’ efficiency. Then this warmer water is used to pre-heat a heat pump which also increases its efficiency for space heating.

Bifacial solar panels on solar farms capture sunlight on the front and rear surface, taking advantage of reflected sunlight.

Roof tiles can function as solar panels which enable all the roof area to generate electricity, also avoiding the extra weight of panels on a roof. Solar windows can generate electricity whilst allowing light to pass through. Imagine this deployed in every skyscraper.

An important new development is solar cells made from perovskite. This enables thinner and lighter panels and can use a wider range of the sun’s rays. These ultra-thin and flexible panels can be integrated into clothing and fabrics for a wide range of new uses.

Manufacturing

Solar panels are primarily made of silicon, which is a semiconductor material that converts sunlight into electricity. Other key components include glass, which protects the cells, and aluminium, copper, and silver, used for the frame, wiring, and electrical contacts. Silicon is an abundant element that comes from sand and quartz of which there is no global shortage.

Global Growth

Electricity supplied by solar is growing exponentially. Rising from less than 1% in 2010, to 3% in 2020 to 7% in 2024. In 2024 solar generated 8% of electricity in China, 7% in the USA, and even 5% in the cloudy UK. The highest penetration of solar in the world is currently Namibia (38%), followed by Lebanon (31%) and Hungary (24%). Sunny Saudi Arabia has a paltry 2%, with Algeria by the Sahara desert only 1%. There is clearly scope for much more growth. [Source: Our World in Data].

China has been adding solar capacity at an impressive rate. In 2024 it installed more new solar capacity than the rest of the world combined. There is a ‘glut’ of solar panels manufactured which they are now selling cheaply to countries like Pakistan. Pakistan is one of the fastest growing solar countries in the world. Solar generation increased from 4% to over 10% in the 3 years to 2024. In 2024 alone, new solar added an additional one-third to its entire generating capacity.

In the UK 1.5 million homes have solar panels, around 5% of all houses. Solar farms take up around 0.1% of UK land which may increase to 0.4% in the coming decade to help meet the UK’s net zero electricity target.

Limitations

All solar farms have an impact on land-use and habitat, and I do sympathise with not blanketing the countryside around villages. Solar farms have, quite correctly, been criticised for spoiling the countryside and taking away prime agricultural land, or for destroying rare desert habitat. However, if wildflowers grow beneath the panels, then they can increase pollinators like bees and moths. They can also be integrated with agriculture – agrivoltaics – providing a diversified income for farmers. Sheep can graze beneath solar arrays. In hot countries some crops grow better under solar arrays as the shade reduces harsh day time temperatures and reduces evaporation.

Of course, solar panels only operate during daylight hours and generate far less electricity when it is cloudy. For this reason, they work best in tandem with battery storage. The cost of batteries continues to fall, but that is for another blog.

At high latitudes there are extremes of daylight and hours of darkness which undermine the ability to rely on solar panels. Snow can also prevent solar panels from operating. Areas exposed to violent hailstorms are also at risk as hail can damage panels.

My Home Experience

In 2010 I bought twelve 175w solar panels generating a maximum of 2.1kW for £10,000, subsidised by a generous feed-in-tariff. In 2022, I bought a further ten 250w panels, generating a maximum of 2.4kW for £4,150.

Allowing for inflation, this is a 74% reduction in cost per unit of electricity generated,
The more recent panels, at 22% efficiency, generate more electricity from a smaller roof-space than my original 15% efficient panels.

I generate around 3,200kWh per year, more than the 2,900kWh an average household uses in the UK. Of course, I use more than this as our household is highly electrified with a heat pump and an electric vehicle.

The exciting development is that the second set of solar panels didn’t require a subsidy to encourage me to buy them. If you have a south-facing roof they are now a worthwhile investment.

Solar Equity

Solar panels use energy directly from the sun. They are more efficient and clean than other forms of energy. Fossil fuels are produced indirectly from photosynthesis from the sun and millions of years of geological processes. When you burn fossil fuels, most of the energy is ‘wasted’ as heat and harmful gases are released. Reliance on fossil fuels has created a world of energy ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ and huge geopolitical instability. Solar will be more democratic. It is available in every country, and can be harnessed at scale by multi-national corporations but also by schools, community groups and individuals in their own homes.

The Future

Electricity direct from solar cannot be relied on 24/7. Gas or even hydrogen could provide back-up power, but if a country wants to rely on a near 100% renewable supply, then there are four possible courses of action:

Build long distance inter-connectors to import/export electricity
Demand management services
Storage
Build over capacity

Options 1, 2 and 3 will always have a limited duration and capacity. Historically most storage has been pumped hydro, but the cost of lithium-ion batteries keeps on falling and has become viable. A surprising conclusion is that building massive over capacity is a realistic proposition. If solar becomes so cheap to generate, then why not build sufficient capacity to supply our demand on cloudy days.

A combination of these 4 options will be the most cost and resource effective.

Conclusions

We have recently entered a ‘new world’ where solar is the cheapest form of electricity generation. This will speed up decarbonisation in wealthier countries and provides a golden opportunity for every citizen in less wealthy countries to access electricity including those living in remote rural areas.

I don’t have many recommendations from this blog. Solar growth is happening through market economics without the need for further policy interventions. But I do hate to see new buildings constructed without any solar panels, or even worse, a couple of ‘token’ panels mandated to meet a minimum building regulation standard.

In the UK, all new homes should be built with the maximum number of solar panels. Also, subsidies, loans or an easy to access installation service should be offered to help those on lower incomes install panels on existing social and private houses.

The future is bright!

Fear got us this Far- Hope will get us Further and Possibly Faster

By Tobias Brosch, Edward Mishaud, and Disa Sauter

“An elevator-pitch definition of fear might be a neurobiological process to keep us alive,” writes cultural historian Robert Peckham in his 2023 book, ‘Fear: An Alternative History of the World.’ Indeed, fear – that full-on jolt of adrenaline we feel throughout our body – has served humanity well. It kept our early ancestors alert to danger and ultimately enabled the human species to survive and evolve to where it is today.

In modern times, negative emotions continue to play a key role in how we function and navigate our complicated and emotionally layered lives. Fear alerts us to immediate threats and rouses us to act, thanks to its urgency-inducing parameters. Fear, at its simplest, is the trigger of our fight-or-flight mode.

Sadly, our survival instinct and fear response struggle with far away events, those out on the horizon. The climate crisis and the breakdown of planetary life systems are two that come to mind. Hearing that the current year is the “hottest on record,” or that we continue to miss the Paris Agreement’s targets for reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, appears to have little impact in galvanizing the response that is so urgently needed.

However, attempts to stir up fear, anger, or shock towards these topics and others point out the flipside of fear: too much of it can paralyze us, leading to inertia or emotional shutdown to avoid feeling overwhelmed. In some cases, well-intended communications and outreach campaigns have arguably prompted the opposite effect of what is desired. Instead of moving people into action, such strategies have provoked public backlash against the very organizations and individuals trying to create mobilization.

While fear and other negative emotions have their rightful place in the communications and advocacy toolbox, relying on them exclusively is akin to having just one tool. A more diversified set of approaches is required to solve a problem. So, the question becomes, what other emotional tools are at our disposal, and how do we shift the emotional dial in a direction that triggers long-term engagement and concrete behavioral change?

Answers and clues to this question lie at the heart of a new global conversation on hope and other positive emotions, one that has prompted the UN to declare 12 July the International Day of Hope. The research and work we have been doing through our respective institutions and with our partners point to the need for more hope. This is not a fluffy, feelgood proposition, but one backed by facts.

But first, why hope? Because hope is forward-looking. It depicts in our minds a picture of a future worth striving for, which can be a far more potent motivator over the long term than fear and doom alone. Hope offers a sense of possibility and helps overcome the desperate feeling that nothing we do will make a difference.

Recent research in the field of affective science shows that, among positive emotions, hope packs a particularly strong punch in helping us find our way through challenges. What is more, the positive effect of hope appears to be nearly universal. Studies conducted across different cultures found virtually no cultural variation in the power of hope. That is a striking finding. It suggests that harnessing hope could be a globally resonant strategy, a rare emotional common denominator in a world that is in crisis.

Of course, hope on its own is not a panacea to the world’s ills. Used in isolation, hope can be just as off-putting and demotivating as fear. The notion of “false hope” – the kind that assumes “everything will work out on its own” or that “someone else will fix it” – isn’t the kind of hope we are advocating for. The hope we need is the belief in a positive future, paired with the willingness to work collectively towards change. This is the kind of “constructive hope” that, for instance, powered civil rights movements.

Importantly, the relevance and power of hope are now being recognized at the highest levels, notably through this first International Day of Hope. The resolution establishing it, adopted earlier in 2025, calls on UN Member States to recognize“the relevance of hope and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world, and the importance of their recognition in public policy objectives.”

The International Day of Hope gives the necessary boost to mainstream the insights garnered on hope and the broader field of affective science into how emotions can drive change for people and the planet in the long term. Notably, the resolution clearly stands in opposition to the emotionally negative and psychologically disruptive tactics being used by different political movements to placate citizens into inaction. It encourages bringing what we know about emotions into the multilateral space, where it should be applied to negotiations and policymaking to overcome the growing gridlock and apathy in diplomacy.

Crucially, the kind of hope being advocated for today is collective hope. It is not about lone individuals each feeling optimistic – it is about forging a shared sense of purpose and possibility. Climate activist and author Bill McKibben put it best: “the most important thing an individual can do is be somewhat less of an individual. Join together with others.”

On this inaugural International Day of Hope, let us take stock of our emotional toolkit. Fear will remain a useful resource, jolting us awake when complacency creeps in, but we need to lead with hope.

This is our elevator pitch for hope. It is humanity’s other survival mechanism. Fear was a vital emotion that helped early humans survive and evolve, but hope will help us thrive.

Carbon capture project ‘to boost hundreds of jobs’ in Cement works in Derbyshire

A project to develop a pipeline to capture carbon emitted by cement and lime factories in the Peak District and bury it below the Irish Sea will create hundreds of jobs, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said.

The pipeline will be created to transfer carbon dioxide (CO2) from Derbyshire, Staffordshire and the Northwest to be stored in the depleted gas fields off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria.

Reeves said the £59.6m project would modernise the cement and lime industry, create jobs and deliver “vital carbon capture infrastructure”.

The government said the Peak Cluster project was the world’s largest cement decarbonisation project and would create about 300 jobs.

A further 1,200 temporary roles will be created during construction of the pipeline, the government said, while more than 2,000 jobs in cement and lime production will be “supported” by the plan.

In total, the Peak Cluster and Morecambe Net Zero carbon storage projects “could create and secure 13,000 jobs”.

Carbon capture and storage is where CO2 produced from power stations and industrial processes is captured at source, rather than escaping into the atmosphere and adding to global warming.

Reeves said the government was “modernising the cement and lime industry”

Peak Cluster is backed by £28.6m from the government’s National Wealth Fund (NWF), and £31m from private partners including Holcim, Tarmac, Breedon, SigmaRoc, Summit Energy Evolution and Progressive Energy.

She said: “We’re modernising the cement and lime industry, delivering vital carbon capture infrastructure and creating jobs across Derbyshire, Staffordshire and the North West to put more money into working people’s pockets.”

Cement is the modern world’s most common construction material.

But the cement and lime industries are two of the hardest industrial sectors to decarbonise due to the high levels of CO2 emissions generated in the manufacturing process.

Last year, BBC climate editor Justin Rowlatt said if cement was a country, it would be the third biggest source of emissions after China and the US, responsible for 7.5% of human-made CO2.

The Peak Cluster project will prevent more than three million tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere each year, the government said.

‘Clean energy transition’

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “This landmark investment will catalyse our carbon capture sector to deliver thousands of highly skilled jobs and growth across our industrial heartlands, as part of our plan for change.

“Workers in the North Sea and Britain’s manufacturing heartlands will drive forward the country’s industrial renewal, positioning them at the forefront of the UK’s clean energy transition.”

The NWF said it would commit at least £5.8bn by 2030 in hydrogen, carbon capture, ports and supply chains, gigafactories and EV [electric vehicle] supply chains, and steel.

John Flint, NWF CEO, said: “Substantial private investment, deployed at risk, will be needed to develop and deliver carbon capture projects across the UK.

“Through its investments, the NWF is well placed to support this, especially in hard to abate sectors such as cement and lime, to ensure a pipeline of projects is ready for deployment and the UK is able to meet its ambitious carbon capture targets.”

John Egan, chief executive of Peak Cluster Ltd, said the plan would help to secure “a sustainable future for the cement and lime industry”, and “benefit communities across the Midlands and North West of England”.

Economic growth and the search for abundance

Creating a world of plenty demands more radical ideas

By Tim Smedley

June 26, 2025

Illustration by Prospect. Source: S.E.A. Photo / Alamy

A moment halfway through Ezra Klein’s and Derek Thompson’s recent book Abundance reveals something of their approach to building a net zero world. In 2023 a gasoline lorry exploded, causing Philadelphia’s I-95 bridge to collapse; Governor Josh Shapiro waived all the usual rules and regulations for public works so it could be rebuilt in record time. The project was of great benefit to the community. But during the works, the state secretary of transportation recalls encountering two workers using a screwdriver to remove a highway sign so it could be reused. “I said turn the machine on and knock the goddam thing over!” He chuckles, and Klein and Thompson invite us to chuckle along.

Abundance is an odd New York Times bestseller, filled largely with policy wonkery, focused on public-private partnerships and city zoning laws, and written in seemingly endless aphorisms (“Innovation can make impossible problems possible to solve, and policy can make impossible technologies possible to create”, etc). But it’s got people talking in environmental circles because of its take on environmental efficiency and “reduce, reuse”—as the highway sign story attests.

The authors believe in a greener, cleaner, renewable-energy-fuelled future, but one that allows for rapid, endless growth, surrounded by giant carbon capture towers and desalination plants to enable continued, abundant excess. The problem, say Klein and Thompson, isn’t that we’ve grown beyond our means and depleted the planet—it’s that we haven’t grown enough. (Keir Starmer might be a fan).

Critics such as Tony Dutzik at environmental thinktank Frontier Group rightly point out that Klein and Thompson have “misdiagnosed the disease. Scarcity is not, by and large, America’s problem. It is, rather, the problems that result from our abundance—the ecological impacts of a high-throughput consumer economy.”

Just a few years earlier, in 2017, UK economist Kate Raworth argued that there is an ecological ceiling to growth, and that if we go beyond it, on a finite planet with finite resources, there is no abundance to be had—except for the elite few.

In Doughnut Economics (a Sunday Times bestseller), she highlighted the nine planetary boundaries that scientists say maintain a stable and resilient Earth system. In 2015, four out of nine had been crossed. By 2023, six of these boundaries had been crossed: CO2, synthetic substances released into the environment, nitrogen and phosphorous load, freshwater, land use, and biodiversity. Raworth argues that we need to keep everything within the “green inner circle” of what planet Earth can support.

A Flourish table

There is nothing inevitable or irretrievable about crossing any of the boundaries; one of the nine, “stratospheric ozone depletion”, was in the red in the 1980s, but fell back to the green centre of the doughnut following steps taken by the Montreal Protocol of 1987. Collective international action has been proven to work, once at least—just eight more to go.

Political economist Jason Hickel wrote in his 2020 book Less is More that capitalism must create artificial scarcity in order to make profit, but “with basic needs met, the compulsion for people to compete for ever-increasing productivity would wither away. The economy would produce less as a result, yes—but it would also need less. It would be smaller and yet nonetheless much more abundant.” GDP can shrink and material consumption decline while all other measures of wellbeing can rise, says Hickel, through such means as reclaiming the commons, universal healthcare, regenerative farming; in short, reducing waste and inequality means a better life for all, and a few less private planes for billionaires. In fact, no billionaires at all.

Klein and Thompson want us to have our doughnut and eat it. The economy has stagnated, they say, but a few policy tweaks and regulatory hurdles removed will get it fizzing again. It is the Tech Optimist viewpoint: abundant, limitless energy through nuclear fusion; AI as an energy saviour not an energy drain; oceans tamed and desalinated for drinking water.

I might have let the desalination thing go if it was just one throwaway line, but it’s mentioned several times throughout Abundance. The authors write longingly about “gigantic desalination facilities that transform our oceans into drinkable tap water”. But I know from researching my own book The Last Drop that a desalinated world is no utopia. Desalination typically produces 1.5 litres of waste, highly salty brine, for every one litre of drinking water. That waste is simply chucked back out to sea, increasing its salinity and killing off sea life. Parts of the Persian Gulf, surrounded by the world’s largest desalination plants, including in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, are now 25 per cent saltier than average seawater. The only life found near the plants are giant jellyfish that clog up the intake pipes. The tech bros want much more of this, not less.

Klein and Thompson also misread Hickel when they say that his book, and degrowth at large, demands “collective scarcity”. In Less is More, Hickel writes: “… in fact exactly the opposite is true. Austerity calls for scarcity in order to generate more growth. Degrowth calls for abundance in order to render growth unnecessary. If we are to avert climate breakdown, the environmentalism of the twenty-first century must articulate a new demand: a demand for radical abundance.” This could include universal basic income, free education and reduced working hours. If we all worked a four-day week for example, we may earn less (though some businesses have reported it leads to productivity improvements while salaries remained the same) but we have more time to spend with our family, with our community, in nature or immersing ourselves in culture. That is abundance.

Even some bankers are starting to cotton on to this. Hans Stegeman, chief economist at Triodos Bank, told the London Degrowth conference last November, that “the worldview that ‘progress’ is more income, more stuff in general. This is not a natural state… there are limits to growth. Continuing to grow as we do now is simply not sustainable and not necessary for our quality of life. If we do continue the current course, then we will exhaust the Earth and ourselves along with it. Post-growth offers an alternative.”

The late Pope Francis’ climate encyclical “Laudato Sí” has also been read as a seminal degrowth text. “People’s quality of life actually diminishes,” wrote the Pontiff, “by the deterioration of the environment, the low quality of food or the depletion of resources—in the midst of economic growth. In this context, talk of sustainable growth usually becomes a way of distracting attention and offering excuses.” It is time, he wrote in 2015, to “think of containing growth by setting some reasonable limits and even retracing our steps before it is too late.”

Moving beyond our planet’s material boundaries is not leading us to abundance, but to our demise. Unfettered growth in the natural world is a cancer. We can build fast and furious, using up our remaining sand, wood, cement and ocean life, constructing our own Ozymandias statues to keep GDP ticking upwards. Or we can reduce, reuse and retune ourselves to natural cycles and sustainable consumption. We can reach for the screwdriver to reuse that sign, or we can gleefully bulldoze it into the dirt. I know which world I’d rather live in.

Tim Smedley is an environmental writer and author of books including The Last Drop: Solving the World’s Water Crisis (Picador). He is editor of the New Climate and writes about climate change and the environment for Prospect.

CARBON CAPTURE -DAC

The Valley that Changed the World, and Could Do So Again.

Transforming the Derwent Valley for a Regenerative Future May 10, 2024

Image by Derwent Valley Mills
Authors: Jonny Norton, Stephen Martin, Chris Ives — School of Geography University of Nottingham
Nestled within the picturesque landscapes of Derbyshire, England, lies the Derwent Valley — a valley once pulsating with the relentless energy of the Industrial Revolution. From the late 18th to the early 19th century, this valley in Derbyshire served as an epicentre of innovation, driving rapid transformation of society through the mechanisation of industry and the harnessing of natural resources. Coal mines punctuated the rugged terrain, while the mighty River Derwent powered the water wheels and turbines that fuelled the factories of the era.
The legacy of this period of unparalleled industrial growth is etched into the fabric of the Derwent Valley. Its landscapes bear witness to the ingenuity and ambition of generations past, but also carry the scars of environmental degradation and social inequality. As the world grapples with the urgent challenges of climate change and social injustice, the Derwent Valley stands at a crossroads, poised to redefine its identity and shape a more sustainable future for generations to come.
Industrial Heritage: Triumphs and Tribulations
The story of the Derwent Valley is intrinsically linked to the rise of the Industrial Revolution. In the late 18th century, the discovery of coal beneath Derbyshire’s hillsides ignited a frenzy of mining activity, transforming the valley into a vital source of energy for the burgeoning factories. Coal, the black gold of the Industrial Revolution, powered the steam engines that drove mechanized production, propelling Britain to the forefront of global industry.
The River Derwent, with its abundant water resources, became the lifeblood of the valley’s industrial economy. Water wheels and later turbines, through the works of Sir Richard Arkwright and his invention of the water frame, were employed to harness the river’s flow, providing a reliable source of power for textile mills, iron foundries, and other industrial enterprises. Arkwright built his first water-powered cotton spinning mill in Cromford, Derbyshire, in 1771, marking the beginning of the factory system in Britain and the widespread adoption of mechanised production methods in the textile industry. The valley echoed with the rhythmic clatter of machinery, as workers toiled in the factories that dotted its landscape.
However, this period of rapid industrialization came at a steep cost. The relentless extraction of coal scarred the landscape, leaving behind a legacy of abandoned mines and polluted waterways. The air was thick with the acrid smoke of coal-fired furnaces, while the river ran black with industrial waste. Moreover, the social fabric of the valley’s communities frayed under the strains of labour exploitation and poor living conditions. Workers toiled long hours in hazardous conditions for low wages, their lives overshadowed by poverty and uncertainty.
A New Dawn: Transformation the Valley for the Anthropocene
Despite the challenges posed by its industrial legacy, the Derwent Valley is undergoing a remarkable transformation, driven by a collective commitment to sustainability and renewal. At the heart of this transformation is the recognition of the valley’s rich cultural heritage and natural beauty as assets to be cherished and preserved for future generations.
One of the most significant initiatives driving this transformation is the embrace of community energy projects, through organisations such as Derbyshire Dales Community Energy and many more. Local residents are taking control of their energy future by investing in renewable sources such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric power. These projects not only reduce carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels but also empower individuals and bring economic, community benefit and philanthropic support, creating local jobs and fostering a sense of ownership and pride.
The Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, which encompasses a series of historic cotton mills and industrial complexes along the River Derwent, has become a focal point for community-led regeneration efforts. Initiatives such as the Cromford Mills Renewal Project are revitalising historic mill complexes, transforming them into a vibrant cultural and educational hub that celebrates the valley’s industrial heritage while promoting sustainability and innovation through repurposing old water mills into hydroelectric power — not only providing electricity for the mill and the various businesses who now use its premises, but also providing energy for the grid and using profits to support local initiatives.

The new Hydro scheme at Cromford Mill generating for the first time in over 200 years zero carbon energy for the site and an educational resource promoting renewable energy.

These efforts are becoming a focus across the entire World Heritage Site, presented in the above figure. On a global level, UNESCO World Heritage Sites are increasingly aligning themselves with frameworks such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), recognising the interconnectedness between heritage conservation, sustainable development, and community & ecosystem health around the world. They open up conversations beyond cultural and natural heritage, including sustainable tourism, community empowerment, and fostering climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. World Heritage Sites have the potential to create a significant learning platform across sites, ensuring that efforts such as those within the Derwent Valley are able to be replicated in other regions globally.
This work is developing on a plethora of scales across the Derwent Valley — on a wider regional scale, around the World Heritage Site, and on a smaller, town level. On a broader regional scale, upstream from the Derwent Valley, lies the Peak District National Park. The Peak District is one of the most visited and densely populated national parks in the United Kingdom, meaning that its already threatened landscape is under increasing pressure and strain through tourism and recreation. Initiatives such as the Peak District National Park Sustainable Development Fund are supporting a range of inter-disciplinary projects, and play a crucial role in driving innovation and collaboration across the wider Derbyshire region. Around the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, DerwentWISE, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s largest ever project, is a partnership scheme aiming to directly support and bring a natural conservation focus to the World Heritage Site and the range of designated nature reserves and protected areas across the Derwent Valley. The partnership brings together local authorities, conservation organisations, community groups, and landowners to preserve important habitats and increase the level of involvement with local landscapes. On a town level, Transition Belper is an example of a community-led initiative, organising events, workshops and campaigns in light of further adoption of sustainable lifestyles.
The efforts in the Derwent Valley to revitalise and transition towards sustainability not only benefit the environmental and community wellbeing but also have significant positive effects on local economy. Efforts to promote local economic development and entrepreneurship are empowering residents to take ownership of their economic futures. Initiatives such as the Derwent Valley Community Fund provide funding and support for small businesses, social enterprises, and community-based projects, fostering economic resilience and social cohesion — supporting the increasing trends of job creation, local procurement, tourism revenue, property value, and quality of life in the valley.
Bioregional Solutions: Shaping Our Future in a Changing Climate
Implicit within climate, natural and social issue solutions is the work of building local resilience. “Bioregions” offer a useful frame for a regional strategy in light of such issues and are gaining much recognition within the sustainability landscape. A bioregion is a geographical area defined by its unique combination of natural features (ecosystems, watersheds, mountain ranges), as well as cultural and human systems — moving beyond “man-made” boundaries such as political jurisdictions and encouraging a sense of interconnectedness and mutual dependence. They provide a framework for understanding and managing complex regional interactions, and allow for targeted, collaborative strategies to emerge for transformational solutions. As a bioregion, the Derwent Valley holds tremendous potential to shape a future approach to climate and social issues not only within the Derbyshire region, but to offer a blueprint and sources of inspirations to other bioregions both nationally and internationally — offering up potential collaboration with groups such as the Bioregional Weaving Labs and Regenerative Communities Networks. By amplifying the good work already happening within the valley, and creating a strong weave and learning loop between initiatives, innovative solutions can be developed which transcend geographic boundaries and address global challenges.
Furthermore, the greatly progressing concept of “hospicing modernity” by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira offers a profound insight into our relationship with the past, present, and future, and very much speaks to the journey of the Derwent Valley bioregion. “Hospicing Modernity” calls for an acknowledgement and hospicing (letting go) of the modern behaviour patterns that in many ways of killing the planet, and step into a new space of opportunity and hold oneself accountable. By recognising the impacts of neoliberalism and rabid consumption and honouring the legacy of the events such as the Industrial Revolution, while acknowledging its shortcomings, the Derwent Valley has the potential to chart a significant course towards a more sustainable and equitable future — not only embracing technological advancements but also reclaiming traditional knowledge and practices that have sustained communities for generations.
The Derwent Valley finds itself at a crossroads, poised to either retreat into the shadows of its industrial past, or boldly step forward into a future defined by resilience and community empowerment.
Forging a Path to a Sustainable Future
The Derwent Valley stands as a beacon of hope in a world grappling with environmental degradation and social injustice. Through community-driven initiatives, environmental stewardship, and social innovation, the valley is reclaiming its place as a catalyst for positive change — as it once was in industrial times. The Derwent Valley is a green shoot of resilience, visioning a world where sustainability, equity, and well-being are at the forefront of collective consciousness. A world where the lessons of the past are a guiding star towards a flourishing world for generations to come.

MURDER IN THE CLIMATE ASSEMBLY by Denise Baden

Murder in the Climate Assembly is a contemporary literary fiction novel that weaves moral philosophy, climate policies and elements of the popular whodunnit genre into an engaging story.
This original take on the traditional campus novel addresses broad themes of what justice means in an age of climate change. The story grapples with one of the most pressing questions of our age: how we enact change in our unsustainable lifestyles and ways of transforming our thinking on climate change and loss of biodiversity. An astonishingly good read full of engaging material on justice, ethics and democracy and moral philosophy. Timely and cutting edge but entertaining and thought provoking.
‘Having assessed this novel, I was struck first by its deft and unusual use of form to create a kaleidoscopic and deeply clever narrative. At once a commentary on the looming responsibility of the climate crisis and our ever-shrinking opportunity to enact meaningful change, and a far from conventional whodunnit, the book plays with the notion of what is moral and what is right.
Complicit in the book’s central sprawling philosophical dilemma, the reader finds themselves judge, jury and executioner in the case of the century. While the novel tackles prescient and troubling themes and poses difficult questions (how far should we go for the greater good?), it does so with a sense of dry humour and a delightful eye for the absurd.
Above all, the warmth and resilience of its ineffable protagonist suffuses the narrative and, as the story ends, we struggle to leave her behind. Not only is this a timely, thought-provoking and essential story in an age of urgent, innovative climate action that demands the attention of us all, it is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Funny, memorable, characterful and original.’
Miles Hawkley, senior editor of The Literary Studio.
https://www.dabaden.com/murder-in-the-climate-assembly/

A Quantum Year of Turmoil

We are in the International Year of Quantum (IYQ). Can the conceptual turmoil in physics one hundred years ago tell us anything about doing science amidst the political turmoil we experience today?
Karen O’Brien

Feb 2025

The International Year of Quantum (IYQ)
How exciting! The United Nations has designated 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ). The aim of IYQ is “to help raise public awareness of the importance and impact of quantum science and applications on all aspects of life.”
This month’s Opening Ceremony for IYQ included discussions on how quantum science can be used to address global challenges and align with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It’s a nice start for an initiative that aims “to continue fostering conversations, collaborations, and initiatives that ensure quantum science benefits society in meaningful and lasting ways.”
Well, timing is everything. Just when we are enthusiastically invited to engage with the wonders of cutting-edge science and to consider what it means for all aspects of our lives, the new U.S. administration has taken a giant wrecking ball to research and education.
Political Turmoil
Scientists are in the middle of a disorienting moment. It’s hard to grasp the systemic and institutional attack on research that is currently taking place in the United States. This includes, but is not limited to, the targeting of climate change research.
As Sudip Parikh, the head of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said at the opening of their annual meeting last week, “We are gathered in a moment of turmoil. It’s turmoil.”
This turmoil has consequences. It is part of a larger political agenda that is amplifying the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and nature’s decline — exactly when we should be reducing them. The three underlying causes that we identified in the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment are:

Disconnection from and domination over nature and people;
Concentration of power and wealth;
Prioritization of short-term, individual, and material gains.
But this is not all! The current regime is also undermining three of the four principles of transformative change: 1) equity and justice; 2) pluralism and inclusion; and 3) respectful and reciprocal human-nature relationships. It is doing this by erasing this language from research and education and removing protections.
The current political turmoil is not generating transformative change for a just and sustainable world. On the contrary, it is enabling a small and elite group to destroy nature and widen the path of plunder. Cuts in research funding, along with the termination of federal jobs related to education, national parks, environmental protection, and energy transitions, is pure folly. It has consequences for all of us.
The Threat
What is going on? History shows that authoritarian regimes are threatened by knowledge production based on independent, critical thinking. Unless research is dictated, controlled, and aligned with the objectives of the regime, it is likely to be viewed as dangerous. Why? Here are a just few reasons:
• Research involves asking questions. Authoritarian regimes suppress questions.
• Research focuses on solving problems. Authoritarian regimes thrive on creating problems.
• Research is creative. Authoritarian regimes are destructive.
• Research develops through collaboration. Authoritarian regimes develop through obedience.
• Research seeks truth. Authoritarian regimes survive through lies.
• Research thrives on discussion and debate. Authoritarian regimes depend on controlling information.
• Research expands knowledge. Authoritarian regimes limit or restrict it.
• Research empowers people. Authoritarian regimes oppress people.
• Research explores the uncertain and the unknown. Authoritarian regimes keep people in the dark.
In these unsettling times, how do we ask the right questions, expand knowledge, empower people, work collaboratively, creatively solve problems, and embrace the uncertain and unknown?
To answer this question, I’m looking to quantum physics for insights, analogies and metaphors that can help us generate transformative change that is equitable, ethical, and sustainable.
Back in Time
Let’s travel back in time to a pivotal quantum year. One hundred years ago, scientific understandings of the nature of reality were unravelling. New discoveries revealed that natural phenomena could not be accurately described by classical physics. Still, no one knew how to approach emerging and competing interpretations of quantum mechanics. Sean Carroll sums up the problem: “The failure of the classical paradigm can be traced to a single, provocative concept: measurement.”
Quantum physics created turmoil for research that was based on measurement. Many scientists knew that basic assumptions about reality were being challenged. A Nature editorial about the importance of this quantum year considers the implications:
[The revolution] did require its initiators to abandon dearly held common-sense ideas — for example, the expectation that subatomic objects such as particles have a well-defined position and momentum at any given time. Instead, the physicists found that natural phenomena had an inherently unknowable nature.
Physicists recognized that they’d need a new set of concepts to describe a quantum view of reality. However, they didn’t know what this would mean and where it would lead. In an recent article in Nature, science historian Kristian Camilleri describes how a bold paper published by Werner Heisenberg in 1925 upended our understanding of reality:
Pragmatic considerations lay at the heart of Heisenberg’s physics. He often played with all sorts of ideas until he found one that worked — an approach well suited to a period of such conceptual turmoil.
What does conceptual turmoil have to do with today’s political turmoil? A pragmatic “let’s play with ideas and see what works best” approach may not be the best response when the stakes are so high. Maybe the real lesson is that our responses should be adaptive, creative, and open-minded — and based on science, including social science.
Quantum social science
This year’s celebration of quantum science and technology is exciting, but where is the quantum social science? I ask this because the quantum breakthroughs we need now are not just technical; they are social.
Yes, quantum computing and quantum encryption sound promising. But for whom? Values and principles underpin every technology. Quantum breakthroughs have led to the development of lasers, cell phones, computers, and weapons, and these have not always been used to promote a peaceful and equitable world where nature and people can thrive. As discussed in a Forbes article on the risks of quantum computing: “The power of quantum computing can be leveraged for bad purposes as well as good, and even when organizations have the best intentions.”
It’s great that IYQ is focusing on quantum conversations, and I appreciate their call to action: “those who have insights into the beauty, power, and importance of quantum science and technology should use IYQ as a moment to share these insights with people who are less familiar with quantum.” However, I believe we need a radically different approach to social change — one that addresses the underlying causes of nature’s decline and recognizes the metaphorical and meaningful significance of entanglement, complementarity, superpositions, potentiality, and wholeness. As in oneness.
In a period of political turmoil, it’s critical that our responses draw on insights from quantum social science. For example, I would like to see conversations with Alexander Wendt about his work on Quantum Mind and Social Science: Unifying Physical and Social Ontology. It would be timely to hear from Laura Zanotti about her work on Ontological Entanglements, Agency and Ethics in International Relations. I also want to engage with Laura’s more recent work on “Cosmologies, coloniality and quantum critique,” which links quantum thinking with Indigenous knowledge. And shouldn’t we be paying close attention to insights from James Der Derian’s Project Q on peace and security in a quantum age? I can think of many other social scientists, artists, and activists with important quantum insights to share during this “International Year of Quantum.”
Action
In a climate of repression and oppression, what strategies can we use to maintain a clear and strong voice for critical and independent thinking and collaborative research?
If quantum physics is telling us that we live in a participatory universe, and that our actions matter more than we think, then those of us who care about a just and sustainable world need to take action now. Just as researchers got through their conceptual turmoil in 1925 and started a quantum revolution, I believe we have the potential to get through the political turmoil in 2025 by engaging with quantum social change for a just and sustainable world.

Paradigm Shakes

We seem to be stuck in a dangerous and destructive paradigm. Our current approach to climate change is painfully inadequate. Will shifting paradigms be easier if we start with a few small shakes?
Karen O’Brien

Jan 20

Extremes
These are not easy times. It’s hard to watch the news and read the latest climate projections. And it’s painful to experience the reality of extreme climate events and witness so much suffering and loss. It’s even more painful to see the woeful inadequacy of political responses.
We understand the impacts of climate-related disasters. Wildfires. Floods. Droughts. Heat waves. Hurricanes. We know that they will get much worse as the atmosphere continues to warm. Yet we are doing astonishingly little to address the underlying causes.
How did we get here? Weren’t these “extremely extreme” climate events avoidable?
Patterns
I’m experiencing a sense of déjà vu. I worry that I have written about this before. I probably have… It’s just that these questions keep coming up, and the patterns we see are annoyingly repetitive. We are stuck in thought patterns that are leading to dire consequences.
Reflecting on past, present and projected patterns took me back to the IPCC special report on extreme events — the SREX report for short.* The report, published in 2012, drew attention to the risks of extreme events associated with climate change.
The SREX report highlighted the importance of low-regrets measures as starting points for addressing projected trends in exposure and vulnerability to extreme events: “They have the potential to offer benefits now and lay the foundation for addressing projected changes.” They are, in other words, important adaptation strategies.
Low regrets measures are the obvious solutions that fit within current paradigm, and they include:
• early warning systems
• risk communication between decision-makers and local citizens
• sustainable land management (e.g., land use planning; ecosystem management and restoration)
• improvements to health, water supply, sanitation, and irrigation and drainage systems
• climate-proofing of infrastructure
• development and enforcement of building codes
• and of course, better education and awareness
Low-regrets options make perfect sense. Regretfully, we are not implementing them. It’s clear that something is missing.
Opening Minds
I worked on chapter 8 of the IPCC’s SREX Report, Towards a Sustainable and Resilient Future. In the chapter, we talked about the need to move beyond the dominant paradigm by opening our minds to new perspectives. This was one of the key findings in the SREX summary for policymakers:
Progress toward resilient and sustainable development in the context of changing climate extremes can benefit from questioning assumptions and paradigms and stimulating innovation to encourage new patterns of response (medium agreement, robust evidence). Successfully addressing disaster risk, climate change, and other stressors often involves embracing broad participation in strategy development, the capacity to combine multiple perspectives, and contrasting ways of organizing social relations.
The importance of shifting paradigms comes up repeatedly in the recent IPBES Transformative Change Assessment. The report emphasizes that “[t]ransformative change involves questioning the individual and collective paradigms and cultural narratives that perpetuate the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and nature’s decline.” This includes transforming dominant economic and financial paradigms that currently prioritize private interests over nature and social equity. How do we shift these paradigms?
Shakes and Shifts
Quantum social change emphasizes our potential to consciously disrupt habitual patterns and generate new ones. We often talk about shifting paradigms as if they were momentous events that occur in an instant, as in “Eureka! I’ve shifted my paradigm!” This may be true in some cases, but more often it’s a gradual process. In fact, it may be easier to shift entrenched paradigms if we start with small tremors, rather than wait for a dramatic shift.
For me, it took a series of small shakes to shift my thought patterns. My first “paradigm shake” came in 2007, after reading Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Interpreting it through the lens of climate change, I began to question the logic of striving to be “well-adapted” to dramatic environmental changes, at the same time as we were continuously accelerating the trends.
Writing in 1970, Freire warned of the dangers of adapting to oppressive situations:
The more completely the majority adapt to the purposes which the dominant minority prescribe for them (thereby depriving them of the right to their own purposes), the more easily the minority can continue to prescribe.

Awakening individual and collective agency is risky to those who benefit from an unquestioned acceptance of the status quo. Freire points to some of the tools for maintaining power over people, including the use of myths and the discouragement of critical thinking and inquiry. He relates this to the banking concept of education, where knowledge is deposited but never critically assessed:

The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world. The more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them.

As disinformation spreads, fake news and fake images are increasingly deposited in our minds. It’s not surprising that many of us are well-adapted to a fragmented, polarized view of reality. The antidote Freire offers is conscientization, the process of developing a critical awareness of one’s social reality through reflection and action.
Quantum Shakes
Pedagogy of the Oppressed shook my paradigm and led me to think critically about adaptation in relation to transformation. It also primed me to look at social reality through other lenses. My next paradigm shake occurred when I discovered Alexander Wendt’s work on quantum social theory. Wendt’s auto-critique of his constructivist approach to international relations led me to question how I was thinking about the relationship between individual change, collective change and systems change, including the implications for climate action. This paradigm shake opened me to an ongoing inquiry into what quantum social change means in theory and practice.
In The Social Life of Democracy, Sundar Sarukkai points out that democracy is a mindset. He emphasizes that people in every society are influenced by their cultural beliefs, including their beliefs about the relationship between the “I” and the “we.” His argument is that to understand the nature of democracy, one has to begin with the relationship between the self and the collective.
Quantum social change recognizes that individuals and collectives are entangled through language, meaning, and shared contexts, and that our deepest values and intentions are powerful sources of societal-scale change. As power is increasingly shifting to people who have little regard for climate science, nature conservation, and the well-being of all people and species, I think that our fragmented paradigm could use a quantum shake.
Scaling Ideas
In Think Scale, social entrepreneur Sanjay Purohit points out that “solving for scale is a mindset before it is an action.” He emphasizes that things scale through the sharing of ideas, and he encourages us, amidst the uncertainties that are unfolding around us, to “pause for a moment, reimagine what will work at scale, explore alternatives, and raise the aspiration to move forward on a journey of exponential change.”
I’m ready for the journey of exponential change to a just and sustainable world. The idea that I want to share and scale is that we matter more than we think. On January 20th, I’m going to make the You Matter More than You Think audio book freely available to newsletter subscribers for two weeks. Readers are in turn welcome to share it with people who matter to them.
I hope that sharing these ideas contributes to reflection and action on why paradigms, beliefs, relationships, metaphors, entanglement, consciousness, agency, and fractals matter — and most of all, why you matter. It’s time to both shake and shift a dangerous and destructive paradigm. With love! As Paolo Freire put it, “no reality transforms itself.”

[C]risis simultaneously loosens the stereotypes and provides the
incremental data necessary for a fundamental paradigm shift.
— Thomas Kuhn