The world has entered a new age. The steady state of the previous 10,000 years has been disturbed by human activity, and we are now entering the “back loop” of the Anthropocene, where systems which previously locked up resources begin to collapse and release new potentials. Are we ready to take hold of these opportunities? Are we thinking creatively enough about the possibilities for life in the back loop? Or are we stuck in a mindset which seeks to reproduce and zombify the present system?
My PhD focuses in on the way that climate change is emerging in the minds of global north populaces, and asks if different types of practice affect their thinking. Is the way that XR is engaging in the climate activist space conditioning their members to think in a certain way, and do organisations which were set up in response to austerity (such as food banks and community gardens) have different effects? Linked to this issue of the back loop, where can we identify the creative capacities which will allow us to build good lives in a less stable world?
In answering these questions and engaging with people on the ground, I hope to illuminate and inform effective strategy in the fight against climate authoritarianism. Not only this, but having worked as chapter scientist for the IPCC on their 6th assessment report I have engaged with the leading science on the potentials for getting to net zero. I seek to inform effective strategy in driving this shift, while keeping the question “how can we build better lives in the world of climate change?” at the heart of our work.
