During 2020, Zoom (and its equivalents) has become for many people the dominant medium through which human encounter and interaction is experienced.  This is especially true of the academy.  Despite its democratising potential, I have struggled to adapt to...

This week — 16-19 November 2020 — the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) is hosting an international conference on the exchange of data about the Earth System in the 21st century.  The purpose of the discussions facilitated by this conference...

This is a question recently asked by my colleague Dragos Simandan of Brock University, Ontario. In particular he asks, “In my home discipline of human geography I’ve been surprised by the lack of deep criticism (so far!) against the...

Having just finished reading Dorian Lynsky’s wonderful Ministry of Truth, a biography of George Orwell’s 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty Four, a recent headline from The Times newspaper caught my attention.  The Harvard professor of psychology Steven Pinker was accusing...

As the pandemic continues to dominate public politics around the world, a single number – the reproduction rate (R) – has become the focus of policy-making and public communication.  Keeping R below 1.0 appears to be the primary objective...

Thirty years ago last week, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opened the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction (now the Hadley Centre for Cliamate Science and Services). The current Director – Albert Klein Tank – has offered a brief ‘perspective‘ and...

Nearly 10 years ago I published a paper in the history of science journal Osiris titled Reducing the Future to Climate: A Story of Climate Determinism and Reductionism.  It was a warning about viewing the future—and making decisions about...

Many politicians and public figures are calling for the response to COVID-19 to be put on a war footing.  Emergency declarations and executive powers are being appropriated by the state.  Climate campaigners, too, have frequently called upon nations to...