Simon Nicholson | American University (original) (raw)
Books by Simon Nicholson
Humanity’s collective impact on the Earth is vast. The rate and scale of human-driven environment... more Humanity’s collective impact on the Earth is vast. The rate and scale of human-driven environmental destruction is quickly outstripping our political and social capacities for managing it. We are in effect creating an Earth 2.0 on which the human signature is everywhere, a “new earth” in desperate need of humane and insightful guidance. In this volume, prominent scholars and practitioners in the field of global environmental politics consider the ecological and political realities of life on the new earth, and probe the field’s deepest and most enduring questions at a time of increasing environmental stress. Arranged in complementary pairs, the essays in this volume include reflections on environmental pedagogy, analysis of new geopolitical realities, reflections on the power of social movements and international institutions, and calls for more compelling narratives to promote environmental action.
At the heart of the volume is sustained attention to the role of traditional scholarly activities in a world confronting environmental disaster. Some contributors make the case that it is the scholar’s role to provide activists with the necessary knowledge and tools; others argue for more direct engagement and political action. All the contributors confront the overriding question: What is the best use of their individual and combined energies, given the dire environmental reality?
Today's students want to understand not only the causes and character of global environmental pro... more Today's students want to understand not only the causes and character of global environmental problems like climate change, species extinction, and freshwater scarcity, but also what to do about them. This edited reader offers the most comprehensive, fair-minded, accessible, and forward-looking text for introducing students to the challenge of global environmental protection. Drawing on a diverse range of voices, the book sequentially explains our current predicament, examines what is being done to respond at a variety of levels from the international to the local, and outlines different, relevant strategic choices for genuine political engagement. Developed by two top researchers and master teachers of global environmental politics, the book brings together sharply written introductory essays with tightly edited selections from a broad cross section of thinkers to provide a text that will excite and educate students of global environmental affairs. In addition, the book introduces a series of exercises designed specifically to help students draw connections between their own lives and the broader challenge of global sustainability.
Papers by Simon Nicholson
For published version, see http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13412-016-0377-6 This art... more For published version, see http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13412-016-0377-6
This article takes a sympathetic look at the university fossil fuel divestment movement. The push for divestment is changing the conversation about what sustainability means for college campuses. It is also generating a new, more critical and politically engaged cadre of climate activists. We use a shared auto-ethnographic approach from student activists' and professors' perspectives to analyze the campus divestment movement based on the experience of American University's Fossil Free AU campaign. We argue that this issue is one where sustainability politics are re-politicized as they challenge traditional power relations and conceptualizations of what environmentalism entails. The case study explores how a climate justice framework, radical perspectives, and inside/outsider strategies were used within the campaign. We argue that the campus fossil fuel divestment movement holds potential to change the university's expressed values from complicity with fossil fuel economies toward an emergent paradigm of climate justice, stemming predominantly from student activism. The work presents new vantage points for understanding the relationship of personal experience, local campaigns of ecological resistance, and sustainability politics more broadly.
This chapter appears in Paul Wapner and Hilal Elver (eds.) "Reimagining Climate Change" (Routledg... more This chapter appears in Paul Wapner and Hilal Elver (eds.) "Reimagining Climate Change" (Routledge, 2016). As the international community keeps failing to mitigate and adapt to climate change, technological solutions such as climate engineering appear increasingly attractive. The chapter assesses the impulse to engineer the planet. Without embracing climate engineering, the chapter argues for further research to inform citizens if and when the decision to deploy climate engineering is upon us. Such research, however, must depart from current trends in an effort to include ethical considerations.
This is the introduction to a special issue of the journal Climate Law looking at climate enginee... more This is the introduction to a special issue of the journal Climate Law looking at climate engineering or "geoengineering" law and governance. The special issue seeks to highlight some of the key legal issues that the world may face should we devote serious consideration to what some have termed ‘Plan B’ for addressing climate change. Moreover, the authors assembled in the issue look to drive forward the important conversation about climate-engineering governance by moving beyond discussion of high-level principles to direct consideration of the nuts and bolts of potential regulatory regimes, along with the mechanisms by which real and robust public deliberation might be ensured.
Climate engineering or "geoengineering" subverts the typical categories of left-right politics in... more Climate engineering or "geoengineering" subverts the typical categories of left-right politics in the United States. What's going on?
Around the world, particularly in the United States, debates about environmental protection have ... more Around the world, particularly in the United States, debates about environmental protection have become ever-more fractious and polarized, following a radical shift in the collective understanding of environmental challenges and the appropriate responses to them. Whereas in the 1970s and the 1980s, environmental protection took the form of government-led action and intergovernmental treaty making, today it comes primarily under the heading of market capitalism and technological optimism. Sabin’s "The Bet" traces the growing politicization of, and free-market triumphalism around, environmental matters since the late 1960s in the context of the highly public wager between Paul Ehrlich and Julian Simon that has become the stuff of legend in environmental circles.
Global Environmental Politics, Jan 1, 2011
Climate geoengineering can be sold as a "sacrifice free" form of response to climate change. Ther... more Climate geoengineering can be sold as a "sacrifice free" form of response to climate change. There are, though, a range of hidden costs and risks that must be appreciated and assessed before rushing to a geoengineered world, as this survey chapter shows.
Global Environmental Politics, Jan 1, 2011
One of the reasons that geoengineering seems, to many, so tantalizing a prospect is because it ap... more One of the reasons that geoengineering seems, to many, so
tantalizing a prospect is because it appears to be a sacrifice-free form of action. The thinking goes that if the development of new technologies can allow the earth ’ s living and life-supporting systems to be manipulated at will, then climate change, along with all other environmental concerns, can be readily managed as discrete, solely technical problems. There are good reasons, though, to be cautious about rushing to
embrace a geoengineered future. Here, the lens of sacrifice is used to interrogate the climate geoengineering project. This chapter shows that far from being sacrifice-free, geoengineering, and by extension, other technological approaches to environmental problem solving, actually produce significant costs and hardships.
Sustainable Development Law & …, Jan 1, 2008
NZJ Envtl. L., Jan 1, 2001
Accegs to a reliable supply of elean.fresh water is a matter offundamental importance to every pe... more Accegs to a reliable supply of elean.fresh water is a matter offundamental importance to every person on the planet. Yet in many regions human activity and natural conditions mean that fiesh water resources are becomiing increasingly scarce. Increased comn petition over a decreasing per capita water supply has the potential to contribute to levels of inter-State conflict. This paper begins by outlining the general problem of water searciti' and the manner in which increased scarcity might be expected to contribute to situations of conflict bett een States.
Perspectives on Politics, Jan 1, 2011
Reports by Simon Nicholson
This report summarizes the key findings of a multi-stage consultative process that took place in ... more This report summarizes the key findings of a multi-stage consultative process that took place in 2010-2011, examining the research component of the US government’s Feed the Future (FTF) initiative.
On November 4, 2013, the Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment (then known as the Washington G... more On November 4, 2013, the Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment (then known as the Washington Geoengineering Consortium) hosted a closed-door meeting on geoengineering for Washington, DC-based civil society actors. More than 40 individuals registered to attend, from 30 different organizations. This report summarizes the day's activities and deliberations.
Course Syllabi by Simon Nicholson
Technological innovation is at once a driver of global environmental harm and an avenue of respon... more Technological innovation is at once a driver of global environmental harm and an avenue of response. This course will look at a range of ways to understand technologies and technological systems, so that course participants can better appreciate the complex opportunities and challenges that technological development presents. What does it mean to use technologies to try to “solve” complex environmental and social challenges? Can technological innovation be steered in productive rather than destructive directions? What does our technological future hold? Along the way we will examine a range of emerging technological forms that have extraordinary implications for environmental and social wellbeing, including biotechnology, synthetic biology, nanotechnology, and the technologies of climate engineering.
Course syllabus for graduate course on global environmental politics.
aladinrc.wrlc.org
Class Meetings: Thursdays 11:45am-2:25pm Office Hours: Mondays 2-4pm and Tuesdays 10am-12noon; an... more Class Meetings: Thursdays 11:45am-2:25pm Office Hours: Mondays 2-4pm and Tuesdays 10am-12noon; and by appointment.
Humanity’s collective impact on the Earth is vast. The rate and scale of human-driven environment... more Humanity’s collective impact on the Earth is vast. The rate and scale of human-driven environmental destruction is quickly outstripping our political and social capacities for managing it. We are in effect creating an Earth 2.0 on which the human signature is everywhere, a “new earth” in desperate need of humane and insightful guidance. In this volume, prominent scholars and practitioners in the field of global environmental politics consider the ecological and political realities of life on the new earth, and probe the field’s deepest and most enduring questions at a time of increasing environmental stress. Arranged in complementary pairs, the essays in this volume include reflections on environmental pedagogy, analysis of new geopolitical realities, reflections on the power of social movements and international institutions, and calls for more compelling narratives to promote environmental action.
At the heart of the volume is sustained attention to the role of traditional scholarly activities in a world confronting environmental disaster. Some contributors make the case that it is the scholar’s role to provide activists with the necessary knowledge and tools; others argue for more direct engagement and political action. All the contributors confront the overriding question: What is the best use of their individual and combined energies, given the dire environmental reality?
Today's students want to understand not only the causes and character of global environmental pro... more Today's students want to understand not only the causes and character of global environmental problems like climate change, species extinction, and freshwater scarcity, but also what to do about them. This edited reader offers the most comprehensive, fair-minded, accessible, and forward-looking text for introducing students to the challenge of global environmental protection. Drawing on a diverse range of voices, the book sequentially explains our current predicament, examines what is being done to respond at a variety of levels from the international to the local, and outlines different, relevant strategic choices for genuine political engagement. Developed by two top researchers and master teachers of global environmental politics, the book brings together sharply written introductory essays with tightly edited selections from a broad cross section of thinkers to provide a text that will excite and educate students of global environmental affairs. In addition, the book introduces a series of exercises designed specifically to help students draw connections between their own lives and the broader challenge of global sustainability.
For published version, see http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13412-016-0377-6 This art... more For published version, see http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13412-016-0377-6
This article takes a sympathetic look at the university fossil fuel divestment movement. The push for divestment is changing the conversation about what sustainability means for college campuses. It is also generating a new, more critical and politically engaged cadre of climate activists. We use a shared auto-ethnographic approach from student activists' and professors' perspectives to analyze the campus divestment movement based on the experience of American University's Fossil Free AU campaign. We argue that this issue is one where sustainability politics are re-politicized as they challenge traditional power relations and conceptualizations of what environmentalism entails. The case study explores how a climate justice framework, radical perspectives, and inside/outsider strategies were used within the campaign. We argue that the campus fossil fuel divestment movement holds potential to change the university's expressed values from complicity with fossil fuel economies toward an emergent paradigm of climate justice, stemming predominantly from student activism. The work presents new vantage points for understanding the relationship of personal experience, local campaigns of ecological resistance, and sustainability politics more broadly.
This chapter appears in Paul Wapner and Hilal Elver (eds.) "Reimagining Climate Change" (Routledg... more This chapter appears in Paul Wapner and Hilal Elver (eds.) "Reimagining Climate Change" (Routledge, 2016). As the international community keeps failing to mitigate and adapt to climate change, technological solutions such as climate engineering appear increasingly attractive. The chapter assesses the impulse to engineer the planet. Without embracing climate engineering, the chapter argues for further research to inform citizens if and when the decision to deploy climate engineering is upon us. Such research, however, must depart from current trends in an effort to include ethical considerations.
This is the introduction to a special issue of the journal Climate Law looking at climate enginee... more This is the introduction to a special issue of the journal Climate Law looking at climate engineering or "geoengineering" law and governance. The special issue seeks to highlight some of the key legal issues that the world may face should we devote serious consideration to what some have termed ‘Plan B’ for addressing climate change. Moreover, the authors assembled in the issue look to drive forward the important conversation about climate-engineering governance by moving beyond discussion of high-level principles to direct consideration of the nuts and bolts of potential regulatory regimes, along with the mechanisms by which real and robust public deliberation might be ensured.
Climate engineering or "geoengineering" subverts the typical categories of left-right politics in... more Climate engineering or "geoengineering" subverts the typical categories of left-right politics in the United States. What's going on?
Around the world, particularly in the United States, debates about environmental protection have ... more Around the world, particularly in the United States, debates about environmental protection have become ever-more fractious and polarized, following a radical shift in the collective understanding of environmental challenges and the appropriate responses to them. Whereas in the 1970s and the 1980s, environmental protection took the form of government-led action and intergovernmental treaty making, today it comes primarily under the heading of market capitalism and technological optimism. Sabin’s "The Bet" traces the growing politicization of, and free-market triumphalism around, environmental matters since the late 1960s in the context of the highly public wager between Paul Ehrlich and Julian Simon that has become the stuff of legend in environmental circles.
Global Environmental Politics, Jan 1, 2011
Climate geoengineering can be sold as a "sacrifice free" form of response to climate change. Ther... more Climate geoengineering can be sold as a "sacrifice free" form of response to climate change. There are, though, a range of hidden costs and risks that must be appreciated and assessed before rushing to a geoengineered world, as this survey chapter shows.
Global Environmental Politics, Jan 1, 2011
One of the reasons that geoengineering seems, to many, so tantalizing a prospect is because it ap... more One of the reasons that geoengineering seems, to many, so
tantalizing a prospect is because it appears to be a sacrifice-free form of action. The thinking goes that if the development of new technologies can allow the earth ’ s living and life-supporting systems to be manipulated at will, then climate change, along with all other environmental concerns, can be readily managed as discrete, solely technical problems. There are good reasons, though, to be cautious about rushing to
embrace a geoengineered future. Here, the lens of sacrifice is used to interrogate the climate geoengineering project. This chapter shows that far from being sacrifice-free, geoengineering, and by extension, other technological approaches to environmental problem solving, actually produce significant costs and hardships.
Sustainable Development Law & …, Jan 1, 2008
NZJ Envtl. L., Jan 1, 2001
Accegs to a reliable supply of elean.fresh water is a matter offundamental importance to every pe... more Accegs to a reliable supply of elean.fresh water is a matter offundamental importance to every person on the planet. Yet in many regions human activity and natural conditions mean that fiesh water resources are becomiing increasingly scarce. Increased comn petition over a decreasing per capita water supply has the potential to contribute to levels of inter-State conflict. This paper begins by outlining the general problem of water searciti' and the manner in which increased scarcity might be expected to contribute to situations of conflict bett een States.
Perspectives on Politics, Jan 1, 2011
This report summarizes the key findings of a multi-stage consultative process that took place in ... more This report summarizes the key findings of a multi-stage consultative process that took place in 2010-2011, examining the research component of the US government’s Feed the Future (FTF) initiative.
On November 4, 2013, the Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment (then known as the Washington G... more On November 4, 2013, the Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment (then known as the Washington Geoengineering Consortium) hosted a closed-door meeting on geoengineering for Washington, DC-based civil society actors. More than 40 individuals registered to attend, from 30 different organizations. This report summarizes the day's activities and deliberations.
Technological innovation is at once a driver of global environmental harm and an avenue of respon... more Technological innovation is at once a driver of global environmental harm and an avenue of response. This course will look at a range of ways to understand technologies and technological systems, so that course participants can better appreciate the complex opportunities and challenges that technological development presents. What does it mean to use technologies to try to “solve” complex environmental and social challenges? Can technological innovation be steered in productive rather than destructive directions? What does our technological future hold? Along the way we will examine a range of emerging technological forms that have extraordinary implications for environmental and social wellbeing, including biotechnology, synthetic biology, nanotechnology, and the technologies of climate engineering.
Course syllabus for graduate course on global environmental politics.
aladinrc.wrlc.org
Class Meetings: Thursdays 11:45am-2:25pm Office Hours: Mondays 2-4pm and Tuesdays 10am-12noon; an... more Class Meetings: Thursdays 11:45am-2:25pm Office Hours: Mondays 2-4pm and Tuesdays 10am-12noon; and by appointment.
Space-based mirrors. Injecting sulfate particles into the stratosphere. Seeding the oceans with i... more Space-based mirrors. Injecting sulfate particles into the stratosphere. Seeding the oceans with iron. These and a wide range of other climate geoengineering schemes are gaining greater credibility and visibility as options for tackling climate change. What, though, is to be made of such efforts? Is climate geoengineering a new form of hucksterism? A dangerous and distracting folly? Or some meaningful part of the toolkit needed to generate a sustainable future?