How to organise more meaningful gatherings
In the past week I have listened to a number of podcasts and one of them in particular has stuck with me, The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker who appeared in Coaching for Leaders (episode 395). (and yes, of course I’ve already ordered the book). In this episode, Dave and Priya discuss her new […]
Normalising ideas
I am still reading Seth Godin’s book ‘This is marketing” how ideas spread and ideas develop, and it still keeps giving me great ideas and inspiration. What Seth really emphasis is the role of narratives and the importance of paying attention to these: You can’t get someone to do something that they don’t want to […]
Unprecedented yet so close: why heatwaves and flooding could be here to stay
This past week the news have sizzled with news about extreme fire events, large ranging bushfires in Sweden and Greece. Japan declared last week the heatwave a disasters while being faced with an unprecedented heatwave. 22 000 people were taken to hospital and this has impacted the elderly in particular. Portugal is set to face […]
Is 1.5 degree goal an illusion?
This past week has been quite eventful given that major issues have been either discovered or experienced when it comes to climatic changes. Japan has been experiencing significant floods with never before seen rain events while cities around the word have reported having broken all time heat records. A new study published in Nature used […]
3 defining features of Adaptation Futures 2018
This week I attended Adaptation Futures conference, a bi-annual conference that is attended by people who work in climate adaptation science, policy and practice. This conference was particularly interesting given that it was held in Cape Town, South Africa, that is going through a severe drought. At some point it was not even clear whether […]
Rebuilding in a changing world
This week, several news items have focused on rebuilding and relocation. There are many areas that have experienced devastating disasters where people still rebuild, often because they do not necessarily have a choice. Others are willing to take more risks and assess for example living in a flood prone area as a gamble that they […]
Time for a new paradigm in capacity building?
This week a news item caught my attention, an interview piece with Saleem Huq, the director of International Centre for Climate Change and Development. The commentary focused on the issue of capacity building, climate finance and how this is being dealt with in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This is often a […]
Is climate adaptation a science?
This is my pet topic, it has been ever since I started my PhD in 2009 and dived head on into the world of climate change adaptation. I identify as an adaptation scientist much to the dismay of some as there is an on-going debate as to whether climate change adaptation is simply a topic […]
How to maintain and access organisational memory
It struck me the other day when I was speaking with a colleague that institutional knowledge and memory is really retained in people. With institutional knowledge and memory I mean the knowledge about who does what, how things really work, who you need to talk to to get access to particular information. It is the […]
Can we keep a score on climate?
Last week I attended Climate Update 2018 event in Brisbane where we heard from various eminent speakers on the state of climate and what different organisations, such as the Queensland government, are doing in this space. In his presentation at Climate Update 2018, Mark Howden from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change focused on the […]