Introduction

Welcome to my new blog on Vivaldi. I am planning a relatively eclectic blog and post on whatever interests me at the time. At the moment I am mainly interested in sustainability and environment. I am studying at University of Tasmania and my current units are “Science and Policy for Energy Futures” and “Political Ecologies of Development” so I expect I will be writing largely in those areas for a while.

I am a vegan, although while most vegans view their lifestyle choice entirely through the prism of animal liberation (which is also important to me), I came to veganism through concern for the environment and ethical food systems. As a result, my choices are ion some ways slightly different to traditional ‘rule based’ veganism, and some strict vegans have labeled me a vegetarian on that basis. Nevertheless, for want of a practical label, I consider myself a vegan, and I will likely post on this in the future.

Ethical food systems, however, go beyond veganism. Food provision in the north is currently dominated by a small number of multinationals, operating as an effective cartel, providing our food through an industrial agricultural model. While large scale farming does provide eficiencies in feeding the world, 70% of the world (mostly the south) feed themselves with localised food systems which are more sustainable and should be supported rather than manipulated by the cartel behaviour of the multinationals (Clapp 2021).

Another interest of mine is sustainability, particualrly with respect to cities and communities. Most of us in Australia live in a city, so if we are to map out a sustainable green future, we will need to start with sustainable green cities.

Environmental issues are also an interest of mine. At the moment we are at a cross-roads environmentally. Clearly we need to stop using the resources of our planet with such abandon, as we need to provide for future generations. There is, however, a dichotomy in approach which is not obvious to the casual observer. Many environmentalists, which we could label neoconservationists, would separate humans from nature and seek to leave things untouched whenever possible. Others see humans as part of nature and impacting on our environment since the beginning. These new ecologists see a place for managing our impact rather than avoiding it (Buscher & Fletcher 2020).

One of my courses at UTAS is using a world systems model to understand development. This is a powerful way of looking at the world as consisting of a core of wealthy coutries with a periphery of poorer economies. I would like to comment on that unbderstanding of the world, how it evolved and what the ongoing consequences are (Babones 20170).

So that is what I am thinking about at the moment.

Bibliography

• Clapp, J 2021, “The problem with growing corporate concentration and power in the global food system,” Nature Food, vol. 2, pp. 404–408.
• Buscher, B & Fletcher, R 2020,“Dichotomous Natures,” in, The Conservation Revolution : Radical Ideas for Saving Nature Beyond the Anthropocene, New Left Books Ltd CONSIGN, GB.
• Babones, S 2017,“The World Systems Perspective,” in, Routledge Handbook of World-Systems Analysis, Routledge International Handbooks, pp.109–117.