Global Governance Futures: Imperfect Utopias or Bust

Bill McGuire is an academic, activist, broadcaster, blogger and writer of popular science and speculative fiction. Emeritus Professor of Earth Sciences at University College London, Bill cut his teeth researching the link between volcanism and sea-level change and pioneered research on the geological impact of a rapidly changing climate. Over the past two decades, his expertise on natural hazard has been frequently sought out by government and media broadcasters. In more recent years, Bill has devoted much of his time to climate activism, displaying a flair for the cut and thrust of social media, as well as taking aim at the delusions of orthodox climate policy, including the dangers of geoengineering (in his most recent fiction book, Sky Seed). Brace yourselves for a no holds barred account of the climate science, as Bill spells out why dangerous pervasive climate breakdown is now all but inevitable. This is not a counsel of despair though, but rather a call for a serious, sober reckoning with our predicament and what we can still do to mitigate the worst impacts. On the way, we also explore the widening chasm between the climate science and political action, the serious, fun and even therapeutic pleasures of writing speculative fiction, the strange absence of public education on the climate emergency, as well as the importance of speaking up in the face of climate denialism, including among friends and colleagues. Bill tweets @ProfBillMcGuire You can learn more about Bill’s work here on his website: http://billmcguire.co.uk/ And read Bill’s essays on his Cool Earth column on Substack: https://substack.com/profile/23258461-bill-mcguire Articles we discussed include: ‘An open letter to all climate scientists’, 19 July 2021: https://billmcguire.substack.com/p/an-open-letter-to-all-climate-scientists

Jim Rutt is the host of one of our favourite podcasts: the Jim Rutt Show. He is a past chairman of the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) with a long and distinguished career in the California tech community. An avid proponent of complexity science, Jim is currently an SFI Research Fellow working in the scientific study of consciousness and evolutionary artificial intelligence. He is also one of the founders and most prominent advocates for Game B, a community trying to figure out what a viable, better civilization could look like and how to reach it. Jim joins us for a wide-ranging conversation, riffing on ideas from Game B, liquid democracy and the cutting-edge thinking on display in his own podcast series. From the historical contingencies which gave rise to Game A to the great acceleration of the 20th Century, Jim helps us take stock of where we are as a global civilisation, the contours of the civilisational crisis we find ourselves in, and possible exit strategies which do not involve collapsing into a neo-dark age or analogous undesirable states. Along the way we talk game theory, energy justice, the role of universities, complexity science and building “Proto-B” communities above the Dunbar number. Jim tweets @jim_rutt: https://twitter.com/jim_rutt You can find Jim at The Jim Rutt Show: https://www.jimruttshow.com/ Many of Jim’s writings are available on Medium: A Journey to GameB (13 Jan 2020): https://medium.com/@memetic007/a-journey-to-gameb-4fb13772bcf3 The Game B Wiki: https://www.gameb.wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page An Introduction to Liquid Democracy (26 Feb 2018): https://medium.com/@memetic007/liquid-democracy-9cf7a4cb7f In Search of the 5th Attractor: Complexity Science Thinking About Real Change for the Better (3 Feb 2017): https://medium.com/@memetic007/fifth-attractor-6d1a54fcda2e

Jacqueline McGlade is Professor of Resilience and Sustainable Development at University College London. She is also the Frank Jackson Foundation Professor of the Environment at Gresham College and Professor at Strathmore University Business School in Kenya. A marine biologist by training, Jacqueline was Chief Scientist and Director of the Science Division of the UN Environment Programme from 2003 to 2013 and before that, served as Executive Director of the European Environment Agency. However, today she is more likely to be found exploring ideas through working with local communities in Kenya than frequenting high-powered meetings at international organisations. Indeed, as you will hear, in a curious twist of fate, Jacqueline became a member of the Maasai tribe in 2016 through marriage to a Maasai chief and has relocated to live near the Maasai Mara Nature Reserve in Kenya. As we explore in our conversation, this life experience gives Jacqueline a unique perspective on the interface between culture, science and politics. Her career has been strongly informed by the complex interplay of data and communication and the ways in which science is filtered through the worldview of the beholder. An early love for languages also played a key role, revealing communication as a portal to mutual understanding across cultural realities. Ultimately, Jacqueline argues for more empathy in science and a willingness among her colleagues to communicate their knowledge in a way which meets people where they are. In honouring our shared humanity in the act of communication, Jacqueline suggests we invite a deeper sense of mutual responsibility and care to naturally arise. Jacqueline tweets @JacquieMcGlade You can learn more about Jacqueline’s work here on her UCL webpage: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/igp/professor-jacqueline-mcglade And watch Jacqueline’s lecture series at Gresham College here: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch/?subject=&subcat=&files=&year=&search=mcglade

Bayo Akomolafe is a prolific essayist, speaker and activist, a professor of psychology, a master wordsmith and executive director of the Emergence Network. An acute observer of our troubled times, Bayo has a gift for capturing the awkward confusion of our present predicament in phrases like “the times are urgent, let us slow down.” In this conversation, Bayo invites us to sit with our awkward confusion as we explore vulnerability as strength, the acceleration of history, race and reparations, the “mind forged manacles” of our times, as well as agency in times in crisis, and much, much more. This was a real mind-bending or, more accurately, question-bending conversation, we hope that you enjoy it as much as we did. Bayo Akomolafe writes at his website: https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/ And tweets @BayoAkomolafe: https://twitter.com/BayoAkomolafe Some of the essays that we discussed in this conversation include: • ‘Dear White People’: https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/post/dear-white-people • ‘Let’s Meet at the Crossroads’: https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/post/lets-meet-at-the-crossroads • ‘What Climate Collapse Asks of Us’: http://www.emergencenetwork.org/whatclimatecollapseasksofus/ • ‘The Times are Urgent: Let’s Slow Down’: https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/post/the-times-are-urgent-lets-slow-down • ‘I, Coronavirus. Mother. Monster. Activist’: http://www.emergencenetwork.org/icoronavirus/ The Emergence Network website can be found here: http://www.emergencenetwork.org/ You can find out more about his course in ‘postactivism’: ‘We Will Dance With Mountains’ at this webpage: https://course.bayoakomolafe.net/

Vinay Gupta is a leading figure in the blockchain space, having coordinated the release of the blockchain platform Ethereum in 2015. He is the Founder and CEO of Mattereum, a company which uses the blockchain to eliminate transaction risk from on-chain trade of physical assets. Vinay is also a prolific writer, commentator and futurist, building upon decades of research and strategic expertise across energy policy, defence, disaster relief and infrastructure risk, with stints at the Rocky Mountain Institute, US Department of Defense and an associate fellowship at UCL Institute for Security and Resilience. A proponent of techno-realism, Vinay argues that technology and engineering can contribute to positive social transformation and help deal with resource scarcity. As we explore in this conversation, a radical realism also pervades his politics – with Vinay’s trademark acuity and provocative ‘breaking the frame’ approach on full display! In a wide-ranging conversation, we discuss why “collapse” is already here and its relationship to income, wealth and power inequality, the historical antecedents to our predicament and why existing governance structures are no longer fit for purpose, as well as what is blocking a credible programme of action on the climate emergency. In a provocative thought experiment, Vinay challenges us to identify the simplest change that can be made to a broken system to get working change. His answer? A radical electoral reform to ensure that the core body politic has a compelling stake in the future. See what you think. Vinay tweets @leashless His company Mattereum can be found here: https://mattereum.com/ For information on his work in the field of humanitarian design: http://myhopeforthe.world/ His most recent book is The Future of Stuff, published in association with Tortoise Media: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Future-Stuff-Vinay-Gupta-ebook/dp/B08B4F5QK3

Robyn Eckersley is Professor and Head of Political Science in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia where she specialises in environmental governance, politics, political theory and international relations. She was elected as Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2007 and in 2019, she received a Distinguished Scholar Award from the Environmental Studies Section of the International Studies Association. Robyn has been working at the interface of deep ecology, green political theory and international relations scholarship for over two decades. In her 2004 book ‘The Green State’, she laid out her argument for a ‘critical political ecology’ as a paradigm to navigate the political challenge of ‘greening states’, a theme which has continued to animate her work. Robyn has also been a vocal advocate for climate justice in the UN intergovernmental system, a shrewd analyst of the US’s role as a swing state in the long history of climate negotiations, and – most recently – begun evaluating the climate emergency movement and its implications for the future of the state and democracy. In this conversation, Robyn helps us take stock of where we are five years after the landmark Paris Agreement. We discuss why current targets are unlikely to cut it unless ambitious concrete action is brought forward to 2030. We probe the imperative of tackling pervasive structural injustices which continue to perpetuate harm upon those most vulnerable to climate extremes, as well as the complex moral terrain posed by the issue of historic responsibility. Switching gears, Robyn revisits her earlier work on the transformation of the state in a context of ecological crisis and some of the opportunities, challenges and contradictions which the current moment throw up, not least the spectacle of the military declaring their green credentials on the battlefield. We also reflect on the enduring value of Robert Cox’s seminal distinction between problem-solving and critical theory, and its modification to ‘critical problem-solving’ in light of the pressing, pragmatic challenge of transformative change. Robyn closes by reflecting on what deep ecology means for better understanding our relationship between the human and non-human in environmentalism, as well as – riffing on Sarah Parkin’s popular book – a call to all young people to be ‘positive deviants’ and to insist that everyone “walks the walk” when it comes to the climate emergency. Robyn can be found here: https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/1470-robyn-eckersley She tweets @EckersleyRobyn Publications we discussed include: Robyn Eckersley, ‘Greening states and societies: from transitions to great transformations’, Environmental Politics vol. 30(1-2), pp. 245-265. Robyn Eckersley (2017), ‘Geopolitan Democracy in the Anthropocene’, Political Studies vol. 65(4), pp. 983-999. Peter Christoff and Robyn Eckersley. 2013. Globalisation and the Environment. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield. Robyn Eckersley. 2004. The Green State: Rethinking Democracy and Sovereignty. Cambridge: MIT Press. Robyn Eckersley. 1992. Environmentalism and Political Theory: Toward an Ecocentric Approach. State University of New York Press.

Dr Zak Stein is a writer, futurist, and transformative educator working to bring a greater sense of justice and sanity to education. He is also a founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue. Zak was educated at Hampshire College and received his PhD from Harvard University, where he studied educational neuroscience, human development, and the philosophy of education. While at Harvard, he also co-founded Lectica, a non-profit organization dedicated to redesigning standardized testing infrastructures. His most recent book, Education in a Time Between Worlds, grapples with the dangers posed by a profound learning and capacity deficit in a time of civilization-wide transformation. From climate change to politics, agriculture to economics, Zak argues that the world we have known is rapidly disappearing and it is now an existential imperative that we transform education systems if we are to survive the planetary crises currently underway. Planetary wellbeing ultimately depends upon schools, technology and society being re-envisioned toward empowering the world’s youngest citizens to comprehend and respond appropriately to global challenges of unprecedented size and scope. Zak currently serves as the academic director for the Center for Integral Wisdom, and offers human development and learning science consultations to schools, organizations, and educational technology companies. For more information about The Consilience Project at https://consilienceproject.org/ Zak has published two books: Social Justice and Educational Measurement: http://www.zakstein.org/social-justice-and-educational-measurement-book-release-announcement/ Education in a Time Between Worlds: http://www.zakstein.org/education-in-a-time-between-worlds-book-release/ A range of other publications, including his essay ‘If education is not the answer you are asking the wrong question’, are available here: http://www.zakstein.org/publications/

Sophie Harman is Professor of International Politics at Queen May University of London with interests spanning global health, African Agency, film and visual methods, and gender politics. Sophie has pushed the boundaries of International Relations (IR) scholarship more than most, notably through her use of visual mediums to convey the lived experience of those at the receiving end of global health programmes. In 2019, she was nominated for the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer for her work on the feature film Pili which tells the story of women living with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. Sophie has recently published the book Seeing Politics: Film, Visual Method and International Relation and was awarded the Joni Lovenduski Prize for outstanding professional achievement by a mid-career scholar by the Political Science Association (PSA) in 2018. In a wide-ranging conversation, we discuss why visual politics, as well as emotion, are important frontiers for the future of IR scholarship. Sophie reflects on the trials and tribulations of pursuing a film project in a profession not known for risk-taking. Beyond the razmataz of the BAFTA red carpet, we discuss how the film Pili provides a portal into questions of global health, power relations, colonial legacies, and gender inequity. Sophie highlights the importance of storytelling and giving space to those stories which are almost never heard in the corridors of power. Recalling James C. Scott’s famous work, Weapons of the Weak, we also discuss how people at the receiving end of global governance programmes make sense of politics and reclaim agency in their dealings with often remote international bureaucracies. Sophie also tackles head on the pathologies of reproducing tired gender narratives in a context of accelerating global health securitization and privatization, as well as why getting the basics right would be a good start for an international sector beset by problems of accountability. And we also find time for a few words on Covid-19. Sophie can be found here: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/politics/staff/profiles/harmansophie.html She tweets @DrSophieHarman Projects and publications we discussed include: The film PILI: Pili lives in rural Tanzania, working the fields for less than $2 a day to feed her two children and struggling to manage her HIV-positive status in secret. Watch the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/192767913 Available to view here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pili-Bello-Rashid/dp/B07MJM1LB4 ‘Making of’ film blog here: https://notanotheraidsfilm.com/ Seeing Politics: Film, Visual Method and International Relations (McGill-Queen’s University Press): https://www.mqup.ca/seeing-politics-products-9780773557314.php ‘Threat not solution: gender, global health security and COVID-19’, International Affairs: https://academic.oup.com/ia/article/97/3/601/6180992?login=true

Daniel Schmachtenberger is a social philosopher and founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue. The through line of his interests has to do with ways of improving the health and development of individuals and society, with a virtuous relationship between the two as a goal. Towards these ends, he has a particular interest in the topics of catastrophic and existential risk, civilization and institutional decay and collapse as well as progress, collective action problems, social organization theories, and the relevant domains in philosophy and science. Motivated by the belief that advancing collective intelligence and capacity is foundational to the integrity of any civilization, and necessary to address the unique risks we currently face given the intersection of globalization and exponential technology, he has spoken publicly on many of these topics, hoping to popularize and deepen important conversations and engage more people in working towards their solutions. Many of these can be found at http://civilizationemerging.com/media/ In this conversation, we explore why it is now imperative to figure out a whole new world system given the catastrophic risk landscape that we confront. Daniel argues that in the face of exponential curves proliferating across systems – human, technological and geophysical – we need to develop a novel set of solutions for how we coordinate at scale. The task ahead of us is nothing less than to foster a global social, technological and educational zeitgeist, one which can prevent existential risk in a way commensurate to our deepest values for participatory and empowered governance. For more information about The Consilience Project at https://consilienceproject.org/

Dr Patrick Ophuls (who writes under the pen name William Ophuls) is an American political scientist, ecologist, independent scholar and author. He is known for his pioneering role in the modern environmental movement. A prominent voice in the environmental movement since the 1970s, Patrick received his PhD in political science from Yale University in 1973. His 1977 book Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity was awarded the Sprout Prize from the International Studies Association. Subsequent work has sought to bring to public attention some of the ecological, social, and political implications of modern industrial civilization. In his 2011 book, Plato’s Revenge: Politics in the Age of Ecology, Patrick argues that political struggle must now urgently focus on making ecology the master science and Gaia the key metaphor of our age. In this conversation, we discuss why we need to stop thinking of ourselves as somehow above or outside the natural systems that support us. We also explore how humanity’s efforts to embrace the politics of ecology could well prove to be the defining story of this century if we are to avoid indulging the tragedy of homo (in)sapiens. Patrick’s publication include: Immoderate Greatness: Why Civilizations Fail (2012) Plato’s Revenge: Politics in the Age of Ecology (2011) Requiem for modern politics: the tragedy of the enlightenment and the challenge of the new millennium (1997) Ecology and the politics of scarcity (1977) Episode image by Raul Lieberwirth: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lanier67/6825685137/