Prof Lucie Middlemiss

This week we launched the West Yorkshire hub of @justcentre.bsky.social with 30+ regional partners to explore how to put social justice at the heart of climate change conversation and action. A huge thank you to everyone who joined us, we are excited for what lies ahead!

Why should I write better when a machine can do it for me? Because actually no one can do it for you, because your voice is unique among all the people on earth. Siri never petted a horse's neck. Alexa has never been ghosted by the captain of the football team. But you have lived, your heart is beating, you have suffered, and you have something important to say. It's a human's job, to use words, and whatever job you give to a machine, that part of your brain goes dark. Maybe it's worth it when it comes to remembering phone numbers and directions, but when that part of your brain that uses words goes dark, that's a vast area that's very close to your soul. Don't let some internet platform convince you that what you have to say and create isn't worthwhile. Words are the echo of your soul. Honing that echo matters.

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

A just climate future for Jim and beyond - Transforming Society Carolyn Snell and Lucie Middlemiss, authors of 'Just Climate Futures', argue that while Net Zero policies are vital for tackling climate change, they must be shaped around everyday realities and…

@prof-carolynsnell.bsky.social and @luciemidd.bsky.social argue that while #NetZero policies are vital for tackling #ClimateChange, they must be shaped around everyday realities and social inequalities to ensure they enhance rather than diminish people’s lives: buff.ly/nFn4lI0

We are in Paris! Just watched them in Montmartre coming down the hill in the rain. Brilliant.

Rümeysa Öztürk describes the library in the prison where she was held for 45 days for co-authoring an op-ed

Sustainability research team wins Best Paper Award Professors Lucie Middlemiss and Mark Davis have been honoured with the Best Paper Award by Energy Research & Social Science for their groundbreaking research.

Well done to @luciemidd.bsky.social and @profmarkdavis.bsky.social, who were awarded Best Paper by Energy Research & Social Science! 👏

Their paper investigates how social relations impact public decision-making and action around energy use.

Read more: environment.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...

@matthannon.bsky.social @anneowen.bsky.social and Stephen Hall. Watch this space for further work to come, from this team and beyond. We look forward to our methodology taking flight with other scholars. If you are inspired please do get in touch!

This paper was mainly written at my kitchen table with @profmarkdavis.bsky.social, but with a stellar list of co-authors from the Whole Person Whole Place team: @drdonalbrown.bsky.social‪ @ruthbookbinder.bsky.social Iain Cairns, @giuliamininni.bsky.social @mcbrisbois.bsky.social ...

The originality here is in how we apply interdisciplinary ideas from relational sociology to the energy social sciences, in our detailed explanation of the ontology and epistemology of a relational approach, and in our practical articulation of how other scholars can take up the approach.

In the paper we document a new subfield: ‘relational energy research’. We bring insights from relational sociology into energy demand research, offering methodological guidance for a new focus in the energy social sciences: social relations and the way that they shape energy demand.

Developing a relational approach to energy demand: A methodological and conceptual guide In a recent review of research on the role of social relations in shaping energy demand, authors documented increasing interest in relational approach…

Our paper “Developing a relational approach to energy demand: A methodological and conceptual guide” has won a prize: the Energy Research & Social Science Best Paper Award! You can read it here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... thanks to funding from @ukerc.bsky.social

Thanks for the follow Julian and really looking forward to hearing from you at this event!

🚨Join us for the International Launch of the JUST Centre, with keynote remarks from Prof. Julian Agyeman and a discussion with Centre Director Prof. Sherilyn MacGregor, Co-Investigators Prof. Lucie Middlemiss, Prof. Stefan Bouzarovski and Prof. Rebecca Willis.

Register here: tinyurl.com/5bxfdb2z

Interested in #health #equity and #buildings join Doug's new 'HESTIA' network!

There is no direct policy on energy poverty in China, but energy 5 year plans and poverty alleviation policy have nevertheless worked to address it in the last 20 years. Lin maps the existing and missing policy in China, documenting which aspects of this problem are not currently addressed. Enjoy!

Analysing policy responses to energy poverty in China: A perspective on socio-spatial vulnerability lens Millions of Chinese households suffer from varying degrees of energy poverty, threatening their access to sufficient energy services. China lacks a na…

Very pleased to be a co-author on this new paper by @linzhang55.bsky.social which summarises the policy context in #China in relation to #EnergyPoverty.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The case for using "global majority" by institutions should be rejected unless + until it can be shown
- most people understand what it means (most don't)
- most people it is about would like it used (most don't)

I find it a deeply incoherent fiction + a highly regressive term in some many ways

Diary of a Gazan family's descent toward starvation Mervat Hijazi and her nine children didn't eat at all on Thursday - save her underweight baby who had a sachet of peanut paste.

Diary of a Gazan family's descent toward starvation reut.rs/4jB7Dcd

Back-to-back life on streets of Leeds caught on camera Photographer Ricky Adam says the red brick terraces of Leeds are

Back-to-back life on Leeds streets caught on camera. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Caught off-guard, California colleges scramble to determine scope of student visa cancellations More universities are discovering that international student visas were cancelled last week, causing growing concern and confusion at UCLA and other California campuses.

UPDATED: As of Tuesday night, California universities are reporting at least 92 revoked student visas.

— 50 at UC campuses. New: UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine and a jump at UC Berkeley to 19 total
— 36 at CSU campuses, including San Diego State
— 6 at Stanford

www.latimes.com/california/s...

The rationale for this cancellation is climate denial.

There is no dressing it up, there is no tiptoeing around it.

Yet climate change doesn’t care if we believe it. It will destroy our homes, multiply insurance rates, wreak economic havoc and more — regardless of our opinions or voting record.

Ten questions concerning the future of residential indoor air quality and its environmental justice implications Humans spend a large proportion of their time at home, where exposure to poor indoor air quality has detrimental – and often inequitably distributed –…

Interested in residential air quality and environmental justice? Check out this new paper from @douglasbooker.bsky.social and others in the HEICAMM network exploring ten key research questions in this area www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Having a bit of a reminisce today. Five years ago an email arrived that changed my life - a request to produce a paper on what we knew about the environmental transmission of covid-19 for the UK SAGE committee. 1/

This is not an exaggeration: illegally gutting this program will cause Americans to freeze to death in their homes.

Event details (place, time, organisers, links, contact details) and schedule

Come to our exciting event "Accelerating Social Change in Response to the Climate and Ecological Crisis", 6th June, London, register here: forms.office.com/e/4A078QseKL
For more infos here: bit.ly/41O8EIe

Thanks to @britishacademy.bsky.social and the full issue here for other papers and insights: journal.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/thematic-col...

We offer 3 key recommendations here:
1. Close the data gap on who is winning and losing in NZ to design interventions more inclusively.
2. Find opportunities to intervene relationally in left-behind places.
3. Design energy policy to benefit different groups of people through social relations.

New paper led by Stephen Hall: Mission Led government or Radical Incrementalism for electricity and Net Zero? We argue for a relational approach to Net Zero, whether rooted in radical incrementalism or in mission-led government.
journal.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/articles/13/...

I'm calling it dark still in Leeds. Waiting for clocks to change...