Everyday Ecologies

The Ecology of Everyday Things Nature is all around us, in the beautiful but also in the unappealing and functional, and from the awe-inspiring to the mundane. It is vital that we learn to see the agency of the natural world in all...

The Ecology of Everyday Things pulls back the veil of our familiarity on a range of ‘everyday things’ that surround us, and which we perhaps take too much for granted 👉🏽 www.routledge.com/The-Ecology-...

ABSTRACT Amid escalating ecological crises and the limited effects of previous green growth approaches, degrowth has gained increasing attention, with researchers and activists debating various policies. However, implementation of such policies remains rare, as does research on these few examples. This highlights the need to examine the politics underlying such attempts to promote degrowth. This article explores national repair policies in Austria and Sweden as most likely cases of existing degrowth policies. It makes two key contributions. First, it applies the Advocacy Coalition Framework, using a classic policy analysis perspective to study degrowth policies. Second, it provides one of the first analyses of political dynamics in this context, identifying pragmatic degrowth coalitions that leverage diverse interpretations of repair policies to enable their implementation. This study discusses how incremental policy changes, driven by coalition-building efforts, can advance transformative policies, offering insights into the political processes required for implementing degrowth-oriented approaches.

New article!

Exploring the politics of degrowth – first evidence from two cases of repair policies in Austria and Sweden by @janpollex.bsky.social & Lars E. Berker.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

In Climate Hegemony, @laurieparsons.bsky.social brings us a human’s-eye view of the climate crisis, drawing on two decades’ research at the frontline of global development in Cambodia.

📚 Publishing via #OpenAccess in Spring 2026.

Find out more: press.lse.ac.uk/books/m/10.3...

ABSTRACT Characterised as sites of energy citizenship, community energy projects help people locked out of the corporate green energy and rooftop solar markets to participate in the renewable energy transition. However, the environmental politics of community energy projects cannot be assumed. Drawing from document analysis and semi-structured interviews with community energy organisers, advocates and participants, we compare two projects in New South Wales, Australia. We show that community energy projects accommodate different forms of energy citizenship, with implications for their ability to address existing exclusions and injustices of a market-led energy transition. We demonstrate that community energy projects have struggled to enhance low-income households’ access to renewable energy while simultaneously facilitating democratic participation in energy governance. In identifying the challenges that these projects have faced, we contribute to debates about how community energy projects can realise a just transition to renewable energy.

New article!

Acts of energy citizenship in community solar gardens by Judita Hudson, @kurtiveson.bsky.social & Sophie Webber.

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

Through growing roses, and what I found there (spoiler: climate change) I delayed writing on the topic of gardening and growing roses so many times. It seemed to me that writing about these small everyday issues in a time of polycrisis was an unaffo…

🌹🌿 New weekend blog on growing roses in a countryside garden as a way of observing climate shifts. Through writing about roses, I reflect on the interrelations between gardening, inequality, poetic imagination, local seasonal weather and global climate change 👉🏽 alexandrinavanke.com/2025/10/04/t...

October is perfect for planting broad beans (fava beans) for an early crop next spring! 🍂
Top tips:
1️⃣ Choose a hardy, overwintering variety like 'Aquadulce Claudia'.
2️⃣ Plant seeds 5cm deep in a sunny, well-drained spot to protect them from frost and mice.
#Gardening #GrowYourOwn #BroadBeans

Colombia’s flower industry: a story of extractivism and resistance Valentina Donato This article was originally published by degrowth.info on 15 August 2025. What can be done when vast corporations take control of the land, poison the soil, and exploit the hands t…

What can be done when vast corporations take control of the land, poison the soil, and exploit the hands that care for it? Valentina Donato explores the various forms of resistance to the Colombian cut-flower industry radicalecologicaldemocracy.org/colombias-fl...

Sow kohlrabi seeds in early August for a tasty fall harvest by October! Both the leaves and the bulbous stems are edible—try them raw in salads, roasted with herbs, or stewed into cozy dishes. A cool-season veggie that thrives as summer fades. 🌱🥗🔥 #gardening #fallharvest #kohlrabi

2/2 Extreme heat has become a regular feature of life across the world, but the way it is felt depends on who you are and where you live; with working class people being hit the hardest and taking the longest to recover from its impacts - and that's even if they can recover at all.

Potatoes should be growing well now—time to earth them up! Mound soil around stems to protect tubers from light & boost yield. Tip: water well, especially once flowers appear—this means tubers are forming & harvest is just weeks away! Keep earthing up as needed to cover new growth. #gardenplanner

The Climate Crisis is a Working Class Issue - Building a Year of Trade Union Climate Action
⏰️ Online meeting Wed 7th May 7pm 
✍️ Register actionnetwork.org/events/the-c...
Join the discussion on how we can build for a year of action, as agreed at TUC 2024 - in our unions, workplaces and communities ✊

🌱 New blog post! Discover the magic of Square Foot Gardening & maximize your harvest. Read more here: [https://vegplotter.com/blog](vegplotter.com/blog) #SquareFootGardening #GardeningTips #VegPlotter

Political Ecology: Reflections from the Global South - Prof Mitul Baruah Political ecology as an area of academic enquiry is relatively new. The history of it in the Anglophone world can be traced back to the 1980s, pioneered by, ...

Mitul Baruah discusses nature and power, environmental disaster in India and the importance of the work of political ecologists outside academia.

🔎 Explore #ConnectedSociologies Curriculum Project's free open-access educational resources, including video lectures, lesson plans and readings.

Blossom emerging on a cherry tree, daffodils and primroses in an English garden

The arrival of spring is lifting my spirits

Keep your veggies snug, your potatoes safe, and your brassicas standing tall! 🌱 Check out our latest blog on the benefits of earthing up—your garden will thank you! 🏡🌿 Read more here: vegplotter.com/blog/the-art... #gardeningtips #earthingup #growyourown

Political economy and the environment - Dr Keston Perry Debates in political economy have shifted from resource extraction as a means of accumulation under capitalism to consider how workers, indigenous peoples, B...

Keston Perry discusses climate injustice, the work of #SylviaWynter and the links between colonialism and the environment.

🔎 Explore #ConnectedSociologies Curriculum Project's free educational resources, including lectures, lesson plans and readings.

Rose Shrubs have arrived from Texas.

Germination is wrapping up decently. A few species didn't do great - Rudbeckia Hirta, Amsonia tabernaemontana, Eutrochium purpureum, and Asclepias speciosa (Germination went well but cold damaged after). Everything else seems to be doing well.

Cabbage butterfly caterpillars can quickly damage brassicas. Keep them away by planting strong-scented herbs like chamomile, mint, rosemary, sage, and thyme—these smells deter them. You can also shield your crops with muslin or horticultural fleece for extra protection. #GardeningTips #PestControl

Want to maximize your growing time? Sow early carrots as soon as VegPlotter’s app advises for your area. Plant in well-drained soil & cover with fleece for warmth. Pick fast-growers like ‘Napoli’ for a quicker crop. Top tip: Mix seeds with sand for even spacing—less thinning needed! #SpringPlanting

If civilization collapses, what's left of nature doesn't stand a chance.

When you're on a plane & the oxygen masks fall down, you put YOUR mask on FIRST, so that you can save others!!

It's the ANTHROPOCENE!!
Nearly EVERY ANIMAL ON EARTH NEEDS HUMANITY TO BE #SUSTAINABLE so that THEY CAN SURVIVE!!

I've been honored that this Canadian radio show/podcast has been discussing my book chapter-by-chapter for the last few months. The hosts are very smart and incisive as well!

"While environmental liberalism often struggles with people prioritizing immediate concerns, like social security, over “environmental issues,” eco-social politics integrates these concerns as core to its agenda."

Just starting your growing adventure? 🌱 Here are 5 easy veggies to get you going: lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, zucchini (courgette!), & green beans. Quick to grow & super rewarding! #gardening #beginnergardener #growyourown

"Social and environmental justice cannot be easily reconciled by pledging allegiance to both. The struggles for ecological and social justice have not only taken place on separate battlefields, they have been in permanent conflict with each other."

dial.uclouvain.be/pr/boreal/ob...

Onion neck rot, caused by the fungus Botrytis, is a common storage problem. Prevent by ensuring onion necks are dry before storing. Avoid damaging bulbs during harvest and store in a cool, dry place with good air circulation. Discard any with signs of rot to prevent it spreading. #onions #neckrot

Very excited to announce that Carbon Colonialism will be released in paperback this May!

Hoping to kick start further conversations around the environmental politics of our global factory

Watch this space for more developments...

This baby is out in paperback. #GreenSky

Go get your copy and use the discount code GLR BD8 to save 20% www.bloomsbury.com/us/decoloniz...

1/2 Delighted to be speaking at this upcoming (remote) seminar about climate justice and social policy on 3rd March, 4-5.30pm CET. Hosted by the European Trade Union Institute @etui.bsky.social, I'll be joined by Dimitris Stevis, Professor of Political Science at Colorado State University.

“We’re doing what is possible in the current situation to unite people, support them and support grassroots activism.” Alexandrina Vanke joins the Russian eco-activists sorting waste and creating hope in the shadow of war.

Out now in our #TSRWaste issue https://buff.ly/3OQasc7