No abstract

No abstract

Education is the second largest consumer of energy in the service sector, however, little research to date has focused on the link between education policy and energy demand. Using a case study, this paper explores the role of invisible energy policies in Higher Education (HE). We make a distinctive contribution to debates about invisible energy policy by applying concepts from governmentality to show how different policies and technologies of governance come in to conflict in practice. And, we argue that although there are a number of institutional and national-level policies directly related to sustainability (including energy) there are also a number of conflicting priorities, most notably linked to the neoliberalisation of HE. Our case study focuses on teaching and research laboratories and empirically explores the impacts of both intentional and non-intentional energy policy in these spaces. Specifically this research highlights that the ability to 'do good science' has implications for demand management that go beyond research and teaching laboratory activities, and into the wider realm of HE institutions and policies.

No abstract

There is a rich literature on environmental governance that provides critiques and conceptual tools on how various environmental 'arenas' or overlapping global systems should be governed eg. climate, energy, oceans (Cherp et al., 2011, Berkes, 2006, Underdal, 2010). In this paper we argue that the geological subsurface should be considered as a new arena for governance in its own right. The arguments for this are presented by considering current and future challenges the subsurface will face as its 2 utilisation evolves and intensifies, particularly in the context of both energy security and low carbon energy. Three main challenges are highlighted; ownership, access and long term stewardship. These challenges are presented using the illustrative context of subsurface pore space for the long term storage of CO2 from Carbon Capture (CCS). This is presented in the UK context but ultimately has implication for global subsurface governance going forward.

Sustainability is becoming a key component of many HE curricula. However, questions as to what sustainability is and how it can be embedded within subject specific curriculum are difficult to answer. Focussing on existing pedagogic scholarship in this area and by drawing on experiences from my own institution, this article discusses how the GEES subjects are addressing sustainability in the curriculum. It provides both conceptual framing on the evolution of the GEES subjects in relation to sustainability and offers some practical examples of how different approaches to sustainability might be used in teaching, including challenging disciplinary perspectives and introducing interdisciplinary working around global challenges. It concludes with recommendations for how sustainability might be embedded in the curriculum in practice.

In 2009, exploratory drilling of geothermal wells in Iceland's Krafla volcanic caldera unexpectedly struck magma. The fact that the encounter did not have catastrophic consequences has excited considerable interest-and an international research facility is now being set up to explore energy generation and other possibilities of closer engagement with magma. We take this event as an incitement to explore how the Earth-changing "violence" of volcanic or igneous processes might be seen not simply as happening in time but as both generative and destructive of time itself. We approach volcanism through the construct of a "speculative geology" that draws on a recent return to metaphysical themes in philosophy as well as a growing interest in geologic processes in the arts, humanities, and popular culture. In this way, alongside cause-effect relations, we explore the more enigmatic processes through which subterranean geologic forces offer an excessive potentiality from which humans and other life forms select and actualize a narrower range of creative or generative possibilities. The article explores three significant volcanic episodes: a series of massive magma extrusions about 1.9 billion years ago linked to the ascendance of multicellular life; volcanism present in the East African Rift during pivotal phases of human evolution; and the volcanic activity of the early-mid Holocene viewed as a contextual factor in the emergence of ancient practices of artisanal pyrotechnology. Our reading of the dynamic and violent interchange between the inner and outer Earth in these examples points to a nonself-identical planetary condition, on which the very structure of temporality emerges through a play of destruction and generativity. In this light, we circle back on the Krafla project to consider questions of risk, uncertainty, and responsibility that attend the potential new interface with the underworld of magma.

Blue spaces have long been associated with beneficially impacting human health and wellbeing. This article reflects upon the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s experiences in coastal blue space and the health and wellbeing benefits derived from exposure to the space. Undertaken after the UK’s first lockdown during Summer 2020, the work employed a qualitative mixed methods approach through a survey and interviews to provide an in-depth case study of people’s experiences in and value of coastal blue space before and during the pandemic on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire. Findings show that participants valued the physical and mental health benefits derived from routine visits to coastal space, stimulated by emotional connections, a sense of escape and sensorial immersion. However, a busier coast in the lockdown’s aftermath provoked a changed experience in coastal space for many participants due to a detachment from coastal space and the provoking of negative emotional experiences driven by heightened fears, reduced safety and increased litter. Mitigatory responses, through a changed coastal routine, and reflective responses, through a changed value of the coast, were found, the latter due to an increased appreciation of the health benefits from coastal exposure for some participants. Importantly, the findings highlight the need for coastal management to account for these experiences in protecting the health value of coastal space.