I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of having my awareness raised. It seems every other paper, report or project proposal I pick up is invoking “awareness raising” as rationale, output, outcome or impact and sometimes all four at the same time. Can awareness raising really be all those things, or is it just [...]
More or Less Connected
The more connected you are, the less you are connecting. I am at a conference. I am so busy rephrasing what the speakers are saying into 144 characters that I am not really listening to what they say. If I’m not Tweeting, I’m checking my email because of course there is a wireless Internet connection. [...]
Schrödinger’s Bus
How the act of searching for a bus to Chiang Mai collapses the waveform and causes a bus to exist. We had two young Swedish women come to visit us at the farm. Josephine was the girlfriend of the son of a good friend of mine, and Linda her travelling companion. They had both been [...]
Let 10,000 Adaptation Projects Bloom
There is ample evidence to convince many that climate change is well underway. Reducing greenhouse gases remains important, but we had best start thinking harder about how we will adapt to the coming changes. Published in Issues magazine: Issues 94: March 2011, Climate Change Adaptation.http://issues.control.com.au/Issues2011/bi94.shtml Public awareness of adaptation, as opposed to mitigation, is only [...]
Why ‘marketing’ is the wrong metaphor for development communication
Summary The widespread use of the marketing metaphor in development communication may be limiting the impact of research for development. It reflects a deficit model of communication that denies agency to the people with whom we wish to communicate; it contributes to the further commodification of science and the further undermining of public trust; and [...]
If Writers Were Cars
If Writers Were Cars Everyone knows how to rent a car. You start with why you need one. In town for a couple of days on business? You probably want something small and easy to park. Taking the family to the beach for the weekend? A station wagon or SUV will do nicely. Cleaning out [...]
The Myth of Insufficient Information
Pick any topic. It could be as broad as “conservation” or as specific as the reproductive cycle of Viverricula indica. Chances are good that at the next meeting or workshop you attend or in the next report you read, you will hear or read a claim that “we have insufficient information” on the subject and [...]
The Weather of the Future
The problem with climate change is we can’t see it. So says Heidi Cullen, author of The Weather of the Future. Cullen suggests that by starting with the weather, a subject on which you and I are experts, we can persuade people that first, things are changing; and second, we can take action that will [...]
Power Hungry: The myths of “green” energy and the real fuels of the future
With all the clamor of dams on the Mekong and expert panels advising the Basin Development Program, I thought it appropriate to review a good book on energy. I am a firm believer that that true seekers of knowledge (that’s you dear readers) are not afraid to examine information that might challenge their existing beliefs. [...]
Taming Groundwater Anarchy: Groundwater Governance in South Asia
If you are looking for a comprehensive, informative and lucid snapshot of the state of groundwater governance in South Asia today, you have found the right book. Shah starts off with a chapter on The Hydraulic Past in which he traces the history of irrigation in South Asia with a focus on the nineteenth and [...]
