James Palmer
@jamesrpalmer.bsky.social
Associate Professor in Environmental Geography, University of Bristol Author of "Power Plants" (https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526192127) See also @peatscapes.bsky.social (peatscapes.com), funded by @leverhulme.ac.uk 🚫ChatGPT 🚫Copilot 🚫AI
What – and where – on earth is the wild? How does an ecologist and a social scientist approach the question of #rewilding? Researchers Sarah Hunter and Mia Arundel explore the many notions of the 'wild' in this blog. environment.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2026/09/25/w...
Thanks, as ever, to @leverhulme.ac.uk for generously supporting the Peatscapes project. And a special thanks to everyone who participated in the ‘Living Levels, Shared Futures’ forum in Somerset back in March this year!
How might efforts to restore the UK's peatlands make better use of the knowledge and expertise of local communities and landowners? With support from @policybristol.bsky.social, we've just released a policy briefing on exactly this question! Check it out here: www.bristol.ac.uk/policybristo...
Engaging local knowledges for UK peatland restoration | PolicyBristol | University of Bristol
bristol.ac.uk
AI is the largest theft of labor in history, but the case doesn't go far enough -- AI steals not only from journalists and researchers but from authors throughout history, from policymakers and legal writers, from photographers and artists in every medium.
Elisabeth R. Anker@libankerdc.bsky.social · 3w agoAI training is the largest theft of labor in history
A few thoughts and provocations on bioenergy and the tyranny of sustainability on the @manchesterup.bsky.social blog. manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/blog/2026/09...
6 Questions with James Palmer on Bioenergy, Ecological Marxism and the Tyranny of Sustainability - Manchester University Press
Author of Power plants James Palmer on biofuel, vegetal labour, the adaptability of nonhuman and how we can enjoy reaching net zero.
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
The UN says we’ll overshoot 1.5C & come back down with carbon dioxide removal. But that’s easier said than done. For one, the ocean will start releasing the extra CO2 it’s absorbed. “It’s like crashing a car into the wall & then you back up…It’s not the same car” www.newscientist.com/article/2588...
The world’s biggest carbon sink may start emitting CO2 after net zero | New Scientist
If the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere declines, the Southern Ocean is likely to begin emitting more carbon than it absorbs, prolonging global warming
newscientist.com
Many thanks, as ever, to @leverhulme.ac.uk for generously funding our project. And thanks as well to @dudleymarianna.bsky.social for inviting us to contribute to this exciting collection of articles on 'Water'. See the full range of pieces here: academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
Oxford Intersections: Environmental Change and Human Experience
Abstract. Environmental change is a fundamental concern across the humanities and social sciences. This Intersection explores the changing interrelationshi
academic.oup.com
Thrilled to see findings from Peatscapes included in a new Oxford University Press 'Intersection' on Environmental Chance and Human Experience! Led by Nye Merrill-Glover, this piece examines the hydrological dilemmas of lowland #peatland #restoration in the UK. academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
Undrainage: The Hydrological Dilemmas of Peatland Restoration in the United Kingdom
Abstract. The hydrological basis of peatland restoration reveals inherent problems with uniformly ‘scaling up’ conservation while retaining the social prac
academic.oup.com
Two members of the @leverhulme.ac.uk Peatscapes project were involved in this recent article published in #geoforum. Great to team up with like-minded scholars looking critically at efforts to scale up peatland restoration globally!
Kärg Kama@kargkama.bsky.social · last mo.New paper in #Geoforum! We're keen to advance critical #peatland studies in #politicalecology #geography #STS, with much exciting social science on its way. Open access www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Co-written with @naomimillner.bsky.social @pbresnihan.bsky.social @jamesrpalmer.bsky.social.
Essential reading for all those interested in peatland protection and restoration. Carbon credits as currently structured are ineffective for funding peatland restoration - but if effective, they could be actively harmful.
Peatscapes@peatscapes.bsky.social · 6mo agoVery happy to see our latest Peatscapes article out in Environment and Planning E, led by Nye Merrill-Glover! Do give it a read if you're interested in peatland governance, carbon credit markets, or both! journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... Thanks as ever to @leverhulme.ac.uk! 🙏
New paper in #Geoforum! We're keen to advance critical #peatland studies in #politicalecology #geography #STS, with much exciting social science on its way. Open access www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Co-written with @naomimillner.bsky.social @pbresnihan.bsky.social @jamesrpalmer.bsky.social.
Funded international workshop - please repost! 📍 Alter do Chão, Pará 📅 8–11 December 2026 Join other interdisciplinary researchers from UK & Brazil to explore the integration of ancestral and innovative technologies for monitoring Amazonian Sociobiodiversity. Funded by the British Council.
Very cool paper from @miaarundel.bsky.social in my group thinking about rewilding in the form of a dialogue between an ecologist and social scientist. I've never seen a paper in this format before, have a look! 🐺 🧸🦬 🌍
James Palmer@jamesrpalmer.bsky.social · 2mo agoLovely new paper just out in @geoopenaccess.bsky.social by Sarah Hunter and Mia Arundel (@bristoluni.bsky.social) – "We Now Walk Into the Wild: A Rewilding Dialogue". Available Open Access here: rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Lovely new paper just out in @geoopenaccess.bsky.social by Sarah Hunter and Mia Arundel (@bristoluni.bsky.social) – "We Now Walk Into the Wild: A Rewilding Dialogue". Available Open Access here: rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
We Now Walk Into the Wild: A Rewilding Dialogue
This paper presents a dialogue on the meaning and uses of rewilding, with a focus on Britain, from the perspectives of an ecologist and human geographer. Traversing the concepts of historical baselin....
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Delighted to launch a new @leverhulme.ac.uk Doctoral program on Food for Nature & Society: 30 PhD’s /w postdoc transition Details & projects to follow, 1st cohort Oct 2027 @doug-orr.bsky.social @profjessdavies.bsky.social @nickajgraham.bsky.social @ecarmosilva.bsky.social 📰 tinyurl.com/4v5yn28h
New ‘Food for Nature and Society’ doctoral programme to fund 30 PhDs - Lancaster University
Lancaster University is launching a new ‘Food for Nature and Society' doctoral training programme to tackle our contemporary food system crises, while also protecting our planet.
tinyurl.com
The Leverhulme Library – showcasing recently published books from researchers the Trust has funded. This month we have @andreapurdekova.bsky.social, @northernpicts.bsky.social, @jamesrpalmer.bsky.social, Clare Brant and Michael Bycroft.
Behind the bewildering transformation of British universities, are management consultants being paid millions Really proud to have this vital piece on our unis are being gutted from the inside by @jheathershaw.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale. Do read democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri...
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
democracyforsale.substack.com
Wrote a review essay of four new-ish books on Soviet energy and resource history for @kritikajournal.bsky.social. They're different in terms of scope, archival depth, and the extent to which they take the materiality of resources into account – but I enjoyed them all! muse.jhu.edu/pub/28/artic...
Frédéric Lordon on the coming AI crash. newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
Frédéric Lordon, Awaiting the Crash? — Sidecar
On the AI bubbles.
newleftreview.org
Now available at 50% off until July 9th as part of the @manchesterup.bsky.social Summer Sale! Check out manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk for tonnes of other amazing 50% off titles as well.
Manchester University Press
Manchester University Press is known globally as a publisher of Humanities and Social Sciences research. We currently publish over 170 books each year, as well as seven journals.
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
James Palmer@jamesrpalmer.bsky.social · 3mo agoPublication day is here for 'Power Plants: Bioenergy, Vegetal Labour and the Politics of Productivity', now out with @manchesterup.bsky.social! Pictured here with a handful of works I've been particularly inspired by while writing ✍️🌿⛽️ Link: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526192127/
‘Decisions to close or to gut particular departments have little to do with intellectual quality: they are invariably managerial choices about the quickest way to reduce an actual or predicted budget deficit.’ Stefan Collini on universities, from our previous issue: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Stefan Collini · Squadrons of Pigs: Bonfire of the Universities
The problems with Britain’s universities are systemic and deep-rooted, not just local or contingent. Yet political and...
lrb.co.uk
[It's obviously understandable, but still super important not to respond to announcements of redundancies with shock that this is happening now at some place we imagine to be somehow prestigious, good etc, which ofc just reproduces the logic of the redundancy process while quibbling about details].
Publication day is here for 'Power Plants: Bioenergy, Vegetal Labour and the Politics of Productivity', now out with @manchesterup.bsky.social! Pictured here with a handful of works I've been particularly inspired by while writing ✍️🌿⛽️ Link: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526192127/
Six months-long exposure taken using a pinhole camera containing photographic paper. It tracked the Sun’s movement in the sky from winter to summer solstice. Each curve shows one day and stretches of cloudy days can be seen as dark patches. #solarcan 🔭🧪
New book review! The long heat: climate politics when it’s too late by Wim Carton and Andreas Malm. Reviewed by Yelda Erçandırlı. @wimcarton.bsky.social @yeldaercandirli.bsky.social doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2026.2666975
Incredibly exciting to receive some physical copies of Power Plants, out with @manchesterup.bsky.social next week! Massive thanks to all at MUP for helping to bring the book out of my imagination and into reality, and to Jenn Baka, Gavin Bridge and Cara Daggett for their very generous endorsements.
