Fresh month, fresh episode! Listen to @jtwelsch.bsky.social discuss his book The poetry of suicide: Lessons in grief from the lives and deaths of poets, and more! @manchesterup.bsky.social 💙📚 open.spotify.com/episode/1q8j...

J.T. Welsch on poetry and suicide, poets’ lives, autoethnography, memoir, suicidology, creative writing, language and the messiness of life

The Death Studies Podcast · Episode

open.spotify.com

Ethics and Planetary Boundaries is now out in the world! Our Open-Access(!!), interdisciplinary book with Cambridge University Press has two chapters on each of the planetary boundaries. Read it here now: www.cambridge.org/core/books/e... #PlanetaryBoundaries #Ethics

Ethics and Planetary Boundaries

Cambridge Core - Environmental Policy, Economics and Law - Ethics and Planetary Boundaries

cambridge.org

Note to all journalists: If you are tempted to describe what you are trying to report on as "ripped from the pages of a sci-fi novel", you have been taken in by the marketing department. >>

Just out! My introduction to a new special issue in @sciasculture.bsky.social on "Tech Oligarchy" - go check it out and the papers in the special issue (under "Latest" articles) #techoligarchy #assetization #techbro #bigtech www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Tech oligarchy

Published in Science as Culture (Ahead of Print, 2026)

tandfonline.com

I’m saying that climate change is class war, and resolving the climate crisis would be the greatest step towards planetary justice this world has ever known.

I've just submitted the manuscript of my new book, Fictional Worlds and Financial Realities in Speculative Literature and Film, to Palgrave Macmillan! It reads six works of SF - Gibson, Stross, Robinson, Villeneuve, Hawley, Garland - as a way of seeing how finance colonizes the future. More soon.

Rest in peace to one of cinema’s most outstanding artists; the legendary actor Sam Neill (1947–2026)

This was Emma’s last project. She gave it her everything, working out of hospitals in very difficult circumstances. In the end she ran out of time and life. I then spent the next 18 months doing my best to complete the project as Emma had envisaged it. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

When I see the reactions to these reports, I cannot help but think that those of us who do research on digital afterlives should find ways to communicate effectively our research on thanabots/deathbots/griefbots/ghostbots/etc. to broader audiences and steer the conversation in a productive direction

The New Yorker@newyorker.com · 4w ago

“Speaking to the replica, I felt stuck in a loop of nostalgia and, at the same time, connected to memories that I had buried.” Can A.I. “death bots” help us feel connected to our deceased loved ones? www.newyorker.com/news/as-told...

‘Polarization’ has become the master concept for diagnosing our current democratic crisis. But this is not polarization. It is the radicalization of the political right. By misdiagnosing it, we risk becoming complicit in the crisis. 🧵 Just out in Perspectives on Politics doi.org/10.1017/S153...

"As a general rule, though, it turns out that ordering people back to the office full time is a power & status move. It’s a signature strategy of leaders who exhibit narcissistic qualities. They see any kind of remote work as a threat to their authority & admiration." www.nytimes.com/2026/06/22/o...

Opinion | The Secret Reason Bosses Want Everyone Back in the Office, Every Day of the Week

nytimes.com

4. Finally I think we need to acknowledge that we never stop learning and developing as teachers and there is no real blueprint for how to teach in these turbulent times (although there are definitely things to *not* do). I always learn a lot from my students, even those who disagree with me.

1. I would suggest that a key part of teaching on climate change and development is ensuring that students understand reflexivity - they need tools to be critical and find their own place, so they can recognise the potential for their individual contributions - they matter.

Many years ago at the other place, Raul Pacheco Vega launched #ScholarSunday as a way to give a shout out to other scholars. As a tiny tribute, I am beginning #ScholarSundayRPV to promote scholars every week. Feel free to use this and other methods of supporting our peers.

Social science writing typically values clarity and precision. This generally means we eschew wordy, elaborate constructs in favor of efficient ones. Which of these Word Eaters are you frequently guilty of?

There was a rather interesting faculty panel on AI for our Provost's meeting with academic deans, and the discussion was quite fascinating. Faculty came from all corners of campus, and were nominated by deans (I represented social sciences). Some observations: 🧵

We know of a man who was caught publishing dozens of AI-generated articles in academic journals. The journal that caught him pursued a ban not only from that journal but also from all journals by that publisher. This is a major crisis and it seems the consequences will be severe.

*Possible trigger warning* Given the sudden and devastating news, I feared this could have happened. As a Mexican myself, I am heartbroken and indignant. The investigations must be transparent and lead to the truth. If a crime happened, justice must be served in honour of Raul and his loved ones.

Katherine T. Tyson@katherinettyson.bsky.social · 2mo ago

@raulpachecovega.bsky.social death is under investigation as there were reported signs of violence. Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega deserved so much better. I hope justice is served. Original spanish article: www.am.com.mx/leon/2026/06... English translation: www-am-com-mx.translate.goog/leon/2026/06...

I am really shook and saddened by @raulpachecovega.bsky.social's passing. I can't make sense of it at all.

I am stunned. I never met him personally, but he and I had several contacts in common and we exchanged a few emails in the past years. His advice was so incredibly helpful to me during the course of my PhD. My heartfelt goodbye to one of the great ones out there! @raulpachecovega.bsky.social

Stacy VanDeveer@stacydvandeveer.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Friends. I am sharing terribly sad & tragic news. x.com/flacsomx/sta...

🌱 How does political fantasy sustain #climate inaction? Elise Remling et al. show how imaginaries underpin "ecopolitical catatonia," where recognized crises are met with collective inaction, mapping these dynamics across global governance forums. 🔗 Open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Ecopolitical catatonia: How political fantasies sustain inaction in global environmental politics

sciencedirect.com

This winter I taught a new course entitled "Politics of Digital Technologies" and we had tons of fun discussing a range of digital policy issues. I'm making the syllabus & reading list open access, hope it's helpful for your own teaching or learning! Materials here: www.blairaf.com/resources/

I'll tell you what needs to go away: the claim or assumption that this or that or whatever "isn't going away." We can make shit go away.

The Conversation U.S.@us.theconversation.com · 3mo ago

Data centers aren’t going away. The question is whether we let them use unlimited energy, or find sustainable solutions. #datacenters #cleanenergy #sustainabletech #technology #Pennsylvania Story:

From our February Issue: How Cases Speak to One Another: Using Translation to Rethink Generalization in Political Science Research by ERICA S. SIMMONS and @nickrushsmith.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1017/S000...

This labour day you can spend an hour learning more about funeral workers in Singapore as anthropologists Ruth Toulson discuss her book Necropolitics of the Ordinary #academsky #booksy podcasts.apple.com/fi/podcast/t...

Ruth E. Toulson on the necropolitics of the ordinary, dying and death in Singapore, anthropology, burials, funeral directors and morticians

Podcast Episode · The Death Studies Podcast · 1 May · 1hr 19min

podcasts.apple.com

Now more than ever, we need critical scholarship like this important book by Mondon and Winter. I highly recommend that you check out Reactionary Democracy if you haven't read it already: www.versobooks.com/en-ca/produc...

Reactionary Democracy

Democracy is not necessarily progressive, and will only be if we make it so. What Mondon and Winter call ‘reactionary democracy’ is the use of the concept of democracy and its associated understanding...

versobooks.com

Our new paper "Financing ‘sustainable welfare’: a critical review of the options" has now been published in New Political Economy. In it, @nicklangridge.bsky.social and I assess financing options for welfare without growth and discuss wider policy implications. It's open access: tinyurl.com/y6z374x6

Financing ‘sustainable welfare’: a critical review of the options

The literature on ‘sustainable welfare’ argues that meeting everyone's needs within planetary boundaries requires the financing of welfare to become independent from economic growth. However, it re...

tinyurl.com

My paper “Invisible Debts: A Feminist Ecological Economics Approach to Debts from Below” is now published (open access) in @feministeconomics.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Invisible Debts: A Feminist Ecological Economics Approach to Debts from Below

This article proposes a feminist ecological economics approach to debts, which, by means of making the hidden visible, critically (re-)assesses the question of who owes whom. It highlights the impo...

tandfonline.com

I did an experiment today at the start of two courses I coordinate. I showed this personal statement about the world I would like to see. I did it to open a discussion about genuine desire for a different world, and how we self-censor this, even to ourselves, for fear of being naive or unrealistic.

El próximo lunes, estaré en este evento junto a Cuencas Sagradas, Global Witness y el Tribunal Internacional de los Derechos de la Naturaleza. Hablaremos sobre herramientas y perspectivas para fortalecer el Acuerdo de Escazú Inscripción 🔗 us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...