Wot? No Green Economy?
I do love a conference.
I'm not quite sure what to call the ones I go to these days. They've got a more festival vibe, which is an even greater delight. I'm a huge fan. They help me feel connected and up to date, and I just love watching really sharp brains in action. I guess the ones I go to mostly have an environmental theme - Blue Earth, Groundswell, Anthropy etc., but I do like to branch out a bit too.
An old friend persuaded a small gang of us to go Kilkenomics last weekend. What a great craic. It's the love child of Irish economist David McWilliams; a seemingly bizarre mash up of economics and comedy in Kilkenny. Lovely place, great speakers, good content, much Guinness. We came last out of 36 teams in the pub quiz, avoided getting into a fight with Tommy Robinson on Saturday night, and stayed in rooms over a Karaoke bar. Dancing Queen at 4.00 a.m..
Despite the rather gloomy messages sometimes on offer and massive sleep deprivation it was tremendously re-affirming in lots of ways. Many of the economics speakers (and there were a lot more than on the poster) were journalists and academics. Many were young, many were women, and most were incredibly impressive. Even the old blokes were good too. The panel discussions and our own informal conversations were lively, funny and civilised. I left hungover, knackered, and with my tired old brain exploding with ideas.
There were several themes which spilled over into the environmental stuff I'm more used to. Localism was a big one, encouragingly.
What was more interesting, though, were the economic/environmental issues which didn't make their way onto an agenda of something like 30 odd different sessions. We had a huge amount on AI and related tech stuff, as you can imagine, but absolutely nothing about the impacts of Climate Change. Masses on the Midterms and capital markets, but nothing on the Green Economy.
This was a bit odd. The festival is very - well - Irish - eclectic, diverse, broad minded. Not City focused. This made it even more striking.
It was a salient reminder that I need to get out more, I suppose. Environmentalists spend too much time in their own silos. We should be trying to be part of a wider conversation and more aware of what's going on in the more nakedly capitalist world.
The festival was also further evidence - if that was needed - that there is a pretty massive queue of things to worry about at the moment. If we allow ourselves too. This notwithstanding - or particularly because of it - we should be doing everything we can to bang on about Climate Change and Biodiversity loss to a broader audience. Without being too depressed and po-faced about it.
