IN DEFENCE OF STUDENT POLITICS

Posted on August 26, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged 1968, activism, anti-apartheid, climate change, criticism, featured, fossil free, higher education, Hogwarts, marketisation, medicine, mental health, nurses, NUS, palestine, politics, postgraduate, precarious labour, privilege, science, social work, solidarity, stereotypes, student activism, student debt, student politics, students, students' unions, teachers, trade unions, vietnam war, voting, working class.

By Bradley Allsop

The only way to make the word ‘politics’, that great indicator of all manner of corruption and trickery, more contemptible is to plonk the word ‘student’ in front of it. It almost feels like you‘re not pronouncing ‘student politics’ right if you do it without a sneer, or at least a shudder. Student politics has an image problem.

REVIEW – ANNA CATHENKA, THEY ARE REALLY MOLLUSCS

Posted on February 7, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Anna Cathenka, biology, C.P. Snow, featured, humanities, imagery, metaphor, nostalgia, Observer's Books, ocean life, poetry, review, Salò Press, science, they are really molluscs.

By Laura Potts

A real literary personality runs through the poems Anna Cathenka has cleverly curated and carefully linked in her new book they are really molluscs, recently published by Salò Press. In producing this collection, Cathenka notes that she drew on three Observer’s Pocket Books, and as a result each poem stands as if it could belong to a passage from a textbook, with references to strange organisms and a scientific rigidity of structure. We are offered an insight into the world of the Anna Cathenka, and a number of other strange worlds, through the unfamiliar and occasionally confusing lens of biological ocean life.

BACK FROM THE BRINK?

Posted on July 9, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Africa, animals, cliamte change, conservation, crisis, extinction, Fatu, featured, fertilization, humanity, hunting, industry, IV, Keny, market, Najin, nature, northern white rhino, Ol Pejeta, rhino, savannah, science, Sudan, Swahii, Swahili, technology, Uganda, viagra.

by Stu Lucy

Cooped up in an office in Uganda, inputting into what seemed like never-ending columns of cells in Excel spreadsheets, I would often ruminate about other jobs I could be doing which at that moment would be relatively more fulfilling and life affirming. One of the jobs I kept ending back at was as a member of one of the security teams responsible for the protection of the last northern white rhinoceroses: Sudan, Najin and her daughter Fatu. While in reality I knew my poor grasp of Swahili and lack of weapons training made it unlikely I’d ever work with the rangers responsible for the security of these magnificent animals residing within Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, I became interested in their plight, following their turbulent existence ever since.

THE 100FT TALL CANARY

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Adansonia Adansonia, Africa, African Baobab, baobab, Botswana, capitalism, climate activism, climate change, crisis, developing, economics, environment, environmental justice, featured, forest, humanity, Idaho, Lion King, migration, Montana, Namibia, nature, Nature Plants, neoliberalism, Panke Baobab, pollution, Rafiki, research, resources, science, South Africa, trees, uk, war, West, Wyoming, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

by Stu Lucy

Back in the day, before Maggie had her way, there used to be a thriving northern powerhouse built on the foundations of a mining industry that provided thousands of jobs to people across a vast expanse of our fair isles. It was a dangerous job with the risks of explosions, cave-ins, and noxious fumes overpowering the brave men and women that dared descend into dark depths. One of the tools the miners had to protect themselves from some of the dangers of this perilous job was a tiny little yellow bird in a cage: a canary. When levels of noxious gases began to amass, this small bird would croak it, indicating to the miners it was time to get out. While hardly the most humane method of protecting themselves, it served its purpose and saved countless lives. The mines have now closed and canaries no longer employed to keep the miners safe, the metaphor however lives on, albeit in a somewhat larger capacity.Continue Reading

AGAINST POPULAR ENVIRONMENTALISM

Posted on February 7, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged canada, capitalism, climate change, coffee cups, corporate, ecology, economy, environment, environmentalism, Erik Solheim, Europe, featured, grassroots, India, levy, Mark Fisher, Michael Gove, Naomi Klein, Narmada, Narmada Bachao Andolan, NGO, non profit, Paris Climate Agreement, policy, private sector, profit, science, South Africa, Tar Sands, uk, UN.

by Scott McLaughlan

The earth is facing major – and quite possibly irreversible – environmental catastrophe and ecological breakdown. No need to panic. The Paris climate agreement was a resounding success, was it not?

On the one hand, one set of researchers estimate that at our current trajectory, we have about a 5% chance of remaining below the 2C threshold set out in the Paris agreement in 2015. On the other, a recent audit of the agreement conducted by the United Nations (UN) made it clear that even if the Paris agreement was to be met in full, it won’t be enough of a shift to avoid a total planetary clusterfuck of epic proportions. In his statement on the matter, head of UN Environment Erik Solheim suggested that “if we invest in the right technologies, ensuring that the private sector is involved, we can still meet the promise we made to our children to protect their future”.

What if the “private sector” is the problem? In order to decode the question we need to be clear what the private sector is, what its objectives are, and the kind of power it has over environmental policy.Continue Reading

MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Posted on January 28, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged AI, anniversary, artificial intelligence, arts, book, brain, computer, culture, Elon Musk, ethics, featured, frankenstein, Google, humanities, information theory, Jaan TAllinn, Larry Page, Mary Shelley, Max Tegmark, morals, neuromorphic computer, Nick Bostrom, philosophy, prometheus, research, science, society, STEM, technology, William Godwin.

by Justin Reynolds

Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus, the classic novel by Mary Shelley that stands at the pinnacle of the gothic tradition and looks forward to the new genre of science fiction, was first published 200 years ago this month. Shelley’s visceral tale of the terrible consequences that follow the failure of brilliant young scientist Victor Frankenstein to take responsibility for the strange new life he creates, is both of its time and utterly contemporary.

It can be read as a high Romantic fantasy set against a background of electric storms, shimmering Alpine peaks, Rhineland forests and Arctic wastelands, and as a subtle meditation on themes of knowledge and responsibility that resonate with today’s hopes and fears for the possibilities opened by artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic biology.Continue Reading

THE GIFT: DYSLEXIA

Posted on March 11, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged adult diagnosis, brain, confidence, creative, Dr Howard Gardner, dyslexia, dyslexic, illustrative, information, intelligence, language, learning difficulty, linguistic, linguistic dependent world, logical-mathematical, maths, multidimensions, ronald davis, science, self-loathing, spelling, teachers, teaching, word blindness, words.

by Alice Thomson

Igminae a wlrod wree the wetrtin wrod is as hrad to raed as tihs. Imagine that written word is in your first language, not a second or third. Imagine the difficulty it presents every day, how others perceive you, how exhausting it is to read, and understand. Some of you reading this won’t have to imagine. This is the world of a dyslexic.

Often people think of dyslexia as word blindness, or even attribute it to a low intelligence score. When I was a Primary School teacher I often heard people referring to dyslexia as a “nice way of calling middle-class children slow”. This attitude horrified me. Many attitudes in school staff-rooms towards learning horrified me. As a child, I remember my mother would explain out to my teachers my dyslexia at every parents evening. The same teachers, every year, and it was always a surprise to them. As an adult and an educator, I had hoped attitudes had changed, but in my experience this is not the case.Continue Reading

A GREEN REVOLUTION?

Posted on January 17, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Arctic Drilling, barack obama, Brexit, capitalism, clean energy, climate, climate change, coal industry, Congress, divest, Donald Trump, economy, elections, Elon Musk, energy, environment, fossil fuels, future, Green, Green Investment Bank, Greenpeace, hinkley point, industry, James Bond, Jerry Brown, money, Paris Climate Agreement, politics, pollution, power, public interest, renewable, republican, research, revolution, science, solar panels, sustainable, Swansea Bay tidal lagoon, Tesla, uk, US, voting.

by Gunnar Eigener

The election of Donald Trump and the result of the Brexit referendum have thrown the prospect of a greener future into doubt. Trump’s threat to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and promise to boost the ailing US coal industry overshadow the current surge in renewable energy. The UK government’s decision to sell the Green Investment Bank (GIB) has been attacked amid fears of asset-stripping.

Social media is full of individuals and climate groups recoiling in horror at the potential of such actions pushing back the advancement of environmental progress. Many are counting down the days until Trump’s inauguration and the eradication of environmental regulations that is predicted to follow. Yet is the future really as bleak as many would have us believe?Continue Reading

NO MAN’S SKY – A REVIEW

Posted on August 14, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged 18 quintillion, animals, art, artists, arts, DAplokarus, galaxy, game, gameplay, gaming, graphics, Hello Games, math, maths, Menu 1, Minecraft, No Man's Sky, PC, Peonidas, pirate, planet, PS4, Pyrraluna, review, science, space, Spore, starships, texture, trader, trailer, universe, videogame.

by Paige Selby-Green

I stand in the shadow of a yawning cave mouth bristling with brightly coloured crystals and glowing mushrooms. The sky is emerald, the hills are teal. A scarlet starship squats, smoking, on the ground. A polite voice tells me that my life support is low. The planet is Peonidas. The game is No Man’s Sky. Continue Reading

THE CLIMATE BETRAYED AGAIN — AND WHO BETTER TO DO IT?

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged climate, climate betrayed, climate change, climate crisis, coal, Community, consumers, debt, economy, environment, extortion, government, industry, international politics, neoliberalism, paris, Paris Climate Agreement, privitisation, profit, science, state, Stockholm University, Sweden, system change.

by George Laver

With the recent news that the Swedish government has backtracked on its pledges at the Paris climate agreement by selling off state-owned coal assets to private buyers EPH, now is a better time than ever to ask: when is it enough?

It should come as no surprise that governments will betray the public façade of agreement on positive terms. Such is the cycle of history. I am thinking, in particular, of the Paris Agreement that took place just last year. Not yet past its stage of infancy, and already it has been shot in the back. The selling off of a lucrative coal asset to private industrial proprietors has set a clear line for where their favour lies and where the climate — which has recently passed a dire milestone — sits in the rank of importance.

This agreement, climate scientists from Stockholm University have warned, will violate the terms of the Paris Agreement. Even so, it is not as if it can be claimed that the Swedish government has worked around loopholes in the agreement. At least if this were the case, with all technicalities applied, the government would not be violating the agreement — that is not to say that they would not be violating climate integrity. But even so, the case as it exists is one of straight up betrayal — and who else could we expect it from?Continue Reading

science

REVIEW – ANNA CATHENKA, THEY ARE REALLY MOLLUSCS

BACK FROM THE BRINK?

THE 100FT TALL CANARY

AGAINST POPULAR ENVIRONMENTALISM

MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

THE GIFT: DYSLEXIA

A GREEN REVOLUTION?

NO MAN’S SKY – A REVIEW

THE CLIMATE BETRAYED AGAIN — AND WHO BETTER TO DO IT?

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