richsulley.bsky.social
Snr Research Fellow in Sustainability Policy.
The Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures.
https://substack.com/@richsulley
Sustainability, bikes, birds, grumpiness
152 posts
333 followers
634 following
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A functioning public transport system and safe segregated routes for pedestrians and cyclists will never look as sexy and attract the tech bro dollars, but they will help fix the climate and societal problems that we face now in a way chasing a techno-solution never will.
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Autonomous vehicles, like EVs and AI, seem to excite politicians and policy makers without them ever fully communicating why, it looks like it's just the thrill of the new and not wanting to appear behind the curve.
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Safety is often quoted as the reason, along with congestion. But we know the answer to both these is to have fewer cars on the road and more use of public transport and active travel.
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I'd suggest the only reason a company like Uber would be interested is that it gives them the ability to remove the costly driver from the car. I'd suggest the only reason a company like Uber would be interested is that it gives them the ability to remove the costly driver from the car.
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The DfT are making claims about economic benefit with claims of a potential "38k jobs and an industry worth ยฃ42bn by 2035", but where will these jobs come from and who will see the benefit?
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The latest is the news that Uber will be trialling driverless taxis in London next year, in advance of a proposed rollout in 2027 on the back of the Autonomous Vehicles Act
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Whilst we might take an activist approach to some things, we are not the radical flank, that space belongs to others, and they influence us in our work as much as I hope we can inform them.
In a world of binaries, is there space for nuance?
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In doing this we ask ourselves should we be working with Oil & Gas giants, Petrochemicals, Energy? Are we fools to think we can influence these orgs directly? Itโs a tough decision, I think it's on us to make those decisions openly and transparently. But recognising it may come with criticism.
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Tony was honest and pragmatic and to paraphrase said it is down to us to investigate solutions, as neutrally as we can, as widely as we can, and if we find out things wonโt work and are daft, we say so. (see our recent work on airport expansion) We then present this evidence to policy makers.
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At @granthamcsf.bsky.social @festofdebate.bsky.social event on the future for plastics these questions were raised again, โ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต?โ, โ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ?โ, โ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ?โ
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Many pounced on this as evidence that this technology would never work and was a waste of human talent and resources, and simply a way for the fossil fuel industries to greenwash. A few recognised that only through trial and failure do we ever find success.(bsky.app/profile/davi...)
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Recently in the news was the story of Climeworks project in Iceland and its failure to scale up direct air capture at the rate that even offset its own operational emissions.
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Within the Sustainability Community we are often guilty of demonising technologies or industries, pre-judging outcomes, and questioning motives. There is a value in scepticism, if the history has taught us nothing else it should be not to trust the motives of corporations.
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Thereโs been a recent focus in the US, picking and choosing research projects and highlighting the โwasteโ of public money they represent, often with no context as to how they add to the web of knowledge, where the funding originates and why it was chosen to be funded in the first place.
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To the outside observer, and often to me, doing things I donโt understand, or donโt agree with, or with partners I find distasteful.
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You do see a lot of people arriving on bicycles wearing recycled sea plastic glasses though. So it's not all bad ๐
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You certainly don't.
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"it's more of a comment than a question......"
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Please come along to our @festofdebate.bsky.social event next week and see if this vision stacks up.
We need people to come who can ask some challenging questions, putting the Debate back in the Festival.
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Politicians ignoring evidence is endemic:
Clegg today on austerity impact.
Starmer on immigration "damage".
Coppard on airports positives.