We now live in an era where humankind has become the dominant force behind global environmental change. Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer introduced the term “Anthropocene” to reflect the growing…
Understanding the Anthropocene: blog series
Does the Anthropocene mean we have to ‘put democracy on hold’?
Our co-director Andy Stirling is at the 2015 conference of the International Society for the Systems Sciences in Berlin today, and sent us this abstract of his keynote, ‘Emancipating Transformations:…
Video: Melissa Leach on ‘science-governance challenges in the Anthropocene’
Here’s a video of Melissa Leach highlighting the importance of social justice and governance in thinking about planetary boundaries, as part of a seminar on challenges for the Anthropocene hosted…
Impact story #2: From land grabs to the Anthropocene
A new impact story, From land grabs to the Anthropocene: exploring the politics of resources is the second in our series looking back at a decade of STEPS Centre research…
Resource politics: living in the Anthropocene
By Ian Scoones, Director of the STEPS Centre This week we are hosting a major conference at the STEPS Centre at Sussex on resource politics. There are panels looking at…
Art, Uncertainty and System Change
It is becoming increasingly common to see funders, at national and international levels, in the sciences, arts and humanities, encouraging interdisciplinary approaches to various fundamental policy challenges. Initiatives focusing on…
Navigating a tangled web: how STEPS helped to build a community of new sustainability professionals
From Summer Schools to establishing a global consortium – the story of how we shared insights and learned from networks of researchers and practitioners around the world.
Dialogues along Plural Pathways: STEPS researchers and Summer School participants in conversation
Following the STEPS Summer School in May 2018, this blog post is a conversation convened by three participants, Nimisha Agarwal, Ankita Rastogi and Jessica Cockburn. It includes introductions to the…
Whose risk? Whose responsibility? The politics and financialisation of uncertainty
At the STEPS Centre Symposium on the Politics of Uncertainty, Susan Erikson (Simon Fraser) and Rebecca Elliott (LSE) presented fascinating cases for the insurance theme, which was part of the…
Resilience 2014: Limits revisited? Planetary boundaries, justice and power
By Melissa Leach, IDS Director In 1972 Meadows et al’s Limits to Growth made scientific and policy waves, as its ‘World3’ model predicted the end of growth and prosperity as…