The September issue of American Anthropologist included a nice review of this blog in its Public anthropology section. Written by Edward Maclin, a PhD Candidate in UGA’s environmental anthropology program, it was part of a review of anthropologists using new media to take on the UNFCCC climate talks last December in Copenhagen. While the full piece can be viewed at this link, here’s what he had to say about Accounting for Atmosphere:
On Accounting for Atmosphere, Jerome Whitington has been
blogging about the connections of anthropology and climate
change since July of 2009. Whitington’s research is
on climate change, broadly conceived—and he plans on
using his blog collaboratively to connect empirical details
to the large-scale issues climate change presents. Rather
than a “shotgun approach” that tries to capture all of
the relevant literature, he opts for “conceptual specificity”
(Whitington 2009b). Thus, instead of starting by reading
all the background papers, he begins by bringing together
a logically consistent framework and retrofitting it as
necessary—continually redefining theory as new cases are
added. Whitington here takes advantage of the weblog format,
with each post containing a defined kernel of thought
and hyperlinks allowing ideas to interact.Whitington’s posts
range in topic from Alfred Kroeber and Green Technology
to violence at COP protests in Copenhagen and the
weakness of political will in the face of bureaucracy. Perhaps
most interesting is that Whitington sets out to use this
blog as part of a new and expanding collaborative-research
project involving both anthropologists and nonanthropologists
in “public thinking and hopefully conjoint research”
(Whitington 2009a). Whitington’s blog is almost entirely
text based, and despite his eloquent prose he does not take
full advantage of the format’s multimedia capabilities—
though considering his goals it is not clear that images
and video would add benefits to his site. Like Turner’s
blog, public comments are scarce. A list of outgoing blog
links features only one member: Adam Henne’s Natures/
Cultures blog.
(Maclin, p. 466 American Anthropologist • 112:3 • September 2010)
Thanks for the kind word, Edward! As I head to the latest round of climate talks in a couple weeks, I certainly hope to be using this virtual space a lot more. Believe me there’s a lot to say!
2 comments
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December 1, 2010 at 00:27
Ted Maclin
Glad to see that you are back and blogging COP16! I was at the CBD in Nagoya following climate (and other issues), but I’m not in Cancun so I’m relying on technology to get my updates. I am interested in hearing anything about mentions of the CBD COP10 in UNFCCC COP16 talks–particularly on issues like TEEB and the de facto moratorium on geoengineering.
December 1, 2010 at 14:51
jeromewhitington
Thanks for the comment Ted! I’m unable to go to this panel by the CBD secretariat, but I love its name – Working With Nature – Ecosystem-based Approaches to Adaptation and Mitigation, co-sponsored by the EU director general of environment. (I teach a course called People and Things – Working with objects, technology and nature.) Here is their contact info, so you can rely on technology a bit more:
Ms Anne-Marie Wilson, anne-marie.wilson@cdb.int
Ms Karin Zaunberger, Karin.Zaunberger@ec.europa.eu
They have published the phone numbers as well but perhaps it’s not very nice to broadcast them on the internet!
Here is the description of the panel:
“The benefits and potential business opportunities of working with ecosystems-based approaches to adaptation and mitigation will be highlighted. This event is a contribution to the Rio Conventions’ Ecosystem and Climate Change Pavilion which brings together a number of key international patterns.”
Not much geoengineering talk so far. After all, it is anathema to global negotiations!!
But what is TEEB?
If you’re interested in the specifically multilateral dimensions of these things the man you want to talk to is Mr Felix Dodds – more or less personally responsible for Rio +20 and a longtime organizer. Look him up online or I may be able to link you up.