Fracking, fashion and the environmental activism of Vivienne Westwood

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-78
Author(s):  
Aidan Moir
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Visual Culture ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
British Prime Minister ◽  
Privileged Status ◽  
Iconic Status

Vivienne Westwood frequently utilizes her iconic status to advocate for a variety of social, political and economic issues (Moir 2021). Since 2008, environmental politics, climate change and fracking policies have been the focus of her activism. Westwood regularly attends anti-fracking protests, such as in 2015, when she gained significant news attention for driving a tank across British Prime Minister David Cameron’s lawn. This article explores the possibilities of Westwood’s design activism within visual culture to communicate the grave environmental consequences of fracking and climate change. In addition to her political activities, Westwood has incorporated an environmental critique into her fashion collections, such as transforming her 2015 London Fashion Week performance into an anti-fracking protest. Westwood consequently draws upon her privileged status as a cultural icon to position her runway and subsequent media attention as a platform encouraging critical debate in regard to ethical fashion and environmental change.

The Eucharistic Procession of 1908: The Dilemma of the Liberal Government

1994 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol A. Devlin
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Religious Toleration ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Dominant Focus ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Religious Extremism ◽  
British Prime Minister ◽  
Liberal Government ◽  
Roman Catholics

In September 1908 the British Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, offended Roman Catholics by cancelling the procession of the Blessed Sacrament, which was to have been the climax of the 1908 international Eucharistic Congress. This incident illustrates the persistence of religious extremism as a disruptive force in British politics and the muddled manner in which Asquith's government dealt with crises. As early as 1900 social and economic issues had become the dominant focus of British politics, and Great Britain had established a reputation for religious toleration. In spite of the growing trend toward secularism, militant Protestants continued to agitate against Catholicism by resurrecting archaic laws restricting Catholic rituals.

The Treatment of Economic Issues by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Business School ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Economic Aspects ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Economic Issues

Issues relating to climate change, and to the choice of policies for dealing with it, are now highly topical. In Britain, both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have recently emphasised the urgent need for measures to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and Mr Blair has stated his intention to place this issue high on the agenda of the coming G8 summit meeting. In this context, readers may be interested to hear of some recent exchanges relating to economic aspects of these issues. Aside from their intrinsic interest, the exchanges raise wider questions as to the role of economics and economists in the policy process. David Henderson, formerly (among other things) Head of the Economics and Statistics Department of the OECD, and now Visiting Professor at the Westminster Business School, has been one of the participants in the current debate. This is his personal report.

Yoga Bodies and Bodies of Water

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Patrick Miller
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Hydroelectric Projects ◽  
Economic Boom ◽  
Bodies Of Water

This chapter analyzes the confluence of environmental politics, biopolitics, and the cultural role of yoga in India. It begins with an overview of India’s current economic development challenges and shows how the country’s current prime minister has subsumed both yoga bodies and water bodies into biopolitical discourse to support a neoliberal economic boom that will contribute to the proliferation of anthropogenic climate change. The chapter then argues that alternative forms of yoga aimed at nurturing intimacy between the human body and the natural world are helping to prevent unnecessary climate-change-producing development activities in India, including the river-linking project and other massive hydroelectric projects that threaten India’s riparian environments.

Iconic situations: multimodality, witnessing and collective memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayelet Kohn
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Crucial Importance ◽  
Visual Elements ◽  
Spoken Text ◽  
Iconic Status ◽  
The Individual

This article deals with the multimodal components of televised situations that the author calls ‘iconic’ and that revolve around a dramatic announcement or declaration delivered on camera as part of a television broadcast. She argues that, in contemporary visual culture, iconic still photographs are gradually being replaced by iconic televised situations that become established as units of memory whose repeated airings and viewings ultimately gain an iconic status. Understanding this re-enactment has crucial importance in understanding the process by which the experience of the individual viewer or listener is interwoven with the narrative of the televised situation and in comprehending the role of witnessing. The article focuses on the spoken text, the roles of those who partake in the iconic situation and on the manner in which the fabric of verbal and visual elements helps to establish these situations as memorable. The author addresses three situations that were aired on Israeli television: the official announcement of the assassination of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the announcement of the death of Israeli singer Arik Einstein and the video message delivered by the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from his place of captivity in Gaza.

Reverse Transcribing Climate Change

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Solnick
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Information Theory ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Scientific Competence

This paper suggests that certain conceptual, ethical and economic issues surrounding genetics are also relevant to the challenges that climate change poses to the humanities. It takes J.H. Prynne's and Derrida's engagements with biology and information theory as a starting point to address climate modelling, emissions management, biofuels, bioengineering and the importance of scientific competence.

Negotiations leading to Anglo-Polish agreement of 31 March 1939

1956 ◽  
Vol 10 (38) ◽  
pp. 156-192
Author(s):  
T. Desmond Williams
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
British Prime Minister

By March 21 the British prime minister had discovered that, owing to difficulties raised by Poland and Russia, as well as by Rumania, it would be impossible to secure the support of all the four great powers for the declaration he had suggested on March 20. Chamberlain accordingly altered his course, and on the same day, through Halifax, threw out the suggestion of a bilateral arrangement for mutual consultation between Britain and Poland. The foreign secretary had a long discussion with Count Raczynski, who had received instructions from Warsaw to inform London of Polish objections to the proposed four-power declaration.

scholarly journals Aligning Climate Change and Sustainable Development Goals With an Innovation Systems Roadmap for Renewable Power

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca R. Hernandez ◽  
Sarah M. Jordaan ◽  
Ben Kaldunski ◽  
Naresh Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Innovation Systems ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Research Themes ◽  
Development Goals

Energy development improves quality of life for humans, but also incurs environmental consequences. A global energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy may mitigate climate change but may also undermine the capacity to achieve some or all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this study, we use an innovation systems approach to construct a comprehensive roadmap for solar and wind energy to anticipate and improve impacts of a transition to a low carbon future in a manner ensuring climate goals and SDGs are mutually reinforcing. Our multidisciplinary approach began with an assessment of public investments in renewable energy followed by a 2-day research prioritization workshop. Fifty-eight expert workshop participants identified six research themes that proactively address the environmental sustainability of renewable energy. Next, we identified linkages between the six research themes and all 17 SDGs. Finally, we conducted a scientiometric analysis to analyze the research maturity of these themes. The results of these efforts elucidated the limits of existing knowledge of renewable energy-SDG interactions, informing the development of a research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RD3) roadmap to a renewable energy future aligned with both climate goals and SDGs. The RD3 roadmap has been designed to systematically develop solutions for diverse actors and organizations. Overall, our findings confer a broad vision for a sustainable transition to renewables to minimize unintended environmental consequences while supporting interoperability among actors particularly poised to influence its magnitude and direction.

scholarly journals Staying Alive: Science Fiction in the Age of the Anthropocene — Philip K. Dick’s Pessimistic Humanism

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tallulah Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Human Species ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Scientific Advancement ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

In recent years, literary studies have become increasingly invested in environmentalism. As science reveals the negative impacts of climate change, and demonstrates a growing concern for humanity’s contribution, literature operates as a form of cultural documentation. It details public awareness and anxieties, and acts as a conduit for change by urging empathetic responses and rendering ecological controversy accessible.To explore the relationship between literature and environmental politics, this paper will focus on the work of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, and his dystopian visions. In his particular brand of sci-fi, there is no future for humanity. Science and technology fail to pave the way for a better and fairer society, but rather towards, as far as Dick is concerned, extinction. He argues that scientific advancement distances us from reality and from a sense of “humanness”. His pessimistic futures are nihilistic but tender; nurturing a love for humanity even in, what he considers to be, its final hours.Unlike the work of other prominent sci-fi writers, Dick’s fiction does not look towards the stars, but is in many ways a return to earth. The barren landscapes of Mars and other planets offer no comfort, and the evolution of the human into cyborgs, androids and post human species is depicted as dangerous and regressive. Dick’s apocalyptic visions ground his readers in the reality around them, acting in the present for the sake of the earth and humanity’s survival. His humanism is critical of grand enlightenment ideas of “progressivism”, and instead celebrates ordinariness. In the shadow of corporate capitalism and violent dictatorial governments, Dick prefers the little man, the ordinary everyday domestic hero for his narratives. His fiction urges us to take responsibility for our actions, and prepares us for the future through scepticism and pessimism, and a relentless fondness for the human.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document