Thoughts, insights and rants about futures, climate change, system change, transport, wicked problems, EDI, and heavy metal

By Professor Glenn Lyons

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  • The vote is the most nonviolent tool we have

    The vote is the most nonviolent tool we have

    “The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have” (John Lewis); “There’s no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter” (Barack Obama). You’ve got to be in it to win it on 4 July 2024. Imagine not having to vote tactically, a democracy where politians were elected in proportion to which party voters Read more

  • A rising tide lifts all boats?

    A rising tide lifts all boats?

    A rising tide lifts all boats I understand to be code for ‘there’s nothing wrong in the rich getting richer’ and ‘if you tax the rich too much they won’t raise your country’s tide, they’ll go somewhere else instead’. I’ve looked at two articles today. One was titled “Labour is about to give Middle England Read more

  • Fast fasion is a big player in terms of climate emissions

    Fast fasion is a big player in terms of climate emissions

    Share the hell out of this post. Humans really are their own worst enemies (and everyone elses) as a species. Here’s another whopping 10% chunk of global emissions in the name (in part) of worshipping the god of consumption. I need to take further steps of my own. Here’s my own state of play (over Read more

  • A Triple Access Planning fairytale?

    A Triple Access Planning fairytale?

    Once upon a time there was a paradigm called ‘predict and provide’. It was where transport planning lived and where forecasts of most likely futures reigned and dictated how people invested in transport, particularly in roads for cars. Then the world started to change and some started to say we had ‘had too much of Read more

  • A lifetime’s supply of ale just to deliver a keynote presentation in New Zealand?

    A lifetime’s supply of ale just to deliver a keynote presentation in New Zealand?

    A lifetime’s supply of beer to deliver a keynote?!  I’ve loved my times in New Zealand and will miss not being ‘at’ the Transportation Group’s annual conference this week. But could anyone now justify 25,000 cans of Black Mass ale just to be there in person? The image above was the IT check I did Read more

  • Armchair viewing fodder while our country stumbles forwards

    Armchair viewing fodder while our country stumbles forwards

    Did you watch the TV ‘debate’? A friend of mine says we get the politicians we deserve. I found it sickening enough just to read a little about it this morning. By all accounts a gross display of finger pointing and soundbites as armchair viewing fodder while our country stumbles forwards. We seem to be Read more

  • Be a hopeful activist

    Be a hopeful activist

    How are you making sense of the world we inhabit? Are you minding your mind? Are you hopeful in the face of the addiction of our species to fossil fuels? Sick already of this post? That’s absolutely your choice. Each of us is taking care (or not) of the ecology of our mind. This is Read more

  • Voter heuristics

    Voter heuristics

    Half the world’s population has a chance to go to the ballot box this year. The problem is that our brains are busy with other things so need a few shortcuts to help decide whether and how to vote. In the UK we go to the ballot box on 4 July. We have a gruelling Read more

  • I know a thing or two about extinction – but what about optimism?

    I know a thing or two about extinction – but what about optimism?

    Here’s my Tuesday morning challenge to you – please point me to a video on YouTube that is under four minutes long that offers a compelling sense of optimism about climate change. Mainstream media has been so very good at balancing (finding a person on either side of an issue to offer contrary views to Read more

  • EVERYONE EVERYWHERE – Why inclusion is the key to effective transport

    EVERYONE EVERYWHERE – Why inclusion is the key to effective transport

    Hey you – yes, you there. Have you never experienced feeling you weren’t included? No? Then you’re in the minority. I remember several years ago spending an afternoon on our university campus in a wheelchair. The purpose was to give me a taste of the lived experience of being disabled. I was asked to do Read more

  • Protecting our society from left-wing values

    Protecting our society from left-wing values

    What times we live in – a new report on ‘Protecting our Democracy from Coercion’. The matter of what democracy is, what state it is in and how it might be different is complex. I’m no expert. But I’m curious as to whether or not this is a politically neutral report. The Foreword says “Noble Read more

  • 666 ppm – the Number of the Beast – it is a human number 🤘

    666 ppm – the Number of the Beast – it is a human number 🤘

    666 parts per million of CO2. Woe to you oh earth and sea. In 1982 when I was 13 or 14 I bought ‘The Number of The Beast’ as a red vinyl single. Isn’t it beautiful? Blood red. It was my first gig when I was 13 – the Number of the Beast Tour. Front Read more