Ed. Note: This is another talk in the first panel of the University of California at Santa Barbara’s Activists, Artists, and Academics: Building Just Climate Futures Together virtual conference.
In this talk Nathan points out some flaws in the organising culture of the climate movement and suggests that the way to build better movements (because the idea of “winning” in the climate crisis is laughable) is to embrace contradictions and engage in a battle of the imagination.
Nathan is one of the co-coordinators of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice and has been involved in the international climate change negotiations and global movements for climate justice for several years. He is currently based in his hometown of Belfast, Ireland, but has lived in Sudan, Canada, Peru, and the US where he attended the College of the Atlantic and was trained as a human ecologist. He dabbles in bad poetry, good whiskey and loud electronic music.
Related Articles
'SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.ID
FROM wp_posts LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_term_relationships.object_id)
WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.ID NOT IN (3468004) AND (
wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id IN (3,5,8996)
) AND wp_posts.post_type = \'post\' AND ((wp_posts.post_status = \'publish\'))
GROUP BY wp_posts.ID
ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC
LIMIT 0, 3'
By Alex Leff, Human Nature Odyssey
What does a livable future look like 100 years from now? If we unlocked unlimited green energy, what would we actually do with it? And are our dreams of a renewable-energy utopia sometimes just as delusional as the fossil-fueled ‘drill baby drill’ mentality?
December 8, 2025
By Eliza Daley, By my solitary hearth
I do think we need this feast to return to its roots, as a potlatch, a bonding redistribution of wealth and full bellies, a rapprochement across the great divides, and a coming together in joy to feed each other. We need something that draws us into community, that builds ties, that creates relationship and memories.
December 3, 2025
By Tom Murphy, Do the Math
Rather than being a religion, animism is a mindset that had common purchase around the globe prior to modern times. Not only is it important to appreciate how we used to be when the planet’s ecological relationships were more “normal,” but it offers a worthy alternative to dualism that has much overlap with an astrophysical perspective.
December 3, 2025