Saliem Fakir - Low Carbon Future
The value of tacit knowledge for economic success
By: Saliem Fakir 26th January 2024 Michael Polanyi, the brother of the famous Karl Polanyi (the writer of The Great Transformation), says in his book, Tacit Knowledge, that “we can... →
Of policy wonks, Utopians and realists
By: Saliem Fakir 15th December 2023 Policy wonks like me are in the business of persuasion and perhaps a little grandstanding. The picture of the world we want has to be a different... →
Fractured trade, inflation and prospects for climate action
By: Saliem Fakir 17th November 2023 The world is in a very different place to where it was when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) came into being in 1995: geopolitics and geoeconomic... →
Climate summits are about both reality and unreality
By: Saliem Fakir 13th October 2023 Climate gatherings are traditional stomping grounds where calls for radical change can be met with lukewarm or whimsical responses, but you can be... →
Technocene – the age where technology takes over the world
By: Saliem Fakir 15th September 2023 The concept of ‘technocene’ is not novel; in fact, there are lots of writings on this concept. The Technocene age holds the premise that we are not... →
Transitions and the politics of national sovereignty
By: Saliem Fakir 18th August 2023 One of my favourite childhood authors was the science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke, the author of 2001 Space Odyssey – which was later turned... →
Antidevelopment – the paradox of development
By: Saliem Fakir 7th July 2023 It has been said by some that those who desire to ensure we have a more sustainable planet and oppose fossil fuels are antidevelopment. Indeed, the... →
The problem with dogma
By: Saliem Fakir 16th June 2023 “Bad ideas matter. They have their own coherence and own power”. These words are attributable to Timothy Snyder, a US historian who specialises in... →
Dullness versus the creative: prospects for development and human wellbeing
By: Saliem Fakir 19th May 2023 Africa’s problem is not fossil fuels or the continent’s dependence on raw land and minerals but the lack of capacity to transition from these... →
Micro-arguments and process of large change – Part 2
By: Saliem Fakir 21st April 2023 This article is a continuation of the last instalment of this column, which concluded by highlighting the transformative power of a single legal... →
