Brett Christophers
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brettchristophers.bsky.social
Brett Christophers
@brettchristophers.bsky.social
3.7K followers 370 following 67 posts

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Brett Christophers is an economic geographer who is professor at the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Uppsala University. He has written extensively on the history of the modern financial sector, the financial management of real economic assets, and the effect on the environment from financial management of land and natural resources. .. more

Economics 66%
Political science 16%
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brettchristophers.bsky.social
Brett Christophers @brettchristophers.bsky.social · May 20
UK paperback of The Price is Wrong available from today, @versobooks.bsky.social
The Price is Wrong
RECENT TECHNICAL ADVANCES mean it is typically cheaper to produce electricity from renewable sources than from fossil fuels. Yet, around the world, the transition to green energy is happening too slow...
www.versobooks.com

brettchristophers.bsky.social
Brett Christophers @brettchristophers.bsky.social · 51m
Yes. Partly due to rising curtailment, i.e. renewables producing power that is not consumed, either (a) because produced at times when no local demand (and without storage capacity), +/or (b) because of grid constraints (i.e. can't be delivered to where there _is_ demand).

Reposted by Brett Christophers

matthuber.bsky.social
Matt Huber @matthuber.bsky.social · 1h
TIL in China the capacity factors for solar and wind are only 14% and 24% respectively. 🤯

(Compare that to 23% and 34% in the USA).

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
How China’s Power Grid Really Works
Podcast Episode · Shift Key with Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins · 10/08/2025 · 1h 13m
podcasts.apple.com

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Brett Christophers

lrb.co.uk
London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 1d
‘The wind turbine and the Catapult building advertise Blyth’s centrality to the carbon-free economy of the future. They advertise it, but I don’t quite believe it, and neither, judging by the local popularity of Reform, does Blyth.’

James Meek in the new issue:

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Meek · Ten-Foot Chopsticks: The North-East Transition
The ghost of the industrial revolution haunts Britain. The language of today’s politicians, of unlocking and...
www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Brett Christophers

lrb.co.uk
London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 1d
‘The problem is that we are now recycling so much stuff that it’s impossible to recycle it all.’

@brettchristophers.bsky.social reviews three new books on the problem of trash, including 𝘞𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 by Oliver Franklin-Wallis and Alexander Clapp’s 𝘞𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘴.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Brett Christophers · Assume the worst: Where our waste goes
Just as Big Oil has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to begin decarbonising, so too the promises of plastics...
www.lrb.co.uk

brettchristophers.bsky.social
Brett Christophers @brettchristophers.bsky.social · 2d
Agree with all this. But, my point wasn't and isn't people declining to review, which is, of course, totally understandable. It's people simply ignoring requests, which bungs up the whole system -- a bad system, yes! -- when it only takes a few seconds to hit "decline".

brettchristophers.bsky.social
Brett Christophers @brettchristophers.bsky.social · 2d
It takes a few seconds to decline. You don't do it, the editor (and author) have to wait 2 weeks. As I say, if you were the author, you'd be furious if 25 people simply ignored the invitation.

brettchristophers.bsky.social
Brett Christophers @brettchristophers.bsky.social · 2d
My point wasn't and isn't about declining.

It was about not responding at all, which _is_ selfish. (People should try putting themselves in the author's shoes for a moment. They wouldn't appreciate the weeks of extra delay, me thinks, when the shoe is on the other foot.)

Reposted by Jocalyn Clark

brettchristophers.bsky.social
Brett Christophers @brettchristophers.bsky.social · 2d
25 no response out of 30 requests to review!

Drives me mad this selfish behaviour, which I also see as a journal editor. And it's almost always established folk with secure jobs, not least those endlessly brandishing their right-on-ness on social media
markfabian.bsky.social Mark Fabian @markfabian.bsky.social · 2d
Recently did around 30 requests to ppl who'd published very similar papers to the one I needed reviews for. 3 declines, 25 no response. Please at least decline guys it slows stuff down so much otherwise.
bartoszbartk.com Bartosz Bartkowski @bartoszbartk.com · 2d
I'm still relatively new to this journal associate editor business, but it already sucks… I've had a paper on my desk for more than a month now:

Reviewers invited: 12
Of those…
Declined: 5
No response: 7

Reposted by Brett Christophers

adriennebuller.bsky.social
Adrienne Buller @adriennebuller.bsky.social · 2d
New episode this week! I sat down a little while back with the very brilliant @amirleb.bsky.social to talk about development economics, tariffs, biomimicry and what the world could learn from China.

@the-breakdown.bsky.social

www.break-down.org/survival-of-...

Reposted by Tim Bale, Stuart Elden, Nils B. Weidmann , and 4 more

markfabian.bsky.social
Mark Fabian @markfabian.bsky.social · 2d
Recently did around 30 requests to ppl who'd published very similar papers to the one I needed reviews for. 3 declines, 25 no response. Please at least decline guys it slows stuff down so much otherwise.
bartoszbartk.com Bartosz Bartkowski @bartoszbartk.com · 2d
I'm still relatively new to this journal associate editor business, but it already sucks… I've had a paper on my desk for more than a month now:

Reviewers invited: 12
Of those…
Declined: 5
No response: 7

Reposted by Brett Christophers

dwallacewells.bsky.social
David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells.bsky.social · 2d
“It remains the case that we are embarking on—in fact, accelerating—the biggest chemistry experiment on the planet in 66 million years, and one of the fastest derangements of the carbon cycle in the age of animal life.” www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...
Climate Realism Is a Delusion
By shooting for 3 degrees Celsius of warming, the world could slide toward a more cataclysmic 4 degrees.
www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Brett Christophers

lrb.co.uk
London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 3d
‘It is abundantly clear that corporate social responsibility was and is a myth. Even if firms claim to recognise their social and environmental responsibilities, profitability always trumps them when they clash.’

@brettchristophers.bsky.social on where our waste goes.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Brett Christophers · Assume the worst: Where our waste goes
Just as Big Oil has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to begin decarbonising, so too the promises of plastics...
www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Brett Christophers, Margot C. Finn

lrb.co.uk
London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 4d
‘Around a quarter of all clothing manufactured is never sold, and the rates of return within the refund window can be as high as 50 per cent. Most of this unwanted stock is buried or burned.’

@brettchristophers.bsky.social on why we can’t get rid of our waste.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Brett Christophers · Assume the worst: Where our waste goes
Just as Big Oil has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to begin decarbonising, so too the promises of plastics...
www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Stuart Elden, Brett Christophers, Anthony Burke

simtulum.bsky.social
Simone Tulumello @simtulum.bsky.social · 4d
Great stuff by @versobooks.bsky.social: Harvey at 90, a series if posts honouring David Harvey's oeuvre in celebration of his 90th birthday.
www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/h...
Harvey at 90: A Verso Series
Last year, we celebrated Fredric Jameson's ninetieth birthday with a month long series commemorating his impact on literary criticism, critical theory and philosophy.  This month, in honour of David H...
www.versobooks.com

Reposted by Brett Christophers

dwallacewells.bsky.social
David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells.bsky.social · 5d
“One implication of the increased growth rate of GHG forcing in the last 15 years is that the goal to keep global warming under 2°C is now implausible.” open.substack.com/pub/jimehans...
Warning! This “Colorful Chart” is Censored by IPCC
James Hansen, Pushker Kharecha and Dylan Morgan
open.substack.com

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Brett Christophers, John Hogan

lrb.co.uk
London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 6d
‘As with climate change, the focus on consumers deflects scrutiny that should be directed towards industry. Not only do companies help establish false representations of consumer wastefulness, they are themselves waste creators on a gigantic scale.’

Brett Christophers:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Brett Christophers · Assume the worst: Where our waste goes
Just as Big Oil has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to begin decarbonising, so too the promises of plastics...
www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Brett Christophers

cominsitu.bsky.social
Cominsitu @cominsitu.bsky.social · 6d
the most anticipated book of 2026:
bravo @ueberdruss.bsky.social !!

www.versobooks.com/products/334...
Working Nature
Working Nature offers a history of the energy economy and its representations over the 19th and 20th century.Russ argues that “Energy” is not a thing nor an ability, but a social relation to nature fo...
www.versobooks.com

Reposted by Benjamin Braun

brettchristophers.bsky.social
Brett Christophers @brettchristophers.bsky.social · 6d
A new piece for @thenation.com on everyone's favourite industry -- private equity; in conversation with one of the many new books on PE, by Megan Greenwell.

Here:
Can We Blame Private Equity for Everything?
Did PE firms make the world worse? Or was it something else?
www.thenation.com

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Brett Christophers

lrb.co.uk
London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 6d
On the pod: @brettchristophers.bsky.social joins @moonjeykey.bsky.social to discuss what happens to our rubbish. They talk about where it goes and why it’s so difficult to get rid of it, let alone reduce its quantity, when waste creation is so much more profitable.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Where does our waste go?
Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 19/11/2025 · 57m
podcasts.apple.com

Reposted by Brett Christophers

greigc.bsky.social
Greig Charnock @greigc.bsky.social · 7d
Out today!

www.routledge.com/The-Politics...
The Politics of Late Urban Entrepreneurialism: The Innovation District
The Politics of Late Urban Entrepreneurialism provides a critical examination of how innovation district transformation in Barcelona has led to periodic crisis and an overproduction of commercial real...
www.routledge.com

Reposted by Brett Christophers

lrb.co.uk
London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 8d
‘What distinguishes plastic from other forms of waste is that the problem does not then go away. Try as we might to make it disappear through incineration or landfill, we can’t.’

@brettchristophers.bsky.social talks trash.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Brett Christophers · Assume the worst: Where our waste goes
Just as Big Oil has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to begin decarbonising, so too the promises of plastics...
www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Benjamin Braun, Brett Christophers

the-breakdown.bsky.social
The BREAK—DOWN @the-breakdown.bsky.social · 8d
Submissions for ISSUE #3 – AIRBORNE, are now open!

We are accepting pitches exploring the importance of air in the climate and ecological crises, its role in environmental history and activism, and its future on a transformed planet.

More details 👇
Pitching
What We Publish We’re interested in original ideas and clear, compelling writing that breaks down complex subjects for an engaged but non-expert audience. The best guide to what we might like is to…
www.break-down.org

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa

brettchristophers.bsky.social
Brett Christophers @brettchristophers.bsky.social · 10d
The only amusing thing about Summers/Epstein is this journalist referring to Summers as a "leftwing academic". LOL.

Also, how did it take so many so long to peg Summers as a wrong'un? Already in 1991 he was trumpeting the economic logic of "dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country".
The banality of evil: how Epstein’s powerful friends normalised him
Long after his conviction for sexual abuse, people in royalty, academia, business, journalism and politics sought his ear
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Brett Christophers

justinmcguirk.bsky.social
Justin McGuirk @justinmcguirk.bsky.social · 10d
“it is abundantly clear that corporate social responsibility was and is a myth”. This is an excellent piece on the problem of waste by @brettchristophers.bsky.social
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Brett Christophers · Assume the worst: Where our waste goes
Just as Big Oil has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to begin decarbonising, so too the promises of plastics...
www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Diane Coyle, Daniela Gabor, Brett Christophers

benbraun.bsky.social
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.bsky.social · 10d
Very senior economist speaks out against Summers and against the discipline continuing to bestow privileges and honors on him; calls out sexism in economics.

You'd think this site should be flooded with similar threads...
durlauf.bsky.social Steven Durlauf @durlauf.bsky.social · 11d
1/ Egalitarianism should begin at home. I link to this article by @bencasselman.bsky.social in light of the communications between Larry Summers and Jeffrey Epstein that have just been released. The released emails and the fact of friendship are vile.

www.nytimes.com/2021/02/23/b...
For Women in Economics, the Hostility Is Out in the Open (Published 2021)
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by John Hogan

brettchristophers.bsky.social
Brett Christophers @brettchristophers.bsky.social · 11d
Fantastic article by Mikael Omstedt on the early, regionalised Fed and finance capital's difficulties with the "agrarian question" -- carrying on the seminal work of George Henderson
“A Country of Long Credits and Long Seasons”: The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Agrarian Question
A major contradiction in U.S. capitalism before the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was a mismatch between the credit needs of agriculture and the financial resources of the country. Pitching the South...
www.tandfonline.com

Reposted by Brett Christophers, Katrina Navickas

lrb.co.uk
London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 11d
‘It is abundantly clear that corporate social responsibility was and is a myth. Even if firms claim to recognise their social and environmental responsibilities, profitability always trumps them when they clash.’

@brettchristophers.bsky.social on where our waste goes.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Brett Christophers · Assume the worst: Where our waste goes
Just as Big Oil has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to begin decarbonising, so too the promises of plastics...
www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Brett Christophers

lrb.co.uk
London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 12d
‘These deals were tools of economic development. By 1988, the estimated dollar value of the toxic waste flowing from the global North to the global South exceeded the value of the parallel flow of developmental aid.’

@brettchristophers.bsky.social talks trash.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Brett Christophers · Assume the worst: Where our waste goes
Just as Big Oil has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to begin decarbonising, so too the promises of plastics...
www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Brett Christophers

extremetemps.bsky.social
Extreme Temperatures Around the World @extremetemps.bsky.social · 13d
CRAZY NOVEMBER SUMMER
Hundreds of records in Morocco,Algeria,Spain,France,Germany,Switzerland etc
Only Italy was skipped from any record in the area.

36C in Algeria,29.1 in France,23.5 Switzerland,22.3 Germany
20C up to 1500m asl ! Even some tropical nights
Absolutely crazy.
TBC

Reposted by Wim Thiery, Christopher Wright, Brett Christophers

pfriedling.bsky.social
Pierre Friedlingstein @pfriedling.bsky.social · 13d
1) Fossil fuel
Still no peak. Emissions are projected to increase by 1.1% in 2025, reaching 38.1 GtCO2. An all time high.
Global fossil CO₂ emissions