Chris Huggins' story

Name: Chris Huggins
Organisation: Carleton University
Role: Consultant/PhD Candidate
Webpage: http://www.landresearch.bravehost.com/

What first triggered your interest in environmental issues?

Reading ‘National geographic’ Magazine when I was about 12 years old. The photos showed the importance of the natural world to cultures around the globe, and the fragility of those relationships

What are you working on, concerned by, or motivated by at the moment?

The conversion of common property, especially communal and customarily-owned land, to private property, and the various injustices that this often involves. Land reform in post-conflict contexts.

What do you anticipate working on, or thinking about, in relation to environmental issues over the next 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years?

1 year: same as now

5 years: Migration and (re)settlement due to climate change

10 years: the neo-colonial role of china in the extraction of natural resources in Africa

How optimistic or pessimistic are you as you look at where we might be in 2020, and why?

I’m pessimistic about climate change. At the moment, neither the individual nor the collective will exists to make the kinds of lasting, fundamental changes that might reduce emissions. Politicians are unwilling to face the fact that reducing global warming will take major changes to economic models of growth and individuals are unwilling to make concessions to their ‘lifestyles’. The situation will worsen and we will be forced into sudden ‘crisis management’ mode over the next 10-20 years, resulting in some political friction and instability in the most vulnerable parts of the world, as well as financial recession.

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