Living with anthropogenic climate change: Learning from environmental history to question narratives of doom,hope, and crisis

We are living with anthropogenic climate change and must address the causes and reduce the negative impacts on our planet, humans, and other species. This commentary offers a brief review of environmental history from deep time to recent waves of environmentalism demonstrating that climate change has occurred before; that people have faced perceived end times; and that predictions of doom have helped us to act to avoid that potential scenario. These are important lessons for how we may live today and into the future, given the shift from climate change denial to narratives of impending doom because we have already failed to act. The commentary presents a matrix of positions adopted in relation to climate change and environmentalism more generally, highlighting narratives of hope, doom, and urgency. While not exhaustive, these summarised positions alert us to possibilities and are intended to generate wider discussion about how we may live with anthropogenic climate change. We have to learn to live with anthropogenic climate change while addressing the causes and reducing the negative impacts on our planet, humans and on other species.     

Renewable Energy Innovation and Governance in Wales: A Regional Innovation System Approach

This paper draws on research commissioned to investigate the regional innovation system of Wales on green innovation, focusing on the renewable energy sub-sectors of wind, solar and biomass. It shows how many innovative firms operate within regional networks, cooperating and interacting not only with other firms such as suppliers, customers and competitors, but also with research and technology resource organizations, innovation support agencies, venture capital funds, and local and regional government bodies. The paper argues that within the region there is the presence of various renewable energy production platforms, usually based on core technologies (wind, solar, biomass, marine, etc.) at different levels of development. They involve a mix of established energy utilities and new sustainable energy businesses that are positioned at different levels within the renewable energy supply chain. The research shows that the regional government is playing an important role in supporting the renewable energy industry; nevertheless, more needs to be done to facilitate planning control, provide skills and create new demands for renewable energy that will further foster business growth and further strengthen the existing manufacturing base and innovation in Wales. The paper identifies some weaknesses in the Welsh energy innovation system, not least that energy is not a devolved responsibility and it argues that there is some scope for the Welsh Assembly Government to further investigate gaps within the green innovation supply chain and act on strengthening regional capabilities within the industry but also to support and investigate further opportunities for inward investment.     

Palynological interpretation of the Early Neolithic coastal open-air site at Sa Punta (central-western Sardinia,Italy)

The major goal of the present study has been to assess the ecological context of the Early Neolithic settlement under excavation in the coastal site of Sa Punta-Marceddì (Terralba, Sardinia, Italy) where a trench of Neolithic age has been brought to light. Based on the origins of the site's organic fossiliferous content, the purpose of this work is to achieve an understanding of: 1) the reasons why this location was chosen by EN man and 2) its functions. This research has enabled us to suggest a human paleoecological scenario over the course of the last three centuries of the 6th millennium BC in the inland area of the Oristano Gulf. On the basis of pollen spectra and the phytolith morphologies recognised, it is suggested that herbaceous vegetation covered the alluvial plain. Arable agriculture does not seem to have been practiced on the site, but the record of coprophilous fungi and endoparasites, along with clues that there were burning practices, suggest livestock farming activity. To date, a univocal interpretation of the function of this trench is still lacking. However, it is the oldest and the only evidence in Sardinia of a remarkable transformation of an open-air space due to settlement.     

Regional innovation systems and the labour market: A comparison of five regions

This paper reviews the concept of Regional Innovation Systems with particular attention on the labour market dimension. It argues that the labour force as a repository of skills and knowledge plays a key role in generating knowledge flows within Regional Innovation Systems. Then, by reference to a number of important dimensions characterizing innovation, five regions from northern Europe are contrasted. In light of research undertaken by the authors the paper highlights the problems associated with a regional system that may hamper innovation and it shows that Regional Innovation Systems can be underdeveloped by being too dependent on public support. Accordingly a combination of public and private governance at the regional level to promote systemic innovation is advocated. The paper also shows how the Regional Innovation Systems can evolve and how regions can become increasingly developmental knowledge laboratories influencing labour market conditions.