Fear of the Void: Cosmic Anxiety in ‘Aniara’ (2018)

Aniara (2018) is a Swedish sci-fi film written and directed by Hugo Lilja and Pella Kågerman. It is an adaptation of the 1956 Swedish epic poem of the same name by Harry Martinson. It depicts a dystopian, distant future in which extreme climate change, war, famine, disease, social collapse, pollution, and lawlessness force humans to…

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The Benefits and Drawbacks of Going Flight-Free

The decision to go flight-free for the sake of the climate is becoming an increasingly popular decision, encouraged by the flygskam (flight shame) movement – started in Sweden in 2018 and popularised by climate activist Greta Thunberg – and campaign groups like Stay Grounded and Flight Free UK (I wrote about my own decision to…

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The Complex Relationship Between Flying and Sustainable Tourism

Ecotourism, a term that emerged in the 1980s, refers to a niche segment of tourism in natural areas. According to David E. Fennell, “Ecotourism is a sustainable form of natural resource-based tourism that focuses primarily on experiencing and learning about nature, and which is ethically managed to be low-impact, non-consumptive, and locally-oriented (control, benefits, and…

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Does Veganism Entail Antinatalism?

Many antinatalists embrace veganism, as they find these lifestyle decisions to be ethically consonant with each other. Yet most ethical vegans are not against having children. Whether one position entails the other depends on the particular ethic at play: If the goal is to prevent and minimise suffering, then does this not entail antinatalism? This…

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Reconciling Ethics and Aesthetics in Architecture

Christine Murray, editor-in-chief of The Developer, a publication about making cities worth living in, wrote a piece for Dezeen on why architects must “choose ethics over aesthetics”. It is a provocative article, and one of the most thought-provoking points that Murray makes – which I was completely unaware of – is that “construction itself is…

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