@estherturnhout
Chair of Science, Technology and Society, University of Twente. Explores ways to transform science & create better knowledge. Posts about #Nature #Conservation #STS #Politics of Knowledge #IPBES #Biodiversity #TransformativeChange #Justice
Voor iederen die nu op @ipbes.net zit of #ipbes12 volgt en informatie te delen heeft over business and biodiversity - vertel het aan Tamar Stelling @decorrespondent.nl
decorrespondent.nl/16711/oproep...
Hele mooie rapportage van @gemmavenhuizen.bsky.social @nrc.nl over de #nederlandsejeugdbondvoornatuurstudie #njn - al 105 jaar jong. Ik gun elke jongere zo'n vereniging.
www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...
Carrie Fisher was the blueprint.
Protect your people. Call out the predators.
#RESIST
Why do global environmental institutions multiply and persist even when they seem unable to address biodiversity loss and environmental governance failures effectively?
Our new OA article with @jacquelinebest.bsky.social in @risjnl.bsky.social tries to answer this question. 1/7
cup.org/4hZNlcX
🚨 We are looking for 3 new colleagues to join the GreenFrontier team as Postdoctoral Researchers!
Deadline for applications: 25 Nov 2025
Each of the 3 openings will involve extended ethnographic fieldwork + plenty of opportunities to consolidate research & leadership skills!
Please share widely!
First article from my PhD is out!
‘Provincialising Foot-and-Mouth Disease: The Construction of the African Buffalo as Disease Reservoir in Botswana, 1961–1976’, with Andreas Weber and @estherturnhout.bsky.social
The course uses diverse creative and engaging teaching methods and builds a space to jointly consider, discuss, and reflect on how research does, can, and could relate to deeply rooted sustainability challenges and how it can contribute to #TransformativeChange
Registration is open until Oct 31
We will be teaching our Transformative Research PhD course again on 20 April to 1 May. After four really succesful episodes, I think I can safely say that this course is a unique experience.
We think that this might not be possible without collaborating with civil society to “follow the money” from the ground up. @forestsandfinance.bsky.social @globalwitness.org @greenpeaceusa.bsky.social @greenpeace.eu @foeeurope.bsky.social @milieudefensie.bsky.social @ran.org
🚨New article🚨 Why has the promise of universal ownership been broken, as @benbraun.bsky.social has suggested?
Our argument: because the Big Three are hardly universal. They mainly invest in those that can insulate themselves from environmental harm - big tech & financials in the Global North.
🧵
"Reducing our dependence on whales as an energy source will send us sliding down the slippery, spermaceti-lubricated slope to socialism. If we give up whaling, what will those lackwits come for next? Will I have to surrender my peg leg for a titanium prosthetic?"
Let’s rethink how we relate knowledge, care, and policy relevance.
Can we build science-policy interfaces that are more plural, reflective, and just?
Prof. Dr. Esther Turnhout (@estherturnhout.bsky.social) , Professor of Knowledge, Transformation & Society TU Twente, explains why urban agriculture such as Food Park Amsterdam is of great importance in today's times.
See also @voedselpark.bsky.social
Such a pleasure to meet you! I hope we stay in touch!
Listening to @estherturnhout.bsky.social talk about science and the global polycrisis at @uni-hamburg.de #inspiring
Thanks Rosaleen 🙏
This is a really important & useful paper: the persistence of the idea that poverty causes biodiversity decline inhibits just and effective conservation. @upascual.bsky.social @estherturnhout.bsky.social @pettorelli.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
What is a forest?
Rather than singular objects, forests are made up of many ecosystems and relations. “The Forest Multiple,” our new special issue in Environment and Planning F, explores the varied & conflicting ways that forests take shape amid planetary change: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Figure 6. No walls, Duke Forest, North Carolina, USA. Photograph by Will Owens. Research supported by the Office of Science (BER), US Department of Energy, grant no. DE-FG02-95ER62083. Image and description source: Véra Ehrenstein (2024), https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/26349825241246013.
She also highlights how producing knowledge about complex, evolving, and multi-scale systems such as forests requires navigating various scales of forest ecosystems. This involves “adjusting the macroscope.”
The front page of the article “Forests high on CO2: A glimpse into how scientists study the biochemical machinery of forest ecosystems”, from the Special Issue on “The Forest Multiple”, by Véra Ehrenstein, published in Environment and Planning F.
Do “Forests high on CO2” store more carbon?”
In her article, Véra Ehrenstein @ehess.fr explores the collective efforts of scientists who address this question through forest ecosystem experiments and model simulations: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
This text is part of our special issue “The Forest Multiple” with Environment and Planning F. Stay tuned for future posts about this collection. Also, check out co-author Esther’s talk at the Forest Multiple symposium and other episodes on Smart Forests Atlas: atlas.smartforests.net/en/radio/the...
Esther and Casey trace the long and colonial histories of science that are driven by optimisation and efficiency, which can foreclose other ways of “knowing, valuing, and living with the forests.”
Screenshot showing the list of episodes in The Forest Multiple playlist on Smart Forests Radio.
This paper is part of our special issue “The Forest Multiple” with Environment and Planning F. You can also listen to co-author Naomi Millner’s related talk at our Forest Multiple symposium and other episodes in this playlist: atlas.smartforests.net/en/playlists...
While acknowledging that pluriversal potential can be provisional and precarious, the authors emphasise that drones could become part of projects and designs that resonate with Indigenous territorial rights and multispecies care.
The front page of the article “Between the god-trick and pluriversal potential: Four figures of drone in tropical forest conservation”, from the Special Issue on “The Forest Multiple”, by Naomi Millner and Mónica Amador-Jimenez , published in the Environment and Planning F.
In “Between the god-trick and pluriversal potential,”
@naomimillner.bsky.social and Mónica Amador-Jimenez explore 4 different ways that drones contribute to “making forests” and discuss their potential as pluriversal technologies for social & ecological justice: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
The text 'Smart Forests' over a blurry forest image in the background. Screenshot from the Smart Forests project film. Source: https://smartforests.net/smart-forests-film.
We are delighted to announce the launch of our project film Smart Forests 📽!
The film documents ongoing research into the increasing digitalization of forest environments. You can watch it now on our website: smartforests.net/smart-forests-film.
The front page of the article “Raising the carbonized forest: Science and technologies of singularization”, from the Special Issue on “The Forest Multiple”, by Esther Turnhout and Casey R. Lynch, published in the Environment and Planning F.
In “Raising the Carbonized Forest,” @estherturnhout.bsky.social and Casey R Lynch discuss how science works as a “technology of singularization” by foregrounding forests as carbon storage mechanisms: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
🌴 Grateful to share that I’ve been selected as one of the winners of the Geoforum 2024 Best Student Paper Award for my article:
“Care narratives: Babassu breakers and mother palm trees”
🔗 Read: lnkd.in/d9U7rCYs
🔗 Award announcement: lnkd.in/dSv9mm63
‘Ik hoor nog weleens om me heen: wat ben je links geworden. Dat is een verkeerde aanname. Ik zei dit soort dingen al in de jaren zeventig. Toen was daar niets radicaal aan. Het is de samenleving die zo rechts is geworden, zo verschrikkelijk rechts.’
Jan Terlouw, 1931-2025
The Hannah Arendt Center is on Bluesky