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Blog post: A climate reality check, on social collapse and public knowledge

Green crops growing in a field

There has been a prominent and growing realisation that the current “real” global food prices – as adjusted for inflation - are high, relative to the past.

Example headlines include:

“Prices are at the highest since 2014, risking faster inflation” (Bloomberg, May 2021).

However, this representation is inaccurate. Based on simple observation of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) publically available graphics (2021), it is more accurate to say that:

‘It is on average harder to buy food today in 2021, than it has been since 2014, and in fact for most of the noughties, the entire decade of the 1990s, and the 1980s; most of the 1970s, and every year of the 1960s! Food is more expensive today than it has been for the vast majority of modern recorded history.'

While significant media attention on the impact of COVID-19 has empirical justification, most FAO crop reports cite unpredictable weather to explain supply contraction.

This might not be the beginning of the end of the world; but if and when that does come, it will very likely look something like this.

The dual issues of chronic food shortage and inequality currently driving social unrest in South Africa offer further insights into potential futures where the injustice of our global Climate Emergency remains unchallenged.

Read the latest Think Development blog post by Dr Alastair Smith, Senior Teaching Fellow in GSD.


GSD students share their work placement stories

School for Cross-faculty Studies students presenting during online work placement event

On Wednesday 9 December 2020, the School for Cross-faculty Studies hosted a 'Work Placement Talk and Live Q&A event', organised by the School's Employability and Placement Manager, Bodrun Nahar. The event aimed to give current students in the School the opportunity to hear directly from students who undertook a work placement. The speakers were encouraged to share their experiences of their work placements, including the challenges, the benefits, and their advice for any students considering doing a work placement.


Blog post: Our enriching time at Monash University

GSD students, From left to right: Katharina Neisinger, Maja Voelkel, Luke Netherclift

Our students have the chance to spend a semester abroad in their second year of study. In this post, Katharina Neisinger, Maja Voelkel, and Luke Netherclift reflect on their time at Monash University, and how it was cut short by the outbreak of COVID-19.

Mon 11 May 2020, 12:08 | Tags: GSD Student stories Blog Post

Blog post: Warwick Africa Summit 2020

L-R: Nana Seiwaa Osei Afriyie, H.E Samira Bawumia (Republic of Ghana)

L-R: Seiwaa Osei Afriyie, H.E Samira Bawumia (Republic of Ghana)

On 25-26 January 2020, the Warwick Africa Summit 2020 took place in the Oculus Building at the University of Warwick. The Warwick Africa Summit is an interdisciplinary conference focused on African development and is solely organised by students. Students from the GSD Department were part of the team behind the Warwick Africa Summit 2020, including final year Sociology and GSD student Seiwaa Osei Afriyie (President of the Warwick Africa Summit), second year Single Honours GSD student Taigh Adebajo (Co-Director of Finance) and second year Single Honours GSD student Trinity Awelo (Logistics). As President of the Warwick Africa Summit, Seiwaa has put together her highlights of the event.


Blog post: A Sustainable Serenissima

Senior Teaching Fellow in the Liberal Arts Department Dr Bryan Brazeau looks back on the largely successful Venice and Sustainability project, hosted in Liberal Arts. Find out what staff and students discovered in this innovative problem-based module during their time in Coventry and Venice, and watch a media project looking at cultural sustainability in the city produced by Global Sustainable Development students.