About

This blog, through thoughtful and well sourced essays, will mainly aim to explore topics that are related to science, art & society and the connections between these; and often with a focus on the climate emergency. Although I moved from the world of science into the world of applied information management more than three decades ago, I retain a strong interest in science and how it is communicated.

I spent three decades helping large enterprises in the private and public sectors do a better job at managing their information, and more importantly, becoming better at curating and reusing their knowledge. It is unfortunately the case that whether it be in Washington or Nairobi, pharmaceuticals or central Government, knowledge is poorly curated and the same mistakes keep being made, despite millions spent on IT. I worked in many countries and sectors. I have now written a book Trusted Knolwedge in a digital and fragmented world of work that offers a synthesis of that experience – please go to my website trustedknowledge.org

I have, since my retirement, spent an increasing amount of my time painting, and I have started to write about that as well. You can find my art on the website www.richarderskineart.com

I am particularly interested in debunking spurious arguments about climate change or solutions to climate change.

For example, In Praise of Computer Models I argue that models are fundamental to modern society, not only scientific disciplines like climate science. In a much viewed and referenced essay Insulate Britain! Yes, but by how much?, I argue against the false claim that we need ‘deep refrofit’ (lots of insulation) before householders should consider getting a heat pump is fundamentally flawed, on cost and carbon grounds.

I helped start a local climate group group Nailsworth Climate Action Network around the time of the Paris Agreement, and spend a lot of time engaging with the local community.

I am a Fellow of the think tank The Schumacher Institute based in Bristol, dedicated to applying systems thinking to sustainability. It engages in multidisciplinary initiatives to develop ideas and tools for action on sustainability, and where I co-authored a Community Climate Action Toolkit, which is designed to be easy and free to use by any community group in any country or setting.

Discussions on climate change are often dominated by a technical framing, but we need a diversity voices – historians, engineers, artists, geographers, entrepreneurs, scientists, farmers, ecologists, poets and many more – to grapple with and make sense of our situation; how we got here, and to envision a net zero future, founded on justice, well-being and sustainability.

In a small way, through my love of art and science, I will try to explore these themes from my own particular point of view, experiences and knowledge (along with a few other pet topics that catch my eye).

My writings here are in a personal capacity.

Richard W. Erskine, Gloucestershire, UK