Posts filed under ‘News’
Livet er best ute
Livet er best ute: Friluftslivets historie og filosofi, (Oslo: Kagge Forlag, 2022)
Livet er best ute. Eller er det egentlig det, spør Peder Anker i denne boken om friluftslivets historie og filosofi. Med friluftslivet som et utgangspunkt forteller Anker om våre uartikulerte verdier og tradisjoner, slik de ser ut fra fjellet, skogen og svaberget. For lengselen etter friluftslivet er det vi har felles, mener han.
Denne boken har han skrevet for alle de som synes livet er best ute. Leseren trenger ikke noen andre egenskaper for å bli med på å utforske hva friluftslivet er for noe. Anker tar leseren med på en personlig vandring igjennom friluftslivets historie, kultur og filosofi. Det er en tur i et mykt lettgått terreng, med en og annen utfordrende skrent. For det må til for å nå fjellets topp. Der får leseren hvile sine tanker ved varme kilder. Selv om turen er rimelig enkel, så er den på ingen måte ufarlig. Det er mektige motkrefter som undergraver friluftslivet, påpeker Anker, både i oss selv og i samfunnet rundt oss. Friluftslivet er truet. Denne boken søker derfor å fornye og utfordre, med vekt på naturvern.
Kjøp boken i din lokale bokhandel, på Norli, Haugen Bok, eller rett fra Kagge Forlag.
Bla i boka
Les de første 30 sidene gratis her.
Omtale
Runar Larsen, “Jul med din leseglede,” VG: Magainset Reiselyst, 9 desember, 2022.
Emil L. Mohr, “Tilbake til naturen,” Dagens Næringsliv, 22 oktober 2022. [PDF side 1-2, PDF side 3]
Vemund Sveen Finstad, “Et spørsmål om vern”, Aftenposten: Historie, 8 sept. 2022.
Maria Birkeland Olerud, “Drømmen om Kristi gjenoppstandelse ble hetende bærekraftig utvikling,” Vårt land, 28 juli, 2022. [PDF]
Anmeldelser
Anders Horntvedt, “Selfies, fjellyoga og profittjagende hyener,” Finansavisen, 3 februar, 2023. [PDF]
Rolf Kjøde, “Friluftsromantikk mot fritidskapitalisme,” For Bibel og Bekjennelse, 6 september, 2022.
Tom Hetland, “Norsk friluftsglede sett frå New York,” Stavanger Aftenblad, 21 august, 2022. [PDF]
Espen Søbye, “Er nå livet egentlig best ute?” Morgenbladet, 5 august, 2022. [PDF]
Podkast
“Friluftslivets historie” Historier som endred Norge, 3 april, 2023, med Christian Gilsvik.
“Den norske miljødebatten” Historier som endred Norge, 20 mars, 2023, med Christian Gilsvik.
“Livet er best ute” Ideer, Tankesmien Agenda, 17 februar, 2023, med Hilde Nagel.
“Friluftslivets filosofi og motstraums reiselyst” Litteraturhuset i Bergen, 23 august, 2022, med Gunnar Garfors og moderert av Margunn Vikingstad.
Utdrag
“Hold kjeft stedet,” Vagabond reiselyst, 10 (2022), 51. [PDF].
“Jeg har revet varder. Mange av dem,” Harvest magazin, 16 juli 2022. [PDF]
Bokbad og presentasjoner
Bokbad, Norsk Sjømannskirke, New York, Dec. 7 2022.
Bokbad, Norsk skogmuseum, Elverum, Nov. 24 2022.
Bokbad, Akademika bokhandel, Bø i Telemark, Nov. 23 2022.
Institutt for friluftsliv, idrett og kroppsøving, Universitetet i sørøst Norge, Bø i Telemark, Nov. 23 2022.
Østfoldmuseene, Halden, Nov. 7. 2022.
Boklansering, Oslo, 17 august, 2022.
TV
“Klimakrisen” TV2 Nyheter, 6, 8 og 9. april, 2023.
NRK Kveldsnytt, 15 august, 2022.
NRK Nyhetsmorgen, 8 august, 2022.
Radio
NRK Hordaland, 23 august, 2022.
NRK P2-Pulsen, 21 juli, 2022.
The Power of the Periphery: How Norway Became an Environmental Pioneer for the World
The Power of the Periphery: How Norway Became an Environmental Pioneer for the World, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020).
Abstract
What is the source of Norway’s culture of environmental harmony in our troubled world? Exploring the role of Norwegian scholar-activists of the late twentieth century, Peder Anker examines how they portrayed their country as a place of environmental stability in a world filled with tension. In contrast with societies dirtied by the hot and cold wars of the twentieth century, Norway’s power, they argued, lay in the pristine, ideal natural environment of the periphery. Globally, a beautiful Norway came to be contrasted with a polluted world and fashioned as an ecological microcosm for the creation of a better global macrocosm. In this innovative, interdisciplinary history, Anker explores the ways in which ecological concerns were imported via Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962, then to be exported from Norway back to the world at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Get the book
US $ | Eur € | Brit £ | Can $ | Open Access (free download).
Reviews
Kelly MacPhail, “The Power of the Periphery,” Trumpeter 37:1 (2022), 137-141. [PDF]
Jenna M. Coughlin, “The Power of the Periphery,” Scandinavian Studies 94:1 (2022), 131-134. [PDF]
Eva Jakobsson, “The Power of the Periphery,” Historisk tidsskrift 100:2 (2021), 184-187. [PDF]
Wuyishan, “Why Norway Became an Environmental Pioneer,” Chinese Science News, Oct. 14 2021.
Fabian Zimmer, “The Power of the Periphery,” H-Soz-Kult, Aug. 20. 2021.
Josh Berry, “The Power of the Periphery,” Environmental Philosophy, 18:1 (2021), 151-154. [PDF]
Peder Roberts, “The Power of the Periphery,” Isis, 112:3 (Sept. 2021), 635-636. [PDF]
Gregory Ferguson-Cradler, “The Power of the Periphery,” Environment and History, 27:3 (2021), 505-507. [PDF]
Elena Kochetkova, “The Power of the Periphery,” Technology and Culture, 62:3 (July 2021), 941-942. [PDF]
Hedda Susanne Molland, “Å kle seg i miljønasjonens drakt,” Salongen, May 4, 2021.
Anders Dunker, “Den norske dobbeltmoralen,” Ny tid, Aug. 2020, 4-5. [Page 1], [Page 2]. English edition.
Summary in Norwegian
Peder Anker, “Periferiens makt: Historia om miljøvitenskapen,” Syn og segn, 3:126 (2020), 69-75.
Summary in English
“Greenwashing a Nation,” LA+ Interdisciplinary Journal of Landscape Architecture, 15 (Spring 2022), 100-105
Blog-posts
Peder Anker, “Greenwashing Norway“, Nordic Branding, Sept. 8, 2021.
Nils Faarlund, “Full spredning av øko-filosofi“, Norges høgfjellsskole, June 4, 2021.
Peder Anker, “Cabin Lockout“, Cambridge blog, Sept. 30, 2020.
Book talks
Stockholm +50: The Nordic Model of Ecological Transformation May 16, 2022.
Scandinavian Society Annual Meeting, April 30, 2022.
Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Oslo March 14, 2022.
Venice Biennale of Architecture 2021, May 21, 2021. [Video]
Environmental History Week, April 19. 2021. [Video]
The National Library of Norway, April 12. 2021
Department of History, University of Bergen, Feb. 18, 2021.
Department of Philosophy, NTNU Trondheim, Feb. 9 2021
The Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Jan. 21, 2021.
The Greenhouse, University of Stavanger, Nov. 2, 2020. [Video]
History of Science Society’s Annual Meeting, Oct. 8, 2020. [Video]
Institute of Public Knowledge, New York University, Oct. 6 2020. [Video]
Collapse: Climate, Cities & Culture
COLLAPSE: CLIMATE, CITIES & CULTURE focuses on the design community’s response to environmental urgency, using architectural models, design prototypes, drawings, and videos to frame and advance this vitally important conversation. COLLAPSE is not a dystopian future-scape, but is in fact our “right now.” The Directors of Global Design NYU believe that designers must join or initiate interdisciplinary efforts to find solutions for our current state of planetary peril.
COLLAPSE estimates that one species goes extinct every seven minutes and this rate may be up to 1000 times faster than evolutionary norms. In our exhibit design, the empty cages represent loss, or voids, in our natural world. They are like coffins for species whose graves we will never know, whose lives we will never learn about. The exhibit design also features over a ton and a half of e-waste, lent to us by environmental waste management company. E-waste (products with batteries or cords) contain poisonous heavy metals, chemical flame retardants, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). As our world becomes more interconnected, our production of e-waste is skyrocketing. Interconnectivity may save the planet in some ways, but its harm is already evident.
The practices and projects selected for this exhibition come from a myriad of disciplines and operate at multiple scales, in a range of forms—constructed works, materials and systems research, community development, speculation, and philosophy. These diverse projects are joined by their shared focus on improving the health and well-being of our fragile planet and all of its occupants. Design will help to determine how we face our current and future collapse.
The show featured contributions from more than thirty designers, including AGENCY, Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Alexander Felson, Anna Bokov, Anna Dyson, Archi-Tectonics, Architecture and Urban Design Lab, Axel Kilian, BiotA Lab, Carl Skelton, DESIGN EARTH, Experimental Architecture Group, Fernanda Canales, Forrest Meggers, Ghiora Aharoni Design Studio, Harrison Atelier, Jenny Sabin Studio, Julia Watson Studio REDE, Karen Holmberg, Maider Llaguno-Munitxa, Mark Foster Gage Architects, Mark Shepard and Moritz Stefaner, MASS Design Group, Mathur/Da Cunha, Mitch McEwen, NADAAA, nea studio, Nurhan Gokturk, Patrick Nash, pneumastudio/Cathryn Dwyre + Chris Perry, Rhett Russo, School of the Earth, SITE @ Princeton University, SO-IL, Terreform ONE, WXY, and Young & Ayata
Global Design NYU, Collapse: Climate, Cities & Culture, directed and curated by Peder Anker, Louise Harpman, Mitchell Joachim, The Gallatin Galleries NYC, June 12-29, 2018.
Seminar, Center for Architecture, 6-8pm, Oct. 3, 2018,
Anthropocene Architecture: Design Earth’s Geostories
“Anthropocene Architecture: Design Earth’s Geostories” with Nina Edwards Anker, The Avery Review 29 (Feb. 2018). [PDF]
Republished in: Rania Ghosn and El Hadi Jazairy, Geostories: Another Architecture for the Environment, (Barcelona: Actar, 2018), 206-213.
A review of the exhibition Geostories: Another Architecture for the Environment, created by Rania Ghosn and El Hadi Jazairy, which was on display at the Cooper Union School of Architecture in New York, October 17, 2017–December 2, 2017.
The London Bauhaus Designed a Socialist Utopia for Penguins
The 20th-century German design movement is often associated with tubular chairs and streamlined workspaces, but the Bauhaus was invested in the natural kingdom from the start.
“The London Bauhaus Designed a Socialist Utopia for Penguins,” interviewed by Erin Schwartz for the Garage Magazine, Feb. 5th, 2018.
Human Heliostat NYU
Producers: Louise Harpman, Peder Anker, Keith Miller, Mitchell Joachim. Director: Keith Miller. Actor: Priya Patel. Camera: Adam Golfer, Thomas Lau. Editor: Charles Chintzer Lai. Photography: Ivan Specht. Music: DJ Spooky. Production Assistants: Louisa Nolte, Rachel Stern. Participants: Cynthia Allen, Liz Appel, Jamie Berthe, Honor Bishop, Michelle Boukhover, Colin F Brett Nina R Demeo, Pasan Dharmasena, Jacob Ford, Hallie M Franks, Hannah Fullerton, Jason Gabaee, Aaron Gartenberg, Vince Gaudio, Subhankar Ghosh, Celine Rose Gruenberg, Georgina Hahn-Griffiths, Michael Hirschorn, Kristin Horton, Gisela Humphreys, William Kammler, Zoe A Kennedy, Sage Mastakouras, Stacie McDonald, Louisa Nolte, Celeste Orangers, Brennan O’Rourke, Annie Pluimer, Caroline Porter, Alejandro Ribadeneira, Kyle Richard, Arielle Ross, Henry Sheeran, Ivan Specht, Rachel N Stern, Luke Thurmond, Greg Vargo, Aleksei Waddington, John Wedge, Jen Weitsen.
Untangling Intentions: Teaching the History of Climate Politics
“Untangling Intentions: Teaching the History of Climate Politics,” in Teaching Climate Change in the Humanities, Stephen Siperstein, Shane Hall and Stephanie LeMenager (eds.), (New York: Routledge, 2016), 272-278
A pioneer country? A history of Norwegian climate politics
“A pioneer country? A history of Norwegian climate politics” Climatic Change, (Online March 2016), 1-13. Journal edition 151:1 (2018), 29-41.
Download PDF.
The shift away from ecology towards climatology in Norwegian environmental policy in the late 1980s and 1990s was not accidental. A main mover was the Labor Party politician Gro Harlem Brundtland who did not want to deal with unruly and highly vocal Deep Ecologists. Better then to start afresh with a different set of environmental scholars appealing to the technocratic tradition within the Labor Party. Instead of changing the ethical and social ways of dealing with environmental problems as the Deep Ecologists were advocating, she was looking for technological and economic solutions. And she mobilized an international regime of carbon capture storage (CCS), tradable carbon emissions quota (TEQs), and clean development mechanisms (CDMs), all of which eventually were approved in Kyoto in 1997. This move towards technocracy and cost-benefit economics reflects a post-Cold War turn towards utilitarian capitalism, but also a longing to showcase Norway as an environmental pioneer country to the world. The underlying question was how to reconcile the nation’s booming petroleum industry with reduction in climate gas emissions. Should the oil and gas stay underground and the country strive towards the ecologically informed zerogrowth society the Deep Ecologists were envisioning? Or could growth in the petroleum industry take place without harming the environment as the Labor Party environmentalists argued?
Global Design: Elsewhere Envisioned
Peder Anker, Louise Harpman, Mitchell Joachim, Global Design: Elsewhere Envisioned (Munich: Prestel, 2014).
Get the book:
This book examines the possibilities for scaling design solutions to address global warming.
Global warming poses new challenges to the architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design communities. The immediate response has been a turn toward a host of energy-saving technologies. What has rarely been addressed, however, is the problem of scale. How can designers make sure that global solutions do not come at the expense of local cultures and environments? By placing human rational, emotional, technological, and social needs at the center of our environmental concerns, this book proposes a new global design initiative. The aim is to develop a language of design that can create proximity between individual responsibility and the current global environmental crisis. These featured projects showcase leading-edge design innovations at multiple scales. Global Design directors Peder Anker, Louise Harpman, and Mitchell Joachim discuss various ways in which design can reformat the unfortunate separation between humans and the natural world.
Review
Shaunacy Ferro, “7 Ways Architecture Can Tackle Global Warming” at FastCompany, Feb. 2015.
My review of The Gaia Hypothesis
Michael Ruse, The Gaia Hypothesis: Science on a Pagan Planet (Chicago: Chicago University Press 2013).
Peder Anker 
