The Duck of Minerva

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Joshua Busby is a Professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin. From 2021-2023, he served as a Senior Advisor for Climate at the U.S. Department of Defense. His most recent book is States and Nature: The Effects of Climate Change on Security (Cambridge, 2023). He is also the author of Moral Movements and Foreign Policy (Cambridge, 2010) and the co-author, with Ethan Kapstein, of AIDS Drugs for All: Social Movements and Market Transformations (Cambridge, 2013). His main research interests include transnational advocacy and social movements, international security and climate change, global public health and HIV/ AIDS, energy and environmental policy, and U.S. foreign policy.

Recent Posts

Blogging from Brazil: Problems of Connectivity

Blogging from Brazil: Problems of Connectivity

by | 14 June, 2014 |

So, at this point, I've been all over Brazil, though that's like saying I've toured the United States in five weeks. That said, I've been in five or six cities all over the country (I'll load a better map soon), and the internet speed has invariably been crap, even in pretty expensive hotels. I'm not sure what that tells you about the country's fortunes in the 21st century, but it does mean access to information and commerce in Brazil is limited, let alone the ability for people to watch streaming video of Game of Thrones or Orange is the New Black or local soccer. It also makes it so much...

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Brazil Linkage

Brazil Linkage

by | 31 May, 2014 |

Here are some stories we've been reading about Brazil: Street artist captures iconic image of impending World Cup (see mural above) Rio residents ambivalent about the World Cup Datafolha poll of people in Sao Paulo: 76% of people say Brazil is not prepared to host the World Cup. 22% say ready or partially ready. — Gabriel Elizondo (@elizondogabriel) May 22, 2014 Sao Paulo experiencing incredible drought, reservoir down to 8% of capacity Speaking of water, sewage and dead dogs make the site for Olympic rowing in Rio a possible nightmare Andy Revkin's students explore the challenges Brazil...

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Notes from Brazil

Notes from Brazil

by | 30 May, 2014 |

A long overdue post from Brazil. I've been here about two weeks, first in Rio and have just concluded the second week in the Amazonian city of Belém.  I hope to come back with more substantive thoughts about the country's direction, but here are some preliminary thoughts. The Brazilians we met were somewhat ambivalent about the World Cup. Many of them expressed the concern that this was a lot of money that the country could have used to address its myriad social needs. When I think about whether Brazil can be a major player internationally, even more important than it is now, I've generally...

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Thursday Linkage – Heading to Brazil Edition

Thursday Linkage – Heading to Brazil Edition

by | 15 May, 2014 |

I'm so glad the semester is over so I can leave Friday to head to Brazil for a three week short course with my colleague Eugene Gholz. The topic is the World Cup "Rising Powers and Global Governance." We have reprised our 2010 edition of our South Africa short course (notice the pattern). I'm hopeful I'll be able to provide some flavor from our trip as we have an exciting series of meetings with government officials, scientists, academics, practitioners, diplomats, activists, and members of the business community. We're focused on three main themes, the environment, public health, and the...

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Thursday Heading into Summer Linkage – Climate Change Edition

Thursday Heading into Summer Linkage – Climate Change Edition

by | 7 May, 2014 |

Apologies for the missing linkage from last week. I took a team of students to DC to present to policymakers the key findings from my year-long course on climate change and the major economies (see the embedded video at the bottom). The timing was opportune because this was a big week for climate policy. Thousands of world leaders gathered in Abu Dhabi to prepare for the UN Secretary General's fall meeting on the topic. China appears poised to crack down on polluters. Though air pollution is the primary target, there may be potential co-benefits for the climate. Here at home, the U.S....

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Thursday Linkage: Earth Day edition

Thursday Linkage: Earth Day edition

by | 24 April, 2014 |

Johannes gave a spirited and optimistic take on Earth Day, which was Tuesday April 22nd. I think as an advocacy strategy that an optimistic call to arms strikes the right tone. One of the core findings from some framing studies carried out in the early 2000s suggested that overwhelmingly negative messages on issues like climate change leave people feeling fatalistic. This fatalism was on display this week when I advertised a yearlong MA class I'm teaching next year on global wildlife conservation. I only had 3 students sign up in an open registration where my class was up head to head with...

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Thursday Linkage: Get the Duck out of this Semester

Thursday Linkage: Get the Duck out of this Semester

by | 18 April, 2014 |

With the tale end of this semester bearing down on me, this Duck is barely keeping his head above water. Fortunately, time has stopped and nothing has happened in the world. Ukraine is fine (no more Russian incursions). The global environment has put the threat of major disruption from climate change on pause. It's clear skies in Beijing. All the poachers of wildlife around the world have dropped dead. I wish. Read on for what's really happening. Ukraine/Russia Russia-sympathetic protesters in eastern Ukraine occupy government installations, encouraging a response from the Ukrainian...

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The IPCC Working Group III Report on Climate Mitigation in 11 Tweets

The IPCC Working Group III Report on Climate Mitigation in 11 Tweets

by | 15 April, 2014 |

The IPCC released the Working Group III summary report for policymakers on Sunday. I wrote about the Working Group II report on impacts on The Monkey Cage. Working Group III covers climate mitigation, that is the challenges of reducing greenhouse gases. Tonight, I read through the report and tweeted my sense of the main findings in an 11 part series that I embed below. My short take: there is not nearly enough in the 33 page document on barriers to implementation and international cooperation. I'm really looking forward to the release of the longer chapters. In the meantime, I encourage...

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Thursday Linkage

Thursday Linkage

by | 10 April, 2014 |

As we hurtle to the end of the semester, here are some stories for the week that caught my eye: Felix Salmon on why wonk bloggery is the future of journalism From Kyle Dropp and co-authors, Americans who can't find Ukraine on the map are more likely to support intervention there. What does this say about low information voters? Kim Yi Dionne and coauthor review the strange raid of a US-funded AIDS effort by Ugandan authorities as part of the emergent state-backed homophobia campaign Rich Cincotta pours cold water on the idea that food prices drove the Arab Spring: local prices didn't...

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Thursday Linkage: Slouching towards Semester’s End

Thursday Linkage: Slouching towards Semester’s End

by | 4 April, 2014 |

While Amanda is a glutton for punishment with both ISA and Midwest appearances, my wife and I are tag-teaming it - ISA for me and Midwest for her. In between diaper changes, Finding Nemo, and oatmeal, here is what I'm reading. Cambridge refuses to publish book on Putin for fear of libel, the IPCC Fifth Assessment report on climate change impacts is out, Japan cancels a whale hunt after ICJ ruling, China bags clean mountain air, no climate change at this year's G20, and more. Putin, Cambridge, and Britain's Libel Laws Loose libel laws in Britain compel Cambridge University Press to cancel...

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