David Farrier
@david-farrier.bsky.social
Writer. Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils | Nature's Genius: Evolution's Lessons for a Changing Planet, shortlisted for the Wainwright Conservation Writing Prize 2025
Professor of Literature & the Environment, University of Edinburgh
Professor of Literature & the Environment, University of Edinburgh
Pinned
Exciting news!!!!!!
Thanks @wainwrightprize.bsky.social!
Thanks @wainwrightprize.bsky.social!
Amazing turn out of Edinburgh University staff outside the parliament building right now to defend education against needless cuts
@ucuedinburgh.bsky.social
@ucuedinburgh.bsky.social
November 19, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Amazing turn out of Edinburgh University staff outside the parliament building right now to defend education against needless cuts
@ucuedinburgh.bsky.social
@ucuedinburgh.bsky.social
Reposted by David Farrier
If Edinburgh Uni, with no operational deficit, gets to sack 1800 people, imagine what this will signal to more fiscally challenged Scottish universities?
MSPs need to realise that this is more than a local crisis – we need urgent public scrutiny of Edinburgh’s governance.
MSPs need to realise that this is more than a local crisis – we need urgent public scrutiny of Edinburgh’s governance.
November 17, 2025 at 1:02 PM
If Edinburgh Uni, with no operational deficit, gets to sack 1800 people, imagine what this will signal to more fiscally challenged Scottish universities?
MSPs need to realise that this is more than a local crisis – we need urgent public scrutiny of Edinburgh’s governance.
MSPs need to realise that this is more than a local crisis – we need urgent public scrutiny of Edinburgh’s governance.
I wrote about why we need to grow food in cities for @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
Could urban farming feed the world?
From back gardens to hi-tech hydroponics, the future of food doesn’t have to be rural
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:36 AM
I wrote about why we need to grow food in cities for @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
Reposted by David Farrier
What can evolution teaches about how life will adapt to our changing planet? Find out at the seminar on Friday…
Don't miss @david-farrier.bsky.social on Friday 24th when he'll be speaking about Nature’s Genius: Evolution’s Lessons for a Changing Planet. Online or in-person, followed by a drinks reception & book signing in the School of Geography & the Environment. Register bookwhen.com/oxfordbiodiv...
October 21, 2025 at 11:54 AM
What can evolution teaches about how life will adapt to our changing planet? Find out at the seminar on Friday…
If you're in Oxford next Friday, come along!
Don't miss @david-farrier.bsky.social on Friday 24th when he'll be speaking about Nature’s Genius: Evolution’s Lessons for a Changing Planet. Online/in-person, followed by drinks reception & book signing in School of Geography & the Environment. Register & more info bookwhen.com/oxfordbiodiv...
October 17, 2025 at 6:54 PM
If you're in Oxford next Friday, come along!
Still can't quite believe it, but Vanity Fair Italy interviewed me about Nature's Genius
www.vanityfair.it/article/davi...
www.vanityfair.it/article/davi...
October 7, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Still can't quite believe it, but Vanity Fair Italy interviewed me about Nature's Genius
www.vanityfair.it/article/davi...
www.vanityfair.it/article/davi...
Reposted by David Farrier
When you consider the *ecocide* alongside the genocide being perpetrated in Gaza, you begin to grasp the totality of the Israeli state’s attempt to eliminate both the Palestinians and their homeland.
My column today.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My column today.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Israel’s ecocide in Gaza sends this message: even if we stopped dropping bombs, you couldn’t live here | George Monbiot
Consider the annihilation of agricultural land alongside the genocide – and grasp the chilling totality of this attempt to eliminate all life, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
September 27, 2025 at 6:59 AM
When you consider the *ecocide* alongside the genocide being perpetrated in Gaza, you begin to grasp the totality of the Israeli state’s attempt to eliminate both the Palestinians and their homeland.
My column today.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My column today.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Many species won't survive without our help, but what should that help look like? I wrote about this for @aeon.co
aeon.co/essays/shoul...
aeon.co/essays/shoul...
Should we intervene in evolution? The ethics of ‘editing’ nature | Aeon Essays
Countless species are dying from human-induced environmental change. Should we use genetic technology to alter and save them?
aeon.co
September 26, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Many species won't survive without our help, but what should that help look like? I wrote about this for @aeon.co
aeon.co/essays/shoul...
aeon.co/essays/shoul...
Nature's Genius is published in Italian!!
September 18, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Nature's Genius is published in Italian!!
Can't think of a government in my adult life that has failed to meet the moment like this one.
THIS is the line? www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
Scale of ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march shows free speech ‘alive and well’ in UK, says minister – UK politics live
Peter Kyle said he was not ‘disturbed’ by huge Tommy Robinson-organised far-right protest but condemns violence against the police
www.theguardian.com
September 14, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Can't think of a government in my adult life that has failed to meet the moment like this one.
Reposted by David Farrier
I think about this poem by Ian Duhig — about Jo Cox, the Labour MP assassinated by a man shouting ‘Britain first’ — every day at the moment. No other contemporary poet has looked so clearly at the political reality of the far right as a minority who must always be appeased
September 13, 2025 at 8:39 PM
I think about this poem by Ian Duhig — about Jo Cox, the Labour MP assassinated by a man shouting ‘Britain first’ — every day at the moment. No other contemporary poet has looked so clearly at the political reality of the far right as a minority who must always be appeased
This has absolutely thrilled me!
September 12, 2025 at 7:51 AM
This has absolutely thrilled me!
I had an amazing time @wainwrightprize.bsky.social yesterday! So many inspiring writers and extraordinary books. Congratulations to @guyshrubsole.bsky.social, a hugely deserving winner for conservation writing, and fellow @canongate.co.uk writer @chloedalton.bsky.social for book of the year!
September 11, 2025 at 9:05 AM
I had an amazing time @wainwrightprize.bsky.social yesterday! So many inspiring writers and extraordinary books. Congratulations to @guyshrubsole.bsky.social, a hugely deserving winner for conservation writing, and fellow @canongate.co.uk writer @chloedalton.bsky.social for book of the year!
Reposted by David Farrier
This should be headline news - the implications are horrifying …
Collapse of critical Atlantic current is no longer low-likelihood, study finds
Scientists say ‘shocking’ discovery shows rapid cuts in carbon emissions are needed to avoid catastrophic fallout
www.theguardian.com
August 29, 2025 at 8:01 AM
This should be headline news - the implications are horrifying …
North Edinburgh people: if you haven't seen it already, the report on a new tram route is here: consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/tram-nor...
Worryingly, it shows a clear preference for Roseburn over Orchard Brae. If you value the Roseburn path, please respond to the consultation!
Worryingly, it shows a clear preference for Roseburn over Orchard Brae. If you value the Roseburn path, please respond to the consultation!
Trams from Granton to Edinburgh BioQuarter and Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Beyond
- City of Edinburgh Council
- Citizen Space
Find and participate in consultations run by City of Edinburgh Council
consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk
August 27, 2025 at 11:25 AM
North Edinburgh people: if you haven't seen it already, the report on a new tram route is here: consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/tram-nor...
Worryingly, it shows a clear preference for Roseburn over Orchard Brae. If you value the Roseburn path, please respond to the consultation!
Worryingly, it shows a clear preference for Roseburn over Orchard Brae. If you value the Roseburn path, please respond to the consultation!
Reposted by David Farrier
The UK government will evacuate nine of the 40+ students in Gaza with scholarship at UK universities. My PhD student Shaimaa isn't included. We must now make sure they help the other students - email your MP today. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
UK to evacuate nine Gaza students with university scholarships
Move follows months of pressure from MPs, academics and campaigners, with dozens of other students still stranded
www.theguardian.com
August 21, 2025 at 9:06 AM
The UK government will evacuate nine of the 40+ students in Gaza with scholarship at UK universities. My PhD student Shaimaa isn't included. We must now make sure they help the other students - email your MP today. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Reposted by David Farrier
Latest from the Edinburgh Book Festival: Catching up with fellow Edinburgh prof @david-farrier.bsky.social & Alex Riley, both brilliant nature writers, both with new books that celebrate the resiliency and adaptability of nature.
Check out: Nature's Genius & Super Natural! @edbookfest.bsky.social
Check out: Nature's Genius & Super Natural! @edbookfest.bsky.social
August 21, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Latest from the Edinburgh Book Festival: Catching up with fellow Edinburgh prof @david-farrier.bsky.social & Alex Riley, both brilliant nature writers, both with new books that celebrate the resiliency and adaptability of nature.
Check out: Nature's Genius & Super Natural! @edbookfest.bsky.social
Check out: Nature's Genius & Super Natural! @edbookfest.bsky.social
Can't wait to speak with Alex Riley and @calflyn.bsky.social tomorrow @edbookfest.bsky.social about all that makes life extraordinary. Come along!
August 20, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Can't wait to speak with Alex Riley and @calflyn.bsky.social tomorrow @edbookfest.bsky.social about all that makes life extraordinary. Come along!
Reposted by David Farrier
Necropolitics: “the death-inflicting politics of colonialism…where those in power don’t have to care who lives or dies. The priorities of the colonisers are elsewhere, in land, power and wealth grabs. The colonised are left in conditions where their lives are not even secondary, but irrelevant.”
Global warming is a deliberate policy of death for the poor, sick and vulnerable. A global necropolitics.
jksteinberger.medium.com/climate-necr...
jksteinberger.medium.com/climate-necr...
August 15, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Necropolitics: “the death-inflicting politics of colonialism…where those in power don’t have to care who lives or dies. The priorities of the colonisers are elsewhere, in land, power and wealth grabs. The colonised are left in conditions where their lives are not even secondary, but irrelevant.”
It was such a thrill to be on stage @edbookfest.bsky.social last night with the next Future Library author, Amitav Ghosh(@amitav.bsky.social)! No other writer is so alert to the living forest and the way forgotten lives endure in the archive. And as gracious in person as you could hope for.
August 14, 2025 at 8:24 AM
It was such a thrill to be on stage @edbookfest.bsky.social last night with the next Future Library author, Amitav Ghosh(@amitav.bsky.social)! No other writer is so alert to the living forest and the way forgotten lives endure in the archive. And as gracious in person as you could hope for.
Exciting news!!!!!!
Thanks @wainwrightprize.bsky.social!
Thanks @wainwrightprize.bsky.social!
August 5, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Exciting news!!!!!!
Thanks @wainwrightprize.bsky.social!
Thanks @wainwrightprize.bsky.social!
Reposted by David Farrier
Update: no one can identify a single person as belonging to a group that The Times says has 130 academic staff.
Totally unnamed and likely fictitious academics being quoted by the Daily Express, The Times, the BBC & the Times Higher.
Totally unnamed and likely fictitious academics being quoted by the Daily Express, The Times, the BBC & the Times Higher.
I'm a member of the Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression Working Group, and haven't heard anything about this group. Seems like this group is muddying the waters somewhat with an official university body.
July 29, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Update: no one can identify a single person as belonging to a group that The Times says has 130 academic staff.
Totally unnamed and likely fictitious academics being quoted by the Daily Express, The Times, the BBC & the Times Higher.
Totally unnamed and likely fictitious academics being quoted by the Daily Express, The Times, the BBC & the Times Higher.
Reposted by David Farrier
Every strand of this Edinburgh University report could be its own front page.
Yes, some of it will be familiar to historians, but this kind of frank public recognition is all too rare.
Incredible work by many different scholars.
Yes, some of it will be familiar to historians, but this kind of frank public recognition is all too rare.
Incredible work by many different scholars.
Edinburgh University had ‘outsized’ role in creating racist scientific theories, inquiry finds
Investigation finds one of Britain’s oldest and most prestigious universities benefited from transatlantic slavery and was haven for white supremacist theories
www.theguardian.com
July 27, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Every strand of this Edinburgh University report could be its own front page.
Yes, some of it will be familiar to historians, but this kind of frank public recognition is all too rare.
Incredible work by many different scholars.
Yes, some of it will be familiar to historians, but this kind of frank public recognition is all too rare.
Incredible work by many different scholars.
Durham council is run by fantasists, idiots, and grifters.
Reform-led Durham county council scraps climate emergency declaration
Durham is thought to be first UK local authority to rescind its statement, in a move condemned as a ‘very dark day’
www.theguardian.com
July 16, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Durham council is run by fantasists, idiots, and grifters.