Greetings to the Edge Ryders forum members,
My name is Andrew Irvin - I’m a PhD. scholar in the Dept. of Arts & Cultural Management at the University of Melbourne, and I’m also a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Centre for Cities working on the Innovate4Cities initiative.
My dissertation involves a series of near-future, hard sci-fi short stories concerning socio-economic, geopolitical, and techno-environmental dimensions of climate response in Pacific island communities. The scenarios range across a variety of next-gen applications of synthesizing various validated ideas and concepts not currently being delivered to the Oceania region because of market marginalization by the global power structure.
The Pacific is treated as a staging ground - territory to be claimed on the map by continental powers - or a canary in the coalmine of climate woes to befall the rest of the world. It is not given its proper respect as the most culturally and biologically diverse region of our planet. The solution rests in ensuring just & equitable transition in elevating the agency of the island communities and giving no ground in this fight.
I look forward to the dialogue with others of diverse backgrounds and perspectives in this community.