Noel Healy
Professor Noel Healy’s research, teaching, and community engagement focuses on the socio-political aspects of rapid climate change mitigation, climate justice, public policy and inequality, fossil fuel politics, and economic and racial justice in climate and energy policy. Dr. Healy is a contributing author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report (AR6/WGIII), and is on the editorial board of Energy Research and Social Sciences. Professor Healy is also a Ludwig-Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich Rachel Carson Fellow, a Global Center for Climate Justice Research Fellow, and a visiting professor at EAFIT University Medellín. His research is published in journals such as One Earth, Energy Policy, Energy Research and Social Science, Climatic Change, Local Environment, Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, Society and Natural Resources, Tourism Management, and Marine Policy. Joule previewed his Green New Deal research. He is also published in The Guardian, Scientific American. The Conversation and Common Dreams. Colombian national radio WRadio, DeSmogBlog, The Times, and Gizmodo have reported on Dr. Healy's research.
Professor Healy’s projects have secured over $203,000 in research grants and have spanned Ireland, the US, China, Germany, and Latin America. His research explores complex questions around the political ecology of rapid energy transitions, transboundary responsibilities and impacts of fossil fuel supply chains, and explores where and how policies aimed at decarbonizing the economy can address the range of inequities and impacts connected to socio-energy transitions. Current projects include investigating: (1) the impacts of fossil fuel resistance movements in confronting fossil fuel lock-in, (2) the socio-environmental impacts of fracking and open-pit coal mining in the US and Colombia, (3) the efficacy of Green New Deal policymaking and the potential for redistributive climate policies, (4) “just transition” strategies for fossil-fuel-rich third-world countries, and (5) fossil fuel interest group obstructionism and corporate capture within US energy regulatory systems.
Originally from Ireland, Noel first came to the US in 2005 to study at the Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management (ESPM) at UC Berkeley. He received his PhD at the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2009 and is now a Full Professor of Geography and Sustainability at Salem State University. Dr. Healy founded the SSU Fossil Fuel Divestment campaign and the SSU Faculty For Divestment group. A four-year campaign led SSU to commit to divest from fossil fuels in 2016. Dr. Healy’s work with the Multi-School Fossil Fuel Divestment Fund raised $74,000 for two endowed student scholarships at SSU. On two Witness For Peace delegations to La Guajira, Colombia Professor Healy provided expert testimony on the forcible displacement of indigenous Wayúu, Afro-Colombian and campesino communities by open-pit coal mining in La Guajira, Colombia. In 2018 he was awarded with a Salem State University Civic Engagement Hall of Fame award.
Address: Department of Geography
Salem State University
352 Lafayette Street
Salem, MA 01970
Professor Healy’s projects have secured over $203,000 in research grants and have spanned Ireland, the US, China, Germany, and Latin America. His research explores complex questions around the political ecology of rapid energy transitions, transboundary responsibilities and impacts of fossil fuel supply chains, and explores where and how policies aimed at decarbonizing the economy can address the range of inequities and impacts connected to socio-energy transitions. Current projects include investigating: (1) the impacts of fossil fuel resistance movements in confronting fossil fuel lock-in, (2) the socio-environmental impacts of fracking and open-pit coal mining in the US and Colombia, (3) the efficacy of Green New Deal policymaking and the potential for redistributive climate policies, (4) “just transition” strategies for fossil-fuel-rich third-world countries, and (5) fossil fuel interest group obstructionism and corporate capture within US energy regulatory systems.
Originally from Ireland, Noel first came to the US in 2005 to study at the Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management (ESPM) at UC Berkeley. He received his PhD at the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2009 and is now a Full Professor of Geography and Sustainability at Salem State University. Dr. Healy founded the SSU Fossil Fuel Divestment campaign and the SSU Faculty For Divestment group. A four-year campaign led SSU to commit to divest from fossil fuels in 2016. Dr. Healy’s work with the Multi-School Fossil Fuel Divestment Fund raised $74,000 for two endowed student scholarships at SSU. On two Witness For Peace delegations to La Guajira, Colombia Professor Healy provided expert testimony on the forcible displacement of indigenous Wayúu, Afro-Colombian and campesino communities by open-pit coal mining in La Guajira, Colombia. In 2018 he was awarded with a Salem State University Civic Engagement Hall of Fame award.
Address: Department of Geography
Salem State University
352 Lafayette Street
Salem, MA 01970
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Papers by Noel Healy
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/oct/25/blood-coal-irelands-dirty-secret
fuel divestment (FFD) movement and its impact on sustainability discourse
and actions within US higher education. Analysing higher education
institutes’ (HEIs) divestment press releases and news reports shows how
institutional alignment with cultures of sustainability and social justice
efforts played key roles in HEIs’ decisions to divest from fossil fuels. Key
stated reasons for rejection were: minimal or unknown impact of
divestment, risk to the endowment, and fiduciary duty. Participant
observation and interviews with protagonists reveal the intricate power
structures and vested business interests that influence boardroom
divestment decision-making. While some HEIs embrace transformative
climate actions, we contend that higher education largely embraces a
business-as-usual sustainability framework characterised by a reformist
green-economy discourse and a reluctance to move beyond businessinterest
responses to climate politics. Nonetheless, the FFD movement is
pushing HEIs to move from compliance-oriented sustainability behaviour
towards a more proactive and highly politicised focus on HEIs’ stance in
the modern fossil fuel economy. We offer conceptual approaches and
practical directions for reorienting sustainability within HEIs to prioritise
the intergenerational equity of its students and recognise climate
change as a social justice issue. Fully integrating sustainability into the
core business of HEIs requires leadership to address fundamental moral
questions of both equity and responsibility for endowment investments.
We contend that HEIs must re-evaluate their role in averting
catastrophic climate change, and extend their influence in catalysing
public climate discourse and actions through a broader range of
external channels, approaches, and actors.
how a limited consultation approach dominated by short-termism and political expediency has hitherto resisted any intentions among local communities and sustainability advocates to increase public participation in tourism planning. A comparison of these two
cases reveals how the particularities of the Irish political system and the prevalence of a producer-orientated development paradigm combined to reinforce an exclusionary approach to tourism planning. This was further compounded by the persistent marginalization of local knowledge as well as a systematic lack of research on hosts’ and visitors’ attitudes. Ultimately, the argument presented is for greater recognition and social scientific engagement with the issue of political power structures and cultural practices that underpin tourism governance and the development of tourism destinations in Ireland."
structures, processes and traditions that determine how power
is exercised, how decisions are taken and how citizens
or stakeholders have their say (Graham et al., 2003). Over
the last few decades, protected area governance has moved
away from being a predominantly state-based ‘top-down’
model to a multi-level system under which powers and responsibilities are diffused among a diversity of national and
local government actors, civil society organisations and local
communities management (Lockwood, 2010). Although
the 1990s saw the emergence and increasing emphasis on
the role of partnerships and collaboration as important elements
in resolving environmental problems and achieving
sustainable tourism development, many of Ireland’s protected
areas became embroiled in belligerent planning and governance
conflicts (Healy & McDonagh, 2009). Drawing on a case study of the Burren region in the West of Ireland this paper firstly identifies socio-cultural, historical and political factors which contribute to, complement and accelerate the contentious and conflictual nature of Irish protected area governance. Secondly, it presents the key factors which enabled BurrenLIFE (an EU Life-Nature
Funded project) become one of the first successful projects
to mend poor relations in a land-use conflict. Finally, drawing
on the good governance practices of BurrenLIFE this
paper proposes a new governance model which could be
developed for future and existing attempts at sustainable
tourism in the Burren and elsewhere.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/oct/25/blood-coal-irelands-dirty-secret
fuel divestment (FFD) movement and its impact on sustainability discourse
and actions within US higher education. Analysing higher education
institutes’ (HEIs) divestment press releases and news reports shows how
institutional alignment with cultures of sustainability and social justice
efforts played key roles in HEIs’ decisions to divest from fossil fuels. Key
stated reasons for rejection were: minimal or unknown impact of
divestment, risk to the endowment, and fiduciary duty. Participant
observation and interviews with protagonists reveal the intricate power
structures and vested business interests that influence boardroom
divestment decision-making. While some HEIs embrace transformative
climate actions, we contend that higher education largely embraces a
business-as-usual sustainability framework characterised by a reformist
green-economy discourse and a reluctance to move beyond businessinterest
responses to climate politics. Nonetheless, the FFD movement is
pushing HEIs to move from compliance-oriented sustainability behaviour
towards a more proactive and highly politicised focus on HEIs’ stance in
the modern fossil fuel economy. We offer conceptual approaches and
practical directions for reorienting sustainability within HEIs to prioritise
the intergenerational equity of its students and recognise climate
change as a social justice issue. Fully integrating sustainability into the
core business of HEIs requires leadership to address fundamental moral
questions of both equity and responsibility for endowment investments.
We contend that HEIs must re-evaluate their role in averting
catastrophic climate change, and extend their influence in catalysing
public climate discourse and actions through a broader range of
external channels, approaches, and actors.
how a limited consultation approach dominated by short-termism and political expediency has hitherto resisted any intentions among local communities and sustainability advocates to increase public participation in tourism planning. A comparison of these two
cases reveals how the particularities of the Irish political system and the prevalence of a producer-orientated development paradigm combined to reinforce an exclusionary approach to tourism planning. This was further compounded by the persistent marginalization of local knowledge as well as a systematic lack of research on hosts’ and visitors’ attitudes. Ultimately, the argument presented is for greater recognition and social scientific engagement with the issue of political power structures and cultural practices that underpin tourism governance and the development of tourism destinations in Ireland."
structures, processes and traditions that determine how power
is exercised, how decisions are taken and how citizens
or stakeholders have their say (Graham et al., 2003). Over
the last few decades, protected area governance has moved
away from being a predominantly state-based ‘top-down’
model to a multi-level system under which powers and responsibilities are diffused among a diversity of national and
local government actors, civil society organisations and local
communities management (Lockwood, 2010). Although
the 1990s saw the emergence and increasing emphasis on
the role of partnerships and collaboration as important elements
in resolving environmental problems and achieving
sustainable tourism development, many of Ireland’s protected
areas became embroiled in belligerent planning and governance
conflicts (Healy & McDonagh, 2009). Drawing on a case study of the Burren region in the West of Ireland this paper firstly identifies socio-cultural, historical and political factors which contribute to, complement and accelerate the contentious and conflictual nature of Irish protected area governance. Secondly, it presents the key factors which enabled BurrenLIFE (an EU Life-Nature
Funded project) become one of the first successful projects
to mend poor relations in a land-use conflict. Finally, drawing
on the good governance practices of BurrenLIFE this
paper proposes a new governance model which could be
developed for future and existing attempts at sustainable
tourism in the Burren and elsewhere.