Juliet Lu (she/her/hers)
@profjulietlu.bsky.social
Assistant Prof in Environmental Governance & Business
University of British Columbia, Forestry & SPPGA
Co-Host @beltandroadpod.bsky.social
Political Ecology, China in Southeast Asia, Sustainable Supply Chains, Rubber, Land Grabs
julietlu.com
University of British Columbia, Forestry & SPPGA
Co-Host @beltandroadpod.bsky.social
Political Ecology, China in Southeast Asia, Sustainable Supply Chains, Rubber, Land Grabs
julietlu.com
Every once in a blue moon you come across something that puts into words something you've been turning over for a long time but haven't been able to pin down. That's how I felt stumbling upon and reading this excellent piece.
The concerns of mine I think it puts into words are:
The concerns of mine I think it puts into words are:
Guest editorial: Geopolitical ecology for our times, by Garrett Graddy-Lovelace and Malini Ranganathan https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962629823002123
October 29, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Every once in a blue moon you come across something that puts into words something you've been turning over for a long time but haven't been able to pin down. That's how I felt stumbling upon and reading this excellent piece.
The concerns of mine I think it puts into words are:
The concerns of mine I think it puts into words are:
Event at the Museum of Anthropology tomorrow! My colleague in @sppga.ubc.ca Candis Calison is co-organizing with Cree journalist Rick Harp, host/producer of Media Indigena podcast and the APTN News Brief podcast. A reception will follow.
sppga.ubc.ca/events/event...
sppga.ubc.ca/events/event...
sppga.ubc.ca
October 23, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Event at the Museum of Anthropology tomorrow! My colleague in @sppga.ubc.ca Candis Calison is co-organizing with Cree journalist Rick Harp, host/producer of Media Indigena podcast and the APTN News Brief podcast. A reception will follow.
sppga.ubc.ca/events/event...
sppga.ubc.ca/events/event...
A great group of China environment Scholars (Annah Zhu, Coraline Goron, and Kevin Lo) are putting together a proposal for a special issue on "China’s Role in a Global Just Transition: Contradictions, (Geo)Politics, and Alternative Futures"
Do consider submitting!
drive.google.com/file/d/1c9hE...
Do consider submitting!
drive.google.com/file/d/1c9hE...
CfP for GEP SI on China's role in GJT.pdf
drive.google.com
October 12, 2025 at 3:34 AM
A great group of China environment Scholars (Annah Zhu, Coraline Goron, and Kevin Lo) are putting together a proposal for a special issue on "China’s Role in a Global Just Transition: Contradictions, (Geo)Politics, and Alternative Futures"
Do consider submitting!
drive.google.com/file/d/1c9hE...
Do consider submitting!
drive.google.com/file/d/1c9hE...
My wonderful @forestry.ubc.ca PhD student Joachim Stassart has an article out in Political Geography on corruption and land grabs in Brazil!
doi.org/10.1016/j.po...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
doi.org/10.1016/j.po...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Hijacking legality: Corruption and property creation in Brazil's frontiers
Corruption undermines natural resource governance and conservation efforts, fueling deforestation and violence against land and environmental defender…
www.sciencedirect.com
September 30, 2025 at 1:36 PM
My wonderful @forestry.ubc.ca PhD student Joachim Stassart has an article out in Political Geography on corruption and land grabs in Brazil!
doi.org/10.1016/j.po...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
doi.org/10.1016/j.po...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Juliet Lu (she/her/hers)
China's astounding ability to build and deploy renewables, batteries, and EVs is perhaps the brightest spark in the global fight against climate change.
But @yixiansun.bsky.social and I ask what would it really take for China to lead www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/02/07/2...
But @yixiansun.bsky.social and I ask what would it really take for China to lead www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/02/07/2...
What Would It Take for China to Be a Global Environmental Leader?
Thomas Hale and Yixian Sun call for serious research and dialogue to make China to a global environmental leader. What would it take for China to be an international environmental leader? The question...
www.globalpolicyjournal.com
July 4, 2025 at 6:44 AM
China's astounding ability to build and deploy renewables, batteries, and EVs is perhaps the brightest spark in the global fight against climate change.
But @yixiansun.bsky.social and I ask what would it really take for China to lead www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/02/07/2...
But @yixiansun.bsky.social and I ask what would it really take for China to lead www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/02/07/2...
Reposted by Juliet Lu (she/her/hers)
Read the article here: www.carbonbrief.org/qa-will-chin...
Featuring excellent insights from @katelogan.bsky.social @jamesnorman.bsky.social @yixiansun.bsky.social and others!
Featuring excellent insights from @katelogan.bsky.social @jamesnorman.bsky.social @yixiansun.bsky.social and others!
Q&A: Will China and the BRICS fill the ‘leadership gap’ on climate change? - Carbon Brief
Amid a rapidly fracturing geopolitical order, there have been growing calls for China to “step into [the] leadership gap” left by the US on climate change.
www.carbonbrief.org
September 18, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Read the article here: www.carbonbrief.org/qa-will-chin...
Featuring excellent insights from @katelogan.bsky.social @jamesnorman.bsky.social @yixiansun.bsky.social and others!
Featuring excellent insights from @katelogan.bsky.social @jamesnorman.bsky.social @yixiansun.bsky.social and others!
Well this was hilariously written
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Houston, JD Vance has a problem
The vice president’s strange history of the U.S. space program is out of this world.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 28, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Well this was hilariously written
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Reposted by Juliet Lu (she/her/hers)
Lue Yang, a Hmong refugee and father of six, was detained by ICE due to a decades-old felony conviction. He could be sent to Laos, a communist nation he has never visited.
His family aided U.S. in Vietnam War. Now he faces deportation to Laos.
The Hmong community in northern Michigan has called the United States home since arriving as refugees during the Vietnam War. Now they are being targeted for removal and deported to a homeland few kno...
www.washingtonpost.com
September 27, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Lue Yang, a Hmong refugee and father of six, was detained by ICE due to a decades-old felony conviction. He could be sent to Laos, a communist nation he has never visited.
Report by Keith Barney et al. is a great contribution to the Laos development community and we should see it also as hugely valuable for the #globalChina literature and debt trap diplomacy debates.
www.lowyinstitute.org/publications...
www.lowyinstitute.org/publications...
Trapped in debt: China’s role in Laos’ economic crisis
Laos is trapped in a severe debt crisis with no resolution in sight, threatening a decade of economic and social malaise.
www.lowyinstitute.org
September 21, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Report by Keith Barney et al. is a great contribution to the Laos development community and we should see it also as hugely valuable for the #globalChina literature and debt trap diplomacy debates.
www.lowyinstitute.org/publications...
www.lowyinstitute.org/publications...
I just struggle with how to protect those around me. e.g. right now: Should I advise students not to attend conferences in the US that I know to be wonderful hubs of intellectual inspiration and community that I've benefited from and am myself planning on attending? My approach is to tell them
Let's all to take a deep breath & understand that we have reached the phase in fascism where if they want to declare you a criminal, you are a criminal. You can not magically avoid it, or do exactly the right thing to stay off the list. Fascism must always have enemies, and one day you will be one.
September 17, 2025 at 4:21 PM
I just struggle with how to protect those around me. e.g. right now: Should I advise students not to attend conferences in the US that I know to be wonderful hubs of intellectual inspiration and community that I've benefited from and am myself planning on attending? My approach is to tell them
Reposted by Juliet Lu (she/her/hers)
Let's all to take a deep breath & understand that we have reached the phase in fascism where if they want to declare you a criminal, you are a criminal. You can not magically avoid it, or do exactly the right thing to stay off the list. Fascism must always have enemies, and one day you will be one.
September 17, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Let's all to take a deep breath & understand that we have reached the phase in fascism where if they want to declare you a criminal, you are a criminal. You can not magically avoid it, or do exactly the right thing to stay off the list. Fascism must always have enemies, and one day you will be one.
I always try to stress that Chinese mining companies should be compared to other mining companies, that their violations are often a product of the sector as much as, if not more than, the investor country. That said, a reminder that *mining is a pretty awful sector*...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Chinese-linked mining firms in Zambia sued by Copperbelt farmers over 'ecological catastrophe'
Million of litres of highly acidic waste spilled into rivers in a copper-mining area, farmers say.
www.bbc.com
September 17, 2025 at 4:12 PM
I always try to stress that Chinese mining companies should be compared to other mining companies, that their violations are often a product of the sector as much as, if not more than, the investor country. That said, a reminder that *mining is a pretty awful sector*...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
I’m excited to discuss the new book “Seeing China’s Belt and Road” edited by Rachel Silvey and Ed Schatz this morning at APSA!
joined by two brilliant discussants @mariarepnikova.bsky.social and Enze Han talking about future directions 🔮🇨🇳🌏
joined by two brilliant discussants @mariarepnikova.bsky.social and Enze Han talking about future directions 🔮🇨🇳🌏
September 14, 2025 at 2:31 PM
I’m excited to discuss the new book “Seeing China’s Belt and Road” edited by Rachel Silvey and Ed Schatz this morning at APSA!
joined by two brilliant discussants @mariarepnikova.bsky.social and Enze Han talking about future directions 🔮🇨🇳🌏
joined by two brilliant discussants @mariarepnikova.bsky.social and Enze Han talking about future directions 🔮🇨🇳🌏
My wonderful colleague at @sppga.ubc.ca, Tarun Khanna, is looking to hire a postdoc on community virtual power plants, ideally someone interested in community and policy engagement!
sppga.ubc.ca/news/postdoc...
sppga.ubc.ca/news/postdoc...
UBC
sppga.ubc.ca
September 3, 2025 at 5:52 PM
My wonderful colleague at @sppga.ubc.ca, Tarun Khanna, is looking to hire a postdoc on community virtual power plants, ideally someone interested in community and policy engagement!
sppga.ubc.ca/news/postdoc...
sppga.ubc.ca/news/postdoc...
Reposted by Juliet Lu (she/her/hers)
Fantastic podcast !!!
Just listened to the two latest episodes, but if they are all the same quality, I know what I will be listening the next dew days.
www.theoutlawocean.com/the-outlaw-o...
#FoodSystem #fisheries #humanrights #extraction #slavery
Just listened to the two latest episodes, but if they are all the same quality, I know what I will be listening the next dew days.
www.theoutlawocean.com/the-outlaw-o...
#FoodSystem #fisheries #humanrights #extraction #slavery
The Outlaw Ocean Podcast
The Outlaw Ocean Podcast is a seven-part series that explores a gritty and lawless realm rarely seen: the high seas.
www.theoutlawocean.com
July 21, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Fantastic podcast !!!
Just listened to the two latest episodes, but if they are all the same quality, I know what I will be listening the next dew days.
www.theoutlawocean.com/the-outlaw-o...
#FoodSystem #fisheries #humanrights #extraction #slavery
Just listened to the two latest episodes, but if they are all the same quality, I know what I will be listening the next dew days.
www.theoutlawocean.com/the-outlaw-o...
#FoodSystem #fisheries #humanrights #extraction #slavery
Thanks to Jess for pushing us both to get this done, and to Michael Epprecht and Vong Nanthavong at the Centre for Development and Environment for supporting both of our research programs. We hope this snapshot of Chinese investment in Laos will be useful to a range of folks working on the ground.
Over the past 2 decades, China has become Laos’s top investor, main creditor, and 2nd-largest trade partner. In a new report, @profjulietlu.bsky.social and I unpack Chinese investment across four land-intensive sectors: agriculture & plantations, mining, infrastructure & SEZs. tinyurl.com/kw5vteem
August 6, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Thanks to Jess for pushing us both to get this done, and to Michael Epprecht and Vong Nanthavong at the Centre for Development and Environment for supporting both of our research programs. We hope this snapshot of Chinese investment in Laos will be useful to a range of folks working on the ground.
@mklaz.bsky.social Miles Kenney-Lazar's book is out!! 👏🏼
I have to say the cover is one of the coolest I've seen in awhile...
uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/social...
I have to say the cover is one of the coolest I've seen in awhile...
uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/social...
Socializing Land: Plantations, Dispossession, and Resistance in Laos
Since 2008, there has been tremendous public interest in the social and ecological ramifications of the global land rush, a rapid increase of capital investment into land, especially for the establ…
uhpress.hawaii.edu
August 1, 2025 at 3:38 PM
@mklaz.bsky.social Miles Kenney-Lazar's book is out!! 👏🏼
I have to say the cover is one of the coolest I've seen in awhile...
uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/social...
I have to say the cover is one of the coolest I've seen in awhile...
uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/social...
Reposted by Juliet Lu (she/her/hers)
A fascinating read from The Diplomat today about Nepal and the BRI!
thediplomat.com/2025/06/why-...
thediplomat.com/2025/06/why-...
Why Are BRI Projects in Nepal Stalled?
Geopolitics is at play. New Delhi does not want Nepal to be too close to Beijing and views BRI projects with suspicion.
thediplomat.com
June 24, 2025 at 6:16 PM
A fascinating read from The Diplomat today about Nepal and the BRI!
thediplomat.com/2025/06/why-...
thediplomat.com/2025/06/why-...
Reposted by Juliet Lu (she/her/hers)
China’s Belt and Road Initiative shattered records in early 2025 with $124B in deals, signaling a renewed appetite for large-scale projects, especially in energy, mining, and fast-growing regions like Africa.
Chinese BRI Investments and Construction Contracts Smash New Records in the First Half of 2025
The value of Chinese investment and construction contracts in Belt and Road Initiative countries surged in the first six months of 2025 to a record $124 billion, more than what was spent for the whole of last year. The findings by Australia’s Griffith University and the Green Finance & Development Center ...
chinaglobalsouth.com
July 22, 2025 at 12:07 PM
China’s Belt and Road Initiative shattered records in early 2025 with $124B in deals, signaling a renewed appetite for large-scale projects, especially in energy, mining, and fast-growing regions like Africa.
Come learn about food security in Central Myanmar:
Mark Vicol is speaking July 29, 1-2pm
"An everyday political economy of food insecurity in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone"
120 Choi Building
All are welcome!
sppga.ubc.ca/events/event...
@sppga.ubc.ca @forestry.ubc.ca @markvicol.bsky.social
Mark Vicol is speaking July 29, 1-2pm
"An everyday political economy of food insecurity in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone"
120 Choi Building
All are welcome!
sppga.ubc.ca/events/event...
@sppga.ubc.ca @forestry.ubc.ca @markvicol.bsky.social
UBC
sppga.ubc.ca
July 17, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Come learn about food security in Central Myanmar:
Mark Vicol is speaking July 29, 1-2pm
"An everyday political economy of food insecurity in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone"
120 Choi Building
All are welcome!
sppga.ubc.ca/events/event...
@sppga.ubc.ca @forestry.ubc.ca @markvicol.bsky.social
Mark Vicol is speaking July 29, 1-2pm
"An everyday political economy of food insecurity in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone"
120 Choi Building
All are welcome!
sppga.ubc.ca/events/event...
@sppga.ubc.ca @forestry.ubc.ca @markvicol.bsky.social
This is insane overstep into another country's sovereignty. It's also interesting in contrast to China's non-interference stance and just general position of just automatically gaining from America's just implosion of its own relationships with the developing world.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/w...
Behind Trump’s Decision to Tax Brazil to Save Bolsonaro
www.nytimes.com
July 11, 2025 at 5:52 PM
This is insane overstep into another country's sovereignty. It's also interesting in contrast to China's non-interference stance and just general position of just automatically gaining from America's just implosion of its own relationships with the developing world.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/w...
Anyone get an email from the Social Security Administration praising Trump's BB Bill for cutting taxes on SS?
Obviously totally ridiculous but also ... maybe when leaders actually do good things they should be doing things like this to make Americans aware of it? Also what is the mechanisms for
Obviously totally ridiculous but also ... maybe when leaders actually do good things they should be doing things like this to make Americans aware of it? Also what is the mechanisms for
July 4, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Anyone get an email from the Social Security Administration praising Trump's BB Bill for cutting taxes on SS?
Obviously totally ridiculous but also ... maybe when leaders actually do good things they should be doing things like this to make Americans aware of it? Also what is the mechanisms for
Obviously totally ridiculous but also ... maybe when leaders actually do good things they should be doing things like this to make Americans aware of it? Also what is the mechanisms for
She’s a national treasure
After 26 hours of fighting on the Senate floor, Republicans voted to rip health care from millions of people and let little babies go hungry. And they cheered.
I'm angry. You should be too. But this fight isn't over.
I'm angry. You should be too. But this fight isn't over.
I'm angry. You should be too. But this fight isn't over.
YouTube video by Senator Elizabeth Warren
youtube.com
July 1, 2025 at 9:15 PM
She’s a national treasure
Reposted by Juliet Lu (she/her/hers)
This is a pretty tortured statement, but seems like PUP didn't intend to do a whitewashing tour of Xinjiang.
Also it's honestly insane that they still trot out dancing minorities in trad garb to prove that things are going well
via @jimmillward.bsky.social
Also it's honestly insane that they still trot out dancing minorities in trad garb to prove that things are going well
via @jimmillward.bsky.social
SBAC Tour
press.princeton.edu
June 29, 2025 at 8:54 PM
This is a pretty tortured statement, but seems like PUP didn't intend to do a whitewashing tour of Xinjiang.
Also it's honestly insane that they still trot out dancing minorities in trad garb to prove that things are going well
via @jimmillward.bsky.social
Also it's honestly insane that they still trot out dancing minorities in trad garb to prove that things are going well
via @jimmillward.bsky.social
Can someone explain the stock market to me?
Does this suggest trump’s policies are actually making the us economy stronger? or at least benefiting corporations? What kind of questions is it really a barometer for?
Does this suggest trump’s policies are actually making the us economy stronger? or at least benefiting corporations? What kind of questions is it really a barometer for?
June 29, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Can someone explain the stock market to me?
Does this suggest trump’s policies are actually making the us economy stronger? or at least benefiting corporations? What kind of questions is it really a barometer for?
Does this suggest trump’s policies are actually making the us economy stronger? or at least benefiting corporations? What kind of questions is it really a barometer for?