Patrick Flamm
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ptrckflmm.bsky.social
Patrick Flamm
@ptrckflmm.bsky.social
470 followers 800 following 330 posts
Peace & Security in the ‘Anthropocene’, from Low Earth Orbit 🛰️ to Antarctica 🇦🇶. Senior Researcher at Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (@prif.org). Head of Research Group ‘Ecology, Climate, and Conflict.’

Formerly at VUW&UoA in Aotearoa New Zealand 🇳🇿.
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ptrckflmm.bsky.social
On the home stretch now, finally. Got stranded in Paris somehow but managed to get on one of the last flights out. Bag is still in Iceland though and this national carrier hasn’t exactly excelled in all of this… not keen on airports for a little while I think.
A view of Paris from an airline: one can see the Eiffel Tower and La Defense in the distance. A fountain inside a waiting hall at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris.
October 29, 2025 at 7:18 PM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
Spent a long day waiting for various other things in various other queues. Finally transferred to a lovely hotel in the middle of Reykjavik and went for a very refreshing evening walk. Fingers crossed I’ll make it to the European mainland tomorrow.
A snowy street lamp lit street leading up to Hallgrímskirkja. A car parked at the side of the road with a lot of snow on the roof and around. Hallgrímskirkja lit with some pink lights, as seen from the side behind snowy trees. Hallgrímskirkja in all its snowy and pinkly lit glory from the front.
October 28, 2025 at 9:59 PM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
On the way back from Greenland, currently snowed in at Keflavik Airport in Iceland.

Watched a film on the plane while it was waiting to be de-iced, only to be asked to leave the plane after 2 hours. At least I finished the film, it was good.
The view from inside a plane through a window is impaired by snow on the outside.
October 28, 2025 at 12:29 PM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
A privilege to be able to attend the Polar Law Symposium in Nuuk: there is a lot going on in both polar regions, it is very insightful & exciting to exchange views & arguments with colleagues. And our hosts from the Uni of Greenland are doing a splendid job welcoming us to their home city! Qujanaq.
A few of the Old Town of Nuuk from Myggedalen. In the distance there is the Sermitsiaq mountain. In the little bay in the front there are white sea ice pieces or little icebergs visible. The Kaassassuk sculpture in front of Nuuk Centre and the parliament. A piece of art hanging from the walls in the conference area of the Hotel Hans Egede. Floating pieces of glacial ice at the shore in the middle of Nuuk.
October 23, 2025 at 10:01 PM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
Always a good time at the Lake of Constance on a hot summer day!

Also: This photo has three countries in its frame.
The view from Lindau (Germany) in the foreground over the Bodensee to Bregenz (Austria) on the left and a little bit of Switzerland on the right. There are people swimming in a sheltered bay on Lindau island.
August 13, 2025 at 7:11 AM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
The last 3 days (on monastery grounds) showed again what a gift it is the be a member of young academy for sustainability research of the @friasunifreiburg.bsky.social: it’s such a joy & intellectual inspiration to be with this kind, smart, and funny community of “young” minds. Thanks everyone!
A large tree on monastry grounds under which we gathered for group work. It provided shade and respite from the hottest day of the year. The sun is behind a cloud around dusk, and there is a cow grazing in front of the St Trudpert monastery’s wall in the Black Forest. The view of the monastery’s garden from the guest house, overlooking the Münstertal valley.
July 4, 2025 at 1:21 PM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
“Wimbledon’ grass is green. Its processes are dark.”

At King’s, “the whole of the meadow is alive.”

What a contrast of lawns, one from the past, one for the future in this piece.

At Trinity, there is lavender blooming & a discussion of re-activating a centuries-old water pipe to water the lawn…
An article in the current edition of The Economist, entitled Turf Wars. Trinity’s courtyard at dusk, with lavender growing around a fountain.
June 29, 2025 at 10:33 AM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
On the way back home from a very insightful Arctic Repair conference about research into potential polar geoengineering interventions and their governance.

Many thanks to the @climaterepair.bsky.social at Cambridge for the superb organisation. Much to think about in the train now and beyond…
Punting on the river Cam. The courtyard of Trinity College seen through a window in the clocktower at dusk. In the Grantchester Meadows at the river Cam. Waiting for the Eurostar departure at St Pancras.
June 29, 2025 at 10:16 AM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
Spent a great day at @scottpolar.bsky.social and the Polar Museum today, thanks to Albert van Wijngaarden and Jean de Pomereu: excellent discussions, a great library, and a wonderful little museum!
The Polar Museum from the outside. A painting of the Antarctic on the ceiling of the entrance hall of the Polar Museum. The Scott Polar Research Institute’s library. An informative notice inside a museum toilet.
June 25, 2025 at 6:43 PM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
Look @vanjackson.bsky.social, what I found at the Cambridge Uni bookstore. Is it any good?
June 24, 2025 at 7:35 PM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
Lee Jae-Myung is the next South Korean president.
June 3, 2025 at 11:01 AM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
Still impressed that a local small town liquor store in Germany offers craft beer from the #Faroer Islands… it’s such a small brewery and the dark lager really really was premium!
An opened bottle of Föroya Bjór. It’s a dark lager called BLACK SHEEP, with a sheep, lightning and thunderstrike on the label.
January 13, 2025 at 4:15 PM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
Kein Schnee aber viel Sonne heute sowie der Säntis in den Appenzeller Alpen, vom deutschen Bodenseeufer aus.
Der Bodensee in Langenargen, mit Blick hinüber in die Schweiz. Über tiefhängenden Wolken ist der Säntis sichtbar.
December 25, 2024 at 5:19 PM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
Mir geht es ganz genauso. Ich träume davon, mal wieder die Strassen unter dem ganzen geparkten Blech zu sehen…

In Japan, auch eine grosse Autonation, ist es grundsätzlich verboten, auf der Strasse zu parken. Man darf überhaupt nur ein Auto kaufen, wenn man vorweisen kann, einen Parkplatz zu haben.
Eine Nebenstrasse mitten in Herzen von Tokyo, im Winter. Es ist kein Auto zu sehen, weder parkend noch fahrend. Aber ein Fussgänger sowie ein Radfahrender. Am Strassenrand ist ein weiteres Fahrrad geparkt. Eine Hauptverkehrsstrasse im Herzen von Tokyo. Zweispurige Strassen, mit regem Verkehr in jede Richtung. Man sieht Lastwagen ebenso wie Vans und PKW, inklusive eines K-Car. Es sind keine Autoparkplätze zu sehen. Das Bild wurde von einer barrierefreien Fussgängerbrücke aufgenommen. Blick aus einem Hochhaus auf Tokyo Tower. Im Hintergrund Tokyo Bay, im Vordergrund ein Wohnviertel.
December 25, 2024 at 1:04 PM
ptrckflmm.bsky.social
Using the opportunity to tell you about a new paper that I wrote together with Akiho Shibata about the underrated geopolitical dimension of glacial #geoengineering proposals in #Antarctica.

It’s #openaccess & available online at International Affairs here: academic.oup.com/ia/advance-a...
Cover page of the article: 'Ice sheet conservation' and international discord: governing (potential) glacial geoengineering in Antarctica PATRICK FLAMM AND AKIHO SHIBATA* Two key take aways from the paper: • We argue that the proposed infrastructures could negatively implicate the 'peaceful purposes only' obligation enshrined in the Antarctic Treaty. By affecting contentious areas of Antarctic geopolitics, such as authority, sovereignty and security, there is a significant risk that the project would make the Antarctic 'the scene or object of international discord'. • Even if the ice curtain idea were to be technically feasible and environmentally harmless, it would still create significant political and legal challenges for the current governance arrangements in the Antarctic.
November 27, 2024 at 12:11 PM