Climate Change: Views from the Humanities
This is an unusual conference in two respects. First, because it approaches the issue of climate change from the perspective of the humanities, rather than, as might be expected, from that of the sciences. Second, it is also more than a little unusual because of the conference format: it is an international academic conference with over 50 speakers from eight countries, yet it has a nearly nonexistent carbon footprint. Had this been a traditional fly-in conference, the slate of speakers would have had to collectively travel over 300,000 miles, generating the equivalent of over 100,000 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the process. This is equal to the total annual carbon footprint of 50 people living in India, 165 in Kenya. A conference that takes up the issue of climate change while simultaneously contributing to the problem to such a degree would be simply unconscionable. In contrast, they took a digital approach. Because the conference talks and Q&A sessions reside on this website (the talks are prerecorded; the Q&As interactive), travel was unnecessary.
Dr. Ann Dale and Dr. Jairgris Hodson of Royal Roads University are presenting in Panel 2 of the conference, The Digital/Environmental Intervention. Check out their video, Accelerating Climate Change Communication.
For conference details, keynote speakers, and panels, visit the Climate Change: Views from the Humanities website.