On Tuesday, November 7th at 8pm, three members of the For A New Earth team will publicly discuss the question “Do We Really Care About Climate Change?” at the Ship Pub. Is the answer hopeful, pessimistic, pragmatist, or otherwise? More specifically in recent months, in view of Trump’s defection […]
By Sean McGrath The massive hydro-electric project on the lower Churchill River in Labrador is expected to go online in 2019. Described as a “boondoggle” by policy makers and at 12.7 billion dollars–over double the anticipated budget–the Muskrat Falls project emerged into international attention in the fall of 2016 when […]
On Saturday the 4th of March 2017, the FANE planning team (Jens Soentgen, Tracy O’Brien, Michelle Mahoney, Kyla Bruff, Barry Stephenson, and Sean McGrath) spent a day at Clarke’s Beach re-visioning For a New Earth. After an intense day of trans-disciplinary discussion, it was agreed that (1) FANE would concentrate on […]
Read Dr. Barry Stephenson’s recent op-ed for Memorial University’s Gazette:
“The crux of the matter is that climate change demands radical transformation on a collective scale at a moment in social-cultural history characterized by hyper-individualism, cynicism about social institutions and politics, and, outside of sporting events, the absence of occasions to experience broad-based group identity and solidarity.”
Memorial University of Newfoundland, with the support of St. Bonaventure’s College, and facilitated by the SSHRC-funded research group, For A New Earth, will host a town hall meeting on the theme “What is a Green Economy?” on Tues., November 29 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The two-hour event will feature presentations by experts in ecology, economics, and rural development, as well as an open forum for members of the general public to speak to the challenges facing the province as it transitions from fossil fuels to green, renewable energy in an era of global climate change.
Read Sean McGrath’s recent letter to The Telegram:
“A Harvard study has reminded us that while hydroelectric plants do not emit significant greenhouse gasses, the construction of the dam on the Lower Churchill could poison and destroy Innu and Inuit hunting and fishing grounds. The protests this week in Labrador and St. John’s demonstrate that not everyone sees this as a reasonable price to pay for renewable energy.”
Read Sean McGrath’s recent op-ed in Celtic Life International:
“We need philosophers talking to scientists, sociologists taking to thelogians and artists. For too long, scientists have had to carry the ball on ecology but when we all come together in a trans-disciplinary gathering, we talk as humans, bringing whatever strengths and resources we have.”
Dr. Barry Stephenson, Department of Religious Studies, Memorial University.
We’ve forgotten that we are bodies, and this forgetfulness is a significant part of what ails us.
Last summer I heard rumors of a new group –‘For a New Earth,’ — and their plans for a rather quixotic event on Newfoundland’s West Coast. It was immediately clear that something more than a standard academic conference was in the works…
St. John’s, March 3–5, 2016 The Faculty of Arts at Memorial University, in collaboration with Queen’s College, the Royal Society of Canada, and The Rooms, is hosting three days of talks, films, performances, and art exhibits on the theme of interdisciplinary ecology from the 3rd to the 5th of March […]
“MUN professor takes aim at consumer capitalism for its role in the ecological and climate crises, draws inspiration from Pope Francis in leading a local initiative to start “a new conversation” about ecology and sustainability.”
See the full article by Justin Brake at The Independent.