climate change, writings

Dr. Barry Stephenson in the Memorial University Gazette: Climate Change Demands Radical Transformation

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.”

events, green economy, meetings

Town Hall Meeting on Climate Change and The Green Economy in NL

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.

green economy, writings

Sean McGrath in The Telegram: N.L. should be leading the way to a green economy

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.”

ritual, writings

Dr. Barry Stephenson: “Ecology and the Ritual Body”

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…

arts, events

The Future, the Arts, and Ecology

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 […]

writings

MUN Gazette: “The Future of Nature Begins Now” by Sean McGrath

In spite of some promising—although non-binding—commitments from our elected representatives who met in Paris for the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, we are miles away from the “ecological conversion” called for by Pope Francis in his extraordinary 2015 encyclical Laudato Si. The problem is no one knows how to get there from here. “Government alone is helpless,” Bruno Latour wrote shortly before the meeting, “it needs all its citizens in this effort.” How do you mobilize the entire human community to change its ways of living?