7th Global Conference

Wednesday 9th July - Saturday 12th July 2008
Mansfield College, Oxford

Environments, Sustainability and Technologies

This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference aims to explore the role of ecology and environmental ideas in the context of contemporary society and international politics, and assess the implications for our understandings of fairness, justice and global citizenship. 'Environmental justice' is conceived broadly as reflecting not only justice in the context of human communities but also towards other species, ecosystems, habitats, landscapes, succeeding generations and the environment as a whole.

In particular, the 7th Global Conference on Ecological Justice and Global Citizenship will explicitly explore the relationships between environments, sustainability and technology, the role of technology in creating possibilities for sustainable resources for the future, and the inherent problems and dangers which accompany that role. We are looking for papers which investigate and question the relationships of power and equity between ecosystems, including also inter-generational equity and sustainability.  Among these relationships, technology has a vital role, not only in terms of the negative impacts of past technologies, but also the potential (and often unknown) impacts of future technologies, and the positive role technologies may play in both remediating existing problems and enabling us to live more sustainably in the future.

Papers, presentations, reports and workshops are invited on any of the following indicative themes;

1. GM

• GM as a symbol of public perceptions of the possibilities and challenges offered by technology and public understanding of risks of technological developments in relation to the environment
• Expert vs. lay knowledge; Who decides? Scientists, politicians or 'the people'?
• Participatory decision-making; e.g., the 'GM Nation' debate that took place in the UK in summer 2003
• Environmental ethics; relations between humans and 'nature'
• 'New and emerging thinkers and trends of thought
• The role and place of Environmental protest; forms of resistance to GM, their significance and impact
• The political economy of GM; trade, aid, justice, international dimensions
• Technology and 'progress'; what counts as technological development? Which is more modern - GM food or organic food?
• Developing countries and GM; the place of developing countries in the GM debate; the responsibility of the developers towards developing countries; whether patterns of development are predicated on wrong perceptions about the role of technology; the coverage of and access to alternative technologies

2. Cooperative and Sustainable Development

• Human rights, state sovereignty and the global commons
• The significance of the welfare state; the principle of distribution
• Sustainable employment and cooperation between capital and labour
• Property rights and private insurance vs. pooling of human and ecological resources
• Transport and the environment; designing and delivering national and international transport systems; creating sustainable transport networks
• Responsible consumption and corporate transparency and accountability
• Communities taking responsibility for the local environment
• Civil society and the role of NGOs

3. Environmental Education and Intellectual Health

• Environmental issues and the curriculum; integrating environmental awareness and education in the primary, secondary and higher education sectors
• The components of scholarship: discovery-research, teaching, integration and application
• The emerging synthesis of perceptual psychology and ecological awareness
• The humanistic model vs the ecological model
• The role of the planning and design sciences
• Teaching citizenship, identity and ethics
• Designing the ecological curriculum
• The integration of distinct disciplines; trans-disciplinary innovations

4. Citizenship, Technological Innovation & Sustainability

• The deployment and mobilisation of technologies
• How we engage with the various ways in which citizens (in lay or professional roles) can, are, or could be involved in the processes of achieving increased sustainability in the way they design, make and implement technologies
• The social nature of technologies;
• Developing understandings of user and community 'participation' in design and decision making processes
• The need for greater multi- and trans-disciplinary collaboration and its essential accompanying characteristic of inter-disciplinary or joined-up thinking
• Technology, buildings, cities and planning policies: the role of technology in designing and constructing buildings and cities to more sustainable effect; the impact of information technologies; knowledge management and the environment

Papers are also solicited for special sessions which will be held in common with a second research project running at the same time entitled Making Sense Of: Health, Illness and Disease. Papers should deal with issues surrounding the health impacts of technological developments. For example, we welcome submissions dealing with themes exploring the notion of 'environments' (both natural, built and virtual) as a backdrop where technologies are used through thought and action to achieve sustainability, but where mismatches between environmental issues and technological solutions have experienceable effects on health which, untreated (such as non- recognition of stress, mental ill health), result in illness. Papers could also deal with the gap between environmental ills and technological and technical solutions, and the possible consequent greater probability of disease and death. Holistic solutions to health, illness and environmental issues could usefully be explored, along with social justuce, citizenship issues and access to health care. When submitting your abstract, please specify clearly whether you would like your paper to be considered for a joint session presentation. Papers submitted for joint sessions must be explicitly inter-/multi-disciplinary in nature and/or show where the possibilities for inter-disciplinary research and engagement could be developed.

300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 1st February 2008. If your paper is accepted for presentation at the conference, an 8 page draft paper should be submitted by Friday 6th June 2008.

300 word abstracts should be submitted to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats, following this order:

author(s), affiliation, email address, title of abstract, body of abstract

We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Perspectives are sought from

• people engaged in actor network theory, agriculture and agricultural economics, the built environment disciplines, conflict resolution and mediation, critical geography, environmental studies, human development and ecology, industrial relations and design, philosophy and ethics, political science and international affairs, public policy and advising, social sciences, sociology of science, theology, urban studies, western European studies
• people in the public and private sectors who are involved in planning and project development, policy-making and implementation, and negotiation and mediation at national and international levels
• people in Governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations, voluntary sector bodies, environmental charities and groups, business and professional associations

All papers accepted for and presented at the conference will be published in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers accepted for and presented at the conference will be published in a themed hard copy volume. Three themed volumes are in print and/or in press from previous meetings of the project.

The conference is sponsored by Inter-Disciplinary.Net as part of the 'Probing the Boundaries' programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.