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Conference Announcement "Religion in Dangerous Environmental and Climate Change" Transdisciplinary Workshop European Forum for the Study of Religion and the Environment Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research Faculty of Arts, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (DKNVS) Trondheim (Norway) 9-11 October 2008 __________________________________________________ The current scientific, political and public discussions about how to mitigate, and adapt to, impacts of global climate change are dominated by propositions for technological and economic problem solutions. However ecologically informed and sustainable some of the proposed strategies are, they are shaped by the limits of contemporary mechanistic and economy-oriented worldviews that tend to externalise nature. While the reductionist worldview played a dominant role both in creating regional material wealth and in causing the current dangerous environmental crises of which global climate change is only the peak of the iceberg it becomes more and more obvious that modern (industrialised) societies are in need of a cultural, or spiritual, reinstatement if the Earth is to take a sustainable path into the future. Given the massive, worldwide problems that are to be expected under climate and environmental change; the fact that a large part of the worlds population is not (yet) subject to the technocratic worldview; and shortcomings of current strategies and policies, it is imperative to complement the existing technological and economically oriented problem solutions with alternative prespectives that integrate the entanglement of humans and their environment in their narratives. The focus of this workshop is on what cultural predicaments contribute to global climate/environmental change, how religion in particular works in critical (catastrophic) processes of environmental change, how humans can live in and with the ongoing crisis, and what new orientations could take place. Specific topics addressed are: - How are tipping points in nature related to tipping points in culture? - How can the study of values, visions, spiritualities and images of life contribute to a deeper understanding of the interplay of nature, culture and the environmental challenge obvious in global climate change? - Do we need a renewed understanding of ritualisation in the context of global change, and how are aesthetics and ethics intertwined in religious practices with regard to the environment? How can aesthetic and artistic explorations of landscape change interact with scientific and religious views? - What kind of culture/spirituality is powerful under global change (e.g. eco-spirituality as it appears in old and in new religious traditions and processes)? - How are indigenous cultures responding to environmental change? - What can we learn from environmental history, with regard to our own European history of civilisation, modernisation and globalisation? The workshop will take place in Trondheim from October 9 (afternoon) to October 11 (noon), 2008. Five sessions will approach the theme in different sections. Contributions will be given by scholars from Climate Impact Science, Religious Studies, Theology, Cultural Studies, Environmental History, and Visual Arts. The seminary cost incl. all meals (Thursday and Friday dinner and Saturday lunch) are 1200 NOK (153 ). Please register at latest by 22 September. Invited and confirmed speakers: - Hardy Brix, painter, Århus - Davide Brocchi, social researcher, Institute Cultura21 e.V., Cologne - Dr. Dieter Gerten, PIK, Potsdam - Prof. Dr. Laurel Kearns, sociologist of religion, Drew University - Dr. David Kronlid, environmental ethics and pedagogy, Uppsala University - Dr. Timothy B. Leduc, Environmental Studies, York University - Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Lucht, physicist, PIK, Potsdam - Prof. Dr. Michael Northcott, Edinburgh University - Dr. Anne Primavesi, Fellow of the Westar Institute and the Jesus Seminar, Santa Rosa, California - Dr. Stefan Skrimshire, theology/ethics, Lincoln College, Manchester University Workshop Committee Prof. Dr. Sigurd Bergmann, EFSRE, Trondheim Dr. Dieter Gerten, PIK, Potsdam For more information please see: http://www.hf.ntnu.no/relnateur/index.php?lenke=religion_and_climate_change.php Contact: Kari B. Berg Department of Archaeology and Religious Studies Norwegian University of Science and Technology NO-7491 Trondheim Norway Phone: +47-73 59 65 78 Fax: +47-73 59 14 64 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.hf.ntnu.no/relnateur/ __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org
