In this series, we will hear about:
- The ecological future of our planet
- The communication and scepticism of green ideas
- Advances and directions in energy and sustainability
- Animal habitats and human impact
Join us at 1.30pm BST/12.30am GMT on the 4th April for the second episode in our series, with Prof Thom Brooks, Professor of Law and Government at Durham Law School.
Climate change confronts us with our most pressing challenges today. The global consensus is clear that human activity is mostly to blame for its harmful effects, but there is disagreement about what should be done. While no shortage of proposals from ecological footprints and the polluter pays principle to adaptation technology and economic reforms, each offers a solution – but is climate change a problem we can solve?
In this talk, these popular proposals for ending or overcoming the threat of climate change are shown to offer no easy escape and each rest on an important mistake. Thom Brooks argues that a future environmental catastrophe is an event we can only delay or endure, but not avoid as based in his recent book Climate Change Ethics for an Endangered World. This raises new ethical questions about how we should think about climate change. How should we reconceive sustainability without a status quo? Why is action more urgent and necessary than previously thought? What can we do to motivate and inspire hope? Many have misunderstood the kind of problem that climate change presents – as well as the daunting challenges we must face and overcome.
The slides for this event can be found here.
To speak at a Researcher Live session, please email kristine.lennie@researcher-app.com
Full series programme:
- 4th April 10am BST - The Social Aspects of Environmental and Climate Change with Prof. E. Carina H. Keskitalo, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- 4th April, 12.30pm BST How NOT to save a planet with Prof Thom Brooks, Professor of Law and Government, the Dean of Durham Law School
- 13th April, 10am BST The Challenges of Communicating Climate Change with Dr Christel W. van Eck, University of Amsterdam
- 19th April, 3pm BST - Achieving climate goals in the residential sector and industry: Power to heat and Green hydrogen as the most promising applications of sector integration with Dr Tuomas Vanhanen, Tampere University, Finland, and Jasmin Ramsebner, Vienna University of Technology
- 20th April, 4pm BST - Role of AI in Predicting Climate Disasters in Northern Regions with Dr. Pooneh Maghoul, Polytechnique Montreal and PhD Candidate Ali Fatolahzadeh Gheysari, University of Manitoba
- 22nd April, 10am BST - Home away from home: The importance of sanctuaries for protecting and studying our fellow apes with PhD Candidate Jake Brooker, Durham University
- 25th April, 10am BST - Topic TBD with Dr Natalie Pettorelli,Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London
- 26th April, 9am BST - Net Zero, Food and Farming: Climate Change and the UK Agri-Food System with Professor Neil Ward, Professor of Rural and Regional Development at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich
- 28th April, 11am BST - Defusing the 2020s Heat Bomb: Getting Government Action Now with Prof Ian Budge, Emeritus Professor, University of Essex
- 4th May, 3pm BST - Opportunities for storage to achieve deep decarbonization across sectors with Prof Noah Kittner, University of North Carolina System, Department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering
- 10th May, time TBD - Impacts of Plastics Pollution on Seabirds with PhD Candidate Peter Puskic, University of Tasmania
- 12th May, 10am BST - Biotransformation Technology: How to deliver full biological decomposition on polyolefin packaging materials in the open environment with Celine Moreira, Polymateria
Prof Thom Brooks, Dean of Durham Law School
Thom Brooks is Professor of Law and Government at Durham University and associate member of the Philosophy and Government departments. His books include Hegel's Political Philosophy (2007, 2d 2013), The Global Justice Reader (2008), Becoming British (2016), Punishment: A Critical Introduction (2021) and The Oxford Handbook of Global Justice (2020). He has written for the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, New Statesman, The Times and others with several columns collected in his forthcoming The Trust Factor (2022).
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