September 18 2019
Speakers include: Jenny Pickerill, Eva Giraud, Graeme Hayes, Anna Pigott, Steven Camiss, Warren Pearce
Deadline for abstracts: September 2 2019
You say nothing in life is black or white. But that is a lie. A very dangerous lie. Either we prevent 1.5C of warming or we don鈥檛. Either we avoid setting off that irreversible chain reaction beyond human control or we don鈥檛. Either we choose to go on as a civilisation or we don鈥檛. That is as black or white as it gets. There are no grey areas when it comes to survival.
2019 has seen the 鈥樷 transform in the UK and beyond following the IPCC鈥檚 SR15 report and the emergence of new climate activist movements, most prominently (XR) and . , , and the .
Taken together, there appears to be a growing social consensus around the need for more urgent 鈥榗limate action鈥, powered by the most prominent activist campaigns for over a decade and a broader shift wherein .
These new climate movements have called us to 鈥樷, warned of . Building on the legacies of , the new climate movements have effectively combined action in both digital and urban spaces, and been , bringing about and .
Yet behind these headlines lie new controversies and shifting dynamics which demand urgent scholarly attention. XR鈥檚 and annihilation may , while #FridaysForFuture focus heavily on science potentially at the expense of the political questions at the heart of climate action. While these dynamics are familiar, there are signs that some in the new climate movements are moving away from . Related attempts to have prompted .
Alongside these knowledge controversies, of 鈥樷, both through . Perhaps most fundamentally, there are open questions over the : is there a vision beyond the XR banner unveiled on Westminster Bridge that read 鈥溾?
We warmly invite papers, presentations and reflections from a wide range of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives, with the aim to start establishing a multi-layered analysis of the contemporary climate moment.
Please email abstracts of no more than 200 words to warren.pearce@sheffield.ac.uk 鈥 deadline, September 2nd. Limited funds are available to cover travel costs, and accommodation if required. Please enquire in advance if you need support.
Topics and perspectives include, but are not limited to: Activist social media strategies; (In)visible climate politics in activism; Science, knowledges and activism; Emotion and affect in climate activism; New climate movements in historical context; Policies and targets in activist discourse; Biodiversity as an activist issue; Intersectionality and climate change; Care and solidarity in climate activism; Purposes and audiences for activist communication; Consensus-building vs radicalism; Imagined futures in climate-changed worlds; Shifting temporalities of climate change.
