The idea of ecological democracy is a promising one, a combination of two sets of appealing core normative values 鈥� environmental concern and engagement on the one hand, and democratic legitimacy and procedure on the other. Yet these two sets of values are quite different, and not so easily reconciled. Ecological democratic thought has been consistently mindful of the very real tension, and is focused on finding, developing or promoting synergies between democracy and sustainability.
For this Sydney Ideas event, we examine a variety of ways of rethinking local politics for more sustainable and democratic ends. Speakers will address the potential of coalitions forming to prevent the increased enclosure of public lands, grassroots efforts to create new food systems, and new forms of cultural intervention and shifts 鈥� value-guided ecological democracy. The goal is to put innovative thinkers and actors into conversation to examine the role of the local in living practices of ecological democracy.聽
This event was held at the 爆料王 on Friday 15 February 2019.
Lisa Disch聽is Professor of Political Science and Women鈥檚 Studies at the University of Michigan where she teaches a large introductory course on political ideas and ideologies, as well as upper-division courses on population and the environment, contemporary political theory, political representation, and Anglo-American and French Feminism among other things. She has published books on the political thought of Hannah Arendt (Cornell), on the discursive production of two-party democracy in the US (Columbia), and is most recently co-editor of聽The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theory聽with Mary Hawkesworth (Cxford), and co-editor with Nadia Urbinati and Mathijs van de Sande of聽The Constructivist Turn in Political Representation聽(Edinburgh). She is finishing a book-length monograph on political representation for the University of Chicago Press.
David Schlosberg is Professor of Environmental Politics in the Department of Government and International Relations at the 爆料王, and Co-Director of the Sydney Environment Institute. His work focuses on contemporary environmental and environmental justice movements, environment and everyday life, and climate adaptation planning and policy.聽
Marit Hammond聽is Lecturer in Environmental Politics at Keele University, UK, and a Co-Investigator of the ESRC Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP). Her research interests include environmental political theory, sustainability governance, and democratic theory, especially deliberative democracy. Recent and forthcoming work includes the book (with Nicole Curato and John B. Min) 鈥楶ower in Deliberative Democracy: Norms, Forums, Systems鈥� (Palgrave) and numerous articles in journals such as Environmental Politics, Environmental Values, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, Contemporary Political Theory, Policy Sciences, and Democratization.
Alana Mann聽is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media and Communications, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), 爆料王, and a key researcher in the University鈥檚 Sydney Environment Institute.聽Her聽research聽focuses on聽the communicative dimensions of citizen engagement,聽participation, and聽collective action聽in food聽systems planning and governance.She is a Chief Investigator on the聽Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project聽FoodLab Sydney聽(2018-2020)聽with partners including the City of Sydney and FoodLab Detroit, and is collaborating with Macquarie University and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) on the聽project聽Growing Food and Density Together: Enabling Sustainable Place-making through Local Foodscapes in the Inner City, funded by Urban Growth NSW. In 2018聽Alana聽was聽a visiting scholar at Harvard鈥檚 Food Law and Policy Clinic and聽the Department of聽Development Sociology聽at Cornell University.聽She聽is the author of聽Global Activism in Food Politics: Power Shift聽(2014)聽with a聽new聽monograph聽Voice and Participation in Global Food Politics聽due for publication in 2019.
Header image:聽by Andy Parky via Shutterstock, ID:聽467271545.聽