Environmental Affairs Symposium

Each year we offer a symposium on environmental affairs.  2009 marks the 12th annual event. Previous symposium programs can be found in the Symposium archive.

Twelfth Annual Symposium on Environmental Affairs: Reimagining the Good Life

Note: Our 2009 Symposium is still being finalized; the below are draft. Please check back here later for further details.

October 27-29, 2009
Lewis & Clark College

Environmentalism has often focused on the bad things we do: fossil fuel burning, biodiversity loss, pollution—essentially, our whole unsustainable way of living on earth. And indeed our way of life may need to change, as recent crises ranging from climate to credit have suggested. But change is not just about doing less bad: we also need to reconstruct a larger vision of the good life in the midst of these crises to guide our hopes and our hard work. Environmental Affairs Symposium 2009 will recruit religious leaders, political commentators, economists, artists, and others working alongside environmentalists and environmental scholars in reimagining the good life and what it means for the crises we face today.

Tuesday Panels
Visions of the Good Life (3:00-4:30 PM, Stamm)
What visions of the good life have guided the American environmental movement and society? Is the green life the good life, or if not, what is missing? The Pacific Northwest is often viewed as an ecological utopia, yet is this vision of the good life a reality here? What should be the role of technology in achieving our vision of the good life? What cultural, psychological, or political forces may support or hinder our attainment of these visions?

Blending Religious and Economic Insights on the Good Life (5:00-6:30 PM, Stamm)
The fields of religion and economics are quite different, but arguably both will play crucial roles in helping people live the good life. And there may be more overlap than one would assume, given the calls of some religious leaders for a just and caring economics, or the realization among some economists that material well-being cannot simply be equated with the good life. Yet rarely do economists and religious leaders engage in dialogue. What common ground is possible in reimagining the good life, given the rather distinct interests of these two fields?

Tuesday Keynote Address (co-sponsored by the Chamberlin Series)
Riane Eisler (7:00-8:00 PM, Agnes Flanagan Chapel)
Ms. Eisler's newest book, The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics (hailed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as “a template for the better world we have been so urgently seeking,”), proposes a new approach to economics that gives visibility and value to the most essential human work: the work of caring for people and planet. For more information on Ms. Eisler's work as an author, social scientist, and educator, visit her website.

Wednesday Panels
Whose Good Life? (3:00-4:30 PM, Stamm)
Not only are there differing visions of the good life, but there are widely differing realities facing people in our world. How can we even talk about the good life given such huge inequities of wealth and well-being? The environmental movement has recently worked to embrace social justice, but it’s been argued that many environmental policies actually oppress those living in poorer countries. So, whose good life are we talking about? Furthermore, can environmentalists really claim to promote or even to understand the good life of non-humans?

Beauty and Pleasure in the Good Life (5:00-6:30 PM, Stamm)
As important as material and financial security are to the good life, we all know that aesthetic dimensions are important too, and environmentalists often extol the beauty of nature. Is the good life mostly about doing good, or is it about experiencing beauty and pleasure as well? How can the arts help us reimagine a pleasurable good life? What of the discoveries of science, with their own attendant beauty and pleasure? And what about nature, which for some is a primary source of aesthetic inspiration: is this possible or even desirable for everyone?

For more information on the Symposium, please contact the Environmental Studies Program at (503) 768-7719 or envs@lclark.edu