Twelfth Annual Symposium on Environmental Affairs: Reimagining the Good Life

NB: The 2009 Symposium is still being finalized; all language and scheduling is provisional.

October 27-29, 2009
Lewis & Clark College

Environmentalism has often focused on the bad things we do: fossil fuel burning leading to global warming, human impacts on biodiversity, the spread of toxic pollutants in ecosystems—essentially, our whole unsustainable way of living on earth. And indeed things need to change, as recent crises ranging from climate to credit have amply demonstrated. But change is not just about doing less bad: we also need a larger vision of the good life to guide our hopes and our hard work toward change.

In many ways, genuine vision is difficult to find: aside from a rosy view of Nature and back-to-the-land movements that, for all their micro-utopian virtues, accomplish little on larger scales, environmentalism has generally not offered a comprehensive idea of the good life. And outside of environmentalism, visions of the good life often amount to the gospel of consumption and material pleasure, good things to be sure but elusive to many, and ultimately insufficient. Yet there are visionaries out there, and we need to thoughtfully consider their proposals.

Environmental Affairs Symposium 2009 plans to recruit urban designers, futurists, religious leaders, and others to work alongside environmentalists and environmental scholars, blending critical and constructive insights in reimagining the good life and what it means for the crises we face today.

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