From Crisis to Coordination: Conversations Between Philosophy of Environmental Justice & Philosophy of Conservation Science

Description: Kyle Whyte’s “Against Crisis Epistemology” (2021) urges those concerned by climate change and for environmental justice away from a crisis epistemology and toward an epistemology of coordination. In contrast to a crisis epistemology—which is apt to intensify colonial oppression due to the assumption that present challenges are new, unprecedented, and urgent—epistemologies of coordination seek to address challenges by developing and renewing relations of kinship, expressed as moral bonds of mutual responsibility. Inspired by this recommendation toward coordination, this conference aims to promote dialogue among philosophers of environmental justice and of conservation science. We seek to discover what we can mutually cogenerate toward the common goals of stewardship and environmental justice. Central to the conference are the questions: What can philosophers of conservation science learn from those of environmental justice, and vice versa? What would coordination look like?

Schedule — All times Central Daylight Time (GMT –5):

Thursday, May 23rd, 2024

• 3:30–4:00: Introductions
• 4:00–5:30: Keynote: Andrea Sullivan-Clarke

Friday, May 24th, 2024

• 9:00–10:00: Keynote: Romy Opperman
• 10:00–10:30: Keynote Discussion
• 10:30–11:00: Coffee Break
• 11:00–11:30: Tristan Katz, “Taking Natural Harms Seriously in Compassionate Conservation” (via zoom)
• 11:30–12:00: Aila O’Loughlin, “Surely, you don’t mean rocks: Moral Responsibility, Indigenous Kinship Ethics, and so-called ‘natural objects’.”
• 12:00–12:30: Discussion of Morning Presentations
• 12:30–2:00: Lunch Break
• 2:00–2:30: Denise Hossom, “Wild Horse Problems: Insights From Integrated HPS Towards Novel Environmental Policy Approaches”
• 2:30–3:00: Ben Almassi, “From Wildfire Crisis to Reparative Burns: Indigenous Knowledge, Environmental Justice, and Fire Stewardship”
• 3:00–3:30: TBA
• 3:30–3:45: Coffee Break
• 3:45–5:00: Discussion of Afternoon Presentations

Saturday, May 25th, 2024

• 9:00–10:00: Keynote: Karen Kovaka
• 10:00–10:30: Keynote Discussion
• 10:30–11:00: Coffee Break
• 11:00–11:30: Joel Jensen, “The 10,000-Year Design Problem and the Burden of Memory”
• 11:30–12:00: Federica Bocchi, “A Quest for Democratizing Measurement: Practices in Environmental Science”
• 12:00–12:30: Discussion of Morning Presentations
• 12:30–2:00: Lunch Break
• 2:00–2:30: Andrew Smith, “Climate Crisis as Relational Crisis: Centering Indigenous Feminist Conceptions of Responsibility in Environmental Discourse”
• 2:30–3:00: Olusegun Steven Samuel, “Practising Conservation: the intersection of decolonial and ubuntu lenses”
• 3:00–3:30: Bennett McNulty, TBA
• 3:30–3:45: Coffee Break
• 3:45–5:00: Discussion of Afternoon Presentations and Conference Wrap-Up

Please RSVP for zoom link!