UQ conference to focus on culture and the environment

The University of Queensland is hosting a conference on culture and environmental awareness from July 2-5.

Environment, Culture and Community: How do we deal with the environmental challenges of the 21st century? will be held on the St Lucia and Ipswich campuses, featuring a range of prominent national and international speakers.

Convenor Dr Ruth Blair, from UQ’s School of English, Media Studies and Art History said the conference will explore the role of communities and cultures in developing and sustaining environmental awareness.

Papers will address a range of current issues from genetic engineering to salinity.

“Exploring the role of social and cultural process in relation to environmental awareness is critical to the development of ecologically-situated relationships among people and between people and the earth,” Dr Blair said.

“The conference will bring together those whose scholarly and artistic work address ways in which people create, challenge and sustain relationships with the natural environment.”

Featured speakers will include:

 Christine Milne MHA, green activist and Tasmanian politician;
 Michel Conan, Director of Studies in Landscape Architecture, Dumbarton Oaks Institute, USA
 Jack Mundey, environmental activist, Sydney;
 Robyn Eckersley, writer on environmental politics, University of Melbourne;
 Simon Ortiz, Native American writer, Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico USA and University of Toronto; and
 Beverley Farmer, writer, Point Londsdale, Victoria.

The conference website is at http://emsah.uq.edu.au/conferences/ecc/

Media: for more information contact Dr Blair (tel. 07 3365 2590, email r.blair@mailbox.uq.edu.au)