Citizens of the Anthropocene: community and polity in a changing climate

Venue: G08, Melbourne Law School

Presenters: Professor Sheila Jasanoff

Climate change is influencing the scale at which human societies and their governments understand and potentially redesign the relationship between humans and the ‘natural world’. Using examples from contemporary environmental and legal controversies in the US, Australia, and Europe, this lecture will question the meaning of the mandate to ‘think globally and act locally’ in the face of planetary environmental problems. It will explore legal and institutional barriers to effective citizenship at the global level, and ask what it means to press for greater democratisation of decisions affecting the future of the planet.

Professor Sheila Jasanoff will reflect on what it means to be an engaged citizen when the scale and complexity of problems affecting the human future have undermined the apparent efficacy of traditional legal and political institutions.

Sheila Jasanoff is Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is also affiliated with the Department of the History of Science, member of the Board of Tutors in Environmental Science and Public Policy, and visiting professor at Harvard Law School

from
https://events.unimelb.edu.au/events/6291-citizens-of-the-anthropocene-community-and-polity-in-a-changing