Suggestions that small sacrifices by average citizens alone are enough to cure global warming and other environmental crises underestimate the problem, says the keynote speaker at a Vanderbilt conference on “Climate Change and Consumption.”
Michael Maniates, professor of political science and environmental science at Allegheny College, will speak from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, April 18, in Flynn Auditorium at Vanderbilt Law School.
The lecture is free and open to the public. The entire April 18-19 conference is also free and open to members of the public who register in advance at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/religion-consumption/registration.html. A full schedule is available at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/religion-consumption/topics.html.
Maniates argues that essential sacrifices like using paper instead of plastic at the grocery store are needed, but won’t be enough on their own.
“We need to be looking at fundamental change in our energy, transportation and agricultural systems rather than technological tweaking on the margins, and this means changes and costs that our current and would-be leaders seem afraid to discuss – which is a pity, since Americans are at their best when they’re struggling together, and sometimes with one another, toward difficult goals.”
The “Climate Change and Consumption” conference was organized by the Ecology and Spirituality in America study group at Vanderbilt’s Center for the Study of Religion and Culture. The CSRC was established in 2003 by Vanderbilt to develop, promote and increase faculty research at the intersections of religion and culture.
Sponsors of the “Climate Change and Consumption” include the CSRC; the Law School Regulatory Program at Vanderbilt; the Climate Change Research Network at Vanderbilt; the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C.; and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
Audio of the lecture by Maniates will be recorded for podcast on VUCast, the website of Vanderbilt News Service, at www.vanderbilt.edu/news/.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
Jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu