As environmental crises intensify and we confront the political, social, economic and cultural impediments to addressing them, environmental scholarship has moved from being the preserve of the natural sciences and into the heart of the social sciences.

Social scientists offer critical insights into how our politics, economics and cultures effect the environment, and in turn, how environmental changes are impacting all aspects of our collective lives. By observing and analysing how different groups organise for change, social scientists also provide important insights into how we can better effect comprehensive political, social, economic and cultural transformation.

In this panel we reflect on what it would mean for humans to reshape how we understand ourselves and our world, and how to live together with each other and beings other than humans in ways that might sustain life and promote an ethical future. Coming on top of the ongoing climate catastrophe, COVID-19 has awoken increasing numbers of people to the reality of our entanglements in, and reliance on ‘the environment’.

Our panel of environmentally-oriented social scientists will show how they seek to make a difference to the environmental crises unfolding around us. Expect them to connect COVID-19, capitalism, colonialism, BLM, environmental and climate justice movements. There will be time for audience Q&A after the discussion.

Speakers and topics

Dr Dinesh Wadiwel – Industrial animal agriculture, environment and COVID-19: Thinking again about the place of animals in our food systems.

Prof Danielle Celermajer – Omnicide: Thinking the fires through the lens of multispecies justice

Prof David Schlosberg – Just adaptation

Dr Christine Winter – Where is the justice?

This event is part of the Social Sciences Week Australia series. View our program for more thought-provoking talks in this series.