The 12th annual conference of the International Society for Environmental Ethics was held July 22nd to July 25th in Kiel, Germany, at the Christian-Albrechts Universitat. Hosted by Konrad Ott and a crack team of organizers from CAU, this year’s conference was titled “Environmental Ethics between Action and Reflection.” 160 scholars participated, from six continents and as far away as South Africa and New Zealand, making this the largest ISEE conference yet.

Papers given covered a full range of issues within environmental ethics, from differentiated responsibilities to mitigate global climate change to the ethics of de-extinction. Compared to previous years, participants seemed more critical of mainstream economic approaches to environmental problems. Keynote speakers included Clare Palmer (Texas A&M University) on “Staying in Place While the Climate Changes: Facilitated Adaptation and the Wildness of Wild Animals,” Thomas Potthast (Tübingen University) with an ecological talk titled “Biocoenosis or Living Community,” Darrel Moellendorf (Goethe University Frankfurt) on “Poverty and Dangerous Climate Change,” and Alan Warde (University of Manchester) on “Sustainable Consumption: Practices, Habits and Politics.” The full program can be found here.

In addition to the scholarly talks and panel discussions, conference participants enjoyed half-day excursions to nearby Geltinger Birk and the Dosenmoor, one of the last healthy bogs left in the area, and a full day trip to Wadden See National Park on the North Sea coast. There was also a lovely conference dinner at the Forstbaumschule, a biergarten in an urban forest. All in all, the conference was a great success, thanks to all the good work put in by Konrad, Lieske, Christian, Gunda and the gang in organizing it. Next year’s will be at Pace University in New York City, June 29th to July 2nd. Hope to see you there!

— Phil Cafaro, outgoing ISEE President