Category Archives: Sustainability

SUMMER SCHOOL – Degrowth, Barcelona, Spain

Posted on by

Degrowth Summer School (Barcelona, Spain, July 4-21, 2014)

Adapting to the times of crisis: an advanced course on socially sustainable degrowth

Four Columns, the monument of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.Amidst calls for restoring growth as a path out of the crisis, the intellectual and political degrowth movement exposes the impossibility to greening economic growth, or making it equitable. In theoretical terms degrowth implies a radical critique to the western notion of growth- and technology-led development as a single overarching path of organizing social and economic life. It implies revisiting the role of monetary and market-based transactions in society and searching for a way to bring back its human, emotional, non-utilitarian or gift-based traits. Continue reading →

JOB – Brown Postdoc Research Associate

Posted on by

Environmental Change Initiative
Voss Postdoctoral Research Associate 2014-2015
Providence, RI, USA

DescriptionEnvironmental Change Initiative

Brown University’s Environmental Change Initiative (ECI) seeks candidates for one or more distinguished postdoctoral positions in interdisciplinary environmental science. Continue reading →

Recent Work on Ethics and Sustainability

Posted on by

SustainabilityAs many who follow ISEE are aware, ISEE tracks research in environmental ethics and related areas.  We provide a comprehensive bibliography in our quarterly newsletter and maintain a list of works (in English), divided into subfields and introductory textbooks or anthologies, on our website.

As a subfield, Ethics and Sustainability continues to pick up steam.  Older works include Lisa Newton’s Ethics and Sustainability: Sustainable Development and the Moral Life (Prentice Hall, 2003); Bryan Norton’s Searching for Sustainability (Cambridge UP, 2003) and Sustainability: A Philosophy of Adaptive Ecosystem Management (Univ. of Chicago P, 2005); Ryne Raffaelle, Wade Robison, and Evan Selinger’s Sustainability Ethics: 5 Questions (Automatic Press/VIP, 2010); Paul Thompson’s The Agrarian Vision: Sustainability and Environmental Ethics (University P of Kentucky, 2010); and Christian Becker’s Sustainability Ethics and Sustainability Research (Springer, 2011).  To this list, two recent pieces can be added.

Sarah Fredericks (University of North Texas) has recently published Measuring and Evaluating Sustainability Ethics in Sustainability Indexes (Routledge, 2013).  The book provides a theoretical and practical demonstration of how ethics and technical considerations can aid the development of sustainability indexes to overcome the division in the literature and aid sustainability initiatives.

Gavin Van Horn, with the Center for Humans and Nature, published this week a primer on Sustainability Ethics that will be suitable for introductory courses in environmental studies and environmental ethics.  Gavin also spoke on the subject at the Center’s 2011 Forum on Ethics and Nature.

CFP – Climate Change, Sustainability, and the Ethics of an Open Future

Posted on by

De Ethica: A Journal of Philosophical, Theological and Applied Ethics
www.De-Ethica.Com

De EthicaDeadline for submissions: November 15, 2013

De Ethica is a new journal seeking to publish scholarly works at the intersections of philosophical, theological and applied ethics.  It is a fully peer-reviewed, open-access publication hosted by Linköping University Electronic Press.  We are committed to making papers of high academic quality accessible to a wide audience.

De Ethica is published in cooperation with Societas Ethica, the European Society for Research in Ethics.  Societas Ethica was founded in Basel, Switzerland in 1964; today it has more than 200 members from more than 20 countries, representing a variety of theological and philosophical traditions.  The annual conferences of Societas Ethica draw speakers from across the globe and provide a lively forum for intellectual exchange.  Like Societas Ethica, De Ethica aims to create dialogue across national, political, and religious boundaries.

The first issue of De Ethica will be devoted to the theme of this year’s 50th Societas Ethica Annual Conference: “Climate Change, Sustainability, and an Ethics of an Open Future.”  Dwindling resources, significant demographic changes, and the effects of climate change are challenges that have been on the political agenda for several decades.  And while there seems to be a consensus that sustainability is a “master value” in addressing these challenges, there is little agreement on what sustainability means, and even less agreement on how to achieve it in practice.

To Submit

LightWe welcome submissions from all philosophical and theological traditions that contribute to the ethics of an open future.  Since De Ethica wants to foster dialogue across disciplinary and geographical boundaries, we seek clearly and concisely argued articles that are accessible to a wide audience.  All submissions will be subjected to blind review.  Submissions should be between 4,000 and 8,000 words in length.  All submissions must be appropriately anonymized and should be accompanied by a separate file containing an abstract of 150 to 200 words and all relevant author information. For more information about layout, style, and the submission and review process, please see the Instructions for Authors.  Please send submissions only to our assistant editor, Heidi Jokinen.  General comments and enquiries about the journal should be directed to Marcus Agnafors or Maren Behrensen.

JOB – Asst. Prof. of Phil., Purdue University, Interdisciplinary Focus on Sustainability

Posted on by
  • PurdueLocation: West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
  • Deadline: November 1, 2013

As part of a university-wide cluster hire in the new interdisciplinary focus area of “building sustainable communities,” the department of philosophy at Purdue University is seeking applications for an assistant professor, tenure-track position focused on human cooperative behavior, collective action, and the evolution of social norms.  Possible areas of specialization include philosophy of biology, philosophy of economics, experimental philosophy, moral psychology, or political philosophy.  Prior experience applying ideas from these areas to environmental and #sustainability issues is strongly preferred.  Depending on the candidate’s interests, joint appointments are possible in other participating cluster departments, including Political Science, Anthropology, Communication, and Engineering.  The successful candidate will have a demonstrated potential to play a vital role in Purdue’s new “building sustainable communities” initiative dedicated to finding new approaches to addressing major environmental and sustainability challenges.  Purdue’s Center for the Environment will serve as the interdisciplinary hub for this research community.  Purdue also hosts several interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate programs focused on sustainability, including undergraduate degrees in environmental & ecological engineering and natural resources and environmental science, as well as a graduate program in Ecological Sciences and Engineering.  The successful candidate will be expected to participate in and contribute to these programs as well.

Position Description

  • Assistant Professor, tenure track, beginning Fall 2014.
  • Teach 4 courses/year (2/semester), undergraduate and graduate.
  • Some thesis supervision. Usual non-teaching duties.
  • AOS/AOC: Open (subject to guidelines described in previous two paragraphs).
  • Ph.D. in Philosophy or related field required prior to appointment. Salary competitive.

Purdue CampusSubmission Procedure

Applicants should submit a letter of application including a discussion of the candidate’s interest and/or experience with interdisciplinary research relevant to the cluster, curriculum vitae, graduate transcript(s), three letters of recommendation, a sample of written work and evidence of teaching qualifications electronically via https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/3174

Anyone for whom electronic submission is impossible should send those materials to Prof. Daniel Kelly, Department of Philosophy, Purdue University, 100 N. University Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2098.

Questions should be addressed to search committee co-chairs Dr. Daniel Kelly or Dr. Leigh Raymond.