John Ray Initiative and The Faraday Institute‘The root causes of environmental unsustainability’
at
Buckingham House conference centre, New Hall, Cambridge 25 June 2008 9.30 am – 5.45 pm

Sustainable is a word that is widely employed to describe a desirable future for the world and its peoples. The simplest definition of sustainability is ‘not cheating on our children’; to that should be added, ‘not cheating on our neighbours’ and ‘not cheating on the rest of creation’. We live in a world that is cheating in all these respects and is moving fast in unsustainable directions. Can we identify the main causes of this unsustainability? This one day conference in Cambridge will explore The root causes of environmental unsustainability from scientific, economic, ethical and theological perspectives and the changes that could begin to map out a sustainable future. Each presentation will be for 30 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions and discussion.

NOTE THAT (FREE) REGISTRATION HAS TO BE BOOKED IN ADVANCE WITH JOHN.MCKEOWN@JRI.ORG.UK (TEL. 01242 714842) AS DO LUNCH TICKETS IF REQUIRED (£10) 09.00–09.30
Registration and coffee 09.30–11.00
Prof Bob White, FRS (Cambridge Univ): Introduction and welcome
Sir John Houghton, FRS: A sustainable climate
Dr Jim McCarthy (President-elect AAAS): The Denial and Misinformation industry11.00–11.30
Coffee 11.30–13.30
Prof John Guillebaud (Oxford): Can we achieve a sustainable population?
Prof Cal de Witt (Wisconsin & Au Sable Inst): Unsustainable agriculture and land use
Prof Donald Hay (Oxford Univ): Economics of environmental unsustainability13.30–14.30
Lunch (£10 by ticket) 14.30–16.00
Dr Paul Chambers (Defra): Energy policy and sustainability
Ian Arbon (Visiting Prof, Newcastle Univ): Sustainable energy16.00–16.30
Tea 16.30–17.45
Prof Michael Northcott (Edinburgh Univ): The ethics and theology of sustainability
Prof Bob White, FRS (Cambridge Univ): Environmental care: science and theology See flier for more details at http://www.jri.org.uk/news/Unsustainability_leaflet.pdf or email john.mckeown@jri.org.uk (tel. 01242 714842).

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