[Aztlan] conference announcement

[Lisa J. Lucero]

Dear listeros,
I am co-organizing a conference that might be of interest to you, 'The Human Story of Climate Change,' April 8-10, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  There will also be livestream video at the conference website, www.planetu.illinois.edu.  Brian Fagan is the keynote speaker, and we also have journalists from USA Today, New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune participating.

Global climate change is upon us, altering weather patterns, depleting water and food resources, creating armed conflicts and environmental refugees. While this is certainly “newsworthy,” climate has been a high-impact variable since civilization’s beginnings 10,000 years ago. Human society’s vulnerability to climate increased exponentially with deforestation, agriculture and the domestication of animals, and short-term climate change devastated great civilizations such as the Mayas. Current media reporting on climate change is overwhelmingly driven by scientific projections, policy debates over industry regulation, and the chimera of climate denial. Our conference factors in the missing human dimension by examining the impacts of climate on human society through time, with a view to better grasping the impacts of the current long-term warming and our means for adapting to its staggering demands.

With speakers drawn from the sciences, humanities and the media, the Planet U conference will emphasize the human story of our ever-changing relation to climate, from the volcanic catastrophes of pre-history, to the rise and decline of civilizations, to our own intensifying sense of vulnerability on a warming planet. The goal of the conference is to stimulate dialogue between various academic disciplines in their research on climate change, and to encourage more effective communication between the academy, the media, and the general public.

Best,
Lisa J. Lucero, Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
Univ of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
109 Davenport Hall, MC-148 
607 S. Mathews Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801
Office phone: 217-244-7896
Fax: 217-244-3490
http://www.anthro.uiuc.edu/faculty/lucero/