Humanity shares one planet, but we do not live in "one world." We live and make meaning in many localized geographical spaces, societies, and ecologies. At the Nineteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability we want to address this complex and paradoxical relationship between the local and global. We seek to decenter the concept of “sustainability” and problematize hegemonic solutions. The aim is to open a conversational space for considering alternative, vernacular, traditional, neglected and indigenous knowledges and practices, while critically reflecting on the ways in which they are already integrated into "one world" solutions. We will also consider “extractivism” as a “glocal” problem including its material and non-material aspects. In addition, within this paradox of the local and global, we’ll consider the social and environmental underpinnings and implications of digitalization.
The Nineteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability commits to consider from both theoretical and practical perspectives the multiple ways that unsustainable political and economic systems strive for (their) sustainability. In 2002, Paul Crutzen wrote that "unless there is a global catastrophe - a meteorite impact, a world war or a pandemic - mankind will remain a major environmental force for many millennia".[1] However, global social, economic, and political systems are generating economic, health, social, environmental, and other crises. And contemporary globalization continues to be based on a neoliberal ideology that promotes endless economic growth, extractivism and consumerism that “sustains” “unsustainable” systems.
This conference is the result of an international collaboration between Common Ground Research Networks, the On Sustainability Research Network and the University of Ljubljana. It seeks paper proposals and contributions from scholars, environmental organizations and activists, policy makers, educators, NGOs, private companies, and others working on sustainability issues. We call for proposals from scholars from all disciplines committed to exploring ongoing and emerging practices, ideas, and solutions.
Theme 1: Multiple Legacies: Heritage, Traditions, Local Ecologies, Knowledge, Values, Protection
Theme 2: Extractions: Food, Water, Energy, Resources, Materials, Reuse, Distribution, Accessibility, Non-Material Extraction
Theme 3: Digital Sustainability: Sustainable Digitalization, Smart Communities, Smart Mobility, Green Technologies, Electronic Waste
Theme 4: Sustaining Crisis: (de)growth, Alternative Economies, Greenwashing, Social and Political Movements
Professor of Environmental Policy, The Open University, United Kingdom
(English)
Professor, Educational Research Methodology, Faculty of Science Education, Universidad de Granada, Spain
(Spanish)
The Nineteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability featured plenary sessions by some of the world’s leading thinkers and innovators in the field.
Anthropologist and Writer, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway
"The future of diversity in the Anthropocene"
Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
"Whose Sustainability? When (Local) Socio-economic Aspirations Meet Global Environmental Limits"
Professor and Environmental Anthropologist, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, UK
"Equitable Relations: re-imagining sustainability from a non-anthropocentric perspective"
Profesor, Departamento de Organización de Empresas, Universidad de Granada, España (spanish)
"Economía circular como nuevo paradigma para favorecer la sostenibilidad económica, social y ambiental"
The Nineteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability featured roundtable discussions by some of the world’s leading thinkers and innovators in the field.
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Co-Chair of UNEP Environment International Resource Panel, Slovenia
University of Ljubljana, Ministry of Digital Transformation, Slovenia
Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy, Sector for Renewable Energy Sources, Slovenia
Professor of ethnology/cultural anthropology at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Assistant Professor, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Researcher and Teaching Assistant, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Researcher and Teaching Assistant, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Associate Professor and former Head of the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
For each conference, a small number of Emerging Scholar Awards are given to outstanding graduate students and emerging scholars who have an active research interest in the conference themes. Emerging Scholars perform a critical role in the conference by chairing the parallel sessions, providing technical assistance in the sessions, and presenting their own research papers. The 2023 Emerging Scholar Award Recipients are as follows:
Plymouth Marjon University, UK
(In-Person)
University of Turku, Finland
(In-Person)
University of Ljubljana, Slovenija
(In-Person)
University of Lethbridge, Canada
(In-Person)
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
(In-Person)
University of Delhi, India
(Online Only)
De La Salle University, Philippines
(Online Only)
Federal University of Amazon, Brazil, and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
(Online Only)
University of Calgary, Canada
(Online Only)
University of Pécs, Hungary
(Online Only)
Ljubljana, Slovenia
