October 2017 is a pretty exciting month, no doubt!

Economics for the Anthropocene (E4A) – the research partnership I am a fellow of, based at McGill University, York University and the University of Vermont – and the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics (CANSEE) are about to hold their joint conference:

ECONOMIES IN AN AGE OF LIMITS:  A TIME FOR (R)EVOLUTION!

or, if you prefer the French version,

R(É)VOLUTION ÉCONOMIQUE DANS UN ÈRE DE RESSOURCES LIMITÉES

From a personal perspective, this is going to be the first time I will be involved in such an event, both presenting and seeing what happens behind the scenes (stay tuned for the next post of my blog series The first time a graduate student... 😉 )

But of course, the relevance of this event goes beyond my personal experience. Indeed, the topic of the conference is pretty concerning and eye-opening: Our society, our lifestyle, our system are trespassing some of the planetary boundaries, and this means that they are unsustainable, and that a change is needed… probably even unavoidable. For this reason, it is time to reconsider the principles that guide our economies, as well as our society’s relationship with the Earth in a broader sense. In other words, we need a (r)evolution, carried out not with violence, but with knowledge and conscience.

The conference will revolve around five themes, spanning from the sciences to the social sciences: Biophysical limits, Equity, social justice and the commons, Alternative movements and discourses, Finance, markets and ecological macroeconomics, and Pathways to change: tools and strategies.

As it is declared on the webpage of the conference:

“In an age where our Earth limits are increasingly perceptible, how can our economic systems take them into account? By recognizing the need to redefine ecological and social justice, this conference aims to highlight the current ecological and social challenges, the different visions and tools that fuel change, as well as paths to be undertaken to transform our economic system.”

The conference will take place at Concordia University, from Friday, October 19th to Sunday, October 22nd, 2017.

For more information: scanee@cansee.ca

Both pictures have been provided by the conference organizers.