The Center for Sustainability and the Environment at Bucknell University has issued a call for abstracts for its 8th Annual Sustainability Symposium to be held virtually on April 23-24, with a special keynote panel. 

The theme this year is Adapting In Uncertain Times.  Proposals are due March 19.

Addressing sustainability dilemmas, including climate change, requires cross-sector collaborations, inclusion of diverse voices, and participation of those impacted in developing and implementing solutions. 

Academics participate in this process by conducting research, teaching courses, performing outreach, and facilitating community engagement. 

Under normal circumstances, the work conducted in sustainability can come with its own hardships. Yet, 2020 has shown that these hardships have been further exacerbated by the presence and proliferation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This alarming event has impacted the natural and human communities across the planet. At the same time, this pandemic created an atmosphere of uncertainty for the future influencing how academics and practitioners exist and persist within their field.

COVID-19 forced the examination of global issues, such as the climate crisis, through a deeper lens of public health.

At this nexus of sustainability issues, an uncertain future, and an alteration in research, teaching, and outreach lies a crossroads for change; a paradigm shift in how academics and practitioners conduct their work.

Here are opportunities to explore topics that underlie social, economic, and racial injustice to create opportunities for conceptualizing novel methods of being, doing, and acting.

The empirical evidence at the nexus of this uncertain future has motivated practitioners, researchers, and community members at Bucknell University and beyond to conduct work in sustainability issues and how the COVID-19 pandemic has further affected these issues.

From the study of how climate change is affecting river towns to the investigation of COVID-19’s impact on racial justice and fine art showcasing the impact of public health issues on rural U.S. culture, collective individual action is making strides in addressing multiple global phenomena at a local level.

Students, faculty, researchers, artists, and practitioners are invited to share their work and experience at the Symposium. The Sustainability Symposium is a great place to showcase and share your projects and research with others through poster or oral presentations.

Example topics include, but are not limited to:

-- Art and the Environment: creative art, writing works, and music related to environmental issues, climate change impacts and adaptations, and other associated topics

-- Climate: Climate change policy; public perceptions of climate change; climate change impacts, adaptations, and mitigation; variability and change; modeling of boundary layer dynamics

-- Community: Organizational strategies for sustainable communities; community revitalization; local and global social movements for sustainability, inclusion, climate change action, etc.

-- Ecosystems: Impacts of climate change; impacts of energy development; diversity of terrestrial and aquatic life; invasive species

-- Energy: Renewable technologies; energy retrofitting; smart grids; energy policy; transportation

-- Food: Agriculture; food production; food waste; food shortages; farm labor

-- Human Rights: Environmental (in)justice; ethical and moral dimensions of climate change impacts and responses

-- Humanities and Climate Change: ethics of climate change; religious responses and understandings of human-environment connections; historical contexts of climate related impacts

-- Management: Intersection of business and sustainability; establishing sustainable initiatives; ensuring long-term corporate viability; employee concerns

-- Planning: Sustainable design; green buildings; eco-landscaping; planning for sustainable growth; urbanization and related issues

-- UN Sustainable Development Goals: Particularly related to climate action; affordable and clean energy; sustainable cities and communities; life on land; and life under water, although all 17 SDG areas are welcome

-- Water: Sources and uses; sustainable watershed management; floods and droughts; climate change impacts; equitable access to clean water.

Abstracts will be peer reviewed and accepted abstract proceedings will be published through the Bucknell Digital Commons.

Click Here for all the details on submitting an abstract [download].  Questions should be directed to BCSE@bucknell.edu.

For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and more, visit Bucknell University’s Center for Sustainability and the Environment webpage or follow them on Facebook.

[Posted: February 12, 2021]

2/15/2021