Healing Earth is an annual flagship conference of the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability (3CS), to be held on 5 & 6 April. Day One (April 5) of the conference will focus on ‘More Than Human: Cities as Animal Ecologies’ and Day Two (April 6) will foster discussion on ‘Climate Change, Ecosystems and Health’.
Theme for Day 1: More Than Human: Cities as Animal Ecologies (Hybrid)
When we think of cities, crowds and buildings come to mind. Yet cities are also animated by the presence of non-human animals: wild, feral, and domesticated. Dogs, pigs, pigeons, kites, and countless others share our habitat and make it their own. When humans and other animals co-produce their environment, what unexpected encounters and outcomes do we find? How do these relationships survive and flourish in the face of efforts to control the social-spatial order of cities? How do they illuminate something vital yet ignored about the nature of cities? Eminent scholars and practitioners of urban ecology share their insights with us.
On Day 1 of the conference, there will be a film screening on campus All That Breathes from 4-5.30 PM. After the film screening, three sessions will be online (6-8) followed by a discussion about the documentary All That Breathes ( hybrid 8-9 PM) with Nadeem Shehzad and Mohommad Saud in conversation with a panel of Ashokans.
Speakers
- Gautam Menon, Director 3CS- Welcome note
- Amita Baviskar, Ashoka University
- Maan Barua, University of Cambridge
- Sneha Gutgutia, National Institute of Advanced Studies
- Anne Rademacher, New York University
Theme for Day 2: Climate Change, Ecosystems and Health
During the last few decades, there has been a welcome expansion in climate change research which focuses on the effects of climate change on species, communities and ecosystem processes. Studies suggest significant population-level impacts on organisms both on land and sea, in the plains and on the mountains. There is considerable evidence of disruption of ecological communities due to warming, along the elevational gradient of mountains, for instance. Importantly, the phenomenon of climate change has highlighted the intrinsic connections between humans and nature as never before, as exemplified by the emergence of zoonotic disease. The biological feedback between the natural world and human society needs deeper exploration both from the academic and management perspectives. In this session, we explore diverse manifestations of ecological responses to global warming and their relevance for human society.
Speakers
- Conference Coordinators-Imroze Khan, Ashoka University and Ghazala Shahabuddin, Ashoka University
- Welcome Note: Iain Stewart, Director, 3CS
- Meghna Krishnadas, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, CSIR
- Sambuddha Mishra, Centre for Earth Science, IISC
- Jessica Metcalf, Princeton University
- SP Singh, Indian National Science Academy (INSA)
- Imroze Khan, Assistant Dean, Ashoka University and Ghazala Shahabuddin, Ashoka University will be moderating the Q&A session