Under Western Skies: Conference on Climate, Culture and Change in North America - Mount Royal U - Oct 2010

http://www.skies.mtroyal.ca/

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Under Western Skies: Climate, Culture and Change in Western North America

*October 13-16, 2010*

*Mount Royal University *

*Calgary, Alberta, Canada*.

This interdisciplinary and cross-cultural gathering welcomes presentations
on the environmental challenges now faced by diverse populations, both human
and nonhuman, in the Western lands of Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

Academics and other stakeholders from the wider community are invited to
participate in this urgent and compelling dialogue.  The conference invites
academics from the humanities, social and natural sciences, as well as
activists, businesses, artists and others to speak across the boundaries
that conventionally divide them.

Since both the geographical and critical terrains at issue are considerable,
a wide array of topics and time periods is welcome. The shared concern will
be the interaction between humans and the natural environment in the context
of Western history, geography, climate change, and commercial/sustainable
development of lands and resources.

Possible directions may include, but are not restricted to, the following:

   - sustainable economic development
   - indigenous ways of knowing
   - urbanization/suburban sprawl in the "New West"
   - popular culture and the mass media
   - literary or filmic representations of natural, urban or industrial
   environments
   - government action/inaction on the environment
   - ecofeminism
   - environmental racism and justice
   - ecological or ecocritical examinations of particular Western environs
   and climes
   - specific issues such as the Copenhagen Protocol or oil/tar sands
   development
   - the borderlands of Canada / United States / Mexico
   - environmental education in K-12, postsecondary and community contexts
   - historical perspectives
   - environmental activism
   - environmental law and policy