Rountable discussion "The Human-Environmental Relationships in Critical Period of Crisis" at WCEH4 attended

Today I have taken part (digitally) in the roundtable "The Human-Environmental Relationships in Critical Period of Crisis", convened by Matteo Sartori & Julia Prakofjewa, on the last day of the 4th World Congress in Environmental History, which has been held in Oulu, Finland and online August 19-23rd. My brief introduction was related to my article “Anticipating the societal transformation required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21st century”; I also took part in the discussion. Some 10 people attended physically and online altogether.

"The study of past Umwelten" presented digitally at Fourth World Congress of Environmental History (WCEH4)

Today I have presented my paper "The study of past Umwelten" at The Fourth World Congress of Environmental History (WCEH4), held August 19-23rd at University of Oulu, Finland and online with the theme “Transitions, transformations and transdisciplinarity: Histories beyond history”, specifically in session 2 of the panel “Environmental biography as a methodological challenge”. About 15 people attended altogether.

See also: 

Discipline Filosophiche special issue on Uexküll now published, with "The study of past Umwelten"

Full article in UIS Brage

(Skimpy) conference plans for 2024 due to UIS budget cuts

I will not have the opportunity to attend all the conferences I would like, and have attended the previous years, this year - at least not physically - due to a lack of funding. My employer University of Stavanger (UIS) will only cover one conference participation this year, whereas I have had ca. 3-5 funded per year the last few years - a quite drastic change for me. As a professor, and a researcher who has at some points in the last few years been the most active at my faculty (Faculty of social sciences) regarding international conference presentations, I find this development worrisome - I feel I do not get the funding and support I need to do my job as well as I can. Some of these events it seems I can attend digitally, but I know from experience that that is not the same thing as attending physically.

I applied for external funding for conference participation from Nansenfondet, but have now been notified I did not get any funding.

I will now have to tell the organizers of the world congress of semiotics, in Poland, that I will not be able to attend, despite being a member of the world congress´ scientific committee. Moreover, I will have to attend the Gathering in biosemiotics, in South Africa, and  the world congress in environmental history, in Finland, digitally in stead of physically.

Two proposals for WCEH4 (Oulu, Finland, August 2024)

I have just submitted two proposals for the Fourth World Congress of Environmental History, to be held August 19-23rd in Oulu, Finland. 

For the panel "Animal Entanglements: new futures in multi-species pasts", I have proposed the abstract "The study of past Umwelten" based on my article by the same name.

Short abstract: I detail how past Umwelten can be studied by applying Jakob von Uexküll’s Umwelt theory and informed by contemporary science, and outline some basic assumptions in studies of past, current and future Umwelten. I also consider methodological issues related to the study of past Umwelten in particular.

Long abstract:

This presentation is based on a published article, "The study of past Umwelten" (Discipline Filosophische XXXIII(1), 2023, special issue “Jakob Von Uexküll. Biological Theory, Subjectivity And Environment”, ed. Vallori Rasini, pp. 227–247). In the article I detail how past Umwelten can be studied by applying Jakob von Uexküll’s Umwelt theory and informed by contemporary science. I argue that the methodological challenges raised by the lack of present organisms available for real-time observations and whole-body physiological studies can be partly overcome by making qualified assumptions drawn from relevant knowledge and reconstructing likely Umwelt relations. As groundwork for such studies, I outline some basic assumptions in studies of past, current and future Umwelten, consider methodological issues related to the study of past Umwelten in particular, and present a few empirical assumptions that are informative with regard to the study of past Umwelten in different historical periods. I also discuss the relevance of such studies for current conservation work, specifically contemporary discussions about de-extinction, and for economics conceived of as a branch of ecology in the fashion of ecological economics.

For the roundtable "The Human-Environmental Relationships in Critical Period of Crisis", I have proposed the abstract "Anticipating the societal transformation required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21st century" based on my article by the same name.

Short abstract: Two great challenges face humanity in the 21st century: solving an escalating environmental crisis, while also safeguarding and further improving human living conditions. I present an ecosemiotic framework for the study of societal transformations, enveloping socio-ecological developments.

Long abstract:

My contribution will be based on my published article "Anticipating the societal transformation required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21st century" (see https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/SSS.2021.49.1-2.02). Here I present a ecosemiotic perspective on socio-ecological developments historically and with a view to the future. Two great challenges face humanity in the 21st century: solving an escalating environmental crisis, while also safeguarding and further improving human living conditions. An ecosemiotic framework for the study of societal transformations is presented and political and other normative aspects of what I call transformative semiotics are discussed. This envelops socio-cultural and socio-ecological developments framed in terms of umwelt theory and Deep Ecology. In the long run, developments in human ecology as reflected in our changing relations to non-humans are expressed in the umwelt trajectory of humankind. The question of how the environmental crisis can best be solved is therefore tantamount to the question about what direction the human umwelt trajectory should take in this century. I outline different plausible umwelt scenarios for human ecology in the 21st century, focused on business-as-usual, ecomodernist and Deep Ecology scenarios. In a concluding discussion on technology and sustainability, the scenario development eventually includes a distinction between flexible and inflexible development paths.

Copenhagen (WCEH)

The full program - including abstracts - of the world congress in environmental history, to take place in Copenhagen next week, is available at https://whec2009.ruc.dk/program/pdf.

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Why is it that so many academic events have such high-society profiles? At WCEH2009, lunch + coffee can be bought for 2000 DKK - 400 DKK (around 50 Euros) per day! Such prices discourage participation from low-income countries, and persons (as well as for scholars and students who don't mind - or even prefer - normal standards).

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Same story with hotels (pensions and B&B are more often than not not even mentioned as options - cf. the upcoming world congress in semiotics in La Coruna, Spain).

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As for the program, I am to be found at p.7 (program) and 183 (abstract).

1001 Estranged, Endangered, Extinct. Lessons from the Extinction of the Scandinavian Wolf
Morten Tønnessen, University of Tartu

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After thousands of wolves had been shot, the Scandinavian wolf went extinct. But it reappeared – and in Norway it’s had the status of a protected species since 1972. For many sheep farmers – widely regarded as the clearest antagonists of the wolves – the current wolf management remains a symbol of their modern estrangement. In what way does the estrangement of sheep farmers relate to the equally evident estrangement of the still endangered wolves?

Other Norwegian topics at WHEC2009:

380 Making yourself at home in nature: The conflict between public access to land and leisure cabin ownership in Norway, 1850-2000
Finn Arne Jørgensen, fa@jorgensenweb.net, NTNU

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473 Local knowledge in a global industry: the formation and movement of the science of salmonaquaculture

Stephen Bocking, sbocking@trentu.ca, Trent University

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914 War over Whales: Radical Environmentalist Organizations and Scientific Knowledge in Whaling Controversies
Morten Haugdahl, morten.haugdahl@hf.ntnu.no, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

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959 The standard of living, consumption and the environment in Norway 1726-2006
Kjell Bjørn Minde, kjell.minde@hsh.no, Stord University College