George Marshall – Wired to Ignore Climate Change
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by UBC Reads Sustainability. As part of his new book tour: Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change, George Marshall spoke at UBC Reads Sustainability, which brings well-known sustainability authors to UBC’s Vancouver campus to engage in a campus-wide discussion. It is part book club, part lecture series, and part opportunity to learn beyond the classroom. Above all, it’s a forum for students across disciplines to discuss sustainability issues. Why, after 20 years of discussion on climate change, do so many people ignore the science and evidence of their own eyes? UBC Reads Sustainability’s first speaker of 2014, George Marshall, draws on the social psychology of climate change to tackle this question.
Marshall’s UBC Reads Sustainability talk explores how a deeper understanding of the psychological obstacles to the question can lead us to find new and effective ways to think, talk, and act. His talk will challenge the bipartisan barriers of politics and worldview and build conviction based on common values and shared purpose. Marshall asks questions such as:
- Why does the issue of climate change not trigger our instinctive sense of threat?
- Why are the victims of extreme weather events sometimes less willing to accept or talk about climate change?
- Have cultural and cognitive biases distorted policy and the international negotiations?
- How do climate change experts cope with what they know – and why do they fly so much?!
- How can a deeper understanding of the psychological obstacles lead us to find new and effective ways to think, talk and act?
Biography
George Marshall is the founder of Climate Outreach and Information Network. He is a leading European expert in climate change communications who over the past 25 years has worked at all levels of the environmental movement. His clients have included trades unions, coal mining communities, human rights organisations, faith groups, Rotary Club, and politicians. He is a lead advisor to the Welsh Government.
UBC Library Resources
Marshall, G. (2014). Don’t even think about it : why our brains are wired to ignore climate change. New York, Bloomsbury Publishing. [Available soon at UBC Woodward Library]
Redon, R., Ishikawa, S., Fitch, K. R., Feuk, L., Perry, G. H., Andrews, T. D., … & Hurles, M. E. (2006). Global variation in copy number in the human genome. Nature, 444(7118), 444-454. [Available online]
Venter, J. C., Adams, M. D., Myers, E. W., Li, P. W., Mural, R. J., Sutton, G. G., … & Beasley, E. (2001). The sequence of the human genome. Science, 291(5507), 1304-1351. [Available online]
UBC Research Guides
Alice Goffman – On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the Department of Sociology at UBC.
On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City
The War on Crime didn’t just send millions of Black young men to prison and return them home with felony convictions. It created a little known surveillance state in America’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Goffman moved into one such neighborhood in college and spent the next six years documenting the routine stops, searches, raids, and beatings that young men negotiate as they come of age. In what she calls “the fugitive life”, the fear of capture and confinement has come to permeate everyday activities, not just for young men on probation or running from a low level warrant, but for their partners, families, and law-abiding neighbors.
This fugitive life is the hidden counterpoint to mass incarceration, and the vivid picture Goffman paints is a grim one. But for the first time in four decades, policy analysts believe we have entered a unique reform moment where real change in drug laws and sentencing guidelines may be possible. How can we transform the criminal justice system from an occupying force into a source of public safety? How can we repair the damage the War on Crime has wrought in poor Black communities, and help people heal? What could an alternative system look like?
More on this topic:
Goffman, A. (2014). On the run: Fugitive life in an American city. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Available at UBC Library]
Goffman, A. (2009). On the run: Wanted men in a philadelphia ghetto. American Sociological Review, 74(3), 339-357. doi:10.1177/000312240907400301. [Link]
UBC Library Research Guides
The Mayans – Past and Present – An Academic Lecture at UBC
As part of the Mexico Fest 2014’s “Yucatan – Popular Art” exhibition at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, an academic lecture will be presented at UBC Robson Square (800 Robson St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 3B7).
Carlos Eduardo Bojorquez Urzaiz
Dr. Carlos Eduardo Bojorquez Urzaiz is a writer, anthropologist and Mexican historian. Dr. Bojorquez-Urzais is currently Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Autonomous University of Yucatan since 1976. He served as Director of the School from 1985 to 1993. He received his Ph.D. in History at the University of Habana.
Dr. Jose Antonio Cutz-Medina is a distinguished professor and educator, who is recognized for his work in maintaining the roots of Mayan culture through his efforts in giving Mayan dignitaries space and opportunities for dialogue between ancient knowledge residing in Mexico’s Yucatan region. His efforts have connected the struggling people of Kanxoc with its surrounding municipalities.
Dr. Jennifer Preece – Citizen Science: Information, Technology and People
Join us on Wednesday, September 24th, 2014, 4:00-5:00PM, at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre’s Dodson Room (Rm 302) as Dr. Jennifer Preece gives a talk on Citizen Science: Information, Technology and People, as part of the iSchool at UBC’s colloquia series.
Dr. Jennifer Preece is the Dean of the College of Information Studies, a Professor at the University of Maryland. and a member of the University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab. She researches online communities and is known for her work on what makes such a community successful, and how usability factors interact with socialibility in online communities. Her research interests are in: computer-mediated communication, human-computer interaction, online communities, management and design of social media, motivation for participation in social media, mobile communication
Her two most recent books are:
- Preece, J. (2000). Online Communities: Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
- Preece, J. Rogers, Y. & Sharp, H. (2007) Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction. 2nd Edition. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Wednesday, September 24th, 2014, 4:00-5:00PM, at the Dodson Room (Rm #302),
at the the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (1961 East Mall, University of British Columbia)
Mexico Fest 2014: Yucatán Exhibit – Popular Art
The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and the Consulado General de México en Vancouver are pleased to bring to UBC campus this unique exhibition from Yucatán, México as part of the city’s celebration of Mexico Fest 2014. Located in Southeastern Mexico, on the north part of the Yucatán Peninsula, Yucatán is bordered by the states of Campeche to the southwest, Quintana Roo to the southeast and the Gulf of Mexico lies off its north coast.
In Yucatan there are more than 150,000 people who in one form or another make their living from Arts and Crafts mostly by participating in their production or comercialization. In a population of 1,900,000 inhabitants, we are looking at almost 8% of the population being dependant on Arts and Crafts. Aside from their economic contribution, this promotes and maintains local culture.
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For the Department for Visual Arts of the Ministry for Culture and Yucatan Arts, this exhibition represents an opportunity to share and spread the important work of the Yucatan artisans. Arts and Crafts, embroidery, goldsmithing and wood carving are cultural expressions that significantly contribute to the cultural identity of the people of Yucatan. There is nothing more emblematic about this state than the “hipil” (dress), a “terno” (three piece suit) or woven hammock. The study of these objects helps us better understand the history of Yucatan, its natural resources and above all; the different habits and traditions that make up the everyday lives of these people.
For more information about this exhibition, please contact Allan Cho, Community Engagement Librarian at the UBC Library’s Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.