Tue, October 9, 2012 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM UBC Point Grey Campus. Free. Environment and Society Series
Climate, Ecology and Politics: How Unconventional Natural Gas will Reshape BC
Karena Shaw, Political Science, University of Victoria
Room 212, Geography Building (1984 West Mall), UBC
5-6:30 pm, with reception to follow
Climate change is already reshaping ecological dynamics across the globe. Mitigating it will require a profound transformation of the energy systems that fuel our societies, which in turn will also reshape both ecological and political dynamics across the globe. Although Karena Shaw (mostly) agrees with this, what it might mean and what is at stake in relation to it in particular jurisdictions is far less clear. This talk explores what is at stake now in British Columbia in relation to this wider context, focusing on the decision to rapidly develop a Liquefied Natural Gas industry drawing on enormous deposits of unconventional natural gas in the Northeast of the province. The scale and potential of BC’s unconventional gas resources are profound; their impacts will be equally so. With particular attention on the one hand to how BC is situated in a global economic (as well as ecological) system, and on the other to how particularities of BC’s economy, ecology and society have intersected with and influenced that system, Karena Shaw develops an argument that how we proceed in relation to this industry—much more than, for example, the Northern Gateway pipeline—will determine the future ecological, social and political character of the province, and beyond.
This academic event hosted by Green College is open to the University community and general public without charge. For more information, contact gc.events@ubc.ca or visit www.greencollege.ubc.ca
Those interested in attending dinner at Green College after the event are asked to purchase a dinner ticket at least by noon the business day before. Contact 604-822-8660 or visit the Green College website at www.greencollege.ubc.ca for further details