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Research Raps
These scholarly chat sessions, held irregularly through the semester (interrupted by the pandemic but recently revived), cover topics of interest to faculty, grad students, and others engaged in research (loosely defined as exploration and discovery). The goal is to contribute to a “collective train of thought” around environment, the arts/humanities, and the current global situation. The focus is sometimes selected/curated readings, and sometimes a guest speaker.
Speaker Series
EcoCultureLab hosts and co-hosts visits by speakers, artists, and activists working at the confluence of environment and the arts. In the last few years, speakers have included philosopher and anthropologist of science Bruno Latour, eco-activist and author Starhawk, musician and eco-philosopher David Rothenberg, eco-artist/designer Natalie Jeremijenko, environmental writer and critic John Elder, and numerous others. Events have also included film screenings and panel discussions. Videos of some of these are available on the Videos Page.
Media+
Environment
This open-access, peer-reviewed, international scholarly journal (and community) grew out of EcoCultureLab’s collaborations with a network of scholars working at the intersections of media studies and environment. It is published by the University of California Press and supported by a consortium of institutional sponsors including EcoCultureLab. See mediaenviron.org.
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Ecotopia Burlington
What would an ecotopian Burlington look and feel like? An ecotopian Vermont, an ecotopian Lake Champlain Basin? EcoCultureLab’s Burlington Ecotopian Working Group has organized meetings to discuss this. We hope to grow our network into a larger, more encompassing and inclusive, community-wide conversation about turning the Greater Burlington Area into a viable life-region that models what oour world can look like once it has passed through what Adam Frank calls the “sustainability bottleneck.” This is part of the driving vision of EcoCultureLab. Please join us.
Burlington Pheno(meno)logical Clock
How do we become better observers of the impacts of global processes (climatic, ecological, political-economic) on the phenological (eco-seasonal) and phenomenological (sensorial-experiential) worlds around us? How do we enhance our collective sensorium to enable us to redirect those processes toward more viable futures?
This project is being developed in collaboration with the Burlington PLACE Project and the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. It is inspired by Natalie Jeremijenko's Phenological xClock, with interactive crowdsourcing elements.
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EarthDay+50
EcoCultureLab marked the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day — a day when some 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums in mass demonstrations and "teach-ins" on the environment — by working to organize a week-long public Teach-In of open classes, panels, exhibitions, and related activities. Then came the pandemic. In the end, we collaborated on a series of virtual events. See the blog entries from April 20-24, 2020, for details.
Eco-media Mentoring
In 2017-18, EcoCulture Lab partnered with Finn Yarbrough of Earth House Productions to offer creative and technical support to students and faculty who are using audio-visual media to explore socio-ecological relationships. Click for information on some of the projects. While the partnership was successful, we are looking for funds to continue it.
Feverish World Follow-Up Search Conference
How can Burlington respond creatively to climate change? This mini search conference considered what we can do in the Burlington area to continue to meet the social & ecological challenges ahead.
Feverish World: Arts & Sciences of Collective Survival
A symposium and public arts event exploring ways to meet the challenges of the coming 50 years. For information, click on links elsewhere on this site.
6X Howl
The BASTA "6X Howl" was an artistic, musical, and culinary event accompanying UVM First Year Read author Elizabeth Kolbert's September, 2016, Ira Allen lecture on "The Sixth Extinction." Click here to read Rachel Jones's account from Seven Days.