At the 2024 Iain McCalman lecture, Dr Sophie Chao considered how mourning has become a necessary disposition of our times: one that enables us to create and commemorate connections by recognising the vulnerability and finitude of non-human others. Dr Chao drew on philosophies, practices, and protocols of “multispecies mourning” enacted by Indigenous Marind People in the Indonesian-occupied region of West Papua, where mass deforestation and monocrop oil palm expansion are undermining communities’ intimate and ancestral relations to forest landscapes and lifeforms. Learn more about the event her ..read more

How can we balance the need to halt biodiversity loss against human needs for shelter, fuel, and nutrition? Could a more multidisciplinary approach help? This discussion was hosted by Sustainability at Sydney in partnership with the Sydney Environment Institute. Learn more about the event here. Speakers: Associate Professor Ed Couzens, University of Sydney Law School Dr. Tristan Salles, Faculty of Science Dr. Lauren Cole, Taronga Conservation Society Australia Associate Professor Thom van Dooren, Sydney Environment Institute Associate Professor Catherine Grueber, Faculty of Science Dr. E ..read more

In the final episode of the Unearthing Critical Minerals series, Professor Susan Park sits down with Dr Jewellord (Jojo) Nem Singh, an Assistant Professor in International Development, to understand the role the European Union (EU) is playing to reduce the environmental and social harms of critical mineral mining for renewable energy. The EU’s recently launched Critical Raw Minerals Act seeks to build a resilient critical minerals supply chain, strengthen domestic capacity and capability, and establishes a need to build a circular economy. They emphasise the significance of tracking the EU's ..read more

University of Sydney researchers discuss the recent United Nations Global Sustainable Development Report and how multidisciplinary research can help achieve a sustainable world. Learn more about the event here. Timestamps: 03:00 How the University of Sydney supports researchers in working alongside global partners to meet the SDGs - Amanda Sayan 13:20 How is the world performing at the SDGs? - Jamie Miranda 42:15 The impacts of a warming world on our health - Ollie Jay 54:45 The power of science communication - Alice Motion Speakers: Professor Jaime Miranda, University of Sydney Professor Al ..read more

In this instalment of Grounded Conversations, political theorist Alyssa Battistoni joins Sydney Environment Institute researcher Anna Sturman to discuss the practical transformation of unjust systems in relation to climate change and critical scholarship. They will reflect on the role of care and multispecies justice in climate movements, and the different social and political contexts the USA and Australia present for organising towards more just futures. Learn more about the event here. Timestamps: 07:40 The politics of nature: how capitalism values nature 20:35 Australia vs. US climate mov ..read more

In the face of worsening climate disasters, the Sydney Environment Institute's Shoalhaven project seeks to understand the work being done by communities to protect animals during catastrophic fires, and how this can be better supported.As a way of reflecting back the wealth of information community members generously shared, the research team wrote and recorded a series of vignettes incorporating key themes and findings of the project. Each story is a fictionalised representation of real events, and is an amalgamation of community members’ experiences. The characters are made up, but their exp ..read more

How can we adapt all sectors of society to respond to climate pressures? In the first event of SEI’s Climate Adaptation series, leading political scientist Daniel Aldrich delves into the meaning of climate adaptation and the role of social capital in building resilience.Timestamps00:50 Introduction: SEI Climate Adaptation series - Justin See04:15 What is climate adaptation and its necessity?13:00 The hesitancy towards transformative adaptation16:15 Why is social capital critical for building resilience especially with mental health?28:35 Social infrastructure: creating spaces for building comm ..read more

Property and ownership are at the core of global crises so how can we rethink our relationship with property and redistribute it in the interests of justice and the flourishing of life?Timestamps00:46 Introduction: unpacking property from the perspective of multispecies justice – Dinesh Wadiwel4:51 Abolition for alternative geographies of abundance - Rosemary-Claire Collard and Jessica Dempsey15:16 Whenua/Land is freedom, land is servitude – Christine Winter26:20 The state of agricultural extension labour on biodiverse property - Rebecca Pearse39:33 Revisiting the problem of animals as propert ..read more

Hear from a multidisciplinary range of experts as they assess the stability and resilience of our electricity grid in the face of increasing climate disasters.Panel 3: Using the planning framework to build resilience: a nationalperspective“Will Australia’s current state planning frameworks build resilience in the future grid 2040?”Timestamps00:48 Introduction and Renewable Energy Zones – Rosemary Lyster11:42 Resilience planning frameworks in Victoria – Anne Kallies28:42 Climate resilience and assessment in NSW – Stephanie Vatala48:30 Planning laws and natural hazards in Queensland - Philippa E ..read more

SEI Postdoctoral Fellow on the FoodLab Sydney project, Kate Johnston, explores the potential of care to address our broken food systems and inform our approach to designing food systems of the future. Care is not usually associated with our food system, which tends to be “reduced to neutral (or amoral) transactional relationships.” (Giraud 2021). Yet it is worth considering what our food system might look like if a care ethic was central. A care ethic promotes collaboration, peer support and generosity, creating an alternative to an individualistic and aggressive marketplace. It also reco ..read more