Earth Day

Just reflecting on Earth Day (apparently it's today, 22 April) having just received this email from Concordia's official channels (no doubt we all did).  The email briefly summarises some activities related to the 'anthropocene' and Concordia, and it has me thinking more broadly, on the role of educational institution in relation to these sorts of issues.

1. Conference at Concordia in May: 'Can We Avoid Anthropogenic Catastrophe?'
http://www.concordia.ca/cunews/main/stories/2016/04/20/can-we-avoid-anthropogenic-catastrophe-conference-environment-conflict-public-health.html

2. Countdown 2 Degrees - Multimedia Installation
The project counts down the exact amount of time before Earth's atmosphere reaches the apocalyptic '2 degrees' (more than what?) of which the planet can no longer easily sustain life on earth.  This project then, is technically acting like a countdown to the world's end.  The project will be projected onto a building at Concordia over the next few days, after sunset.

It's also calculating data in terms of carbon from the year 1750, which as we know Jason Moore would not agree with.  

I'd love to hear what you think about the kind of alarmist, exacting, calculation which the project makes(and note that it plans to recalculate every year with the aim of remaining exact

Check out the project here: http://www.concordia.ca/news/countdown2degrees.html

********

Interesting to see the varying kinds of discourse on environment and anthropocene; within concordia (projects like these ones in relation to projects such as those our class are involved in), within the email even (which mentioned projects on 'ethical consumption' coming out of the business school next to projects on activism).   Concordia as it stands, is a seething mass of potential discourses, a BwO of environmental projects, strategies and world views.