Sustainability Roundup [19 May 2023]

News, Events, Links, Jobs (A youth climate activist confronts fossil capital, the university role on plant-based diets)

Do you want your recent publication, job posting, or recent sustainability news to be featured in the Roundup? Send a link or message to rcsc@ru.nl or rcsc@substack.com

News

• Scottish youth climate activist, Laura MacDonald, confronted the Norwegian supported fossil extraction company Equinor at the All Group Meeting: “If you continue on this path, millions of people will die. You know this.”

• The First Year of AI College Ends in Ruin: There’s an arms race on campus, and professors are losing. The Atlantic 

• US Supreme court upholds state rules on improved animal welfare standards, potentially transforming the pork industry. 

• Political wrangling continues over the EU proposed pesticide reduction plans 

• According to student members, the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), the Hague, has committed to unlink all research funding from fossil interests.

Events

• Transhumanism Symposium New Humanity  25 May 3pm CC2 Mercaptorpad 1, Nijmegen. On the possibilities and ethical implications of transhumanistic technology and artificial intelligence, while also considering the potential risks and challenges of these emerging technologies.  

• International Biodiversity Day Full day of events, Radboud University, 22 May. Reflect together on life on earth in all its richness – and vulnerability. 

• Radboud Westhoff Lecture 2023, 31 May. On the importance of nature and landscape for both our physical and mental health. 

• Diversity Day: Significance of Role Models 23 May, 1-3pm Radboud University, about the importance of role models from different perspectives.  

• The Radboud Sustainability Interest Group has a series of upcoming meetings:

  • 23 May 15:00-16:30 Location, Pop-up Forest address: 

  • 29^th June, 15:00-16:30 Location Tva1 Docenten Lounge .

  • Workshop Nature Inclusive 31 May, 4-5pm Radboud University Can reflecting on the human-nature relationship change our current higher educational system?  

• Rethinking Economics Reading group on ‘Sequestred Sustainability’, 25 May, 12.30-1.30pm, the Yard Radboud café.

  Sequestered Sustainability

•  Demonstration for wildlife passages in Hoge Veluwe Park, 20 May, 1-4pm, Hoge Veluwe Park, Protest to ask to re-open the wildlife passages and ecoducts. 

• Painting Mother Nature, 21 May, 6-10pm, De Klinker, Nijmegen, Collective painting session on giant canvas.

Sustainability Links

• Universities should lead on the plant-based dietary transition. Opinion in The Lancet

• The Beyond Growth Conference hosted by the European Commission ran from 15-17th May, and featured spirited debate about the future of growth oriented economies. Many video recording of the events are available.

• Farmland practices are driving bird population decline across Europe. PNAS 

• Food empowerment project scholarship contest: writing/illustration contest open to all to explain ideas of food justice and animal liberation. 

• Learn About Transforming Food Systems through Agroecology: Two Online Fall Courses from the Institute for Agroecology 

Sustainability Jobs

• Postdoc researcher, Sustainability, technology and society (0.8 FTE), Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) The link suggests the post is closed, but it is still open, contact Dr. Rebecca Moody: moody@essb.eur.nl

• Two PhDships UNI Barcelona ( short deadline!)

  • The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Environmental Sustainability and Human Wellbeing

  • Degrowth Policies and Politics

• Postdoctoral position on the justice dimensions of urban agricultural intensification (Norway and the Netherlands)