Download A key feature in the path for systemic changes: science meets activism

A key feature in the path for systemic changes: science meets
activism
PhD Scholar
Eicos Program at the Social Psychology Department
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Brazil
I was really euphoric when I received an email from Future
Earth Norway offering me financial support to present my
PhD research at the Ecological Challenges Conference 2017,
organized by the University of Oslo. Being from Brazil,
where unfortunately interdisciplinary scientific events are
still practically non-existent (and so are events promoting
the meeting of academia and activism), for me the happiness with that invitation was
immeasurable.
The conference was very well organized, punctual, with a friendly social atmosphere and a
clear concern for minimizing its own ecological footprint. For example, information was
available about the footprint of the meals (which were vegetarian and healthy), the coffee
breaks used compostable paper cups, and there was good garbage separation for recycling.
Of course there were also some things in this area that could have been improved, and the
organizers did ask for feedback for the future.
The focus of the conference was on how to achieve systemic changes towards
sustainability, and all speeches and panels, from scientists and activists, brought
interesting, different perspectives. We heard about and discussed different philosophical
views on the relationship between human beings and nature, different examples of
autonomous actions that are locally changing their reality, and about the broader political
and economical spheres of action. The discussions following the presentations had many
participants and were extremely rich, with questions and comments that were at the same
time rational and passionate.
What I found more exciting was the possibility to hear about the experiences of colleagues
that have similar beliefs and work in the same general direction that I do, but in such
different ways and contexts. There were there people from Norway, Sweden, UK, Denmark,
Ireland, France, Canada, USA, Portugal, Australia, Spain, Turkey, Finland, Switzerland,
Greece, Germany, Iceland, among others - and Future Earth Norway brought us, five people
from India, Nigeria, and Brazil to represent the Global South - essential if we are going to
think about sustainability globally.
I can say that I really learned a lot and left Oslo with a new network and new inspirations
about how to continue my research in Brazil. Specially, with a desire to turn my work
towards being more engaged than it is. Also, I left with the feeling that scientists must
return more to society - being each day a little more like activists - and that activists could
search in science for a more solid basis of knowledge and sharpened tools for their causes.
So, the Ecological Challenges Conference, supported by Future Earth Norway, definitely
made an important contribution by promoting this integration between activism and
science, which is likely to be a key feature in activating systemic changes towards a
sustainable society.