Can love help us create a better world? Moving from the human to the nonhuman, a panel discussion on love and ecology will see biologists, cultural studies scholars and environmental philosophers explore the importance of love stories in an age of global climate crisis. Do love and care play a role in ecological systems? Can ecological love stories help us understand our relationships to nonhuman others, and motivate action against the global climate crisis, before it’s too late? Or are new narratives and imaginaries no longer enough? This discussion will explore these questions, while also reflecting on how scientists and scholars can contribute to a better culture in the Anthropocene by taking on the role of storyteller.
Speakers:
Dr. Alexa Weik von Mossner – Associate Professor of American Studies, Department of English at the University of Klagenfurt.
Dr. Dennis Müller – Zoo Director and CEO, Zoological Garden Halle
Dr. Walter Köhler – CEO, Terra Mater Factual Studios
Moderated by:
Christian Schwägerl – RiffReporter, Author, Journalist & Biologist
Audiovisual Case Mini-Screening – The Serengeti Rules
Based on the book of the same name by biologist Sean B. Carroll, The Serengeti Rules presents one of the most important but untold science stories of our time—a tale with profound implications for the fate of life on our planet. Beginning in the 1960s, a small band of young scientists headed out into the wilderness, driven by an insatiable curiosity about how nature works. Immersed in some of the most remote and spectacular places on Earth—from the majestic Serengeti to the Amazon jungle; from the Arctic Ocean to Pacific tide pools—they discovered a single set of rules that govern all life. Now in the twilight of their eminent careers, these five unsung heroes of modern ecology share the stories of their adventures, reveal how their pioneering work flipped our view of nature on its head, and give us a chance to reimagine the world as it could and should be.
Guests:
Nicolas Brown – Director, Passion Pictures,
David Guy Elisco – Executive Producer, hhmi Tangled Bank Studios.
The Serengeti Rules Premiere