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Imagining a Different Future Overcoming Barriers to Climate Justice Conference, Arts & Community Events 8-10 February 2018, Hobart, Tasmania Rapporteur’s report 2 Acknowledgement: This report of Imagining a Different Future: Overcoming Barriers to Climate Justice Conference, Arts & Community Events, 8-10 February 2018 was prepared by Lauren Hargrave, Ashleigh McCoach, Frances Medlock, Kate Raffety, Brook Dambacher, Rebecca Byrnes and Matthew Stilwell of the International Justice Initiative, a public interest initiative of the University of Tasmania’s Faculty of Law, and reflects their views. http://www.utas.edu.au/law/left-quick-links/international-justice-initiative All enquiries to: [email protected] Imagining a Different Future: Overcoming Barriers to Climate Justice Conference, Arts & Community Events 3 Table of contents Opening and Welcome to Country .......................................................... 4 Theme 1: Climate Justice – World Views, Justice & Ethics ....................... 6 Keynote Session .................................................................................................................................. 6 Neoliberalism/Growth ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Moral Corruption/Anthropocene and Ethics/Transition .................................................................. 16 Justice, Duties, Differentiation ........................................................................................................................ 18 Theme 2: Barriers – Science, Governance, Economics & Equity ............. 20 Keynote Session ................................................................................................................................ 20 Science and Knowledge ..................................................................................................................................... 25 Law, Constitutionalism, The State ................................................................................................................ 29 Panel discussion: Human Rights and Climate Change ......................................................................... 34 Keynote Session ................................................................................................................................ 37 Adaptation ............................................................................................................................................................... 43 Radical Critiques .................................................................................................................................................. 46 Panel Discussion: Climate Litigation ........................................................................................................... 51 Theme 3: Strategies .............................................................................. 55 Keynote Session ................................................................................................................................ 55 Governance/Law .................................................................................................................................................. 61 Panel Discussion: The Justice of Climate Intervention ........................................................................ 66 Renewables, IP and Technology .................................................................................................................... 69 Local/Cities/Resilience ..................................................................................................................................... 72 Activism 1 ................................................................................................................................................................ 77 Regional Perspectives ........................................................................................................................................ 82 Arts & Climate Change ....................................................................................................................................... 86 Media/Psychology ............................................................................................................................................... 90 Activism 2 ................................................................................................................................................................ 93 Nature and Place .................................................................................................................................................. 96 Panel Discussion: Film & Impact ................................................................................................................... 99 Community event ............................................................................... 102 Imagining a Different Future: Overcoming Barriers to Climate Justice Conference, Arts & Community Events 4 Opening and Welcome to Country Jan Linehan and Peter Lawrence (University of Tasmania), in their capacity as Co-Convenors of the Conference, welcomed all guests to the Conference. Jan introduced Aunty Verna Nichols, and acknowledged the traditional custodians of the land on which the Conference is taking place, as well as indigenous elders past and present. Aunty Verna Nichols gave the Welcome to Country. She respectfully acknowledged the past and present owners of the land on which we stand, acknowledging the life of those who lived on the land, including their history, storytelling, and hunting on the land. She honoured this history, as well as the indigenous people today, and those who support indigenous people now. She spoke about the relation of climate and country, the connection between people, and the connection of nature and place to art. As an aboriginal artist, Aunty Verna viewed this connection between people, nature and art with pride. She concluded by welcoming all to the Conference. Dianne Nicol (Provost, University of Tasmania) officially opened the Conference on behalf of the University of Tasmania, thanking all guests for attending. She congratulated Jan and Peter on the event, noting the achievements of University of Tasmania Law Faculty staff and alumni in the area of climate justice. Dianne noted her particular research area of law and bioscience, recognising the synergy between those areas, noting there are also a number of synergies between areas in climate justice. The interdisciplinary nature of science and law is important, and developing these together is crucial. Further, the inclusion of ethics and philosophy in these areas is relevant, for example, in relation to the patentability of genes. She noted that intellectual property is similarly important in the development of climate change law. Interdisciplinary work is clearly important in the area of climate change, as it requires understanding of policy, decision making processes, and climate science. She suggested that to build effective climate regimes, we need to take an interdisciplinary approach, and include international legal and policy experts. Dianne expressed her hope that such an integrated approach will be seen in Australia in the near future. The Conference could have a role in interjecting elements of ethics and justice into the discussion of climate change in Australia more broadly. This interdisciplinary approach is reflected in the Conference program, such as the public talk on Thursday, the community event on Saturday and the involvement of musicians and artists in the Conference program. She concluded wishing all participants a productive and enjoyable conference. Peter Lawrence spoke briefly to two key themes of the Conference. Firstly, the engagement of people across disciplines. This is in response to the urgent need to look at the problem of climate change differently, including involving the community. Reflecting this concern of where things are in relation to climate change, Peter stressed the need to engage different disciplines, including musicians and artists. Secondly, in relation to the title of the Conference, Peter expanded on the role of imagination. Imagination is vital to ethical action in relation to climate change – it is integral to the human condition, as without imagination, one loses their ability to make choices. Therefore, imagining a different future allows us to Imagining a Different Future: Overcoming Barriers to Climate Justice Conference, Arts & Community Events 5 make ethical choices in achieving that future. Peter then thanked the various sponsors and contributors to the Conference, with a special mention of Margaret Otlowski, former Dean of the Law Faculty. Jan Linehan briefly noted the importance of creativity in the discussion of climate change, and how the Conference is an opportunity for the collective creative project of various disciplines coming together. She encouraged participants to reflect on creative thinking within their respective fields, and to use their creative thinking skills in coming together during the Conference. Imagining a Different Future: Overcoming Barriers to Climate Justice Conference, Arts & Community Events 6 Theme 1: Climate Justice – World Views, Justice & Ethics Climate Justice – World Views, Justice & Ethics explored a range of issues about our outlook towards the world and the role of ethics and justice in relation to climate