Current efforts towards a transition to a sustainable, secure future are focusing primarily on mitigating climate change. While that focus is both essential and long overdue, it tends to divert public attention away from other challenges humanity is facing in the context of the Anthropocene. The pandemic and the increasing shortfall on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have demonstrated that other complex, diverse and interconnected threats to human security call for more comprehensive and holistic countermeasures. A new report by the UNDP on those threats acknowledges that worldwide, six out of seven people consider their security threatened. The report recognises that the threats are anthropogenic and driven by our ecological overshoot. It calls for counter-measures that are informed by greater solidarity within humanity and with the biosphere, and that enlist the active participation of citizens.

Deep Adaptation is a new strategic concept designed to address the Anthropocene polycrisis comprehensively, with the determination to reduce harm and not to make matters worse. I will introduce a case example and findings from a recent workshop to illustrate how an intentional community engaged in the agenda of Deep Adaptation.

The Natural Resources & Environmental Studies Institute (NRESi) at UNBC hosts a weekly lecture series at the Prince George campus. Anyone from the university or wider community with interest in the topic area is welcome to attend. Go to http://www.unbc.ca/nres-institute/colloquium-webcasts to view the presentation remotely.

This event is funded by the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation. The Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation is a non-profit charitable foundation acting as Trustee of the Habitat Conservation Trust. HCTF came into existence because its major contributors (hunters, anglers, trappers, and guide-outfitters) were willing to pay for conservation work above and beyond that expected by government for basic management of wildlife and fish resources. 

Past NRESi colloquium presentations and special lectures can be viewed on our video archive, available here.

Please Note: NRESi colloquium presentations this semester will be available to attend both in-person as well as online. However, those wishing to attend in-person must wear a mask as per Provincial Health Officer (PHO) orders and University policy. Thank you for your understanding.