04. Bridging concerns for justice and speed: the dilemmas and tradeoffs of accelerated transitions Methylmercury in the Food Chain due to Global Ubiquitous Atmospheric Deposition from Coal Combustion
Sessions
Beyond crisis/Beyond normal
A social science and humanities conference on sustainability
Organized by NTNU Energy Team Society
27 and 28 September 2023 | DIGS (pdf), Trondheim |
Registration deadline: 15 August
Thematic sessions
The conference has the following thematic sessions:
Date: 27 September
Time: 13.30 - 15.00 and 15.30 - 17.00
Session 1: 13.30 - 15.00
- Towards a research agenda for just transitions under conditions of acceleration (Skjølsvold and Solbu, NTNU)
- Accelerating transitions towards sustainability: a systematic and critical review (Yang, UiO)
- The contested ‘good’ of acceleration: the case of PtX (Kirkegaard, DTU)
- Series of configurational movements: Making sense of accelerated transitions and intervention points (Hyysalo, Aalto University)
- Sustainability transitions to circular cities: experimenting between urban vitalism and mechanism (Coenen, HVL)
Session 2: 15.30 - 17.00
- Accelerating to where? Understanding temporalities in sustainability transitions (Christley, KTH)
- Combining perspectives on temporality and justice: Norwegian dual strategy vs. Scottish fast track energy transition (Karlsen, NTNU)
- Rhythms and Socio-technical Transitions: Time for a Vehicle-to-Grid Trial in the United Kingdom (Meelen, Utrecht University)
- Fast but problematic: Social and environmental implications of private PV-battery systems versus community-based solutions (Ornetzeder, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
- Moving beyond speed, responsibility and justice concerns while accelerating sustainability transitions (Jolly, Nordland Research Institute)
- Collaborative systems for addressing urgent sustainability challenges: Lessons from the 2015-2022 refugee waves in Sweden (Calderon, SLU - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)
Over the last years, we have seen the rise of distinct academic literatures that on the one hand focuses on accelerating innovation for sustainability transitions, and which on the other hand broadly engages with themes of energy justice, just transitions and energy democracy. As energy and sustainability transitions increases in scope, their complexity also increases. This means that we are likely to see an increase in un-anticipated consequences across systems, sectors, territories, and societal interests. For scholars, this means that the links and tensions between discussions about speed and justice will intensify. With some notable exceptions, however, there is a lack of both conceptual and empirical engagement across the literatures on acceleration and justice.
This session seeks to bring innovation-oriented transition scholars and justice-oriented transition scholars into a critical dialogue through discussing conceptual and empirical developments. The underlying assumption is that there might be blind spots on both sides of this schism, and that realizing a future that is both just and sustainable requires strong efforts to move beyond the status quo of both transition studies and policy making. We intend to organize the session as a mini workshop where the ambition is to develop a co-authored perspective piece for an academic journal based on the contributions. We thus want to invite contributions that have this outcome in mind, and presentations should aim to introduce questions and issues that could be of relevance for such a format. This means that we are inviting papers that draw on recent empirical findings, but just as much conceptually and theoretically oriented contributions that can help develop a new research agenda at the intersection between innovation-oriented and justice-oriented transition scholars.
Examples of themes that presenters could engage with include, but are not limited to:
- Technologies of transition and their implications for speed and justice: scale, complexity, ownership models, business models etc.
- Accelerating what? The phase-out and phase-in of old and new technologies, old and new principles of societal organization.
- Justice and acceleration across systems, sectors, societal domains, and interests.
- Developments within energy justice, just transitions, energy democracy and their implications for the speed of transitions.
- Developments within accelerated transitions, and their justice implications.
- Critiquing participation, democracy, and justice: what are the limits to participation in advancing transitions?
- Critiquing speed: How fast is fast enough? When is slowing down feasible? What does slow down mean?
Organizers
Gisle Solbu, NTNU. Department of interdisciplinary studies of culture
Tomas Moe Skjølsvold, NTNU. Department of interdisciplinary studies of culture
Contact: Tomas Moe Skjølsvold
Poster session
The conference will also have an open poster session where participants are invited to present any sustainability related social science and humanities research. Guidelines for poster and poster presentation (pdf).
Lynne Elizabeth Peterson
Methylmercury in the food chain is a serious global public health concern and is largely mitigable. Coal combustion is responsible for most atmospheric mercury in the food chain. Fish consumption is the primary exposure to methylmercury in humans and the ecosystem, producing dangerous neurotoxic effects. Detrimental ongoing neurological deficits can result from fish eating during pregnancy: methylmercury crosses the blood-brain barrier and may potentially disrupt normal neurodevelopment.
The tension: global coal combustion is on the rise. Mitigation technologies to prevent atmospheric mercury from entering global circulation from coal combustion can reduce emissions by more than 90 %. Policies and regulations are in place, however, the recent decade demonstrated how fragile some of these policies are under various political regimes. This research seeks to understand the phenomenon of the global lack of constancy in response to mitigation potential via the latest technologies available. Instead, regulatory agencies have over-relied on Fish Consumption Advisories when real gains in preventing the risk of mercury in fish could have been attained.
Ontological and epistemological factors will be explored for their role in the parsing of terms that might help address this detrimental, yet solvable problem, through a justice lens. The expected outcome is that governance structures are relying too heavily upon ineffective and unjust FCAs, which in addition to not protecting human health, do nothing to protect the ecosystem.
Playing, doing, thinking, arguing, working, walking: call for alternative format sessions
The conference will also allocate one timeslot for parallel sessions using alternative formats. We welcome workshops, activities, co-creation exercises, innovative discussions, brainstorming formats, and whatever other creative initiatives you can come up with.
Beyond crises/Beyond Normal acknowledges that grappling with the key challenges of our era requires creative engagement beyond standard knowledge production and sharing through academic presentations. We will therefore allocate one timeslot for parallel sessions using alternative formats.
We welcome workshops, activities, co-creation exercises, innovative discussions, brainstorming formats, and whatever other creative initiatives you can come up with. The only condition is that activities should be clearly engaging with or be relevant for researchers working on themes of sustainability, climate change, transitions, and energy from a social science or humanities perspective.
While we are open to any good idea that offers an alternative to the conventional panel of paper presentations, we suggest keeping to the following guidelines:
- The session should require little or no preparation from the audience/participants. People should be able to decide to join on the spot.
- The session's success should not depend on the number of participants. Design your session such that it can be successful with 5 persons as well as with 30.
- Allow for both active and passive participation. Allowing mere spectators is likely to be more inclusive as not everyone may want to be ‘on stage’. At the same time, of course make active participation as attractive as you can.
- The activity should be concluded in 90 minutes. Also, mind that the venue will not allow for extensive preparation of the rooms.
- Make clear whether you want this to be an academic exercise, or something that welcomes audience of any kind
- Have an idea for a side-event, an outdoors event, a field trip, an evening event, or any other activity? Do not hesitate to reach out, and we will happily discuss and help!
Describe your plan for the session in 200-300 words. Also describe specific needs for the session (but bear in mind that anything beyond a conference room with AV equipment might be difficult for us to arrange).
Alternative format sessions
The climate fresk workshop
SSH meets society
Tender Cartographies: Mapping felt experiences of place in transition times
Non-Violent Direct Action Training Session with Scientist Rebellion Trondheim
Imaginative and anticipatory co-creation for transformation – pros, cons and unknowns (collective sharing and brainstorming)
Identifying Sustainable Development Goal interlinkages: the case of solar photovoltaics
Organizing committee
-
Kim-Andre Myhre Arntsen PhD Candidate
+4790867311 kim.a.m.arntsen@ntnu.no Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture -
Shaua Fui Chen PhD Candidate
+47-73559959 shaua.f.chen@ntnu.no Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture -
Zane Datava PhD student
+4794277524 zane.datava@ntnu.no -
Franziska Gehlmann PhD student
franziska.gehlmann@ntnu.no -
Sara Heidenreich Senior researcher
+47-73591779 sara.heidenreich@ntnu.no Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture -
Sigurd Hilmo Lundheim
sigurd.h.lundheim@ntnu.no Department of Sociology and Political Science -
Tomas Moe Skjølsvold Professor of STS and Director of FME NTRANS
+47-73550189 +4793634270 tomas.skjolsvold@ntnu.no Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture