From Spiritual Traditions to Collective Action: Insights from the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, Thea Ormerod

Thea Ormerod discussed lessons learned by the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change in seeking to mobilise people to take action. The organisation delivers coherent messages across a range of faith-based groups and has learned the value of nonviolent resistance and galvanising action by recognising common ‘villains’ in the fight. Real transformations are achieved when large groups of people are inspired towards winnable goals, and we succeed in change where we are connected, mutually supportive and combining our creative energies to create a better future

This talk was held at:

Imagining a Different Future

Climate Justice Conference

The University of Tasmania with the support of the University of Utrecht Ethics Institute hosted a multidisciplinary conference examining the barriers to responding to climate change, implementing climate justice, and proposing ways forward. Among the keynote speakers were Law Faculty Professors Jan McDonald and Ben Richardson. The Law Faculty's Dr Peter Lawrence co-convened the conference with Jan Linehan. The conference took place in Hobart from 8-9 Feb 2018.

Despite the Paris Agreement, there are real concerns the prevailing neoliberal economic and political model, particularly with the move to more insular, nationalistic, fragile politics, cannot respond effectively to climate change and excludes key considerations such as ethics and justice. Videos and Podcasts from the conference are available on the Knowledge Hub.