the Spring Creek Project Mission:
The challenge of the Spring Creek Project is to bring together the practical wisdom of the environmental sciences, the clarity of philosophical analysis, and the creative, expressive power of the written word, to find new ways to understand and re-imagine our relation to the natural world.
Upcoming Events
Thursday, February 25, 7 pm
Spring Creek Cafe: "What are our obligations to future generations?"
with Michael Nelson and Kathleen Dean Moore
Corvallis Benton County Public Library, free and open to all
News
Kathleen Dean Moore video now on-line:
Spring Creek's director, Kathleen Moore gave this talk, " To Save the Future: New Alliances of Science and Ethics" in the OSU Geosciences Winter Seminar Series: Earth System Science for a Healthy Planet, in January, 2010
Vandana Shiva’s lecture video now available on-line:
Vandana Shiva spoke at OSU in October, 2009 as the final speaker in our symposium "Earth Democracy: Women, Justice, and Ecology."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Columbia River Quorum: Bringing Science and Moral Imagination Together to Communicate about Climate Destabilization
Climate scientists warn us that environmental degradation and climate destabilization are fast exceeding society’s rate of response. But the bare facts have not moved people to significant action. Can we do a better, more effective job of alerting the public to both the physical, cultural dangers of environmental degradation, and our moral responsibilities to the future by combining the power scientific information with the moral values that are embedded in a culture’s literature and worldviews?
That question was the impetus for the Columbia River Quorum, convened in March 2009 by the Spring Creek Project with support from the US Forest Service. Held at Menucha Retreat Center in the Columbia River Gorge, the gathering of sixteen environmental scientists, social scientists, philosophers, communications experts, and creative writers explored possible synergies between the world of the environmental sciences and the moral world as it is expressed in a culture’s literature and its moral philosophy. The symposium was organized by OSU philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore and marine biologist Mark Hixon. Other OSU participants included atmospheric scientist Andreas Schmittner, forest sociologist John Bliss, and Forest Service geomorphologist Fred Swanson.
Conference participants’ ongoing efforts will focus in these areas:
New Partnerships:
- Increase the role of the arts in climate communication
- Engage philosophers in articulating the “Second Premise”—the place of values—in shaping climate responses
New Messages:
- Find effective language for discussing climate disruption
- Create new metaphors and stories to promote new social arrangements
- Tell the stories of ordinary heroes
New Methods:
- Understand how ‘framing’ can help transcend polarities
- Use new media such as eco-wikis, social networking, and web portals to reach broader audiences.
Through specific initiatives the Quorum participants hope to create a new context for climate education work, one that provides new leadership, new collaborations, and new conduits for funding.
Back row: Bob Frodeman, Scott Russell Sanders, Steve Vanderheiden, Andreas Schmittner, Hank Green, Fred Swanson, Charles Goodrich
Front row: Kathleen Dean Moore, Carly Johnson, Michael Nelson, Pam Sturner, Alison Deming, Kathie Olsen, Michaela Hammer, John Bliss, Mark Hixon
