Conference 2019: Energy and Scale
Trans-scalar and multi-scalar interactions in energy transitions
Conference
Banff Centre (19-21 Sept)
International Conference convened by Energy In Society, Calgary Institute for the Humanities (CIH), University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), Berlin, Germany
Banff Centre, Banff
Preliminary Program
Thursday, 19 September 2019
13:15 – 13:30 Land Acknowledgement & Indigenous Welcome
13:30 – 14:45 Panel 1: Thinking Scale (Chair: Cora Voyageur, University of Calgary)
- Jürgen Renn (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin Germany): History of Science in the Anthropocene
- Petra Dolata (University of Calgary, Energy In Society): Energy History and Scale
15:00 – 16:15 Panel 2: Catalysts for Change (Chair: Roberta Rice)
- Benjamin Steininger (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin Germany): Molecular planetary technology: Industrial catalysis as a model case for questions of scale in the Anthropocene
- John R. Parkins (University of Alberta): Ownership structures, procedural justice and distributive justice options for wind power development in Alberta
- Joshua DiCaglio (Texas A&M University): Rhetoric as Energy, Scale as Effect: Moving Humans to Respond to Energy Flows
16:30 – 17:45 Panel 3: Planet Thinking (Chair: Gwendolyn Blue, University of Calgary)
- Sabrina Peric (University of Calgary, Energy In Society): Whence Came the Hydrocarbons?
- Giulia Rispoli (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin Germany): Cosmic Energies: Sun, Earth and Humanity in the Work of Serghey Podolinsky and Alexander Chizhevsky
- Joseph Keith (Binghamton University, SUNY): The Novel and the Planetary
18:30 – 20:30 Keynote: Peter C. van Wyck (Concordia University): Exposure and Entanglement on the Highway of the Atom
Friday, 20 September 2019
9:00 – 10:15 Panel 4: The Human Body Scale (Chair: Jim Ellis, University of Calgary)
- Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University, Literature): Reproduction and Radioactive Decay in J.G Ballard’s Post-Growth Imaginary
- George Colpitts (University of Calgary, History): Investments into Energy Transitions: The Adoption of York Boats over Canoes in the Canadian fur trade
- Ruth Sandwell (University of Toronto, History): Energy and Everyday Life: What Households Can Tell Us About Energy Transitions
10:30 – 11:45 Panel 5: New Geographies of Scale (Chair: Liza Piper, University of Alberta)
- Jonathan Peyton (University of Manitoba): Vertical Energies: Scalar inversions in Prairies resource transitions
- Tom Turnbull (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin Germany): Three Registers for Past and Future Relations between Energy and Scale
- Andrew Watson (University of Saskatchewan): Farm Systems Energy Transitions on the Great Plains: Fossil Fuels, Fertilizers, and the Energy Return on Investment of Industrial Agriculture
12:45 – 14:00 Keynote: Steven Bryant (University of Calgary): Transforming the Problem into the Solution to Achieve Scalable Negative Emissions Technologies
14:15– 15:45 Panel 6: Connecting Scales (Chair: Pablo Policzer)
- Jorge Vergara-Castro (Fundación Diálogos para la Naturaleza/Dialogues for Nature Foundation, Chile): The Science of Power (or the Power of Science) in the Case of Lithium Energy and Mining in Chile
- Jorge Rowlands Narváez (Fundación Diálogos para la Naturaleza/Dialogues for Nature Foundation, Chile): The Environmental Impact Assessment as an Instrument for Exercising Power in the Salar de Atacama
- Sergio Cubillos Verasay & Juan Carlos Cayo (Consejo de Pueblos Atacameños/Council of Atacameño Peoples, Chile): Local Environmental Knowledge and Resistance in the Race for Lithium in the Salar de Atacama
Saturday, 21 September 2019
8:30 – 11:00 Emerging Researchers Panel (Chair: tba)
- Glenn Iceton (University of Saskatchewan): Scaling Back(wards): Energy Development, Land Use, and History in the Canadian North
- Odinn Melsted (Universität Innsbruck, Austria): Substitution, Diversification and Upscaling in Global Energy Systems: The Multifaceted Transition that Ignited the Great Acceleration
- Maria Michails (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute): Small scale action, big scale disruption: how community-based art activism supports energy transition
- Claire Ravencscroft (Duke University): Fossil capitalist realism and the scales of critique
- Ana Watson (University of Calgary): Natural Gas Extraction, Discourse, and Power in Upper Amazonia: The rise of Camisea
- Philip Wight (Brandeis University): The Weight of a Thread: Interconnection, Inertia, and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
11:00 – 12:00 Roundtable Discussion
Public Event
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (18 Sept 2019)
Screening of Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (2018), documentary (87 minutes), by Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky and Nicholas de Pencier, followed by panel discussion at the Calgary Central Library, Patricia A. Whelan Performance Hall
Program
5:30 p.m. – doors open
6:00 p.m. – Anthropocene: The Human Epoch
7:30 p.m. – Q&A panel discussion
8:30 p.m. – end
Events
Through the Calgary Institute for the Humanities, we have been running a speakers series since Fall 2016. All talks are followed by a reception at CIH. Keep an eye out for upcoming events below!
Join us for a talk with Dr. Lindsey A. Freeman
Join us for a talk with Dr. Ian Wereley! A graduate student workshop and networking event will follow!
Join us for a talk with Dr. R. W. Sandwell!
Join us for a talk with Dr.Andrew Watson!
Though not an EIS event, CIH is co-sponsoring this event with the Department of History, which features 2 of our co-conveners!
Join us for a talk with Dr. Timothy David Clark!
Join us for a talk with Norma Kassi!
Dr. Dolata's public talk at the Calgary Public Library!
Join us for a talk with Dr. Terry Mitchell!
Join us for a talk with Dr. Liza Piper!
E I S Projects
Dr. Petra Dolata
Department of History, University of Calgary
My research interests include European and North American energy history after 1945 as well as the history and politics of the Canadian and circumpolar Arctic. I am specifically focusing on the 1970s energy crises in Europe and North America, the history and politics of energy security, and the role of energy in Arctic Canada.
Dr. Sabrina Perić
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology,
University of CalgaryMy research focuses on the anthropology and history of resource extraction, science and its relationship to governance. In particular, I am interested in the role that 19th and 20th century corporate geologists played in the development of oil economies, the definition of energy and the governance of the circumpolar north and its people.
Dr. Roberta Rice
Department of Political Science,
University of Calgary
My research expertise is in Indigenous politics in Latin America. I am currently completing a comparative project on Indigenous rights and representation in Canada (Nunavut, Yukon) and Latin America (Bolivia, Ecuador). My latest project looks at Indigenous activism in response to Canadian extractive industry in Canada, Ecuador, and the Philippines.
Dr. Saulesh Yessenova
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology,
University of CalgaryDr. Yessenova focuses on nuclear power and space exploration and the role they play in pursuit of energy transition. Specifically, she examines the refashioning of the historical arms race infrastructures in response to more recent concerns with climate change and energy security.
Project Gallery
Photos & videos from E I S projects
Important Links
Calgary Institute for the Humanities
University of Calgary Energy Research Strategy
