Call For Papers

This interdisciplinary and cross-cultural gathering welcomes presentations on the environmental challenges now faced by diverse populations, both human and nonhuman, in the Western lands of Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

Academics and other stakeholders from the wider community are invited to participate in this urgent and compelling dialogue. The conference invites academics from the humanities, social and natural sciences, as well as activists, businesses, artists and others to speak across the boundaries that conventionally divide them.

Since both the geographical and critical terrains at issue are considerable, a wide array of topics and time periods is welcome. The shared concern will be the interaction between humans and the natural environment in the context of Western history, geography, climate change, and commercial/sustainable development of lands and resources

Possible directions may include, but are not restricted to, the following:

·  sustainable economic development
·  indigenous ways of knowing
·  urbanization/suburban sprawl in the "New West"
·  popular culture and the mass media
·  literary or filmic representations of natural, urban or industrial
·  environments
·  government action/inaction on the environment
·  ecofeminism
·  environmental racism and justice  
·  "ecoterrorism"  
·  ecological or ecocritical examinations of particular Western environs and climes
·  specific issues such as the Copenhagen Summit, Kyoto Protocol, or oil/tar sands development
·  the borderlands of Canada / United States / Mexico
·  environmental education in K-12, postsecondary and community contexts
·  historical perspectives
·  environmental activism
·  environmental law and policy

Proposals of 250 words (attached to an email as a .doc or .docx file) can be sent to either Robert Boschman or Mario Trono.