CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS

In addition to Feasta's annual lecture series, the organisation regularly organises conferences which draw speakers, experts and perspectives from various fields across the world into one room to debate, discuss and reflect on a given topic. In many cases, other organisations are partners in the conferences but Feasta handles the organisation. The following is a sample of Feasta conferences and seminars. For a more comprehensive list of events which Feasta has participated in, please see the events page. Most of the presentations made since 2005 are available as free online videos.

The New Emergency Conference - 3 days, All Hallows College, June 2009. This conference, marking Feasta's tenth anniversary, analysed the systems and the mindsets that have steered the world onto its grotesquely unsustainable current path. Discussions focussed on the new systems (financial, energy, food) and ways of thinking that are urgently required to correct the situation and bring about a rapid transition to a more secure future. Many of the ideas explored were Feasta's. Others were presented by international speakers, including Alex Evans, Dmitry Orlov, Ludwig Schuster and Dan Sullivan, who broadly share Feasta's analysis of what needs to be done to build a truly sustainable world.

Converging Crises, Policy Responses - 5 lunchtime seminars held in June and July 2008. They were presented by Feasta's David Korowitz, Bruce Darrell, Richard Douthwaite, Emer O'Siochru and John Jopling. Their themes were "The Future's Not What It Used To Be", "Planning For Food Security", "The Need For Benign Inflation", "Reclaiming the Commons" and "Global Governance for Climate Change". You can download QuickTime videos of all five seminars, and also watch an introduction and launch by Richard Douthwaite and Eamon Ryan, the Irish minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

Food Conference - 3 days, UCD, Dublin, June 2005 (in partnership with University College, Dublin). Drawing 30 speakers from around the world, this conference explored the nature of the threats to world food security, examined our global food supply systems, evaluated the possible solutions to the problems that we face, and sought to answer a crucial question: How can the world's population be fed without the extensive use of fossil fuels in the production, processing and distribution of food?

Debt, Climate and Global Justice - 1 day, Cultivate Centre, Dublin, April 2004, in partnership with the Debt and Development Coalition (Ireland) and the Global Commons Institute (UK). This conference was held to promote a greater understanding of the systemic links between climate change, oil and gas depletion, the global money systems, third world debt and North/South inequity. Speakers and attendees helped shape a set of policies designed to slow climate change, end the debt crisis and to alleviate widespread poverty. The conference also enabled Irish and South African participants to exchange views and information via a live video-conferencing link to a parallel event in South Africa.

Developing a common climate change policy: 1 day seminar, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, December 2003 in association with the New Economics Foundation for the policy directors of 15 British NGOs.

Land: the Claim of the Community - 2 days, Tara Towers Hotel, Dublin, Oct 2003 in partnership with the Henry George Society of Britain. This event explored the ways in which site value taxation could benefit affordable housing, infrastructure provision and local government finance in Ireland and in countries around the globe.

Ireland's Transition to Renewable Energy - 3 days, Tipperary Insitute, Thurles, Co.Tipperary, Oct 2002, in partnership with the Tipperary Institute and the Renewable Energy Information Office. In a fossil-fuel dependent world with rapidly depleting fossil energy reserves, how can Ireland, Europe and the rest of the world make the transition to renewable energy? Speakers analyzed the realities of global and European energy supply prospects, assessed renewable energy opportunities and explored how renewable energy would affect rural life. The proceedings were published in book form.

Interest-Free Banking - 2 day, Central Hotel, Dublin, May, 2001, in conjunction with the Barataria network in the Netherlands and INAISE, the International Association of Investors in the Social Economy.

The Global/Local Balance. A 2 day conference within the International Society of Engineers for Social Responsibility conference, Stockholm, June 2000, on ways in which local economies could be built up to achieve a better global/local balance.

Energy, Money and Growth - 2 day, Trinity College, Feb 2000. This conference discussed the peaking of oil production, climate change, money and economic growth and asked how reducing fossil fuel consumption can be achieved if the economic system needs continual growth.

In addition, Feasta has organised events each year within the Convergence Festivals in Dublin. In 2005, for example, we organised sessions on "Sustaining Local Livelihoods" and "Community Energy Supply: Doing without the Grid."