Global Climate Change and Civil Society – problems and opportunities

Dr Ian McGregor is a Lecturer in the School of Management whose research for the last 5 years has focused on the global politics of climate change. He continued this research at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December 2009 and in November will head off to Cancun, Mexico for the forthcoming Climate Summit. He is also on the Steering Committee of Climate Action Network Australia (CANA). Dr Associate Professor James Goodman is from the School of Social and Political Change in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology, Sydney. He was a founder of the Climate Action Research Group at UTS. He conducts collaborative research into social movements and issues of globalization.How can we reach a global agreement which will allow for global emissions to come rapidly under control, even while the developing world vastly scales up energy services in its ongoing fight against endemic poverty and for human development? What role will civil society play in making progress towards an effective global agreement to address the climate change issue? The seminar will provide insights from two leading UTS researchers on this issue. Discussion will centre on how civil society organisations and activists can most effectively contribute to the urgently needed international and national policies to address climate change