Symposium Goals

Energy Cultures in the Age of the Anthropocene will explore the illusory boundary between what is “natural” and “man-made,” between the multiple ways humans experience and demarcate time, and between the unequal distribution of social impacts caused by human-transformed and fossil-fueled environments around the world.

The organizers aim to bring together public figures, scholars, and artists to make sense of humans’ relationship to energy, while collecting and curating some of the best ideas for dealing with the large-scale human alterations of environments and ecosystems that have given a new name to the age in which we live: the Anthropocene.

The symposium will challenge people to rethink the ideas, values, and aesthetics that shape the way we fuel our lives and transform our environments.