Thursday, March 3, 2022

Symposium: “What is the place of the modern zoo in 21st century conservation?”

The symposium provided a diverse set of perspectives on the role of zoos in the conservation of biodiversity. Four speakers gave individual presentations, followed by a roundtable discussion involving speakers as well as questions from the public.

Chair:   Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde – CEEEC Director

Speakers:

Chantal Barriault – Co-Director of Laurentian’s Science Communication Program

Andrew Lentini – Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles at the Toronto Zoo

Massimo Bergamini – Executive Director of Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums

Gillian Crozier – CEEEC Member

Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2015; 5 pm

Title: David Peña-Guzmán, “What Can Phenomenology Do for Environmental Ethics?”

Location: Senate Chamber, 11th Floor, Parker Building, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON

As part of the Humanities MA Speakers’ Series, CEEEC Post-doctoral Fellow Dr. David Peña-Guzman will discuss his research on the intersection of phenomenology and environmental ethics. The talk will present a new framework for animal ethics that is neither welfarist nor conservationist. This new framework, called “Phenomenological Ethics,” draws its first impulse from phenomenological philosophy. The presentation will outline the general structure of this framework while applying it to a specific controversy in the contemporary environmentalist literature: the ethical justifiability of zoos.

Dr. Peña-Guzman’s Fellowship is provided by Crozier and Schulte-Hostedde’s SSHRC grant on the ethics of ecological research, and he is also involved in CEEEC’s Philosophical Animal project. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Emory University, specializing in 20th century European thought, the philosophy of science, and the history of Western philosophy. He also has an interest in political philosophy and environmentalism. His research has appeared in journals such as Chiasmi International, The American Journal of Bioethics, The Journal of Mixed-Methods Research, and Studies in Philosophy and Education.

Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2015; 7:30 pm

Title: Science Café: “Conflicts in Conservation: Should we save the parasites?”

Location: The Laughing Buddha, 194 Elgin Street, Sudbury, ON

Saving species or letting them disappear: it seems like an easy choice to make. Look a little closer, though, and you’ll see that conservation biology can get a little weird. Conservation biologists saved the California condor and the black-footed ferret, but in doing so they drove two other species, the condor louse and the ferret louse, to extinction. What should we do when conserving one species puts another at risk? Should we celebrate the extinction of species that cause human disease, or mourn the loss of biodiversity? And what do these questions, and our answers to them, say about what we value when it comes to conservation?

Hosted by Science North’s Dana Murchison, the panel will include biologist Dr. Dawn Bazely (York University), and CEEEC members Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde and Gillian Crozier.