Avatar, Ethics, and Sustainability: December 2 at AUNE

A multi-media interpretation of the movie Avatar, by Bill Lynn, a research scientist at the George Perkins Marsh Institute at Clark University, will be presented from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Friday, December 2, in the bookstore at AUNE. There will be a social half-hour from 11 to 11:30 a.m. It is part of the Department of Environmental Studies’ Fall Colloquium Series.

Lynn will present Avatar as a cautionary tale about the harm done by our instrumental world views of other people, animals, and nature, with strong implications for what we mean and envision by sustainability.

Lynn’s research focuses on ethics and public policy, with an emphasis on environmental discourse and sustainability. Standing astride the environmental humanities and social sciences, Lynn uses practical ethics and interpretive policy analysis to explore how moral norms shape public policy.

His academic and popular work has been featured in numerous books, journals, magazines, and radio talk shows. He is a founding editor of the international journal Ethics, Policy and Environment.