*Cancelled* Wor(l)d Perfect
- Date
-
Tue 13 May 2025
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
- Venue
- The Diamond, Lecture Theatre 2
Please note this event has been cancelled. If you have any questions please contact [email protected]
“Think global, act local!”
“Be the change you want to see in the world!”
“Every little bit counts!”
We can all get on board with such sentiments, right? That is exactly what corporate spin-masters across the world are banking on. By weaponizing language, change becomes a matter of personal choice and individual responsibility, distracting us from the industries actively damaging the health of people and our planet. But language can be used for good too and to help build a sustainable future. How we talk about change can enable that change to happen.
In this event we will hear from three experts in their fields exploring the historical, cultural and present day use of language as a driver and obstacle for environmental and societal change. We will then invite you the audience to challenge perspectives and explore how language has the power to shape our future.
Joanna Gavins is a Professor of English Language and Literature and her research focuses predominantly on the relationships between language, cognition and the environment. She recently led the Language team on the multidisciplinary 'Many Happy Returns' project, aimed at reducing single-use plastic pollution. The team published a guide for businesses and organisations, How to Talk About Plastics, giving practical advice on how to reframe the language we use around plastics in order to encourage reuse before recycling.
Kathy Davies is an historian of twentieth century Britain researching social and political histories of energy and environmental change. She is interested in everyday lived experiences and how these (dis)connect to local and national policies of the past.
Kathy's recent work:
'SMOG STORIES: Lived Experiences of Air Pollution, 1920-present', The British Library (2025 -)
'The Case for Gas: Selling Energy Transition in Postwar Britain', Churchill College, University of Cambridge (2025 -)
Was the Past More Sustainable?, South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre (2023-2025)
JustHeat: A Social and Cultural History of Heating, Centre for Regional Economic Research, Sheffield Hallam University (2022-2025)
Grant Ennis is the author of Dark PR, a critical analysis of how corporate disinformation undermines our health and the Environment.