Life Sciences Seminar: Advanced Cryotechnologies for Conservation - Ethics and Justice Considerations
Life Sciences Seminar
Advanced Cryotechnologies for Conservation: Ethics and Justice Considerations
Dr. Evelyn Brister
Professor
Department of Philosophy, RIT
Abstract:
Advanced biopreservation technologies will prove useful in conservation through scaling up biobanking and restoration activities, including coral reef restoration and de-extinction. This seminar describes how these techniques will facilitiate conservation and surveys the ethical issues that arise. What is the role of cryotechnologies in addressing the biodiversity crisis? How are engineers and conservation scientists approaching the risk of unintended consequences? How could these techniques and the conservation activities they facilitate promote or obstruct environmental justice? These technologies are often desribed metaphorically as “stopping time,” facilitating “time travel,” and “buying time.” I consider what these metaphors tell us about their potential uses and hazards.
Speaker Bio:
Evelyn Brister is a Professor of Philosophy at RIT and a faculty affiliate in the Department of Public Policy and the School of Life Sciences. She is co-editor of A Watershed Moment: The American West in the Age of Limits (University of Utah Press, forthcoming) and has written two dozen articles in philosophy and environmental science. Her research focuses on innovative approaches to conservation, public engagement, and interdisciplinary scientific collaboration.
Intended Audience:
Beginners, undergraduates, graduates, experts. Those with interest in the topic.
To request an interpreter, please visit myaccess.rit.edu
Event Snapshot
When and Where
Who
Open to the Public
Interpreter Requested?
No