Facing the Future Interviews
Videos from an event held at Newcastle University,
5th November 2011
Event sponsored by Economic and Social Research Council
and Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability
Participants taking part in our film-making workshop interviewed
speakers at
The Great Debate: Facing the Future,
a day of active debate and documentary-making
held as part of
ESRC Festival of Social Science. Filming
facilitated by Jackie Scollen.
Just five days after global population was predicted by the UN to reach seven billion,
the debate "Too Many People?"
examined what problems we might face if world population
reaches the predicted nine billion in forty years, engaging with the contrasting
views that there are too many people and that people are the solution to environmental
problems. With
Patrick Hayes, political
commentator,
Spiked Online
Sandy Irvine, Chair,
Newcastle Green Party
Roger Martin, Chair,
Population Matters;
and
Ludi Simpson,
Professor of Population Studies,
Cathie Marsh
Centre for Census and Survey Research.
In an era when "technical fixes" are dismissed by many as inappropriate to solve
problems, yet belief in social change is generally viewed as naive and unrealistic,
the debate over how we approach the future could not be more pertinent.
In the debate "Engineering the Future",
Ian Abley,
architect and director of
audacity
and
Barry K Gills,
Professor of Global Politics, Newcastle University
scrutinized the idea that we can engineer
our way to a better future
and asked whether technology can continue to improve our quality of life.
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Patrick Hayes on population
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Sandy Irvine, Chair of Newcastle Green Party
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Roger Martin, Chair of Population Matters
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Professor Barry K Gills on reclaiming progress
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