“International Conference Socioecos.
Climate Change, Sustainability and Socio-ecological Practices”

Context and Rationale

The biophysical system sciences have responded quickly to the call of climate change. However, this situation contrasts with the late arrival of the social sciences to this field (Norgaard, 2018), manifesting a certain lack of “sociological imagination”.

Climate change has anthropocentric causes produced by socially organised activities rooted in a certain logic of production and consumption practices (Islam and Kieu, 2021). In that sense, the contribution of the social sciences lies in pointing out that its direct drivers are also embedded in broader social conditions, such as economic, technical, cultural and governance systems, as well as social values, ideals and material interests, which vary across geographic locations (Kais and Islam, 2018).

A major criticism of social science approaches to climate change is the dominance of individual-level analyses. Focusing on the individual level marginalises institutional, social and cultural aspects, providing partial and restricted understandings of human behaviour and social change (Shove, 2010), and resulting in policy responses that leave social, political and economic aspects under-studied (Malm, 2020).

More recently, some social science contributions have pointed out that the dominant framework, including the official reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) or the US National Academy of Sciences, depoliticise the discussion on climate change and the environment, and thus reinforce the socio-political and economic status quo. The post-political critique highlights how the scientific interpretative framework on climate change, including both the social and natural sciences, is partial and incomplete, leading to inadequate policy proposals by failing to critically analyse the value systems, power relations and institutional processes that have led to climate change (Brulle and Dunlap, 2015).

To analyse the social dimensions of climate change, the social sciences raise two distinctive and advantageous issues. First, sociology and the social sciences are well equipped to analyse the causes, consequences and possible solutions to climate change (Latour, 2021), and can add important insights to this phenomenon (De la Cadena and Blaser, 2018), reminding us that the forces driving global climate change are embedded in social structures and institutions (Haraway, 2019), cultural values and beliefs, and social practices (Kitcher and Keller, 2019). Second, a common limitation of existing climate change analyses is to confine themselves to the dominant interpretative framework, which argues that market-based policies are the only feasible option for reducing carbon emissions within the current global liberal political-economic system (Villavicencio, 2021). This latter aspect presents blind spots in societal responses to climate change, and limits the breadth of alternative actions that can be imagined.

In international forums, a minimum consensus has been reached among participants that has left most of them unsatisfied. Consensus is made practically impossible by what Rebecca Elliott (2018) defines as a “sociology of loss” — what some see as sufficient, others see as far from what is necessary. Climate change research, within and beyond sociology, has problematised vulnerability, with a particular focus on redressing its unequal distribution across gender, race, class and region. The position is not merely a question of social differences that interrelate with loss, but also involves integrating autonomy and social solidarity in times of loss, generating sensitivities and mobilising resources. Two factors seem to limit the awareness regarding the urgency to seek alternatives. On the one hand, what may define our historical epoch as Anthropocene (Scranton, 2021) or Capitalocene (Moore, 2016), i.e. a surveillance capitalism embedded in the fabric of life that shapes the subjectivities of individuals beyond consumption (Illouz, 2019). On the other, there is the “Giddens paradox”, which states that since the dangers posed by global warming are neither tangible nor even always visible in the course of everyday life, many will not engage in action to redress them (Giddens, 2009).

Based on these aspects, this conference aims to analyse activities that can be encompassed under the concept of socio-ecological practices and that are characterised by ecological embeddedness (Whiteman; Cooper, 2000). Although the roots of this concept are to be found in economic sociology, its meaning is extended here to suggest that other practices of food consumption, mobility, ways of living, choice between basic consumer goods and forms of relating can also be seen as increasingly embedded in natural or ecological processes. In doing so, we seek to point out how the concept of ecological embeddedness could be operationalised in research practice as a means of exploring the ecological dimensions of many activities and practices of everyday life.

This international interdisciplinary conference strives to achieve the dual goal of extending the frontiers of current knowledge on socio-ecological practices that relate to climate emergency and simultaneously improving (instead of just informing) these practices themselves. To this end, we hope to gather academics and practitioners currently researching and developing socio-ecological practices “on the ground” worldwide. We are looking forward to learning from experiences in a wide range of areas —from renewable energies to the arts—and from studies considering the perspective and expertise of multiple actors and stakeholders: state institutions, non-profits, civil society organisations, social movements, and the private sector.

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Scope and Objectives

This international conference analyses socio-ecological practices’ trajectory, characteristics, and impacts in relation to the climate crisis and emergency. It also seeks to present and discuss the most recent challenges these practices present, as well as practical solutions currently being adopted. More specifically, the conference will address the following questions:

• When, where and under what conditions do socio-ecological practices occur?
• What are the characteristics of contemporary socio-ecological practices?
• What type of actors are engaged in such practices, and what forms of interaction emerge from them?
• What are the practical, symbolic, and legal effects of socio-ecological practices?

We invite proposals that explore socio-ecological practices in relation to the climate crisis in different areas: social movements; new production and labour models; living and consumption; rewilding and nature preservation; citizen science; education and health; the human dimension of the climate emergency, awareness, consciousness, wellbeing and care; culture, media and communication; art, technology and design; and legal aspects and politics. These areas constitute the conference tracks and are developed into -but not limited to- topics of interest, according to the following table:

Track		Topics of Interest (examples)
1	Ecologist and social movements on climate emergency. Politics and climate change	Greenpeace; Extinction Rebellion; Scientist Rebellion; Just Stop Oil; Vegetal Future; Ecologists in Action; Fridays for Future; Climate Justice; eco-feminisms; citizen science movements; anti-extractivism movements; eco-justice; main political debates; negationist movements; resilience, mitigation and resistance movements
2	Social-ecological practices concerning new production and labour models on the verge of climate emergency	Sustainable forms of energy, agricultural and industrial production; sustainable work; work-related social-ecological practices; agroecology; green energy companies; eco-based businesses and companies; greening practices in production
3	Social-ecological practices in living and consumption to fight climate emergency	Sustainable housing; sustainable cities; eco-markets; social practices in search for alternative energy sources; energy cooperatives and energy sovereignty; architecture and design for sustainable living and environments; biodiversity in rural and urban environments; urban nature; the ecological impact of alternative energy sources; the negative impact of windmills and solar plants on natural environments; eco-tourism
4	Socio-ecological practices for rewilding and nature preservation. Science and citizen science and the climate change	Socio-ecological practices of adaptation, mitigation, resistance, transition and resilience to the climate emergency; social practices for wildlife preservation; interspecies relationships; new forms of pastoralism; traditional ecological knowledge; nature-based social-ecological practices; social responses to natural and human-provoked disasters; the rights of plants and animals; legal aspects of nature; scientific aspects of climate emergency; citizen science-based science projects
5	Socio-ecological practices in education and health in the climate crisis	Eco-pedagogies; eco-methodologies; eco- and animal-assisted pedagogies and therapies; ecological education; eco-centric education; eco-feminist approaches in pedagogy; eco-critical pedagogies; the impact of the climate crisis on health; planetary health-based practices
6	The human dimension of socio-ecological practices in the age of climate emergency: Awareness, consciousness, wellbeing and care	Awareness and sensitisation practices centred on the climate emergency; emotional and mental health effects of climate threats and ecological loss; tools and practices to deal with climate crisis worry, eco-anxiety, ecological grief, and environmental guilt; social practices of self and collective care; politics of life sustainability; climate crisis and ecological disaster-based displacement, climate refugees
7	Social-ecological practices in culture, media and communication	Climate emergency in cultural production (music, cinema, video, literature); cultural representations of climate emergency; climate emergency-based imaginaries; communicating climate crisis; social media-supported practices in the age of climate crisis
8	Art, technology, design, and climate crisis	Eco-art; art and climate emergency; art and energy transition; climate crisis-based images and representations; DIY and Fab Labs’ responses to climate emergencies; design for reuse, repurpose, recycle, and upcycle—eco and bio design; sustainable design; eco-empathic design; creative data visualisation; artificial intelligence-based eco-imaginaries

We encourage the submission of papers drawing on theoretical, methodological and experimental approaches from diverse fields of study, such as the social sciences, physical sciences, humanities, and design.

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Official Language and Oral Presentation Guidelines

English is the conference’s official language. Abstracts, papers, and oral presentations should be done preferably in English.

We will, however, accept a few abstracts and papers in Spanish. Oral presentations in Spanish are welcome, provided they are accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation that includes a translation into English.

All plenary sessions will count with simultaneous English-Spanish translation; regular sessions will not have simultaneous translation.

Final instructions for oral presentations detailing time slots and available resources will be sent out three weeks before the conference.

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Conference Proceedings

All accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings in digital format and in Green Open Access. The proceedings will be published with an ISBN issued by the University of the Basque Country Press under the Creative Commons licence and Digital Object Identifier (DOI). The proceedings book will be accessible for download from the conference website and other repository and academic platforms (Zenodo; UPV/EHU; ADDI; Academia and ResearchGate).

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Important Dates

Task	Deadline
Deadline for submission of abstracts	15 January 2024
Notification of acceptance or rejection of abstracts	31 January 2024
Payment deadline for authors and co-authors	Early bird fee	From 31 January to 11 March 2024 (included)
	Full rate fee	From 12 March to 30 April 2024 (included)
Deadline for submission of full texts	11 March 2024
Reviewers’ comments	15 April 2024
Deadline for submission of revised full texts for the Conference Proceedings	30 April 2024
Guidelines for oral presentations and the conference programme sent to participants.	15 May 2024
Conference dates	6 and 7 June 2024

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Registration and Conference Fees

All participants must register according to their type of participation. Registration and payment must be made through the conference platform: https://www.conftool.org/socioecos2024/.