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In it's fourth year, the 2020 SCORAI (Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative ) International Conference will convene scholars and practitioners from around the world who are engaged in work integrating issues of social justice and sustainable consumption as it relates to urban issues and social equity.

The theme is ‘Sustainable Consumption & Social Justice in an Urbanizing World’.   With growing social and racial inequities and widening disparities among and within communities, patterns of consumption are shifting as are notions of “sustainable consumption”.  This conference focuses on urban issues and social equity provides an opportunity to reflect on, as well as expand, our sustainability conversations to integrate issues of privilege, oppression, justice and injustices.  Our overarching theme will be reflected throughout the program.

We hope you'll join us.

The International SCORAI conference which will be held from June 10-12, 2020. Save the date and check backfor program updates and a registration link as we get closer to the conference dates.

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On behalf of the international Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative (SCORAI) we extend a very warm welcome to you all to the 4th International SCORAI conference June 10-12, 2020. In response to the disruption and risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic the conference program is now an all on-line remote program. We are grateful to have the opportunity to transition to a fully digital conference format that will reduce our collective consumption while preserving vitally important sharing of ideas and some social networking. The conference sessions will be accessible to all who register – all that is needed is access to high-speed internet connection. We are developing creative ideas to preserve a sense of open discourse and celebration of community as we move to a virtual format.

With this virtual format, we look forward to expanding accessibility to the conference. Registration is now open and we encourage you to spread the word about this exciting opportunity to your students and colleagues. The conference registration fee is $120 for regular registration and $50 for students and other low-income participants.

The theme of the conference is “Sustainable Consumption and Social Justice in an Urbanizing World”. We are delighted to host 7 international Keynote presentations throughout the Conference to provide cutting edge perspectives on the conference. Opening the conference on Day 1 (Wednesday June 10th) we will host Dr Sherilyn MacGregor (University of Manchester, UK) and Aaron Tanaka (Center for Economic Democracy, USA).

Day two (Thursday June 11th ) includes an exciting keynote panel on ‘Consumption in an Urbanizing World’ comprising contributions from: Anna Coote (New Economics Foundation, London), Prof Arnold Tukker (Leiden University, The Netherlands) and Dr. Emily Kawano (U.S. Solidarity Economy Network).

On the final day, Friday June 12th, our keynotes will speak to the theme of ‘Thinking ahead: from sustainability to degrowth’. Prof Peter Victor (York University, Canada) will present on ‘Managing Without Growth: Slower by Design, not Disaster’ and Prof Barbara Muraca’s (Oregon State University, USA) presentation is titled ‘Re-politicizing Sustainability: Degrowth as radical transformation’.

In addition to the keynotes there are multiple concurrent sessions with researchers and practitioners presenting on a wide range of topics connecting sustainable consumption and social justice. The full conference program is available here.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at scorai2020@northeastern.edu with any questions or concerns. We look forward to an engaging virtual gathering in June. The conference’s focus on sustainable consumption and social justice in an urbanizing world is more important than ever now as we face this global pandemic, which underscores the interconnections between personal behaviors and societal outcomes and demonstrates the importance of linking research to action.

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