The MEM Seminar Series 2010-11
Seminar On
“Environmental Sustainability in Jeopardy: How do we manage the
Climate Change Variable?”
by
Professor Victor R. Savage
Department of Geography,
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), NUS.
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Friday, 3 September 2010
6pm – 8pm
Lecture Room 424
SDE 3 Level 4
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All are Welcome
Please click for registration
Abstract
For the second half of the 20th century, the growing mantras on increasing environmental degradation at various
scales became important when national “sustainable development” programmes were undermined by degrading
environments, dwindling natural resources, food security and increasing energy prices. In the 21st century, climate
change has taken centre stage in national and global agendas, in mainstream scientific research and in
international political and economic equations between states. This talk deals with four areas that need urgent
attention and dialogue. Firstly we need to move away from C.P Snow’s ‘clash of cultures’ and work towards new
interdisciplinary dialogue and models of collaboration between the sciences, social sciences and the humanities.
Understanding the science of climate change will not prepare us to adapt and mitigate its impacts without a social,
cultural, economic and political management system. Secondly, the widening debates between environment and
economics, between ecosystems and capitalism needs redressing. Negotiators at Copenhagen and future global
conferences should junk the toolbox of environmental diplomacy and recognize global warming as a problem of
economic cooperation. What is required is a meaningful dialogue where development and environmental health
can co-exist. Thirdly, we must take the politics of environment away from the territorial mindsets that govern
nation-states. Progress on climate change would require Gaian mindsets, underscoring common-pool resources and
the world as Common-Wealth. And finally, given the increasing urbanization globally, one needs to find the
environmentally sustainable systems for urban communities. We need to return to Henri Lefebvre (2009) depiction
of past civilizations and cities as an integration of cosmic ‘naturalness’ and ‘organic’ human-nature relationships
than what current urban spaces emphasize: technological domination, capitalistic spatial commodities and socially
uneven spaces of production. The eco-cities of the future need to rediscover the harmonious balance with their
hinterlands and not translate hinterlands as human and ecological footprints.
About the Speaker
Associate Professor Victor R Savage teaches in the Department of Geography and the Southeast Asian Studies
Programme, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), NUS. He is the Deputy Chair of the M.Sc.(Environmental
Management) (MEM) Programme Management Committee; Chair of the FASS Environmental Research Cluster;
Country Advisor for Southeast Asia at the International Relations Office; Member of the Alumni and Corporate
Relations Committee, FASS; member of the NUS Campus Green Committee; and member of the member of the
University Town Graduate Residence Sub-Committee. A/P Savage’s research interest is mainly on Singapore and
the Southeast Asian region – historical and cultural landscapes, sustainable development, environmental education,
sustainable urban development, and cross-cultural issues and cultural identity. Among his books are: Western
Impressions of Nature and Landscape in Southeast Asia (1984); Environmental Stakes: Myanmar and Agenda 21
(jointly edited with Lily Kong, 1997); The Naga Awakens: Growth and Change in Southeast Asia (co-edited with lily
Kong and Warwick Neville, 1998); Mad About Green (jointly edited with Penelope Phoon-Cohen; 2001);
Toponymics: A Study of Singapore Street Names (co-authored with Brenda Yeoh, 2004), The Naga Challenged:
Southeast Asia in the Winds of Change (jointly edited with May Tan-Mullins, 2005) and Sustainability Matters:
Environmental Management in Asia (co-edited with Lye Lin Heng, George Ofori, Malone-Lee Lai Choo, and Ting
Yen-Ping, 2010).
A/P Savage graduated from the University of Singapore in 1973 and completed his MA and PhD in Geography at
the University of California, Berkeley under the Fulbright-Hayes scholarship. A/P Savage is the Honorary VicePresident of the Commonwealth Geographical Bureau (2009-2012); the current Chairman, Sembawang Shipyard’s
Green Wave Advisory Board; Chairman of the Academic Board of the private educational group, AEC EDU Group;
former member of the Ministry of Education’s 2008-2009 Social Studies Curriculum Framework committee and a
Complaints Committee member (lay member) of the Singapore Dental Council. A/P Savage is the Co-Editor of the
Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography and an International Editorial Board member of Sustainability Science
(Japan) and Geografiska Annaler (Sweden). A/P Savage was made a Fellow of the Indian Society for Environment
and Culture in June 1995.