Curiosity Lab
Anthropocene

On May 30th 2018 BioArt Laboratories invited two speakers to share their expertise on ethical hurdles for today’s geological era, the Anthropocene. Janne Spork, philosophy student, presented her ‘Culture & Nature’, a thought-provoking talk which explored the division line between culture and nature, and the ethical questions surrounding this matter for society in the Anthropocene. Jasper van Veen, student in circular economy, hosted ‘Ethics & Business’, a debate on ethical dilemmas in economy and operational management.

What’s society’s traditional stance on nature? A peaceful area to take a stroll through? Are culture & nature two different things? Putting forward these questions, Janne Spork pointed out that we human beings might be quite disconnected from nature without consciously realizing it. We all know about current environmental issues, but have they been communicated to us properly? Is showing footage of famished polar bears really the correct way to make the public consciously aware of nature’s demands, or does it only foster a disconnencted point of view? These and other questions were raised and they became the central theme of the discussion that followed Janne her talk.

Jasper van Veen put forward an array of topics pertinent to present-day society and for generations in the near future. A few of the dilemmas he raised were, among others, whether or not consumers should accept the excessively cheap flight fares by big airline companies, how solid and trustworthy the criteria are for banks to label themselves ‘sustainable’, and how much control stakeholders are allowed to have in the corresponding companies. From the heated debate that followed all of these topics, it became apparent that the public was quite polarised regarding these matters.