With the recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report still sending shockwaves across the world, a group of Brock University researchers says a radical shift in the way humans view their place on Earth is critical to securing a more sustainable future.

To engage with the public in transformative thinking and action on climate and environmental issues, members of the Brock-led “Beyond Sustainability: Radical Transformation Through System Thinking” research team have turned to the social networking app Clubhouse.

Brock Biological Sciences Professor Liette Vasseur, Principal Investigator on the project, says Clubhouse is an effective way to share information about their work and remove knowledge translation barriers between researchers and the public.

“Clubhouse is providing us a new way to discuss the topics and concepts of the project Beyond Sustainability with a wide audience coming from all over the planet, from Botswana, Kenya and Thailand to the United Kingdom, the United States and Brazil,” she said. “Exchanging on issues and solutions not only in Canada, but also across the world represents a huge impact for our research and our ability to gain international perspectives.”

Researchers recently launched the Beyond Sustainability Hub on the Clubhouse platform, which is a free, audio-only social networking app used for hosting live discussions. They will host a series of public “conversation rooms” every Wednesday, beginning at 9:25 a.m. Each room will run for about one hour, with attendees given the flexibility to enter and leave at their convenience.

The Beyond Sustainability project endeavours to challenge current theories of development, rethink and transform relationships with other humans and the natural environment and propose a view of sustainability for all living things.

Funded under a New Frontiers in Research Fund – Exploration grant, the transdisciplinary research project is comprised of a team at Brock that includes Vasseur and Philosophy Professor Christine Daigle (co-Principal Investigator), as well as Charles Conteh, Professor of Political Science; Francine McCarthy, Professor of Earth Sciences; David Fancy, Professor and Chair in the Department of Dramatic Arts; Catherine Longboat, Assistant Professor, Tecumseh Centre for Aboriginal Research and Education; Adam Dickinson, Professor of English; Jocelyn Baker, Research Assistant for Brock’s UNESCO Chair on Community Sustainability: from local to global; and Heather VanVolkenburg, Scientific Research Manager and Teaching Support in Biological Sciences.

The team also includes collaborators from outside of Brock: Janusz Kozinski, University of Lakehead; Brian Leung, McGill University; Mike Jones, SLU Centre for Biological Diversity in Sweden; Bernal Herrera-Fernández, National University (Costa Rica); Simone Bignall, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

Michael Hallé, creator of the Sustainable Travel Hub on Clubhouse, also assisted in the creation of the Beyond Sustainability Hub on the app.

More information about the live conversation rooms and the Beyond Sustainability project can be found on Brock’s UNESCO Chair website. Dates and times of the rooms may be subject to change.

Conversation room schedule

• Wednesday, Aug. 25: Does Earth Have a Time Limit?
• Wednesday, Sept. 1: Is Rethinking Our Connection To Nature Just An Illusion (Part 1)
• Wednesday, Sept. 8: Rethinking Our Connection To Nature (Part 2)
• Wednesday, Sept. 15: Two Eyed Seeing Embracing Indigenous Knowledge
• Wednesday, Sept. 22: From System Thinking To Transformative Thinking; Ready?
• Wednesday, Sept. 29: Do international agreements support transformation?