Future Memory: Mapping the Anthropocene Conference April 20 at USU

“Mapping the Anthropocene,” a one-day conference at Utah State University, encourages dialogue between the humanities and fields including ecology, agriculture, sociology and marketing, as well as local and state communities outside academia. The conference takes place Saturday, April 20, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., in the Stan L. Albrecht Agricultural Sciences Building, room 101 Lecture Hall, as part of USU’s Earth Day Celebration.

The conference’s theme is “imagined futures” in the Anthropocene, the concept of a new geologic age created by human activity. 

“The conference concept gives the humanities and sciences opportunities to investigate our history and common future,” said Heidi Hart, conference organizer and instructor in the Languages, Philosophy and Communication Studies Department.  

Conference presentations include keynote talks by Ute and Shoshone elders Forrest Cuch and Darren Parry, and panels on topics ranging from literature and art as tools for tracking ecological change to the farms of the future, with additional presentations on Cache Valley’s growth. The conference is free and open to the public.

Student and faculty parking lots (except for Gray resident lots) are open on Saturdays. For information on free public transportation to USU in Logan, see https://sustainability.usu.edu/sustainability-council/transportation/transportation-options.

The event is made possible through a grant from Utah Humanities. Additional support comes from the Mountain West Center for Regional Studies, the USU S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources, the USU Department of Languages, Philosophy & Communication Studies and the USU Sustainability Council.