Requiem discussion panels curated by Danielle Celermajer and Michelle St Anne.

As the mega-fires of the black summer were devastating ecologies and the homes and habitats of animals (including humans) across south-east Australia, theories about what caused them and accusations of who was responsible for them raged across the social and media landscape. The fossil fuel industry and the political right promoted theories about arsonists and greenies allegedly getting in the way of ‘backburning’; scientists, ecologists and communities on the ground who had been living with the realities of the drought insisted that the fires were the acute and violent expression of climate change.

This panel will try to make sense of what caused the fires, where responsibility for them lies, what exacerbated the vulnerability of those whose lives they destroyed, and most importantly, what we can do to protect all lives in a world where climate change makes wildfires an ever-present threat.

Speakers

Danielle Celermajer, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney

David Ritter, Chief Executive Officer, Greenpeace Australia Pacific

David Schlosberg (Chair), Director, Sydney Environment Institute

Julie Vulcan, interdisciplinary artist, researcher and writer

Glenda Wardle, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney

View the full Sydney Festival Requiem programme here. Limited registrations are available for panels and performances in accordance with NSW COVID restrictions.

In accordance with NSW COVID Public Health Orders, we ask everyone to please bring a face mask with them and wear it at all times within the space. QR check-ins with the Service NSW COVID Safe Check-In app is mandatory upon entrance. Social distancing measures will be in place along with hand sanitiser stations.