91ֱ����Ƶ

We have long known that warfare claims a tremendous human toll. But the industry of war has also contributed to our current climate crisis, and to address it, we must better understand the impact war has on the environment. With this realization comes the imperative to challenge a political ideology that too easily justifies the waging of war as an acceptable solution to conflict.​

This is the argument environmental philosopher Anna Malavisi will make when she visits the 91ֱ����Ƶ Center for Global Humanities to present a lecture titled “War on the Environment” on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 1 p.m. at the Harold Alfond Forum on the 91ֱ����ƵBiddeford Campus. 

The event marks the second Biddeford Campus event of the academic year for CGH, which has expanded its lecture series to the waterfront grounds where most 91ֱ����Ƶundergraduate students reside and study. The event also marks the very first daytime event in CGH history, which CGH Director Josh Pahigian, M.F.A., says is a shift intended to make the event more accessible to students and faculty.   

“In the course I teach and my other interactions with students, I’ve seen how passionate our 91ֱ����Ƶstudents are about the environment,” explained Pahigian. “I’ve also heard them express their concerns about the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan. I hope this talk will help them better understand how the environmental and peace movements are inter-related and can work together toward common solutions.” 

Malavisi is a philosopher, development ethicist, and peace activist. She is associate professor and associate chair of the Department of History, Philosophy, and World Perspectives at Western Connecticut State University and vice president of the Center for Values in International Development. She received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University and her master’s degree in health and international development from Flinders University of South Australia. Her research interests include practical and global ethics, social and political thought, feminist philosophy/epistemology, peace and non-violence, and environmental philosophy. She is fluent in Spanish, having spent 16 years working in international development in Latin America. After spending eight years with national NGOs in Bolivia, she managed the Bolivian program for International Service, a British-based NGO that supported local organizations with skilled human resources in the areas of agriculture, water, forestry, health, and other areas. 

Malavisi has published widely on development ethics and related issues including a 2023 book titled “Global Development, Ethics, and Epistemic Injustice: Rethinking the Theory and Practice.”

When she visits UNE, Malavisi will argue that the damage warfare does to the natural world should be reason enough for nations to rethink strategies of protection, security, and conflict mitigation. To make her case, she will offer a historical and theoretical perspective on war, then move to a contemporary perspective arguing that the dominant political ideology turns to war too easily. She will also examine the specific immediate and long- term effects of war on our natural world before concluding with a vision on how best to prevent the onset of war.

This will be the third of six events this spring semester at the Center for Global Humanities, where lectures are always free, open to the public, and streamed live online. For more information or to watch the event, please visit the Center for Global Humanities website.