The Interdependence Day project: Making new maps for an island planet

The Interdependence Day project (ID) was a research, communications and participation project established to create new ways of understanding the links between environment, development and globalization. It was led by Professor Joe Smith (now at the Royal Geographical Society with IBG), working with colleagues in Geography at the OU, the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield and the New Economics Foundation. Researchers explored the nature and significance of interdependencies within and between the social and natural worlds, especially in work on biodiversity and climate change research.

Two UK research funding councils, the ESRC and NERC funded the Interdependence seminar series whereby the events that made up the programme have worked in innovative ways to create space to consider the extent to which 'interdependence' is or could be a powerful reference point in demanding both policy and public engagement in environmental change issues. Participation included natural and social scientists, journalists, policy and communications professionals and artists. Discussions explored the ethical implications of research as much as the work itself: what kinds of response/responsibilities are implied by new knowledge in these fields, not just for the policy community, but also for researchers? The research aimed to refresh jaded debates about sustainable development, globalization and environmental change through a body of events and publications such as Do Good Lives Have to Cost the Earth and Interdependece Day specials on BBC Radio 4. 

Materials from the research project - such as transcripts from seminars - have been archived by OU Geography. Please get in touch with Colin Lorne if you want a copy of archived materials.