News
Blue Box Seminar Series

PRESENTS
Domenique Ciavattone, PhD Candidate in MUN’s Department of Geography.
United Nations Climate Change Negotiations at COP30 in Brazil: Getting There, Getting Inside, and Getting Through It.
Please join us for an engaging talk by Domenique Ciavattone, PhD Candidate in MUN’s Department of Geography, as she discusses her first-hand experiences at the UNFCCC’s Conference of Parties (COP) 30 in Belém, Brazil.
During this seminar, Domenique will talk about the process of obtaining a prestigious Blue Zone Badge (and explain what that badge is) to gain access to the highest-level global climate change negotiations. She will talk through how to navigate the facilities, networking, finding accommodation, and selecting events to attend. She will share an overview and key takeaways of the conference.
She will also briefly discuss the paper she is currently preparing for journal submission, “Does Nature Have a Blue Zone Badge? Examining Physical, Socioeconomic, and (Political) Ontological Barriers at COP30 to Re-Imagine Pluriversal Climate Futures.” She uses event ethnography to highlight some of the main accessibility challenges and power imbalances of this global conference, with an invitation to imagine COP otherwise.
WHEN? Friday, March 20th | 2 - 3 P.M.
WHERE? Ocean Frontier Institute, Core Science Facility, Room 5310M
(From the whale atrium, take the elevator to the 5th floor then follow the signage)
HSS Highlights
What may be lost with cuts to Memorial University

Josh Lepawski (Geography) and Barbara Lou Neis (Sociology) appear on The Signal to discuss the future of Memorial amidst cuts and downsizing.
"The standard talking point is that Memorial is only a cost centre. It's never treated as an investment, despite the evidence that it clearly is."
CBC (audio)
YouTube (video)