Criminality of climate change explored in talk

KALAMAZOO—A professor of criminology will examine the issue of climate change from his discipline's perspective when he speaks at Western Michigan University.

Dr. Rob White, professor of criminology in the School of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Tasmania in Australia, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12, in 1920 Sangren Hall. His presentation, titled "Climate Change, Crime and Criminology," is free and open to the public and sponsored by the WMU Office for Sustainability.

In his presentation, White will describe climate change as a slow crisis and will outline different kinds of associated crimes and consequences. White argues that criminology needs to critically examine the consequences of global warming for national security, societal peace and social and ecological well-being. Future research must be multi-jurisdictional in scope and transnational in nature. Key issues that need to be addressed include biosecurity and social conflict as well as compliance and enforcement of environmental laws.

White has written extensively in the areas of criminology, youth studies and public policy. He has a particular interest in developing the area of eco-global criminology, which examines the transnational nature of ecological harm, and in enhancing criminological research on issues such as climate change and the international disposal of hazardous waste. He is the author of "Transnational Environmental Crime: Toward An Eco-Global Criminology" and "Crimes Against Nature: Environmental Criminology and Ecological Justice." He is also the editor of "Climate Change From a Criminological Perspective," "Controversies in Environmental Sociology," "Environmental Harm: A Reader" and "Global Environmental Harm: Criminological Perspectives."

Co-sponsors of White's visit include the Department of Sociology, the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Study Group on Climate Change at the Center for the Humanities.