Consensus Building

How can global standards and conventions for truth be agreed upon? With the myriad of different perspectives, tools and methods available for describing the planet in transformation, how can consensus and verification be established? Who gets to decide? How can one reconcile understandings of the origins and processes of forming planetary knowledge and universal ideas with the continuous unfolding of local practices and specific experiences?

In this seminar reflection, writer Adania Shibli and paleoecologist Simon Turner moderate a discussion with the participants of their seminar Consensus Building, which has taken place over the course of the week. They discuss the outcomes of this weeklong experiment in decision-making and attempt to navigate how decision-making and knowledge production factor into each of the case studies they investigated during the seminar.