Markus Keck
On Markus' contribution
Why academia was no help in building a sustainable society
In 2051 the global temperature has increased by more than 2°C above pre-industrial level. Extreme weather events such as heat waves, heavy rainfall and hurricanes are commonplace around the world, causing countless casualties every year. Markus Keck investigates why academia in the early 2020s was no help in building a sustainable society. He collects eyewitness reports by sustainability researchers, which provide highly intimate insights into the logics of science at that time.
Markus presents his work on day 1 of T2051MCC. On this day it is assumed that global heating has surpassed 2°C.
Some background on Markus
University of Cologne, Global South Studies Center, Köln, Germany
I am a geographer working on the sustainability transformation of agri-food systems in the countries of South Asia and in Germany. I am interested in how contemporary agri-food systems are being altered through major societal processes such as globalization, global environmental change, urbanization, and technological innovation and examine the socio-economic and socio-ecological consequences that are linked to these processes. I draw on a variety of analytical traditions including political ecology, practice theories, and science and technology studies. My goal is to contribute to crafting socio-economically just and ecologically sustainable futures. I am currently principal investigator of a DFG-funded project working on genetically engineered cotton in India and will soon act as speaker of the transdisciplinary project NutriAIDE, funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), which aims at developing an app-based approach to transform the food environments of overweight and obese consumers in urban India towards sustainable and healthy nutrition. I am author of two monographs and about 40 scientific articles and book chapters. Currently, I am affiliated to the University of Göttingen as Guest Researcher at the Faculty of Geoscience and Geography, and to the University of Cologne as Postdoctoral Associate of the Global South Studies Center.
Find out more on University of Cologne, Research Gate and on Twitter @MarkusKeck1.
