UiO - Oslo Center for Environmental Humanities

🌍 Did you know the world's greenest place depends on one of its most barren?

It sounds like a contradiction, but it's one of the most striking connections on the planet — and a reminder, dear to the environmental humanities, that no landscape really stands alone.

The Amazon rainforest sits on surprisingly poor soil. Its heavy rains constantly wash nutrients away, leaving the ground far less fertile than all that lush green would suggest. So what keeps it growing?

The answer blows in from thousands of kilometres away. Every year, winds lift vast clouds of dust off the Sahara Desert and carry them across the Atlantic Ocean — and that dust is rich in phosphorus, the very nutrient the rainforest keeps losing. The desert, in effect, fertilises the jungle.

And much of it comes from a single place: the Bodélé Depression in Chad, an ancient dried-up lake bed whose dust is rich in the remains of long-dead microorganisms. A vanished lake, on another continent, quietly keeping the rainforest alive 🏜️🌳

We tend to imagine deserts as empty and rainforests as full — but the living world rarely respects the tidy categories we draw around it.

📖 Read more: https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/29apr_amazondust/

🌼 June at OCEH is blooming!

We've got a wonderful month lined up at OCEH, and we'd love for you to join us:
🗓️ 3 June — Lunch seminar: "The Techno-Fix and the Metabolic Rift" with Jared Sanborn. Bring your lunch and your questions!
🗓️ 5 June — Metabolic Sentinels: Zine launch! Come celebrate with us 📖
🗓️ 16 June — Soundshed: Sound exploration workshop at Kistefos. A day of listening, making, and discovery 🎧

Whether you're drawn to big ideas, hands-on making, or simply good company, there's something here for you.

👉 Full details on our page: https://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/english/research/projects/oslo-center-for-environmental-humanities/

And tomorrow’s OCEH programme continues over lunch, with Birgit Mersmann on AI-generated art, creativity, and environmental ethics — read more:

Lunch seminar: Birgit Mersmann, "Post-Creative Practices and Environmental Ethics in AI-Generated Art" - Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Ethically responsible image-generation from a dual perspective: AI for sustainability, and sustainable AI.

Tomorrow morning at OCEH Lab: step into the playful and unexpected world of eco-pop and augmented reality sculpture with Ursula Ströbele — details here:

Lab talk: Ursula Ströbele, "Eco-Pop in Augmented Reality Sculpture" - Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Augmented reality sculptors are turning away from the dystopian narrative of the Anthropocene towards positive and playful narratives of fabulated imaginary worlds.

What happens when environmental humanities researchers from across Europe gather around one table? Join us on tomorrow for an open roundtable with OCEH — expect thoughtful conversations, fresh perspectives, and plenty to think about 🌿💬

Roundtable: Environmental humanities across Europe - Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies An informal conversation about the challenges facing environmental humanities initiatives in Europe.

And in the afternoon, the second half of our double bill 🐦 — Monica Vasile (University of Oulu) joins us in the OCEH Lab to tell the story of the takahē, a flightless bird in Aotearoa New Zealand once thought extinct, and the intimate, uneasy work of bringing a species back.

Lab talk: Monica Vasile, "Intimate knowledge and species recovery: A history of the takahē in Aotearoa New Zealand" - Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies What does it take to keep another species alive, and what kinds of knowledge and intervention does this demand? NB Please note the timeslot of the talk has been moved and is now 14.15-16.00.

Tomorrow morning kicks off a busy day at OCEH: Professors Aike Rots (UiO) and Rachel Douglas-Jones (IT University of Copenhagen) join us for an Academic Toolkit session on grant writing — a warm, practical conversation for PhDs and postdocs facing their first submission.

Academic Toolkit: Grant Writing for Early-Career Researchers - Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Professors Aike Rots and Rachel Douglas-Jones share their experiences and offer concrete advice for preparing your first grant submission.

What might a museum become in a time of ecological breakdown — and what kinds of care, imagination and responsibility could follow? Join Colin Sterling for a digital talk on museums, heritage and sustainability on 7 May:

Digital talk: Colin Sterling, "The Sustainability Effect — Regenerative Culture After Globalisation" - Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies The Bilbao Effect is a well-known concept in the museum world. Named after the Guggenheim Bilbao, it describes the idea that cultural and architectural landmarks might drive regional economic growth and urban regeneration.

🌿 Newsletter #5 is out!

This spring at OCEH: wassailing trees by a bonfire at Sognsvann, a walk through Nordmarka to talk about ticks and climate change, Sámi legal thought, museum ecologies, energy myths in Shetland — and something you probably didn't know about the colour green.

Read the full newsletter here:
https://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/english/research/projects/oslo-center-for-environmental-humanities/news/oceh-newsletters/OCEH%20Newsletter%20%235%20April%202026

What happens when Vikings trade their oars for wind turbines and aliens start crashing into renewable energy sites? 🌬️⚡ Join us Monday for a fascinating lunch seminar on how Shetlanders use mythology and sci-fi to reimagine the green energy frontier — free and open to all!

Lunch Seminar: Miriam Sentler, “Green Acts: The Fantastical (Re)imagination of the Green Energy Frontier in Shetland (1965–2011)" - Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies This talk presents research from the final chapter of Miriam Sentler’s doctoral thesis project, exploring how Shetlanders use motifs from mythology and science fiction in creative performances to navigate the practical implications of the renewable energy era.