“Cultivating Frugal Preferences in Children: A Response to the Climate Crisis”

Nanette Ryan (National University of Singapore)

We are pleased to announce a series of three online seminars, each dedicated to the discussion with the author(s) of a draft paper circulated among participants in advance.

Each paper and seminar engages, in a different way, with the moral limits of shaping others. The first seminar will focus on a paper by Areti Theofilopoulou (Warwick) that examines the distinction between coercive control and boundary-setting in romantic relationships. The second will discuss a paper by Christie Harley (Georgia State) and Ashley Lindsley-Kim (British Columbia), arguing for abortion rights on the grounds that state-enforced pregnancy and childbirth are incompatible with the status of equal citizenship. The third and final seminar will consider a paper by Nanette Ryan (Singapore) and Joshua Lucza (Singapore) which argues that, in response to the climate crisis, children’s capacities for responsible, reflective, and ethically engaged citizenship should be prioritized over cultivating frugal preferences in children.

Monday, May 4, 2026: Areti Theofilopoulou (Warwick), “Is It Control or Boundary-Setting?”

Monday, May 11, 2026: Christie Hartley (Georgia State) and Ashley Lindsley-Kim (British Columbia), “Equality and the Right to Abortion”

Monday, May 18, 2026: Nanette Ryan (Singapore), “Cultivating Frugal Preferences in Children: A Response to the Climate Crisis” (co-authored with Joshua Lucza)

The seminars will be held online on Mondays at 2.15-3.45 p.m. CET. 

We welcome participants at any or all of the seminars! Please email [email protected] to receive the draft papers and the online meeting link.

The seminars are organized by Francesca Miccoli (Basel), Tom Bailey (John Cabot), and Johanna Rensing (Basel).