"Seizing an Alternative: Toward an Ecological Civilization" is an international conference that focuses on the big ideas that matter for a thriving ecosphere, featuring some seven hundred presenters and more than eighty areas of specialty.

Leading scholars and activists, including Bill McKibben, Vandana Shiva, Sheri Liao, John Cobb, Herman Daly, Wes Jackson, David Ray Griffin, Harvey Cox, Mary Elizabeth Moore, Catherine Keller, William Connolly and others will explore questions like:

• What would business and finance look like if the aim of creating a thriving exosphere becomes the goal of the economy?
• How would the university be reshaped if it accepted responsibility for the future of the Earth rather than attempt to be value-free?
• What would religion be like if it were to focus on world loyalty as opposed to sectarian or national loyalty or escapism?

Most of this conference will be devoted to meeting in small working groups ("tracks") to discussion particular topics of real importance. There are 82 Tracks which are organized under 12 key themes or "12 Sections". The task of these Tracks is to advance thinking on particular issues in the direction needed if we are to move toward an ecological civilization.