Albertine Conversations: Mending the Living World

In 2026, The Columbia Maison Française and the Alliance Program will partner with Villa Albertine to launch a new conversation series on ecology. The series will address major topics such as the collapse of ecosystems, the transformation of human-to-nonhuman relationships, the societal and economic impact of global warming, and urban resilience. 

In New York, the inaugural event will be held on January 28 at Columbia University. It will bring together Corine Pelluchon, a French philosopher whose work examines the moral and political underpinnings of our relationship with the environment; Ana Porzecanski, Director of the Center for Biodiversity & Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History; Cyrille Barnerias, Director of International Relations at the French Office for Biodiversity; and Kristina Douglass, an archaeologist and professor at the Columbia Climate School. The conversation will be moderated by Sarah Sax, an award-winning investigative journalist specializing in environmental issues.

Together, they will reflect on the idea of a “New Enlightenment” for the Anthropocene era. As we confront the decline of biodiversity, the discussion will explore emerging forms of interdependence among human, animal, and plant life. We will ask: How might the ways earlier societies and ecosystems co-adapted to climate pressures inform us today? Can we imagine a new social contract that would bring forth a more equitable coexistence between human and nonhuman worlds? How might an expanded sense of “the other” and a heightened awareness of contemporary vulnerabilities be translated into public policy? How can public engagement be designed to turn these concepts from ideals to actions? 

Participants

Cyrille Barnerias is the Director of European and International Relations at the French Biodiversity Agency (OFB). Prior to joining OFB, he worked with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Washington, D.C., where he contributed to marine and terrestrial biodiversity projects, and in Martinique, where he focused on biodiversity and the conservation of protected species and areas. He began his career at the French Forest Inventory, on methods, protocols, and management. Across these diverse roles, he has built a career dedicated to biodiversity, spanning the full spectrum from inventory and conservation to international cooperation. He is a member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas.

Kristina Douglass is an award-winning archaeologist whose research explores the dynamic co-evolution of people, land, and seascapes. She is a 2025 MacArthur Fellow and a 2021 Carnegie Fellow, and currently serves as an Associate Professor of Climate at Columbia University’s Climate School. Douglass is also a Smithsonian Institution Research Associate and a leading voice in climate-centered archaeology. Her work is deeply grounded in ethical, collaborative partnerships with local, Indigenous, and descendant (LID) communities as equal partners in the co-production of knowledge. These collaborations prioritize the recording, preservation, and dissemination of LID knowledge to address pressing global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity conservation, and sustainability planning.  Her research has been published in leading academic journals and informs global conversations on climate resilience, cultural heritage, and environmental justice.

Corine Pelluchon is a Professor of Philosophy at Gustave Eiffel University. She specializes in moral and political philosophy, and in medical, environmental and animal ethics, addressing themes such as ecology and our relationship to nature, eco-anxiety, vulnerability and democracy. She received the Günther Anders Prize for Critical Thinking and the prestigious Leopold Lucas Preis in recognition of her work. Major publications include Nourishment: A Philosophy of the Political Body (trans. J.E. Smith, Bloomsbury, 2019), which explores our corporeality and dependence on nature and other living beings; Enlightenment in the Ecological Age (Ethics International Press, 2025), which examines the relevance of the Enlightenment heritage in the current technological, political and ecological context, and continues the work begun in Éthique de la considération (Seuil, 2018 – rights available) which focuses on the moral dispositions required to achieve ecological transition; L’être et la mer. Pour un existentialisme écologique (PUF, 2024 – rights available), where she examines our reliance on the ocean and the submersible dimensions of both the Earth and the human psyche.

Dr. Ana Luz Porzecanski, Ph.D., is an evolutionary biologist and conservation scientist. She is the director of the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC), a center focused on transforming knowledge—from diverse sources and perspectives, and spanning areas of scientific research as well as traditional and local knowledge—into conservation action. Ana grew up in Uruguay and Brazil surrounded by a large family of European immigrants who nurtured a love of nature and culture, a deep curiosity about the workings of the planet and society, and a commitment to social justice. She has a biology degree from the Universidad de la República in Uruguay, and graduate degrees in Environmental Policy, and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Columbia University in New York City, where she lives with her husband and daughters. 

Sarah Sax is an award-winning investigative journalist and video producer covering stories about climate change and the environment. Her rigorous, evidence-based investigations reveal the effects of climate change and climate policy on vulnerable communities. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and The Washington Post, among others. She has a Master in Environmental Science from Yale. Before starting in journalism, Sarah Sax worked as a farmer and a food security consultant.