Climate (you can) Change

Catalog description

When you think of climate change, what do you see? Do you picture images of polar bears or of displaced peoples? Do you imagine politicians in pressed suits or scientists in lab coats? Each of these images helps to tell a story about climate change: why do you think some stand out more urgently than others? This class will help us to answer this question - but it will not stop there. We will listen to the various voices that narrate the stakes of climate change to the public: scientists, politicians, journalists, creative writers. Although we may discuss the rhetoric of dissenters, we will focus on the consensus of people who agree that climate change is inflected by human behaviors and industry, and we will consider the role of writing in conveying the stakes of this global issue to different audiences. We will ask: What stories do people tell about climate change, and why? Do some stories have a greater effect than others? What kind of political work can climate change stories do? And, most importantly, what kind of stories can we write?