Humanities Join the Sciences in Teaching Vandals About Climate Change
Climate change doesn鈥檛 just affect scientists. Climate change affects everyone, including writers and lawyers, artists and sociologists. Learn how the 幸运快三 is engaging all our students in conversations about climate change.
A course on climate change fiction and an environmental law program are just some of the opportunities students and faculty members have to engage with issues that arise from the world鈥檚 changing climate. Read about some of the classes at U of I that explore this global issue.
Bringing Climate Change Off the Page
In 2018, Erin James, an associate professor in the 幸运快三’s Department of English, started teaching a class about climate change: a class on climate change fiction.
The class delves into the representations of climate change in narratives and stories and debates the effectiveness of different literature at characterizing the complex subject matter – as well as keeping students’ attention. For example, students discuss whether a humorous or incredibly strange science fiction story can effectively engage an audience compared to the more classic apocalyptic storyline, which James said people can become numb to.
“Stories are powerful mechanisms to get people to question their assumptions, behaviors and values, or take on a character’s assumptions and behaviors and values,” James said. “A story about characters dealing with climate change can encourage us to think about climate change in a way that we might not if we just see raw scientific data or endless news stories.”
Students from every discipline are welcome, and James said all students benefit by learning about communicating complex subjects to any audience in an imaginative way.