could also include video games W r i t i n g

1.Climate Denial

250 words typed or 1-2 minutes recorded (video or audio) | 2 replies

The texts you’re examining explore the disconnect between the facts of climate change and any significant responses to it. Moreover, they forward that “climate denial” is a source of this schism. Kolbert’s article focuses on the imminent (and present) effects of climate change on the state of Florida and especially in the city of Miami, and considers several factors that bar the state from effectively mitigating or adapting to the issue, among them denial stemming from ideologically entrenched politicians, community leaders who displace the issue onto future generations, apathetic academics, and a misinformed public. In your discussion post, 1) put Kolbert’s article into conversation with any of the other assigned texts such as Campbell and Kay’s psychological study on “solution aversion” and the PBS video on climate denial. Those texts forward interesting theories that help us understand why the issue of climate change—despite the 97% consensus among the scientific community—is a contested topic in political and public spheres. Are the politicians in Florida motivated to disbelieve in climate change because of their ideology? Are our minds not adequately wired to respond to climate change because it does meet the P.A.I.N criteria discussed in the PBS video? Is there an optimism bias at play? confirmation bias? A mistranslation of “uncertainty” from the sciences to the political and public discourses?

After you’ve analyzed Kolbert’s article and contextualized it with the other sources, I’d like you to 2) share what you think the leading causes of climate denial and/or inaction are. You can choose from the theories listed in the assigned texts and elaborate on them, or you can use sources you’ve found on your own, or you can share your original theories about it.

Please reply to at least 2 of your classmates.

2.Climate Fiction

200-250 words or 1-2 minute (audio or video) | 2 replies

Nathaniel Rich’s short story “Hermie” is–sadly–the only fictional text that you’ll be reading in this class.

In the first part of your discussion post, I’d like you to think about the affordances of fictional representations of climate change. You’ve seen a number of non-fiction texts about climate change from various disciplines and perspectives; what can a story like “Hermie” or a movie like Snowpiercer or even Wall-E contribute to our understanding of this environmental crisis? What does/can fiction, film and art offer to the conversation, if anything at all? Do you think it is necessary or extraneous to incorporate cultural representations into our consideration of climate change? This could also include video games and art works. Does a fictional source rely on similar or different rhetorical appeals as the other sources you’ve read? Provide examples from any genre or medium as you reflect on the place of fiction in thinking about climate change.