UNIT OVERVIEW.
This brief introductory unit is devoted to (a) credibly establishing the irrefutable reality that we have been living in and continue to live through a period in earth’s history now popularly known as the Anthropocene in which human activity has significantly and hazardously altered the climate and biosphere of Earth; and (b) ensuring we understand both the basics of climate science and the political agendas that have succeeded in obfuscating it. We will read and discuss excerpts of Amitov Ghosh’s essay The Great Derangement to both lay a foundation for the value and necessity of a “poetics of climate fiction,” as Ghosh calls it, and establish the core tenets and features of this still-emerging yet increasingly critical genre of storytelling. This introduction will briefly chronicle the evolution of climate fiction and introduce the five “imaginaries” or themes with which cli-fi authors and artists concern themselves: social breakdown, judgment, conspiracy, loss of wilderness, and spheres.
This brief introductory unit is devoted to (a) credibly establishing the irrefutable reality that we have been living in and continue to live through a period in earth’s history now popularly known as the Anthropocene in which human activity has significantly and hazardously altered the climate and biosphere of Earth; and (b) ensuring we understand both the basics of climate science and the political agendas that have succeeded in obfuscating it. We will read and discuss excerpts of Amitov Ghosh’s essay The Great Derangement to both lay a foundation for the value and necessity of a “poetics of climate fiction,” as Ghosh calls it, and establish the core tenets and features of this still-emerging yet increasingly critical genre of storytelling. This introduction will briefly chronicle the evolution of climate fiction and introduce the five “imaginaries” or themes with which cli-fi authors and artists concern themselves: social breakdown, judgment, conspiracy, loss of wilderness, and spheres.
LITERARY TEXTS
Fiction
NONFICTION
Informational Texts
Online Resources
Fiction
- The Collapse of Western Civilization, Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, Columbia University Press, 2014.
NONFICTION
Informational Texts
- "Cli-Fi: A Short Essay on Its Worlds and Its Importance", Gregers Andersen, Dragonfly.eco, 24 May 2014.
- "Geology of Mankind", Paul J. Crutzen, Nature Vol. 415, 3 Jan 2002, p. 23.
- “Anthropocene: Is This the New Epoch of Humans?”, Ian Sample, Architexturez, 17 Oct 2014.
- "The Uninhabitable Earth", David Wallace-Wells, New York Magazine, 10 July 2017.
- "The Burning Question", Robert Macfarlane, The Guardian, 23 Sept. 2005.
- Climate Fiction and Cultural Analysis: A New Perspective on Life in the Anthropocene, Gregers Andersen, Routledge, 2020.
- The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, Amitov Ghosh, University of Chicago Press, 2016.
- "Which Racial/Ethnic Groups Care Most About Climate Change?", Ballew, M., Maibach, E., Kotcher, J., Bergquist, P., Rosenthal, S., Marlon, J., and Leiserowitz, A. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 2020.
- “The Six Americas of Global Warming”, Yale Program in Climate Change Communication (6m 22s)
- Yale Climate Opinion Map 2021, Yale Program in Climate Change Communication
Online Resources
TERMINOLOGY
Adaptation
Albedo Alternative energy Anthropocene Anthropogenic Anthroposphere Atmosphere Biodiversity Biomass Biosphere Carbon Capture Carbon Cycle Carbon Dioxide Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi) Carbon Footprint Carbon Sequestration Climate Climate change Climate Model Climate system (Earth System) |
Climate variability
Coral bleaching Cryosphere Deforestation Desertification Ecosystem Emissions Environmental uncanny Feedback loop (reinforcing vs. countervailing) Fossil Fuels Geosphere (Lithosphere) Glacier Global warming Greenhouse effect Greenhouse gasses Hydrosphere Hyperobject Imaginary |
Industrial Revolution
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Keeling curve Mitigation Ocean acidification Radiation Renewable energy Resilience Sink Vulnerability Weather |
VIDEO GALLERY
The Literature of Climate Change
Course Introduction Video by Mr. Wheeler (32m 52s) |
The Five Imaginaries of Cli-Fi
A Screencast by Mr. Wheeler (17m 39s) |
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"Can These Books Save the Planet?"
The Rise of Climate Fiction A Video by Hot Mess |
Amitav Ghosh: "'Climate' of Denial: The Great Derangement"
New Delhi TV | Interview 20 July 2016 |
What is the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)?
The IPCC 2018 report decrypted by Citizens For Climate (CFC/CPLC)
The IPCC 2018 report decrypted by Citizens For Climate (CFC/CPLC)