A goal of this class is to invite you on a personal journey. We want to provide the opportunity for you to think critically AND creatively about the most pressing environmental, political, and social issue of our time. Climate change is part of a larger discussion related to sustainability and is a pressing and pervasive issue from economic, political and environmental perspectives. We want you to leave our class conversant about your views on this issue. Where do you stand? What should be done?
Classes
Climate Change and Film (ATLS 3519/EBIO 4460) and Creative Climate Communications (ENVS3173/THTR4173)
Creative Climate Communications (ENVS 3173/THTR 4173)
The objectives for this course are (1) to generate multimodal compositions on the subject of climate change and (2) engage with various dimensions and issues associated with climate, environment and sustainability. We work to deepen our understanding of how issues associated with climate change are/can be communicated, by analyzing previously created expressions from a variety of media (interactive theatre, film, fine art, performance art, television programming, blogs for examples) and then by creating our own work. Throughout the semester, we will appraise and extract effective methods and techniques in ongoing student work and apply them to what will emerge as Inside the Greenhouse (ITG) artifacts of creative communications.
COMM 3370 Environmental Communication
This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary and timely field of environmental communication, including historical events, key concepts, legal landmarks, technological developments, and public controversies at the intersection of the environment, economics, and social justice. We focus on pragmatic communication in the public sphere from the past and present, as well as the constitutive power of communication to name and redefine what has been and might become possible in our environmental imaginations. Course objectives include: introduce historical and global discourses about the environment; define key terms and frames of the environment used by government officials, corporations, NGOs, social movements, journalists, scientists, and more; engage related concepts of the public sphere, democracy, & justice; survey multiple methods and practices of environmental communication, including rhetoric, public relations, environmental journalism and more; analyze cultural symbols related to (un)sustainable practices and messages; and develop critical thinking, research, and written communication skills.