Rhetoric and the Natural World: Writing as Change

(4 Credits)

Nature writers are natural rhetoricians who employ language to express their wonder and appreciation for our surroundings but also to persuade us to think about the natural world, environmental protection, and change. Why do they take on this task? What motivates them to write about plants, animals, rivers, mountains, streams, the air we breathe, and the ongoing, dynamic relationship between humanity and the earth? How do they envision, create, and shape arguments to deepen our awareness of the world we inhabit and shift our perspective on the environment? In this course you will learn how nature writers both function within but also transcend the economic and aesthetic to alert us to the ethical dimensions of our relationship to nature. You will read and respond to a range of personal, literary, and scientific writing about the natural world as well as texts on classical rhetoric that will help you consider how writers craft rhetorical discourse to test ideas, build arguments, and influence public opinion to bring about radical change.