The Social Life of Climate Change

1 Course Unit

Three decades after climate change was established as a scientific fact in the halls of the US Congress and the United Nations, governments around the world are still refusing to substantively respond to the climate emergency. As a result, the events of climate catastrophe are no longer anticipated future phenomena. The intersecting crises of catastrophic hurricanes, wildfires, and flood events are now part of everyday life. Their effects are particularly consequential for Black, Brown and Indigenous communities. How is climate change affecting social worlds and imaginaries for the future around the world? And what kinds of work are citizens, scientists, activists and policy makers doing to address its most pernicious effects? The course capped at 15 students will run as an in- person seminar discussion organized around four books that we will read carefully through the term, along with supporting texts, films and projects. The course begins by investigating the scientific consensus around climate change, paying particular attention to the practices through which scientific facts are established. Next, it examines the social and political antecedents of the climate crisis borne out of European colonization. We examine nineteenth century colonizations of the environment Third, the course explores why the promises of climate action have been deferred despite it being a scientific fact for over three decades, by dwelling in the relationship between power and ignorance. How and why are planners, businesses and administrators able to act as if nothing has changed? Finally, we explore how citizens, particularly those that are structurally marginalized, responding to the different climate crises that are unmaking their lives, livelihoods and polities? The course ends by critically engaging with social movements, projects and programs that are working to address these crises through climate justice frameworks. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit