Introductions
Aug 29: Welcome & Introduction
→ Introduction to the course
Aug 31: Narrating Nature
→ Readings:
1) Robert Cox, Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere, Introduction + Chapter 2 (Sakai) and
2) Jed Purdy, After Nature, Prologue (Sakai)
⇒ Blog, due Friday at midnight. Choose one or more of the discussion prompts from Cox and post a creative or critical reflection in response to that/those prompt(s).
Speculative Fiction and the Environment
Sept 5: Speculative Fiction and the Environment
→ Readings: Review Purdy & Cox. Come prepared to Create!
Sept 7: Visioning
→ Readings:
1) Read Ryan, C., Gaziulusoy, I., McCormick, K & Trudgeon, M.’s “Virtual City Experimentation: A Critical Role for Design Visioning.” Download here and
2) The Huffington Post‘s “We Asked Sci-Fi Writers About The Future Of Climate Change”
⇒ Blog, due Friday at midnight. How can fiction positively or negatively shape our narratives of the design of nature’s future(s)? Be sure to give an example or two.
Sept 12: Pacific Edge
→ Readings: Read chapters 1-6 of Kim Stanley Robinson’s (KSR) Pacific Edge for today.
Sept 14: Pacific Edge Continued
→ Readings: Read chapters 7-11 of KSR’s Pacific Edge for today. Be sure to have the entire novel finished for today.
⇒ Blog, due Friday at midnight. Post a critical or creative response to KSR’s Pacific Edge.
Hope and the Environmental Humanities
Sept 19: Environmental Humanities
→ Readings: Read Serpil Oppermann & Serenella Iovino’s “Introduction: The Environmental Humanities and the Challenges of the Anthropocene.” (Sakai)
Sept 21: Hope (in the Dark)
→ Readings:
1) Read Rebecca Solnit’s “Grounds for Hope” (Sakai) and
2) China Miéville’s “The Limits of Utopia.”
⇒ Blog, due Friday at midnight. Prompt: Is there hope in the Anthropocene? Where do we find it? Can we make it? What can we do?
Ecotopia
Sept 26: Ecotopia
→ Readings: Read from page iii-82 of Ernest Callenbach’s Ecotopia.
Sept 28: Ecotopia Continued
→ Readings: Read from page 82-181 (including the Afterward and Epistle) of Ernest Callenbach’s Ecotopia.
⇒ Blog, due Friday at midnight. In the spirit of our reporter Will Weston, for your blog this week, write a journal entry that reflects on how you might have felt as a visitor to this Ecotopia.
Native/Nature Stories || Climate of Care
Oct 3: Indigenous Stories
→ Readings:
1) Read Linda Hogan’s “Backbone: Holding Up our Future”
2) Deborah Bird Rose’s “Country and the Gift”
3) Ursula K. Le Guin, “Deep in Admiration” (All on Sakai)
Optional: Thom van Dooren and Deborah Bird Rose’s “Lively Ethography: Storying Animist Worlds” (Sakai)
Oct 5 Animal Stories
→ Readings:
1) Thom van Dooren’s “Making Worlds With Crows: Philosophy in the Field”
2) Piers Locke’s “Interspecies Care in a Hybrid Institution”
3) Donna Haraway’s “Companion Species Manifesto,” read up to page 39 (All on Sakai)
⇒ NO Blog, focus on Midterms instead! due Friday at midnight. Post a critical or creative response to this week’s readings and discussion. Focus on care and what nonhumans can teach us about ourselves, our planet, and our interconnections.
Midterm Projects due Oct 6 at Noon at the latest!
Green Earth
Oct 10: Fall Break, No Class
Oct 12: Permaculture
→ Readings: START READING GREEN EARTH, page numbers here
⇒ Blog, due Sunday at midnight (note extension): What role, if any, might permaculture play in designing nature’s futures?
Oct 17: Green Earth
→ Readings: Read first selection from KSR’s Green Earth, page numbers here
Oct 19: Green Earth Continued
→ Readings: Read final selection from KSR’s Green Earth, page numbers here
⇒ Blog, due Friday at midnight.
Oct 24: Duke Campus Farm
→ Readings: Look through the Duke Campus Farm website.
Oct 26: EcoMedia Challenge: Terraforming & Geoengineering
→ Readings:
1) Read KSR’s “Terraforming Earth”
2) Read “Exclusive: Bjarke Ingels On Designing A Martian City“
IN CLASS: EcoMedia Challenge
⇒ No Blog!
Oct 31: Farming new lands: Terraforming & Geoengineering
→ Readings:
1) Read KSR’s “Terraforming Earth”
2) Read “Exclusive: Bjarke Ingels On Designing A Martian City“
Nov 2: Guest Speaker Catherine Flowers!
→ Readings:
1) Read Q&A with Catherine Flowers: Center for Earth Ethics
2) Read “Sewage is a problem that few will touch“
⇒ Blog, due Friday at midnight. Prompt: Write a critical reflection on our visit with Catherine Flowers. What did you learn about environmental/climate justice? How does what you’ve learned alter the way you might design nature’s future?
Art and Activism for Designing Nature’s Futures
Nov 7: Re-Designing Political Futures: How do we design the world to be more just?
→ Readings: No Readings
Nov 9:
→ Readings:
1) Read The Paris Agreement
2) Read “Why we can’t lose hope: Dr. David Suzuki speaks out“
⇒ Blog, due SUNDAY at midnight. If you could design a policy initiative, what would it be? Why?
The World We Made/Are Making
Nov 14: Activist Climate Art
→ Readings:
1) Read “Artists as Activists: Pursuing Social Justice”
2) Read “The Fragile Framework” Nick Sousanis (Sakai)
3) Watch “One year of turning the world inside out” see JR’s previous Ted Talk “My wish: Use art to turn the world inside out” (second video here is optional but well worth watching)
4) Watch the second video here, “James Nachtwey – My Photgraphs Bear Witness,” the other four videos are optional
Optional Readings:
–“How Artists Change the World,” David Brooks
–“Why art has the power to change the world,” Olafur Eliasson
–“Can art change society?,” Tate Modern
Nov 16: The World We Made
→ Readings: Read The World We Made.
⇒ Blog, due Friday at midnight. Prompt: What is missing from The World We Made? If you were to add a chapter, what topic would it cover and and how? For example, how would you imagine gender or race the world of The World We Made?
Nov 21: Final Project Workshop
→ Readings: None. Come prepared to share an abstract of your final project.
Nov 23: Thanksgiving Break. No Class.
⇒ NO Blog, Please post your abstract to the blog.
Nov 28: Global Design Solutions
→ “How Much Do You Know About Solving Global Warming?“
Nov 30: Love/Hate Reflections. Where Are We Now? Environmental Solutions Map
→ No Readings
Dec 5: Last Day of Class. Presentations
Dec 7: No Class
Dec 14: Final Projects Due
