University Explores Climate Change Through Literature

There’s a fresh wave of teaching coming from John Carroll University: using fiction to uncover the truth about our planet’s climate crisis. This new approach comes from the university’s latest course titled “Climate Change Literature”.

Source: Simon Clark/YouTube

Inspired by numerous fiction books that address climate change themes, the course aims to provide a unique perspective on the environment. In a novel approach, this course is paired with a biology class on climate science, giving students a two-pronged exploration of the issue: a scientific insight into topics like carbon dioxide emissions, and a literary perspective that dives deep into the human and emotional side of the crisis.

The literary journey takes students through Barbara Kingsolver’s novel “Flight Behavior”, an emotive tale set in Appalachia, as well as a plethora of other works from renowned authors and poets like Kim Stanley Robinson, Tommy Orange, Olivia Clare, Jess Walter, Matthew Olzmann, and more. These stories weave themes of rising global temperatures, the direct effects of our fossil fuel dependence, economic injustice, racial disparities in climate impacts, and migration due to climate reasons.

But what’s unique about this class? Well, the course doesn’t stop at just reading. It enables students to actively engage with the subject. Their final project? Crafting a pitch for a Hollywood movie that depicts a world transformed by global warming, making sure to get the science right. It’s a challenge that ensures students grasp the grim realities of carbon emissions while creating an engaging narrative.

In a time when Climate change is front and center, this course couldn’t be more relevant. While most students might not have delved into Earth science in school, college becomes their platform for grasping the actualities of our environment’s predicament. Through literature, they’re given a lens to not just understand but feel the urgency of the Climate change situation. For instance, while data might show rising sea levels, Tommy Orange’s “New Jesus” makes students feel the tangible impact of living in a constantly flooded town.

Ultimately, the paired courses of literature and science empower students, preparing them for a future where the impacts of Climate change are ubiquitous. Be it health majors studying the impacts of climate change on the human body, or business majors understanding how climate crises can affect economies, students are readied to ask deeper questions about their place in the world.

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