"We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something about it." This quote from Jay Inslee highlights a main concept of this course: finding the best avenues to communicate the impending effects of the climate crisis if we do not act quickly to counteract it. Although many people recognize the existence of climate change, there are still a lot of people who either do not believe in it or do not realize how imminent its effects are globally. Since this is a class focused in both Environmental Science and English, we analyzed the impact of various literary devices - such as speculative fiction, poetry, documentaries, and Biblical readings - in re-shaping the narrative of climate change for more people to truly understand it.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this class because the material is both relevant and very interesting to me. Just this year, we have experienced fires in the Amazon Rain Forest, extreme heat in Australia, prolonged droughts in California, and treacherous flooding in Indonesia. Thus, it was interesting to talk through ways societies and individuals can promote sustainability, moderation, and further understanding of our environment's rapid decline alongside these current events. One way to do so is by reading relevant works from the past that predict environmental collapse in order to better picture what could happen if we do not change out consumption habits.  This class really allowed me to think critically about ways in which I can live more sustainably and start the conversation with others. Specifically, I now mainly take public transportation and have been eating pescetarian for three months. It has been great to share these new consumption habits with friends and family and start the conversation with them.

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This sample essay analyzes how different methods of communication can re-frame the conversation on the climate crisis. Before this class, I would not have thought of how literary devices like the Bible can be read with an environmental focus. I highly recommend this class to any Honors student, whether interested in environmental science or not, in order to better understand how we are destroying our environment at current levels of consumption.