Chapter Summary

 

 

This chapter describes experiments in public writing about the climate crisis that I have engaged in several different literature classes I have taught.  My students have written public statements of concern and engaged in creative writing that they shared, especially short stories, some of them in collaboration with ChatGPT. They have used "culture jamming" to respond to corporate and university "green washing." They have created blog posts on course blogs, and created individual blogs connected by a course blogroll. They have created and shared climate manifestos of different types with different audiences. They have analyzed different climate solutions, and created, delivered, and analyzed elevator speeches about those solutions. They have created online "real world" documents for existing organizations as well as organizations they have imaginatively created.  And they have given public presentations about youth climate organizations and activists.  

 

Links to the syllabi from which these assignments came, links to specific assignment instructions, images students responded to and created, and published online samples of the students work are all available below.

 

I also include some "out takes" from the chapter and chapter related resources.

 

 

Syllabi for Climate Change Courses in English

 

English 1100 Literary Interpretation: Climate Refugees

 

English 3111 Our Place in Nature: Climate Change in English

 

English/Environmental Studies 4120: Cultural Studies and Climate Change 2024

 

 

Specific Writing Strategies

 

Statements of Concern

 

While I have used the basic approach described in the chapter in several classes, here is a more elaborated Points of Concern assignment I gave in 2019.

 

Creative Writing

 

I have many times asked students to engage in creative writing including short stories.  Here is a Cli-Fi Project with both creative and analytical options.

 

Short Stories with AI

 

Here is the short story assignment using AI to explore possible climate futures. And here is the website AiCliFi.com with stories my students created, their analysis, and additional resources.

 

Social Media and Culture Jams

 

Walmart Advertisement Katie Found:

 

 

Culture Jam Katie Created:

 

University Policy that Sky “modified:”

 

 

Blogging

 

Assignment:  blogging about climate impacts in the Global South.  Students had read Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence by Christian Parenti – they could have done a similar assignment without reading that book.

 

Assignment:  blogging about climate justice, includes list of 26 climate justice topics. Actual Climate Justice Blog students created.

 

Assignment: Class blog assignment on climate refugees and The Grapes of Wrath. Blog itself with blogroll of student created blogs.

 

Climate Manifestos

 

Assignment: Climate Justice Manifesto

 

Elevator Speeches

 

Assignment: Papers and Elevator Speeches on Climate Solutions: Saving the World Assignment

 

Imagined “Real World” Documents

 

Assignment: Climate Migration Document Assignment and student samples & Including ChatGPT and student samples

 

Presentations on Activism

 

Assignment: Presentations on Climate Youth Activists and Organizations, with student samples

 

 

Chapter Out Takes

 

…It can be extremely difficult to avoid a "presentist" orientation for many voters and politicians. This tends to be the case in many of today’s democracies as long-term investments by politicians do not usually lead to re-election, since by the next election cycle, there has not been substantial pay-off. Since sustainable futures are viewed through a long-term lens, the concept is ignored by many politicians.  

 

…Intergenerational justice: https://climatejusticeissues.blogspot.com/2024/04/intergenerational-justice.html  Climate change has changed our relationship with time—present imposing on the future – see this video https://youtu.be/wsdQt4HShbE

 

…As it so happened, the same class period that Sky presented her “jam” of the policy to the class, a student protest was taking place at the trees. After Sky’s presentation my students said they wanted to attend the protest.  I released our class early, we joined the protest, analyzed the experience at the next class meeting, and tried to remain informed the rest of the semester. (The trees were cut down.)

…Dan, planning to become a high school Spanish teacher wrote manifesto to language teachers with specific teaching suggestions:

Grammar exercises can be centered around climate change issues, such as using the future tense to describe plans of action. Culture lessons can show how climate change is affecting our Southern neighbors in Latin America. Latin literature and music can show how artists are using their platforms to speak out against climate injustice and social justice issues. Debates improve conversational skills; now imagine a debate in which students argue what the best plan of action for climate change is, or how best to reduce your climate footprint.

 

…As I explained to my students, climate migration is already a major issue worldwide, and its scale and urgency will increase as the climate crisis unfolds, yet the topic is. Instead, demagogues draw support by racializing and villainizing refugees, and calling for walls and militarized borders.

 

…These students had to think about how the world could be different to better adapt to and support climate refugees, and they had to try to figure out how to write in the form, style, and register of the type of document and organization they were imagining.

 

…Chloe, an aspiring teacher, created a UN Position Statement on Climate Migrants in Public Schools in newsletter format. Shelby, an aspiring airline pilot created an FAA plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in air travel.

 

…In addition to the short stories AICliFi.com has resources for writing with ChatGPT and for finding more cli-fi short stories by professional writers freely available online. After the assignment, I asked students how many of you will be using ChatGPT in future. All raised their hands.

 

Additional Resources

 

Bill McKibben’s Review of Our Final Warning, Word Version