INI196H1

Writing Encounters with the Natural World

What are the mental health effects of climate disaster, and why can activism, as well as practices like forest bathing, help heal ecogrief? How do close encounters with wild animals shape our relationship with other species? These are just some of the questions we explore in this course, which examines the diverse ways that humans imagine, relate to, and write about the natural world. Through a variety of nonfiction texts and videos about the environment, ecology, and nature, we consider our personal, cultural, and political relationships to the earth. Drawing from recent Western scientific, Indigenous, feminist, anti-racist, and ecojustice perspectives, we analyze how humans use writing to advocate for certain ways of seeing and interacting with our planet, including the other-than-human beings that inhabit it. Through local field trips, weekly readings, written reflections, discussion, and individual projects, students will hone their close reading, research, and writing skills. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.