{"id":308,"date":"2019-03-04T00:23:15","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T00:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/?p=308"},"modified":"2019-03-04T00:23:15","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T00:23:15","slug":"the-presence-of-the-industrial-past-is-here-are-old-books-really-the-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/presence\/2019\/03\/04\/the-presence-of-the-industrial-past-is-here-are-old-books-really-the-answer\/","title":{"rendered":"the presence of the industrial past is here- are old books really the answer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Nathan Hensley’s lecture focused on the power of literature in addressing the climate crisis. Early on, Dr. Hensley laid the foundation for his talk by discussing the profound environmental losses of species, habitat, and changes in weather patterns\/disasters in modern history (~70 years). He then suggested that authors, long before the environmental movement we have today, devised language that helps us communicate these realities. He specifically used Lewis Carroll’s\u00a0Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland\u00a0<\/em>to illustrate this point. Dr. Hensley claimed that as Alice traveled through the two worlds she tried to enforce conventions of her own world onto the characters in the underground one. He suggested that as we verge between two geologic epochs we, much like Alice, are teetering between two worlds and need the language to communicate that.<\/p>\n

I left Dr. Hensley’s lecture unconvinced that literature is the answer to the climate crisis. From an academic standpoint, I understand the thinking behind literature as a tool to convey and connect people to climate change. It’s snappy and accessible. Watercolor paintings are beautiful and resonant. Books like\u00a0Alice’s Adventures into Wonderland\u00a0<\/em>seem accessible and easy to connect with. But, I\u00a0don’t believe that these sources are the antidote to the climate crisis. The environmental crisis spans industries, countries, and is a part of virtually every component of our day to day life. Even after Dr. Hensley’s lecture and applied case study I struggle to see the connection between old literature and the environmental crisis today. It seemed like a bit of projection\/stretch to contend that by reading old books we can shift the entire world’s (or enough) of the world’s mindset to stop climate change- especially at the rate that climate change is progressing vs. the rate changing the world’s mindset with take.<\/p>\n

When Eana\u00a0and I asked questions about the implementation of literature as a\u00a0 decisive response to the climate crisis Dr. Hensley responded by suggesting a need for collectivism and collaborative thinking. While collectives and co-ops certainly hold their place I don’t see that as the solution to the climate crisis. To me, a collective approach is idealistic. It feels like something that academics thought up in isolation without truly and deeply considering how a solution like that would play out in reality. While I absolutely\u00a0agree that collective action- especially on an international scale- is integral, I think we need additional, more concrete options.\u00a0In a world where economic growth and development are priorities to virtually every nation on Earth, we need to facilitate industry changes (much larger than a co-op or writing collective). Restrictions to mass production of food and consumer goods seem like a better, faster approach to the same problem.<\/p>\n

The presence of the past shows in every CO2. Industrialization and development are omnipresent features of the past. Injecting and projecting old literature to fit the environmental movement today seems far from the answer to the climate crisis. Perhaps, we need all the solutions- the action based ones like climate regulations and the more thought based ones to eventually create a paradigm shift. Dr. Hensley’s solution appeals to a certain group of people and if people buy into it as an entry point to fighting the climate crisis that’s important too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Nathan Hensley’s lecture focused on the power of literature in addressing the climate crisis. Early on, Dr. Hensley laid the foundation for his talk by discussing the profound environmental losses of species, habitat, and changes in weather patterns\/disasters in modern history (~70 years). He then suggested that authors, long before the environmental movement we … <\/p>\n

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