CAOS 460
Communicating Climate Change Spring 2025
Division II
Cross-listed ENVI 460

Long-term, probabilistic thinking about scary scenarios is hard. When the relevant time frames extend to centuries and millennia, it is really hard. And when the degree of scariness is determined by sciences that few people understand, it is really, really hard. Such is the challenge of climate change communication. No matter what your interests or career paths might be, you will need to be able to communicate effectively about environmental problems, often with people who see them very differently from you. It is difficult to communicate about any problem across social, political, and cultural divides. But environmental problems present special challenges. For one thing, they typically involve complicated, contested science. For another, their effects are often difficult to perceive yet potentially devastating in their consequences, especially for future generations and marginalized people. For yet another, their solutions often seem hopelessly difficult to implement. And for yet another, they are thoroughly entangled with almost every other problem we face, from pandemics to racism to wealth inequality. How do we communicate clearly, persuasively, and responsibly about something so complex? What does climate change really mean? This seminar brings together students with interests in the humanities, arts, social sciences and sciences to seek answers to this fundamental question. Drawing on insights from the qualitative social sciences and environmental humanities, we will develop a theoretical and methodological tool kit that can be applied to concrete, practical problems. Over the course of the semester, each student will pursue a major independent project that allows them to put these tools to use while exploring a topic of personal significance.