https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2 Cool stuff from around the web -- articles, art, blogs, etc. en-us 2019-07-25 15:57:23 UTC 2019-10-23 11:34:27 UTC hello@padlet.com https://imgglb.padletcdn.com/v13/image?t=g_auto&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpadlet.net%2Ficons%2Fpng%2F1f6e0.png piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372295614 How does, could, should a writer wrestle with the "slow apocalypse" of global warming?  Can any kind of art matter?  No spoiler: he doesn't know.  But he does think asking these (various) questions matters for readers and for writers.  

In particular, he names a couple of ways fiction could do a better job at capturing the "slow apocalypse."  One, engage more deeply and diversely with how animals figure in our stories -- not just as background, but as vital players in every novel's "ecosystem."  Two, struggle with the challenge of "ineffectiveness" -- of the vital problem of action (and "agency") in relation to huge, sometimes overwhelming problems.

The essay is a little abstract, at times, and it doesn't have strong clear claims (or judgments).  But it does set up lots of issues/arguments that are useful for our class (and links to various useful resources).]]> 2019-07-25 16:13:06 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372295614 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372296415 From Amy Davis' Burning Worlds newsletter in the Chicago Review of Books -- 8 poems (all online) meant to "haunt, inspire, and in the best of all possible cases, provoke to action."  

I loved Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner's "Utilomar" in particular.  I lived in the Marshall Islands for a while; this nation will disappear with just a small rise in sea levels. And she wrote this for a conference in Minnesota -- and drew links between living there and living here that I find challenging (and, yeah, haunting).

I sometimes wonder how poems work -- and I'm curious how this different artistic form might affect readers & listeners differently than other art can.   ]]> 2019-07-25 16:23:51 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372296415 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372387353 LitHub archive of resources — nonfiction, fiction, poetry]]> 2019-07-26 13:50:52 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372387353 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372388112 EarthGames — growing archive of games addressing sustainability, our interaction with the environment, and climate change. 

To what degree does (or could) play — and our explicit interaction with and in games — affect our behaviors, our values, our knowledge?]]> 2019-07-26 13:59:08 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372388112 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372388945 “Can we, in other words, tell the story so people get it?”

Over 60 news outlets agree to a week of intensive, intentional coverage of climate change — September 16 through 23. ]]> 2019-07-26 14:06:45 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372388945 https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372418748 Climate strike
https://globalclimatestrike.net/]]> 2019-07-27 00:13:07 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372418748 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372487330 The Yes Men is a political prank group who have a long, beautiful history of fooling prominent businesses and media -- in ways that expose the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of the way things are working. 

This particular prank was the release of a new "Equator Principles" policy document, meant to define sustainable climate action, particularly against investment in coal, for major transnational businesses.  The release of the doc, ostensibly for a major Japanese bank, led the actual bank to change its actual policies (for the *somewhat* better). 

"The announcement as well as both responses, of course, were part of a hoax by anti-extinction activist group the Yes Men intending to highlight the hypocrisy of banks claiming to be socially conscious while financing coal plants in foreign countries."]]> 2019-07-28 15:25:49 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/372487330 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/373810776 Smart conversation with Professor Betsy Hartmann on long-standing links between climate concern, eco-fascism, and right wing (white) nationalism.  Makes some great points about how our narratives about climate change and sustainability could (should) avoid certain ways of framing the issues which are then co-opted by these movements.]]> 2019-08-09 00:37:01 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/373810776 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/374514487 One of the key leaders of climate activism today recalls the neglected work of a female scientist, first to propose the impact of carbon dioxide on atmospheric temperature. Then article then pivots to explore how women are on the frontlines today, in facing the burdens of climate change *and* in leading political action to fight it. ]]> 2019-08-14 12:58:41 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/374514487 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/376342658 From a special issue of a magazine devoted to environmental (and therefore political, economic, and cultural) issues in the American West.  What do you think?  To what degree, and in what ways, could fiction shape civic engagement and understanding?


]]> 2019-08-22 13:55:43 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/376342658 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/383007213 2019-09-11 23:12:19 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/383007213 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/383249899 "Despite the backlashes—or because they are backlashes—I remain hopeful about this project of building new cathedrals for new constituencies. Because it is well under way."]]> 2019-09-12 13:41:56 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/383249899 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/384620802 Younger folks don't need convincing -- in fact, they're more actively anxious and engaged about the challenges.]]> 2019-09-16 12:50:12 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/384620802 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/384866301 Smart, scary little essay about how anxiety about the global impact of climate change is fueling various white nationalist (racist) ideologies.

]]> 2019-09-16 18:13:46 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/384866301 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/384947633 And it keeps changing -- our use of different terms changes in impact, so we need to keep rethinking.


]]> 2019-09-16 20:25:59 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/384947633 ederwin02 https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/386892722 I felt this clip complemented the article for 9/20 from the Washington Post.]]> 2019-09-19 21:11:33 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/386892722 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/391384784 Drawing on a reading of a new novel by Nell Zink, and a very smart point about how we read Greta Thunberg, Rebecca McCarthy writes why we should stay negative.

"Just as important as hope is retaining the ability to see when someone is lying through their teeth."]]> 2019-09-30 14:59:53 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/391384784 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/392239480 A sharp editorial by Lydia Hansen at Hamline's _Oracle_.


]]> 2019-10-02 02:43:54 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/392239480 https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/392241745 Another musical take on the discussion. Not so much funny like the one we watched in class, but definitely focused on the heartwarming hopeful side of things... https://youtu.be/6kPk4lMtZOg]]> 2019-10-02 02:55:11 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/392241745 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/395563185 A lot of discussion popped around Greta Thunberg -- and her emergent central role in discussing youth activism around climate change. Some criticism noted that the public chatter focuses on her, but sidesteps leadership from members of marginalized communities. So it's refreshing to see how she attends to that -- and amplifies other voices that aren't being heard.]]> 2019-10-09 13:09:30 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/395563185 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/399835957 “On-the-ground data clearly demonstrate a correlation between lower-income neighborhoods and higher temperatures.”

In other words, historic practices that created and maintained inequality are creating increased impacts of climate change on these populations.]]> 2019-10-19 13:57:04 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/399835957 piiskoorprof https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/401369867 The Guardian newspaper explores how different marginalized communities bear a greater burden—face a greater threat—from climate change. ]]> 2019-10-23 11:34:27 UTC https://padlet.com/piiskoorprof/4onqo93l63w2/wish/401369867