Climate

The literature on climate change is, of course, voluminous and growing by the day. If you are brand new to the subject as something to investigate beyond newspaper headlines, I recommend starting with the work of Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, a brilliant scientist and communicator who conveys many of the intricacies of the subject in a very accessible manner. Many state agencies concerned with pollution, resource management, health, or agriculture also have web sites that are loaded with reliable, accessible information. This one from the Minnesota Department of Health is just one example. By the same token, academic/scholarly research centers have proliferated over the past few years. Rather than choosing one, or offering you the reports from one or two, I recommend that you investigate the subject you are most particularly interested in, and perhaps the region.

All of which is to preface a description of what this part of the LandWaterPlace website does include. Here, I want to highlight what might be thought of as the “affective” responses to climate change. That is, what are the ways people have articulated what a changing climate means? Beyond the science, where are the human emotions, or the human reactions to long-beloved places, that are being articulated in this era? In particular, who has highlighted the voices of people not often heard or taken seriously in scientific and policy debates, that is, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, people who identify within the LGBTQ communities, or people with disabilities? These narratives and perspectives, which are so easy to overlook given the alarming scientific evidence that emerges daily, are what is found in this section of the site.