Humanities for the Environment

We recognize the role that humans have played in transforming the chemical, physical and biological processes of the Earth’s atmosphere, land surfaces and oceans at an ever-increasing pace, leading a wide range of scientists to propose that we are now living in the Anthropocene, a term that is catching the public’s imagination, as it suggests that human activities have ramped up to become a geological force as significant as volcanic outbursts or meteorite impacts, and requiring us to take responsibility and action for the future of the planet and its inhabitants.

We seek alternatives to dated notions of progress that focus solely on the future. Instead, we support innovative notions of human prospects shaped equally by the past, present, and the future. We study intertwined human and ecological histories and reassess human value systems with regard to the natural world and concepts of progress and success. We recognize various ways of knowing, including place-based and indigenous knowledges, as crucial to developing new approaches to human purpose and motivation.

We acknowledge human interdependence with the natural world and seek in our work to re- envision concepts of justice to promote planetary health and reflect humans’ interconnection with other species.

We honor the long history of arts and humanities disciplines in discussions of environmental risks, losses, and opportunities. That history demands the centrality of the arts and humanities in integrative platforms for developing policy and addressing environmental issues in civil and academic life. We offer humanities-based practices that nurture collaboration and tap the creative potential of uncertainty in new collaborations among humanists and engineers, business leaders, government officials, and scientists.