{"id":13751,"date":"2024-10-09T14:44:08","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T19:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=13751"},"modified":"2024-10-09T14:46:42","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T19:46:42","slug":"the-eh-consensus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2024\/10\/09\/the-eh-consensus\/","title":{"rendered":"The EH consensus (?)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The field I\u2019ve worked in for the last few decades, which has come to be known as the Environmental Humanities<\/a> (capitalized or not), is one that requires keeping up with ongoing scholarship not only in the humanities, but also in the social sciences and the biological and earth sciences. From my reading of the field, I think it’s fair to say that it contains a loose consensus on global ecology, climate change, human activities, and the future. That consensus could be summarized as follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. The situation<\/strong>: Science may always be contested, full of internal debates, and never final, but the science on climate and global ecology is by now robust and well established<\/a>. It confirms that human industrial activities have led to ecological and climate destabilization of sufficient intensity that coming years and decades are likely to feature more and more extreme weather events<\/a>, more and more migration<\/a> emergencies, and more and more boundary conflicts<\/a> and resource wars. Each of those is already happening today, and the lack of concerted action on climate change is making them all the more probable tomorrow<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. What to call it<\/strong>: How to best characterize this situation is unclear. Terms like \u201cenvironmental crisis,\u201d \u201ceco-crisis,\u201d \u201cclimate crisis,\u201d and \u201cglobal mega-crisis\u201d or \u201cpoly-crisis\u201d have been used for years. Today the term \u201cAnthropocene<\/a>\u201d has become popular, but many EH scholars think of that less as the name of a new epoch (and certainly not the glorious epoch<\/a> hailed by techno-utopians<\/a>) than as a condition<\/a> or even an event<\/a>, potentially in the same class of mass extinction events as the ones that ended the Cretaceous (famous for its dinosaurs), the Triassic, and several other periods and eras in Earth\u2019s history. Hopefully ours will not be similarly devastating. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      1. Prospects<\/strong>: For humanity to survive this crisis intact, and to flourish afterward, will require that we quickly develop better forms of ecological cohabitability \u2013 the ability to cohabit the planet with the ecological allies and companions that we need in order to thrive. This will require a fundamental reorientation<\/a> of how humans live, toward lifeways that are much better integrated with their ecosystemic relations at local, regional, and global<\/a> scales. The science and know-how for doing this are mostly within our grasp; what’s missing is the collective will.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        1. The politics of collective buy-in<\/strong>: The transition<\/a> to an ecologically viable world is also unlikely unless our values and practices become more just, equitable, and inclusive<\/a>. We need to get the majority of humanity on board, which means respecting cultural differences, supporting science and environmental education<\/a>, and shifting policy away from short-term gain (which privileges the wealthy at the expense of everyone and everything else) and economic “growth<\/a>” (with its skewed<\/a> measurement of value) toward cooperation, long-term resilience, and socio-ecological regeneration<\/a>. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Each of these points could be expanded indefinitely (or at least into a course<\/a>), with debates arising around the role of specific factors — such as capitalism, colonialism, anthropocentrism, patriarchy, “human nature,” optimism versus pessimism, idealism versus materialism, and plenty else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I’m sometimes asked for a good introduction to the environmental humanities. Of the various texts that are now available — including readers and “companions” from Routledge (this one<\/a> and this one<\/a>) and Cambridge<\/a> and critical introductions like Emmett and Nye’s<\/a> — I think my favorite, for its scope and its accessibility, is J. Andrew Hubbell and John C. Ryan’s\u00a0An Introduction to the Environmental Humanities<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(Routledge, 2022).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Comments and suggestions welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          The field I\u2019ve worked in for the last few decades, which has come to be known as the Environmental Humanities (capitalized or not), is one that requires keeping up with ongoing scholarship not only in the humanities, but also in the social sciences and the biological and earth sciences. From my reading of the field, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[688615,4415],"tags":[123664,123662,25057,16770,711150,520638,711172],"class_list":["post-13751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anthropo_scene","category-ecophilosophy","tag-academe","tag-eco-humanities","tag-environmental-humanities","tag-interdisciplinarity","tag-science","tag-scientific-consensus","tag-social-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-3zN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8394,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2015\/09\/18\/eco-humanities-glossolalia\/","url_meta":{"origin":13751,"position":0},"title":"Eco-humanities glossolalia","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"September 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I've just come across the earliest outline I wrote for the course I'm currently teaching (in its third incarnation), \"Environmental Literature, Arts, and Media.\" The course has also turned into a book project I'm working on, which will be a thematic primer to the environmental arts and humanities.\u00a0Both course and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5128,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2011\/08\/01\/environmental-humanities-the-challenge-of-multidisciplinarity\/","url_meta":{"origin":13751,"position":1},"title":"Environmental Humanities & the Challenge of Multidisciplinarity","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"August 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"CALL FOR PAPERS: Environmental Humanities and the Challenge of Multidisciplinarity A Workshop at the 13th International Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas, \u201cThe Ethical Challenge of Multidisciplinarity: Reconciling \u2018The Three Narratives\u2019\u2014Art, Science, and Philosophy\u201d University of Cyprus, Nicosia July 2 \u2013 6, 2012 THEME OF\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11559,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2021\/01\/29\/eco-humanities-seminar\/","url_meta":{"origin":13751,"position":2},"title":"Eco-humanities seminar","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"January 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I will be making parts of my \"Advanced Environmental Humanities\" course open to the EcoCultureLab community and a limited broader public. Technical details remain to be worked out, but I'd like to make our readings and discussions open, so as to include interested participants from outside the university community. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/02\/Juxtapoz_Marzorati1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/02\/Juxtapoz_Marzorati1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/02\/Juxtapoz_Marzorati1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/02\/Juxtapoz_Marzorati1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11148,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/12\/14\/what-are-the-humanities-two-cultures-redux\/","url_meta":{"origin":13751,"position":3},"title":"What are the humanities? (Two cultures, redux)","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"December 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"As a humanistic scholar within an interdisciplinary school, I'm often put in a position to distinguish how the humanities differ from the social and natural sciences. There is a long tradition of distinguishing between these \"two cultures,\" with the most frequent point of focus, for humanists, being that they concern\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/10\/liu-tema-genus-posthumanities-hub.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/10\/liu-tema-genus-posthumanities-hub.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/10\/liu-tema-genus-posthumanities-hub.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/10\/liu-tema-genus-posthumanities-hub.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/10\/liu-tema-genus-posthumanities-hub.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8785,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2016\/06\/08\/state-of-the-eco-humanities-take-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":13751,"position":4},"title":"State of the Eco-Humanities, Take 1","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"June 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This post is the first of a series of reflections on the state of the Environmental Humanities, or Eco-Humanities, and of where this interdisciplinary field might be headed. A note on terminology: The term \"Environmental Humanities\" has\u00a0caught on in ways that \"Eco-Humanities\" and other variations have not, but the debate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8302,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2015\/06\/23\/cinema-ecology-the-death-of-carbon-capitalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":13751,"position":5},"title":"Cinema, ecology, & the death of carbon capitalism","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"June 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Rice University's\u00a0Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences\u00a0(CENHS) has made my Cultures of Energy talk available on their YouTube channel. It's a longer version of the material I presented\u00a0at the SCMS \"Post-Cinema\" panel. Here's the abstract: This paper thinks through the intersections of three developments: (1) the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/cinema_zone\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/25_cwFE2vKI\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13751"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13765,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13751\/revisions\/13765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}