First-Year Seminars 110RE - Religion and Climate Change

Religion and climate change might seem to be an odd combination. After all, we tend to imagine religion as the domain of faith, emotion, and the otherworldly and the climate as the realm of science, objective knowledge, and the here and now. Nevertheless, this course investigates their sometimes surprising connections. For example, how do religious communities work to promote or oppose political action on climate change? How do religious conceptions about God's relationship with nature or with humanity impact adherents' views on climate change? How might the futures predicted by climate models and those prophesied in sacred texts affect people's actions today?

Mount Holyoke first-year students only, by placement.