First Year Seminar 191CNS2 - FYS- Topics in CNS

First-year (R1ST) Course Title: Becoming a Climate Activist
Climate change is an urgent environmental and social crisis that affects people and places unequally. To mitigate devastation for ourselves and future generations, we need to take action. But in order to act, we also need to learn and reflect. This class will focus on the causes and place-based impacts of climate change, and the intersectional movements, organizations, and strategies that advance climate justice - and the political, economic, and cultural forces that resist this change. While building community, students will reflect on how to participate in climate justice at multiple scales (as individuals, on campus, nationally, globally, etc.). This course will rely on readings, self-reflections, and seminar-style discussions. Through critical assessment and collaborative activities, students will practice translating knowledge and their values into action. Understanding activism as a life-long pursuit, we will strive toward becoming climate activists, as we collectively imagine and enact the world we want to live in.