Phosphate Mining and the Paradox of Abundance
Phosphorus fertilizes the land. Phosphate mining poisons it. Artist Christian Danielewitz visits sites of extraction in western Senegal and considers the Plantationocene.
Category: Essays
Managing the Rights of Nature for Te Awa Tupua
The settlement over the Whanganui River, Te Awa Tupua, in Aotearoa New Zealand has been hailed as a victory for the “rights of nature.” But context matters.
Unearthing the Complex Histories of Madison Parks
Histories of park planners like the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association offer a window into the complex pasts and exciting futures of public parks.
Making Kin with Serpents in Myanmar’s Snake Temples
Buddhist beliefs and Burmese pythons create a multispecies world in the Snake Temples of Myanmar.
Who Gets to Have Ecoanxiety?
Anthropocene anxiety about uncertain climate futures is on the rise. For the Indigenous Haida Nation, ecoanxiety arrived 150 years ago.
The Rise of Green Games
Environmental video games like “Walden, A Game” are a growing trend. Can they creatively intervene in climate change debates and inspire environmental awareness?
Crisis and Creativity in Environmental Pedagogy
Given the often-debilitating realities of environmental issues, how can teachers build an environmental pedagogy that inspires creative change?
Hey Snow! It’s Not You, It’s Us
From toxic street slush to plowed-in cars, winter can be frustrating. But it doesn’t have to be. A historian uncovers 19th-century lessons for working with—not against—the snow.
Plantation Legacies
The Anthropocene gives a name to human-caused environmental change. The Plantationocene puts colonialism, capitalism, and enduring racial hierarchies at the center of the conversation and asks what past and future modes of resistance might emerge.
Embracing Identity in the Environmental Classroom
We form attachments to the places around us, and they shape our sense of who we are. An educator uses that environmental identity to spark action.
