Wading out the Kickapoo River Flood
After historic floods devastate Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, a team of scientists reflects on their fieldwork in the Kickappo River Valley to make sense of an entangled, multispecies world.
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W. E. B. Du Bois and the American Environment
Du Bois, born 150 years ago, was one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century. But his environmental thought remains underappreciated.
Should We Empathize with Poachers?
Globalization makes animals more vulnerable to illegal trafficking, even as regulations restricting poaching have increased. An ecologist reviews Rachel Nuwer’s new book and asks what role empathy should play in addressing animal trafficking.
The Marketplace of Environmental Sounds
How is the musical history of animal imitation caught up in racism, sexism, and imperialist nostalgia? From classical music to whistling, this conversation explores the art and ethics of imitating, recording, and selling the sounds of the nonhuman world.
Faculty Favorites: Books That Will Change the Way You Look at the Land
Mark Fiege, Lauret Savoy, and six other environmental scholars share the reading on their syllabus that they are most excited to teach this fall.
Citation in the #MeToo Era
An ecocritic had just finished a book chapter on Sherman Alexie’s poetry when accusations about his sexual misconduct went viral last spring. She asks if environmental humanities scholars should continue to engage with the work of abusers, and why certain writers and scholars come to dominate our archives in the first place.
Four Principles for Learning Communities
Academic life is often isolating, cutthroat, sheltered, rootless. But it doesn’t have to be. An environmental educator offers a better path forward.
The Unlearned Lesson of Hurricane Maria: A Conversation with Stuart Schwartz
The historian who wrote the book on a half millennium of Caribbean hurricanes turns to the still-unfolding disaster in Puerto Rico.
The Year of the Plastic Straw Ban
Controversial plastic straw bans continue to make headlines. A cultural analysis helps weigh the most recent legislation and asks whether bans on single-use plastics offer a path toward a more sustainable future or a distraction from systemic change.
Why All Fiction Should Be Climate Fiction: A Conversation with Lauren Groff
How does the celebrated author of the new story collection “Florida” write books in a poisoned, warming world? “By being constantly, constantly angry. All day long.”
