Abstract: Most of us have learned to focus on what we each buy and waste, but there are reasons these actions might not help us to avert the worst of the climate crisis. In this seminar, we’ll think about how social change happens, and we’ll focus on shifting our attention from the power of individual consumers to the effectiveness of groups. (archived video)

Bio: Caroline Levine has spent her career asking how and why the humanities and the arts matter, especially in democratic societies. She argues for an understanding of forms and structures as essential both to understanding links between art and society and to the challenge of taking meaningful political action. In her latest book, The Activist Humanist, Levine explores how humanities thinking can guide effective political action.

This event is presented as part of the 2024 Perspectives on the Climate Change Challenge Seminar Series:

• Most Mondays, Spring Semester 2024, 2:55-4:10pm
• Via Zoom

This university-wide seminar series is open to the public (via Zoom), and provides important views on the critical issue of climate change, drawing from many perspectives and disciplines. Experts from Cornell University and beyond present an overview of the science of climate change and climate change models, the implications for agriculture, ecosystems, and food systems, and provide important economic, ethical, and policy insights on the issue. The seminar is being organized and sponsored by the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.