Climate Change Communication Class

The class is called Climate Change Communication and the students spent the semester learning about public understanding of climate change, social scientific studies of climate change denial, and effective communication techniques for climate change. Throughout the semester we also touched on science and solutions, as well as barriers and challenges. Before our Global Earth Exchange, we read about environmental depression, eco-anxiety, and the several varieties of hope that we can have regarding climate change. Our campus is on the Tampa Bay coastline, and is threatened by sea level rise. For our GEX, we walked to the beach on campus. We sat in the shade and discussed the readings for the day and wrote down and shared our moments of “Great Grief” over climate change—the times at which we suddenly, unexpectedly were overcome by anger or sadness about what is occurring and how little has been done. We learned in our readings for the day that it is important to feel these emotions rather than push them away. We must acknowledge them, but then we must not live in them. We then spread out and each spent some time alone, observing this place the way that it is, in living participation with our surroundings. Some took notes on what they saw, heard, and felt, while others chose to breathe deeply and simply be. Once we had spent time living in participation with this place, we came together again to make various pieces of beauty with found objects. Some students chose to make pieces of art on their own, while others worked in small groups. We wanted to give acts of beauty to this place that will likely be underwater or at least very different in the future.