Nature, Ecology & Permaculture: Does Nature Exist?: Introduction to Ecocritical  and Theory

Climate change is the direst and most pressing issue that human beings currently face. How we think about nature and our position in it is crucial to understanding both how we got here and how we might still prepare, mitigate, and adapt to the slowly unfolding catastrophe. This class is an exploration of some of the ways in which philosophers, as well as critical, cultural, and political theorists from the 20th and 21st centuries have tried to counter our received wisdom about nature and society. Are these truly separate concepts? Does nature even exist without society? What should we do? We will explore the concept of the Anthropocene, the idea that human beings have now had a global impact on the planet’s ecology, and then proceed to look at two clusters of thinkers. The first group challenge the very existence of ‘nature’ as a category, suggesting that the nature/society divide is what we need to overcome to live ecologically. The second group suggest, on the contrary, a robust concept of nature is precisely what we need ina period of climate collapse. Whose side are you on? Does nature exist? And what are we going to do now?