With generous support from the International Polar Year, second year Assistant Professor of English Kevin Maier will offer a summer seminar entitled “Climate Change, Climate Solutions.” The week-long seminar will be held sometime between mid-May and early June.

Maier designed the course because he was worried that we do not seem to be moving closer to the social or political change that increasingly grim reports on climate change proclaim is needed.

“The idea is to draw a wide range of students and community members to campus to have some discussions about climate change before we try to collectively write up a position paper outlining both our sense of where we ought to be going and how we ought to get there” Maier said.

The week-long seminar will explore potential solutions to this frequently studied and often discussed environmental problem, attending in particular creative ways to facilitate social change. Course participants will be asked to read the prominent reports and a few representative case studies from Polar Regions. However, discussions will focus almost exclusively on exploring creative solutions and appropriate responses to climate change. The goal will be to assess the rhetorical efficacy of various methods of environmental activism and advocacy.  After arriving at a better understanding of the arguments during the week of classroom sessions, the seminar will conclude with an intensive weekend retreat to write a position paper summarizing the conclusions of the discussions.

For more information please e-mail Dr. Kevin Maier at: kevin.maier@uas.alaska.edu.