Green humanists join the environmental debate
In the environmental and climate debate, scientists are often brought in as experts. But let’s not forget humanists! ‘We can contribute expertise about how people function’, says researcher Steven Hartman.
More perspectives are needed in the environmental debate, claims Steven Hartman.
‘Scientists play a key role in informing us about the situation, but they often have limited knowledge of the purely human dimensions. How do we link scientific insights to people’s everyday behaviour? We need a more nuanced picture of how people’s values and belief systems influence the world around us.’
For the last few years there has been a Nordic network of “green humanities”, NIES, directed by Steven Hartman, a researcher in American literature at Uppsala University.
‘When our network started five years ago, there were ten of us. Now we’ve reached 100 and haven’t stopped growing! The response has been overwhelming in the humanities. There are many more people than we thought who are working in this field, but they didn’t have a chance to meet others in the past.’
Since its inception in 2007, there have been six international conferences with themes like “cultural perspectives on the environment”, and “environmentality in the public sphere”. The next conference in Sweden will be about the connections between humans and animals.
According to Steven Hartman the environmental movement has prompted a new view of the world and human beings that has led us to talk about “the environment” instead of “nature”.
‘The concept of the environment comprises both nature and culture, and the concept can be applied to the present, the future, and history. We can see traces of the interplay between nature and culture far back in human prehistory. Such insights need to be applied more in today’s environmental debate. Green humanities can play a key role here.
In Uppsala there’s a solid foundation, with Cemus, Uppsala Centre for Sustainable Development, at the core. The Faculty of Arts is also committing to environmental research by establishing the node “Mind and Nature” where research can be integrated with master programmes. And a new Master Programme in Environmental History is being planned.
Annica Hulth