In the Emergence of the Environmental Humanities by Robert S. Emmett and David E. the article introduces us to the idea that science may provide us solutions to environmental problems, but it is the humanities that pushes people to practice such solutions.
When we think of the environment we think of the wilderness, and see nature as a separate entity from ourselves. And when we do imagine our relationship with the environment, it’s usually in the form of research and sciences or as a commodity. We commodify the environment by seeing it as recreation, resorts to visit rather than something to exist with and support. This creates emotional distance, and a lack of initiative for active change in habits even when science provides us with solutions to help aid the environment. The lack of urgency spreads when western culture faithfully practices hyper-independancy. One of the strongest tools to shift culture is through the power of the humanities. By creating art, whether that be through visual media or through writing, a narrative is being formed to persuade an audience to change. As the reading says, “The crisis cannot be addressed solely by finding technological solutions to particular problems that are delivered “downstream” to a population of passive consumers.”
Literature is where people learn compassion. Not technology, not science. Literature teaches empathy by immersing the reader in another’s perspectives, allowing them to interact with the environment that sometimes wouldn’t be otherwise accessible to them. It provides new ways of thinking, offering us narratives that include us as ecological citizens, rather than mortals separate from the animal kingdom. Because the environment has become heavily commercialized, with urban sprawl pushing us further away from the natural world, literature acts as a bridge where we can cross both worlds until we realize the bridge is connecting something we are already a part of.
