High-Tech Environmentalism

This first-year colloquium explores the following question: how do digital media and new technologies shape environmentalism in the twenty-first century? In addressing this topic, the course examines short readings along with visual art, science writing, social media campaigns, documentary film and video projects. From the World Wildlife Fund’s interactive website to environmental activism and art related to the Los Angeles River, case studies introduce students to the history of U.S. environmentalism while thinking about the roles that writing and visual art—along with science and technology—have played in that history. The class also aims to engage students in thinking deeply about how the digital age is influencing ideas about wilderness, biodiversity, food, climate change and other major environmental issues of the twenty-first century.