Week 13

This weeks readings focused on climate fiction as a form of activism. In Imagaining the future of Climate Change, Shelley Streeby  analyzed the relationship with geo-engineering and techno fixes. She also described the risks of geo-engineering which include sacrificing the food security of nearly 2 billion people. Geo-engineering is defined as the deliberate large scale intervention in the climate system designed to counter global warming or offset some of its effects. This article also discussed solar radiation technologies which are technologies that aim to reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the planet. In the article Wakanda Take the Wheel the author discusses the true utopia that is the fictional world of Wakanda. The author argues that Black Panther shows the possible future of black self-determination. The author then progresses into talking about green cities and gentrification that plagues communities of color and displaces residents. Green gentrification is a term that the author uses to describe when green space creation, restoration, and beautification projects attract wealthy white populations, which in turn leads to a rise in housing costs and causes.

My thoughts on this weeks readings are pretty different than my usual thoughts on the readings. Usually I am a little on the "I'm tired of hearing about the end of the world". However, this weeks readings especially the Wakanda article was very interesting and a different take on climate activism. Honestly I probably like this weeks readings the best because it is a form of activism that I can directly place myself in. I can see myself in this space and doing this type of activism. I think finding new forms of activism is essential to forming a viable movement that will help change the trajectory of the world climate.

The key terms that I defined were geo-engineering, solar radiation, and green gentrification.