Each of us can take meaningful steps to lower our carbon footprint and help the planet, Humanities and Fine Arts faculty members told a UC Santa Barbara audience at HFA Speaks: An Earth Day Agenda. English professor Ken Hiltner and Film and Media Studies professor Alenda Chang shared their vast knowledge and interdisciplinary insights with students to honor Earth Day. UCSB student and videography intern with the HFA, Denise Shapiro, moderated the conversation.
To view the talk in its entirety, please click on the video below.
For Earth Day, the HFA invited UCSB English professor Ken Hiltner and UCSB Film and Media Studies professor Alenda Chang for a discussion on how we can better care for our planet and reduce our carbon footprint.
Hiltner’s courses focus on literature, culture, and thought from an environmental perspective, and nearly all address the climate crisis. He has written a number of books and articles, mostly on Renaissance literature, ecocriticism, and the intersection of the two. He has also served as Director of the Environmental Humanities Initiative, and the Director of the Literature and the Environment Center.
Chang has an interdisciplinary background in biology, literature, and film. She specializes in merging ecocritical theory with an analysis of contemporary media. Her writing has been featured in Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment and Ecozon@, and her first book, Playing Nature: Ecology in Video Games, develops ecological frameworks for understanding and designing digital games.
One of the biggest things individuals can do to lower their carbon footprint is to stop flying, said Hiltner. “A lot of people don’t realize it’s a huge problem for UCSB,“ he said. “A third of the carbon footprint for the entire campus comes from faculty and staff flying around [to conferences].“
Moderator Denise Shapiro, upper left, a UCSB student and HFA intern, Alenda Chang, right, a Film and Media Studies professor, and Kenneth Hiltner, bottom, of the English Department.
While there are several things that every individual can do to help combat the climate crisis — such as taking fewer flights, eating less meat, or biking instead of driving — the most important thing that each of us can do to help the environment is to vote, said Hiltner. Many of the necessary changes need to happen on a scale larger than the individual, and it is up to us to vote in the candidates who are ready to make those changes.
Chang noted that the HFA Division may be ideally suited to address the large environmental issues we face today. “I think our division, the humanities and fine arts, we excel at asking these larger questions, and maybe not necessarily finding answers, but finding ways to maintain this sense of openness or curiosity,” she said. “We’re well-positioned to think about these really critical things like representation and the ways that we can communicate these things effectively.”
The Earth Day event and coverage was produced by the HFA Web and Social Media Intern Team: Anabel Costa, Sarah Danielzadeh, Romy Hildebrand, Hannah Morley, Ayesha Munawar, Denise Shapiro.