ENGLISH 22
(A.K.A. ECOCRITICISM 101)
WEEK #2 ASSIGNMENT
Bonus Talk!
This week there is an additional short talk: “What can anyone do about the climate crisis?” You are not required to watch this lecture and you will not be tested on it. However, if you find this question interesting, feel free to watch this short talk and comment on it in YouTube!
Readings:
Genesis; “The Historic Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis” by Lynn White Jr.; “Cosmic Fragments” by Heraclites; Hesiod; “Introduction to Western Metaphysics” by Albernethy.
All of these texts are in the Course Reader.
Lecture videos:
Please watch both Lecture #3 and Lecture #4 below.
If you will be out of Internet access, you can download these videos on Vimeo: Lecture #3, Lecture #4.
If YouTube is blocked in your country, the two lectures have also been uploaded to GauchoSpace (GauchoCast).
The Prezi for the lectures is also below for your reference.
PDFs are also available for the lecture notes (i.e. the Prezi material) for Lecture #3 and Lecture #4, as are PDFs of the transcripts for Lecture #3 and Lecture #4.
(If you are confused about the role of the Prezi or PDFs in the course, or how to use them, please watch the “Introduction, Format” lecture located on the Introduction page.)
Film:
Please watch either the documentary Fire in Paradise or The Story of California’s Camp Fire, as Told By Paradise High School according to these guidelines:
1) If you have not seen the documentary Fire in Paradise, please watch it. It is an October 2019 episode of the long-running PBS series Frontline. It currently streams for free directly from PBS.
2) If you have already seen Fire in Paradise, please instead watch The Story of California’s Camp Fire, as Told By Paradise High School. It is in August 20 20 documentary produced by The New Yorker magazine. It is available on YouTube.
3) Since we will be considering each in class, feel free to watch both videos.
Trigger warning: These films, which takes viewers inside the 2018 California Camp fire, put a human face on the climate crisis. Hence, they definitely can be unnerving. As one student noted after watching this film, Fire In Paradise is one of the most scary and heartbreaking things I have ever seen.” If you have experienced or reacted to the trauma of a wildfire (or any fire, for that matter), you might not want to watch these films. If you decide not to watch one of these film, please contact your TA for an alternate assignment.
Weekly Assessment:
Please note that both the reading and lecture, as well as film, assignments need to be completed by 6 AM on Monday, October 19. GauchoSpace will close the lecture quizzes at that time and any film comment made on YouTube past that point will be considered late.
Reading and Lecture assignment:
After completing the weeks reading and watching each of the two lecture videos, please go to GauchoSpace and take the short quiz on that lecture, which is located in the weekly section.
Film assignment:
Please comment on YouTube on Ken’s video “Intro, Fire in Paradise.“
Please note, while you can watch this video on this page, you need to go to YouTube to comment in the YouTube comment section.
If YouTube is blocked in your country, Ken’s short talk will also be uploaded to GauchoSpace (GauchoCast) and a forum has been opened under this week on GauchoSpace for you to make your comment there (rather than on YouTube).
Also note that while Ken’s introduction covers both of the above films, you only need to comment on the film that you watched. However, if you have already watched Fire in Paradise, please feel free to reference it in your comment on The Story of California’s Camp Fire.
Bonus Talk!
Lecture #3
Lecture #4
Weekly Documentary Introduction
Lecture Prezi