The Future of Nature

Bring your intellectual curiosity and commitment to engage in interdisciplinary discussions about the future of nature!

We are witness to massive cultural and societal developments with the increasing industrialization of agriculture, desertification, urbanization, global tourism, as well the intensification of extractive economies. All the while, we’re also learning about technological efforts intended to reproduce the natural world, and that bring us closer to “the wilds”. Every day we are exposed to the impacts of climate change. As students, scholars, policy makers, and practitioners, the impact of the human footprint on the natural environment requires our attention. 

With these issues among others in mind, the 2020 Global Engagement Seminar Program (GESP) is proud to announce this year’s course ARTS 490: THE FUTURE OF NATURE. Senior undergraduates (3A, 3B, 4A, 4B) from any faculty or affiliated college are invited to apply today!

Students will have the unique opportunity to interact with leading experts as the 2020 Jarislowsky Fellows, Edward Burtynsky award winning climate photographer and documentary filmmaker,and Mike Davis, scholar, activist, and award-winning writer. Read more about the Jarislowsky Fellows.

The Jarislowsky Fellows, along with course instructors, Dr. Brendon Larson (Professor and Associate Dean – Undergraduate Studies, Faculty of Environment) and Dr. Angela Carter (Associate Professor, Political Science) will lead this year’s seminar.

This is not a lecture course. It is a site for new beginnings, where students will have the opportunity to think critically and to engage collectively to engender problem-solving ideas and public-facing projects. Working collaboratively throughout the term, students will be given the opportunity to develop high-level transferable skills: they may design a public exhibit, write a policy brief, conduct research for a scholarly paper, produce a short film, or some combination of these among other project options. The seminar culminates in the annual high-level Global Engagement Summit where students’ ideas and projects are shared with the campus and local communities.