Climate Change Literacy
During the summer entering my third year at the University of Cincinnati, I enrolled in an Honors English 2089 course. This was my first English class that I have taken as a UC student, and it was everything I could have hoped for (and more!) While I expected this class to be like the typical Literature courses I took when I was in high school, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this English course was focused on developing our climate change literacies.
My professor formatted our class into three units: Literacy and Discourse, Understanding Genre, and Researched Discourse and Analysis. Throughout the class, we were tasked to complete a project pertaining to each unit.
For the first unit, I completed a PowerPoint presentation on the global health threat of climate change as it relates to the healthcare discourse community. In addition to this presentation, I completed a Literacy Narrative. This paper focused on how my expanding climate change literacy has made me more cognizant of the ways in which the fluctuation in temperatures causes me to wear long sleeves in the summer and tank tops in the winter.
For the second unit, I was assigned to complete a video targeted at a discourse community that was apathetic toward global warming for my Genre Translation Project. I decided to create a fictional Instagram webinar series discussing the ways influencers can "reinvent" themselves to make themselves and their followers aware that action needs to be taken in order to fight the climate change crisis.
For the final unit, I compiled all of the information I learned throughout the semester to complete a Discourse Analysis to examine the ways in which a particular discourse community talks about climate change. For my research paper, I looked at the ways in which zoos in southern states address the topic of global warming with their conservative patrons. I had the opportunity to interview the Hattiesburg Zoo in Mississippi to specifically learn how they incorporate climate change into their zoo education initiatives.
I am very grateful to have been able to take this Honors Seminar and to have been able to expand my literacy on the topic of climate change. After taking this class, I have a totally new perspective on my environment and how I treat the world around me!
My professor formatted our class into three units: Literacy and Discourse, Understanding Genre, and Researched Discourse and Analysis. Throughout the class, we were tasked to complete a project pertaining to each unit.
For the first unit, I completed a PowerPoint presentation on the global health threat of climate change as it relates to the healthcare discourse community. In addition to this presentation, I completed a Literacy Narrative. This paper focused on how my expanding climate change literacy has made me more cognizant of the ways in which the fluctuation in temperatures causes me to wear long sleeves in the summer and tank tops in the winter.
For the second unit, I was assigned to complete a video targeted at a discourse community that was apathetic toward global warming for my Genre Translation Project. I decided to create a fictional Instagram webinar series discussing the ways influencers can "reinvent" themselves to make themselves and their followers aware that action needs to be taken in order to fight the climate change crisis.
For the final unit, I compiled all of the information I learned throughout the semester to complete a Discourse Analysis to examine the ways in which a particular discourse community talks about climate change. For my research paper, I looked at the ways in which zoos in southern states address the topic of global warming with their conservative patrons. I had the opportunity to interview the Hattiesburg Zoo in Mississippi to specifically learn how they incorporate climate change into their zoo education initiatives.
I am very grateful to have been able to take this Honors Seminar and to have been able to expand my literacy on the topic of climate change. After taking this class, I have a totally new perspective on my environment and how I treat the world around me!
I chose to showcase my Discourse Analysis because I felt like this paper was the true culmination of all that I learned throughout this course. I really enjoyed completing this project and I hope you enjoy reading it!
Please click on the file attached below to read my Discourse Analysis.
Please click on the file attached below to read my Discourse Analysis.
final_draft.docx | |
File Size: | 33 kb |
File Type: | docx |