Students at RIT had an opportunity last fall to take a unique class focusing on Climate Fiction.  The section of English 210 was taught by RIT Professor Lisa Hermsen.  Hermsen explains, “Science fiction often takes us to future Earths. In recent years, CliFi has begun directly addressing the crises of climate change and the uncertain prospects for human life on an this altered planet.”  During the course, students studied “the literary representation of changes for the planet and how human relationships to the planet are treated.” 

Instead of a final exam or paper, Hermsen’s students responded to Amanda Gorman’s Prompt for the Planet.  She called it a “creative exam.”   She hoped students would use this project “as a last reflection on the way stories can be instructive or emotional and urgent. It is in this piece that will require a critical as well creative lens."

 Like so many young adults, Hermsen’s students struggle with the challenges that lie ahead and the uncertainty of their futures.   “They talked a lot about what individuals could or would do and what governments -- globally -- would be willing to risk. They are acutely aware of global inequities and how climate change will affect different geographies differently. They also felt helpless and a really strange existence between watching with a kind of paralysis.”

 Hermsen hopes the project had a positive impact on her students, ”They had to apply the concepts, themes, vocabulary in an innovative way. We all struggled in the class with dystopian/utopian perspectives. We tried to decide whether the authors left any room for hope. This was their turn to leave something behind”