ENGL 1102: Dispatches from Planet B

Course Description

“There is no Planet B.”

This phrase has become a common refrain among climate activists, journalists, policymakers, and pundits. You’ve probably heard it said or seen it before on bumper stickers, protest signs, or t-shirts. There is only one Earth, it reminds us; we share it with others, and we share responsibility for what happens to our home planet. In its ubiquity, however, this clever and once powerful slogan of the climate justice movement now seems to many (perhaps you included) like a cliché. What began as a dire warning about the irreversible consequences of environmental degradation has, over time and through repetition, lost its potential to startle us into action. Why? One answer is rhetorical. Another is more complicated and involves the mounting evidence to suggest that there is, in fact, a “Planet B,” one created by environmental inequality and discernible in the lived experiences of those who don’t have the luxury of ignoring the climate crisis and don’t need to be reminded of its costs. This course approaches the topics of climate justice, mitigation, and adaptation from both angles, first, by examining the ways we think, talk, and write about the environment and environmental issues and, second, by expanding the conversation beyond news media, beyond evidence, data, models, and predictions, and beyond the global north to center other voices and other stories of planetary change.

ENGL 1102 Syllabus: Spring 2025