21W.730-4 Writing and the Environment, Fall 2002
Environmentalists have traditionally relied upon the power of their prose to transform the thoughts and behavior of their contemporaries. John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, evoked the wonders of California's Hetch Hetchy Valley in the hope that he could stop a dam with words. Another early...
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| Format: | Learning Object |
| Language: | en-US |
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2002
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35736 |
| _version_ | 1826208985169002496 |
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| author | Taft, Cynthia B. |
| author2 | MIT Program in Writing & Humanistic Studies |
| author_facet | MIT Program in Writing & Humanistic Studies Taft, Cynthia B. |
| author_sort | Taft, Cynthia B. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Environmentalists have traditionally relied upon the power of their prose to transform the thoughts and behavior of their contemporaries. John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, evoked the wonders of California's Hetch Hetchy Valley in the hope that he could stop a dam with words. Another early environmentalist, Aldo Leopold, summoned up a world made barren by the loss of predators in the hope that he could stop the slaughter of wolves. More recently, Rachel Carson, a marine biologist with a penchant for writing, described a world without wildlife in Silent Spring and altered the way that Americans understood their impact on the landscape. Leopold and Carson were professional scientists, and like the other writers we will encounter this fall, they realized that they could alter the perceptions of their contemporaries only if they were able to transmit their knowledge in engaging and accessible language. We will do our best to follow in their footsteps. We will consider the strategies of popular science writers like Lewis Thomas, David Quammen, John McPhee, and Ursula K. LeGuin. We will also sample works by less familiar geologists,hydrologists, and biologists. Students in this course will have a chance to try out several ways of characterizing and explaining natural environments. The first paper of the term will draw upon personal experience; the others will require a modest amount of research. The paper will provide opportunities to examine the landscapes that each student knows best, and all will go through multiple phases as we explore different strategies for writing and revision. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:15:51Z |
| format | Learning Object |
| id | mit-1721.1/35736 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en-US |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:23:37Z |
| publishDate | 2002 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/357362025-02-18T16:34:41Z 21W.730-4 Writing and the Environment, Fall 2002 Writing and the Environment Taft, Cynthia B. MIT Program in Writing & Humanistic Studies ethnic identity ethnic tradition race culture Maxine Hong Kingston Sandra Cisneros Jhumpa Lahiri Ecology in literature Environmental protection in literature Environmentalists have traditionally relied upon the power of their prose to transform the thoughts and behavior of their contemporaries. John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, evoked the wonders of California's Hetch Hetchy Valley in the hope that he could stop a dam with words. Another early environmentalist, Aldo Leopold, summoned up a world made barren by the loss of predators in the hope that he could stop the slaughter of wolves. More recently, Rachel Carson, a marine biologist with a penchant for writing, described a world without wildlife in Silent Spring and altered the way that Americans understood their impact on the landscape. Leopold and Carson were professional scientists, and like the other writers we will encounter this fall, they realized that they could alter the perceptions of their contemporaries only if they were able to transmit their knowledge in engaging and accessible language. We will do our best to follow in their footsteps. We will consider the strategies of popular science writers like Lewis Thomas, David Quammen, John McPhee, and Ursula K. LeGuin. We will also sample works by less familiar geologists,hydrologists, and biologists. Students in this course will have a chance to try out several ways of characterizing and explaining natural environments. The first paper of the term will draw upon personal experience; the others will require a modest amount of research. The paper will provide opportunities to examine the landscapes that each student knows best, and all will go through multiple phases as we explore different strategies for writing and revision. 2002-12 Learning Object 21W.730-4-Fall2002 local: 21W.730-4 local: IMSCP-MD5-0f61320f12ef3723e5bd34aeb1e7163f http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35736 en-US Usage Restrictions: This site (c) Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2003. Content within individual courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is providing this Work (as defined below) under the terms of this Creative Commons public license ("CCPL" or "license"). The Work is protected by copyright and/or other applicable law. Any use of the work other than as authorized under this license is prohibited. By exercising any of the rights to the Work provided here, You (as defined below) accept and agree to be bound by the terms of this license. The Licensor, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, grants You the rights contained here in consideration of Your acceptance of such terms and conditions. 15855 bytes 17296 bytes 59657 bytes 11948 bytes 15188 bytes 11 bytes 4586 bytes 21366 bytes 11602 bytes 38351 bytes 4755 bytes 27322 bytes 25313 bytes 4039 bytes 301 bytes 354 bytes 339 bytes 180 bytes 285 bytes 67 bytes 17685 bytes 49 bytes 143 bytes 247 bytes 19283 bytes 262 bytes 54806 bytes 42359 bytes 48016 bytes 48627 bytes 60679 bytes 45328 bytes 45080 bytes 45065 bytes 41724 bytes 58142 bytes 63810 bytes 36680 bytes 46444 bytes 76760 bytes 68755 bytes 62974 bytes 68640 bytes 69665 bytes 19283 bytes 3486 bytes 811 bytes 813 bytes 830 bytes 551 bytes 2097 bytes 27792 bytes 8942 bytes 8440 bytes 8916 bytes 8929 bytes 8941 bytes 8943 bytes 8908 bytes 8910 bytes 8398 bytes 8903 bytes 8912 bytes 9269 bytes 8256 bytes 8914 bytes 8407 bytes 8921 bytes 8951 bytes 8914 bytes 9794 bytes 8395 bytes 8947 bytes 8948 bytes 8937 bytes text/html Fall 2002 |
| spellingShingle | ethnic identity ethnic tradition race culture Maxine Hong Kingston Sandra Cisneros Jhumpa Lahiri Ecology in literature Environmental protection in literature Taft, Cynthia B. 21W.730-4 Writing and the Environment, Fall 2002 |
| title | 21W.730-4 Writing and the Environment, Fall 2002 |
| title_full | 21W.730-4 Writing and the Environment, Fall 2002 |
| title_fullStr | 21W.730-4 Writing and the Environment, Fall 2002 |
| title_full_unstemmed | 21W.730-4 Writing and the Environment, Fall 2002 |
| title_short | 21W.730-4 Writing and the Environment, Fall 2002 |
| title_sort | 21w 730 4 writing and the environment fall 2002 |
| topic | ethnic identity ethnic tradition race culture Maxine Hong Kingston Sandra Cisneros Jhumpa Lahiri Ecology in literature Environmental protection in literature |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35736 |
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