Reframing Climate Change: An Ecocritical Frame

This chapter addresses the question, “if art historians, artists, or scholars and educators in the arts and humanities were to respond to the serious and urgent issue of climate change, what options do we have for confronting this crisis?” This chapter’s response focuses on surfacing the deeply ingrained and largely unconscious positions and tropes that shape our relationship with the physical and natural elements that make up our ecosystem—our home. In this chapter, I argue that there is no innocent eye, only lenses through which we interpret the so-called “objective” phenomena like climate change. To be aware of these lenses is to develop a critical eye, one that will help us understand—reflexively and critically—climate change in its multiple dimensions. I will demonstrate these insights by sharing my experiences as part of an interdisciplinary team that teaches the General Education course “Disaster Risk Mitigation, Adaptation and Preparedness Strategies” (DRMAPS) in the University of the Philippines. In the process, I hope that the pedagogical frame and course delivery I will discuss in this paper will benefit policymakers and other teachers in the field of Education.