Natural World Cluster

For academic year 2024-2025. 

Our world is one of fast-paced human and environmental change, although it hasn’t always been this way. We have inherited institutions, structures, and systems that have indelibly shaped our landscapes and waterscapes, often in exploitative ways. This cluster explores the diverse ways that humans have interacted with their surroundings, through time and space, as well as the relationships and beliefs that have been developed around nature and the environment. How can we (re)examine our cognitions, values, and behaviors as we engage with the natural world? How can these efforts help foster our understanding and inspire us to act? Over the course of the year, our seminars will explore these questions and reflect on how we can grow as active participants in the natural world.