Ithaca College

In June, Nancy Menning (Philosophy/Religion) presented a paper at the ninth biennial conference of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE).

Her paper, "The religious imagination in irreligious context: Narrating climate change as a rite of passage," claimed that narrative frames commonly used to convey climate change information frequently disempower their readers by leading them to despair, provoking their denial, or circumscribing possible solutions such that only specialists can respond effectively. In contrast, Prof. Menning argued that narrating climate change as a rite of passage can help focus individual and collective efforts to successfully transition to new ecologies and economies. Further, her paper argued that the religious imagination, even when employed in secular and scientific contexts, can stimulate creative thinking and committed responses to pressing challenges.