The shapes of coastlines and glaciers, the migratory paths and distribution of species, the length and character of the seasons…climate change is visible in large and subtle shifts, but still it is hard to grasp and hard to communicate.  We will spend spring quarter learning to see, interpret and represent our changing world using computer mapping, spatial analysis and presentation, visual storytelling, web development, creative nonfiction, and crowd-sourced narrative. Students will develop critical, creative, scientific and technical skills as they research, analyze and interpret ecological change through readings and seminars, in writing and computer workshops, and by using the landscape itself as a classroom.

This program will emphasize creativity and hands-on learning. Students will spend extended time in the field conducting structured observations, practicing site and landscape analysis and collecting the data and images they will use to shape representations of climate change. There will be two all-program, multi-day field trips: one to study the shrinking glaciers of Mt. Rainier and the other to the Olympic Peninsula coast where sea level rise and warming, increased storm action, and acidification are having dramatic effects on the coastal ecosystem. In both places we will consider the geological, ecological, cultural and economic implications of climate change.

These two extended all-program field studies will provide opportunities to practice skills and expand ideas gained in workshop and seminar settings and which will inform ongoing independent work leading to a cumulative web-based project employing maps and images to tell the story of climate change.