Teaching in preparation for the end of the world

[downer]

So far most of my students seem relatively optimistic about their futures. But I was struck by this NYT article
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/06/health/climate-anxiety-therapy.html
and I also found the first half hour of "Don't Look Up" pretty good.

I do wonder how long it will take before we get significant proportions of students who are deeply worried about the future of human life on the planet, and are pessimistic about it.

When I was in college, many students were sure that nuclear war was close to inevitable and not far off, but life went on as usual, with no changes in classes. So it seems quite likely that most classes will be completely unchanged as things get worse in the coming years. Also, young people who are bleak about the future may well see little point in going to college in the first place. But still, I suspect it will be an increasingly major factor to address in curriculum planning and in teaching, at least in some areas. I am starting to think about what would be appropriate in my own classes.

[dismalist]

The end it nigh.

[Liquidambar]

Thanks for sharing this.  I will read the article carefully since I'm now teaching a class that relates to climate.  So far my students seem like typical cheerful, engaged college students, but I worry that it might start getting to them.

[Caracal]

Perhaps this is sort of a grumpy historian take, but I tend to think this way of thinking only makes sense because of historically contingent ideas about progress and stability. Through most of human history, people have been at the mercy of potential large scale catastrophes. I'm not downplaying climate change. I just find the idea that faced with an uncertain and dangerous future, everyone is just going to go to pieces and sit around being depressed very presentist and odd.

[downer]

Perhaps this is sort of a grumpy historian take, but I tend to think this way of thinking only makes sense because of historically contingent ideas about progress and stability. Through most of human history, people have been at the mercy of potential large scale catastrophes. I'm not downplaying climate change. I just find the idea that faced with an uncertain and dangerous future, everyone is just going to go to pieces and sit around being depressed very presentist and odd.

I haven't seen anyone going to pieces, and the NYT article was very much about the worried well. I have to admit one of my favorite movies is Take Shelter, which is about going to extremes. But my interest is how to recognize the likelihood of major social changes that our students will face, and their emotional reactions to that.  How should we integrate it in our teaching?

There are other reasons in addition to to climate change to be worried about the future. Food scarcity is a major one.

[dismalist]

There are other reasons in addition to to climate change to be worried about the future. Food scarcity is a major one.

No. Crop yields are growing and calorie intake per person is growing, even in Africa.

[mythbuster]

Since the pandemic started, I have had to remind myself frequently the my students don't live in the same world I do. They don't read the NY Times daily, or closely track COVID numbers etc.
       I have to remember that when I was an undergrad I was only ever vaguely aware of things happening in the greater outside world. Even when big things, like the Oklahoma City bombing happened, they didn't really register as a big deal since I wasn't watching TV, and especially the news, on a regular basis.
   So some students may get worked up over things, but many won't. My awareness of thing political really changed when I was in grad school with the 2000 election. I attribute this to working with more adults, and not just students, at that point in time. It's what the adults were discussing.

[mamselle]

Tillich's idea of 'ultimate things' translates into secular as well as religious thinking.

M.