Natural World Cluster

For academic year 2023-2024. 

The theme for the Natural World Cluster this year is Navigating (in) Nature. We are living in a time of incredible, fast-paced human and environmental change–and hope. Humans through institutions, structures, and systems indelibly shape their landscapes and waterscapes, often in self-interested, exploitative ways. This cluster explores how our minds and bodies process our surroundings, the relationships and beliefs we have to and about the environment, and the opportunities and barriers that shape our interrelationship with nature. 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? As we navigate (in) nature, our seminars will explore these questions and reflect on how we can grow as active participants in the natural world.