Mud is the Answer: How to Live in a Changing Climate?

NYU Shanghai Reads Presents Learning From the Earth: A Faculty Salon Series

All community members are invited to join us for the first in our spring salon series, hosted by Dr. Erica Mukherjee, Clinical Assistant Professor of History.

Eco-anxiety is one of several terms used to describe the distress people are increasingly feeling from worry over climate change and the future. There are many responses to eco-anxiety: for some people, this anxiety motivates them to action while for others it overwhelms them and they shut down. Without dismissing the severity of the problem, this talk challenges participants to think about climate, change, and anxiety in a new way: through mud.

Mud invites messiness, uncertainty, ambiguity, and change. It slides through barriers and ignores what “ought” to be. Using literature, historical research on the rivers and swamps, and her lived experiences, Dr. M will share how the unexpectedness of mud has altered her relationship with the environment and eco-anxiety.

Participants should read “A Mother’s Work” from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants and be prepared to play with clay.

Learn more about the NYU Shanghai Reads Program at our webpage, including information on how to access this year's book.