Drawing upon history, literature, philosophy, drama, film, media and culture studies, anthropology, sociology, psychology and geography, as well as other related disciplines, Environmental Humanities Initiatives in the Trinity Long Room Hub at Trinity College Dublin aim to raise pro-environmental levels of consciousness and action through multi-disciplinary research and education. Global climate
change is an existential issue for the human condition, and finding solutions to its social and environmental dilemmas is vexing. The United Nations Development Program textbook on Foresight Methodologies maintains “most authors discussing scenario analysis recommend the use of multiple scenarios. The future is uncertain, and analysis of just one scenario does little to communicate much about the range of opportunities and challenges liable to confront us.”
While science offers empirical “certainties” and methodologies to measure and identify global climate change's causes and effects, the Environmental Humanities offers multiple disciplinary scenarios from which to consider solutions and decisions about the social uncertainties and contingencies related to climate change. By recognizing the wisdom of the Irish proverb "ní neart go cur le chéile," environmental humanists and scientists working together can "contribute many hands" to address the hard questions and choices facing the human condition and its intractable role in global climate change.
