Coastal Thinking: A Conversation

Presented by the Coasts, Climates, the Humanities and the Environment Consortium (CCHEC)

The National Humanities Center recently hosted a public conversation on Coastal Thinking led by four leading scholars of environmental humanities and science. Hester Blum (Penn State), Margaret Cohen (Stanford), Ryan Emanuel (NC State) and Killian Quigley (University of Sydney) joined Nicholas Allen (University of Georgia) in a discussion of coastlines and cultures in context of climate breakdown, with a focus on their experiences of the diversity of humanities and science approaches to engaging with the histories and futures of communities shaped by water.

The conversation began the public phase of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded Coasts, Climates, the Humanities and the Environment Consortium (CCHEC), whose partners include the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Georgia, the University of Florida, and Louisiana State University.

Photo: In Nags Head, the ocean threatens homes and hotels that sit along its edge. Photo by Alyssa LaFaro.