*CFP* "THE CLIMATE CATASTROPHE: A CREATIVE AND CRITICAL SURVIVAL GUIDE", BOOK PROJECT

The Climate Catastrophe: A Creative and Critical Survival Guide is a book project that builds on the ethos of the three (to date) eco_media symposia, in proposing an interdisciplinary response to the various catastrophes – human and nonhuman – currently threatening the planet. The editors of The Climate Catastrophe are posting an open call for chapter proposals. Chapters should address the current climate situation in various ways: some pieces will be critical/theoretical/empirical in nature, where others will recount and describe creative approaches through art, filmmaking, sound design, and photography.

With the circulation of vaccines around the world, we thought we were shifting to a new phase of life after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Delta variant of the virus threatens populations worldwide, plunging millions back into lockdown. The core questions for this publication will thus be: how might we maintain focus on environmental issues, on the ever-present existential threat that predated the chaos of 2020? How has the pandemic changed – and how does it continue to change – our approach to or understanding of our world and our place in it? What creative, theoretical, empirical or philosophical approaches might best help us move forward in innovative and responsible ways?

Topics could include — but are not limited to:

• analyses/discussion of media representations of environmental issues/events 
• creative interventions into climate discourse, fiction/nonfiction/nonrepresentational 
• social media analysis/discussion of responses to climate issues/events 
• new media and environmental justice 
• the intersection of discussion of Indigenous sovereignty alongside environmental issues 
• how the climate debate has been affected by COVID-19 
• changing attitudes to local/global as a result of the pandemic 
• the meeting places between the natural and the mediated 
• the impacts of media practice/research on the environment 
• media materialism (which can incorporate elements of many of the above)

 

The book combines theoretical/empirical work alongside creative practice and audiovisual production research, reflecting the genesis of the collection, the eco_media symposium, which has run in Melbourne, Australia since 2019.

Abstract submission: Fri 5 November

Notice of acceptance: Fri 19 November

Draft Chapter submission: 8 April 2022

Book submission: 5 October 2022

Send proposals to (eco.media2.rmit@gmail.com) by 5 November 2021.