Lowell Duckert, assistant professor in the department of English at West Virginia University, resists thinking of coal as a mere commodity in his essay “Earth’s Prospects,” which will be published in “Elemental Ecocriticism,” a collection of environmental essays he co-edited for the University of Minnesota Press.

Duckert said his goal is to search for a future that is beneficial to both humans as well as non-humans.

“What would it mean to actually love coal, to pay attention to its liveliness, and to reorient our ethics and politics accordingly? You don’t have to choose the miner over the mountain,” Duckert said in a 2013 interview about the collection.

“I believe in both/and rather than either/or. Ecocriticism helps us redefine the ‘human’—expand it—in order to become more intimate inhabitants with the earth. The early authors I study were ecotheorists in their own right.”

Duckert said he hopes his works will fuel conversation about environmentalism and encourage collaborations between the humanities and the sciences.

“It’s about making allies, starting conversations and initiating debate. The humanities don’t have to be considered a polar opposite of the sciences,” he said. “Literature helps imagine, and bring about, better futures.”

“Elemental Ecocriticism: Thinking with Earth, Air, Water and Fire” was co-edited with Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, professor of English at George Washington University. It is slated for a December 2015 release.

For more information, please contact Lowell Duckert at (304) 293-9700 or Lowell.Duckert@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

jm 03/16/15

CONTACT: Devon Copeland, Director of Marketing and Communication, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, West Virginia University, 304-293-6867, Devon.Copeland@mail.wvu.edu

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