PREMISES

CLIMATE BREAKDOWN

Climate breakdown impacts all species on Earth by causing unprecedented disruptions in our planet’s natural systems. Global heating has led to extreme and accelerating changes in fundamental atmospheric conditions, causing unprecedented shifts in regional weather and new ecological dynamics that diverge from the historical scientific record.

The United Nations summarizes the near-future effects of climate change this way: 1) hotter temperatures, 2) more severe storms, 3) increased droughts, 4) warming and rising oceans, 5) loss of species, 6) food shortages, 7) more health risks, 8) poverty and displacement.  -- Precariously fragile and fragmented wildlands are especially vulnerable.

REMNANTS

In the Anthropocene age, midwestern old-growth woodland remnants have been diminished to the degree they can no longer sustain themselves or self-heal. These unique environments persist through the extraordinary efforts of individuals, groups, and communities dedicated to their preservation, who had the foresight to know that even as fragments of their native ranges, these places would remain important keystone habitats for plant and animal species.

The planet’s perilous changes make the future of old-growth woodlands uncertain. Federal and regional decision-makers must re-think the nature of the ‘utility’ of midwestern acreage by repatriating new woodlands in their former ranges within the existing working landscape to ensure there will be old-growth woodlands for future generations.

MYTHOLOGY

From the beginning, with a territorial seal proclaiming “A better one has replaced it…”, midwesterners forged a regional landscape engineered for utilitarian production. The story of its development, from stolen land and genecide, to grain production and energy capitalization, the myths of the region-making have largely ignored the wildlands that proceeded it. However, through happenstance, the dedication of individuals, or eras of demonstrative public-spiritedness, some remnant woodlands remain.

NARRATIVES

Wholesale improvements to environmental conditions require a shift in political will, which can only be realized by re-framing common narratives about climate breakdown. Inhabitants, travelers, and activists who have the means to witness the state of wildlands must record what they see and develop communication skills to disseminate their experiences and points of view.

Human societies developed through storytelling. One person, one generation at a time, our stories grew to build sophisticated cultures. The most widespread storytelling method in the 21st century is posting text, voice, photographs, and video to various internet platforms, potentially reaching an audience of billions.

AREA OF STUDY

The workshop will focus on eight old-growth woodlands in Indiana and Illinois. The areas include state parks, university-owned parcels, Nature Conservancy sites, and woodlands that benefited from the multi-generational stewardship of individual families. The woodlands exist as fragments of the forests that once occupied the territory before the region was transformed into an agricultural working landscape by white settlers, who were guided by the principles outlined in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. We will consider the selected woodlands as starting points to propose more expansive future forests that will one day be considered “old-growth.”