abstract: This thesis examines perceptions of climate change in literature through the lens of the environmental humanities, an interdisciplinary field that brings history, ecocriticism, and anthropology together to consider the environmental past, present and future. The project began in Iceland, during the Svartárkot Culture-Nature Program called “Human Ecology and Culture at Lake Mývatn 1700-2000: Dimensions of Environmental and Cultural Change”. Over the course of 10 days, director of the program, Viðar Hreinsson, an acclaimed literary and Icelandic Saga scholar, brought in researchers from different fields of study in Iceland to give students a holistically academic approach to their own environmental research. In this thesis, texts under consideration include the Icelandic Sagas, My Antonia by Willa Cather, Tropic of Orange by Karen Tei Yamashita, and The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi. The thesis is supported by secondary works written by environmental humanists, including Andrew Ross, Steve Hartman, Ignacio Sanchez Cohen, and Joni Adamson, who specialize in archeological research on heritage sites in Iceland and/or study global weather patterns, prairie ecologies in the American Midwest, the history of water in the Southwest, and climate fiction. Chapter One, focusing on the Icelandic Sagas and My Antonia, argues that literature from different centuries, different cultures, and different parts of the world offers evidence that humans have been driving environmental degradation at the regional and planetary scales since at least the 1500s, especially as they have engaged in aggressive forms of settlement and colonization. Chapter Two, focused on Tropic of Orange, this argues that global environmental change leads to extreme weather and drought that is increasing climate migration from the Global South to the Global North. Chapter Three, focused on The Water Knife, argues that climate fiction gives readers the opportunity to think about and better prepare for a viable and sustainable future rather than wait for inevitable apocalypse. By exploring literature that depicts and represents climate change through time, environmental humanists have innovated new methods of analysis for teaching and thinking about what humans must understand about their impacts on ecosystems so that we can better prepare for the future. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis English 2019

abstract: This project uses the tools of speculative climate fiction to explore and imagine the future of the United Nations climate negotiations in each of the five Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios. Climate fiction (cli-fi) proves a powerful but imperfect tool for envisioning future challenging and turning scientific models into meaningful narratives. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Sustainability 2020

This master thesis deals with one of the current trends in cinema - the so-called climate change film. Film as a popular medium is able to influence public debate and this paper's main objective is to explain how environmental issues can be portrayed in film and how such films shape the climate change debate. In the first, theoretical part of this thesis, the aim is to briefly introduce the history and context of climate change debate from the 1970s to the present day based on sources primarily from interdisciplinary cultural and environmental studies. It also explains how environmental problems started to arise in different art spheres, above all in American cinema from 1995 to the present. The second part analyzes four American feature films of different genres: The Day After Tomorrow (2004) directed by Roland Emmerich's, The Road (2009) directed by John Hillcoat, Before the Flood (2016) directed by Fisher Stevens and Darren Aronofsky's mother! (2017). The final chapter summarizes the findings, explains the currently prevalent apocalyptic narrative and discusses why such approach is not effective and how filmmakers need to transform climate change stories into positive narratives that inspire change and hope.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the filmography of Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho [Pong Chun-ho], and to provide a limited textual analysis of each film divided across two categories: the “explicitly ecological” and “implicitly ecological”. The intent is to, by viewing all of Bong’s films leading up to his critical and commercial success Parasite, argue that Parasite is as much an environmental film as it is critical of neoliberalism and globalization, both of which are common readings of not only Parasite, but all of Bong’s work.The findings are that while Parasite avoids overt and exaggerated displays of eco-destruction visible in his Sci-fi films, the film still displays a conscious environmental awareness. The rainstorm featured in the second act of the film can be viewed not only through a local lens as an example of the dichotomy between wealthy and poor families in South Korea as it pertains to environmental crises, but as a microcosm of how climate change stands to impact the financially disenfranchised across the globe as climate shifts continue to grow. / Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka den koreanska regissören Bong Joon-hos filmografi och genom en begränsad analys av varje enstaka film, uppdelade i kategorierna ”explicit ekologiska” och ”implicit ekologiska” filmer. Avsikten är att genom en genomgång av alla Bongs filmer upp till publik och kritikersuccén Parasit argumentera för att Parasit är lika mycket en ekologisk film som den är en kritik av globalisering och neoliberalism, uppfattningar som förekommer ofta när det Bongs filmer diskuteras.Slutsatsen är att även om Parasit undviker lika storskaliga och överdrivna exempel av ekologisk förstörelse som i hans science-fictionfilmer så visar filmen fortfarande upp en ekologisk medvetenhet. Regnstormen som förekommer i filmens andra akt kan ses inte bara som ett exempel på skillnaden på hur rika och fattiga familjer i Sydkorea hanterar ekologiska kriser, men kan även tolkas som ett mikrokosm av hur klimatförändringar kommer påverka de finansiellt utsatta världen över allteftersom de förvärras.