Developing the public environmental humanities: challenges, opportunities, and lessons

The environmental humanities is a dynamic and growing field of scholarly inquiry that grapples with many of the key challenges of our time. Over the past decade, in particular, the field has developed a strong emphasis on public-facing scholarship. However, while that public scholarship has grown steadily, scholarly analysis and reflection on this work has not kept pace. This article offers a timely discussion of the public environmental humanities as a field of engaged, experimental research practice. It explores how, where, and when this area of scholarship began to emerge and the diverse goals, formats, and modes of public engagement that are developing; and it provides an overview of some of the key challenges and opportunities in this space.