Post-Capitalist Ecology

This course still has openings for ASYNCHRONOUS AUDITORS only. Please choose this option in the drop-down menu. You will receive a welcome email within 48 hours of registration, and will be able to work through the materials at your own pace for up to two weeks after the synchronous course ends.

Full Tuition: $300 — Scholarship Options in Drop-Down Menu

Instructor: Stillman | 6 weeks | Sundays May 21-June 25 | 5:00-7:00 PM EDT | ONLINE

This course is a cure for climate despair. It weaves together the indigenous science of Robin Wall Kimmerer, the solarpunk fiction of writers like Meg Elison and Sarah Gailey, the Daoist aesthetics of Laozi and Ursula K. Le Guin, the Marxist geography of Seth Denizen, the comparative psycho-mycology of thinkers like Suzanne Simard and Chen Quifan, and, of course, fine-dining etiquette. It has a critical edge—expressed in the claim that climate nihilism is white supremacism—and a pragmatic core, because we already nurture and inhabit post-capitalist ecologies everywhere. In this class, we will come to understand what post-capitalist ecology means, and learn to act with that understanding.

Using a combination of short stories, philosophical essays, peer reviewed scientific publications, poetry, visual art, and a great deal of courage, we will cultivate an ecology beyond capitalism, a perception of a future in which life transcends the limits of scarcity and conquest. From within the imperialism of pseudo-empiricism, we will evoke new ground and old growth—a redwood from a skyscraper like an alien from John Hurt’s chest. (Yes, that movie is on the syllabus.) If the “struggle for existence” in the Anthropocene has got you down, then it might be time to embrace a nature that’s red in a little more than tooth and claw, because, as someone once said, resistance is fertile.

Classes are recorded to allow for students to participate asynchronously. If you want to take a class but cannot make the class time, sign up for the asynchronous audit option to follow along on your own. Recordings are password protected and will only be available for the duration of the class and two weeks after it ends.

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All tuition goes to paying instructors and staff a living wage. We encourage you to pick the payment tier that corresponds with your needs, but ask that you please consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class, and one full scholarship per person per term. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out or you would like to pay tuition on an installment basis, please email us directly, and we will work with you.

If at any point up to 48 hours before your first class session you realize you will be unable to take the class, please email us and we will reallocate your funds to a future class, to another student’s scholarship, or refund it. After classes begin, we are only able to make partial refunds and adjustments.