“We cannot address the environmental crisis unless we analyze it as a social, cultural, and values-based problem.”

Ursula K. Heise, recipient of the 6th Biophilia Award in Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences, examines the role of the environmental humanities as a key multidisciplinary field for addressing the global ecological crisis. Heise explains how culture, literature, and narrative shape the ways in which societies understand biodiversity, climate change, and environmental justice. She develops her concept of “eco-cosmopolitanism,” which connects local realities with a planetary consciousness, and addresses issues such as cultural biases in conservation, multispecies justice, and the importance of considering historical and social contexts in environmental policymaking. Throughout the conversation, she also reflects on the value of international collaboration in this field, the role of science fiction in imagining alternative futures, and her perspective—balancing realism and hope—on t

Ursula K. Heise, recipient of the 6th Biophilia Award in Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences, examines the role of the environmental humanities as a key multidisciplinary field for addressing the global ecological crisis. Heise explains how culture, literature, and narrative shape the ways in which societies understand biodiversity, climate change, and environmental justice. She develops her concept of “eco-cosmopolitanism,” which connects local realities with a planetary consciousness, and addresses issues such as cultural biases in conservation, multispecies justice, and the importance of considering historical and social contexts in environmental policymaking. Throughout the conversation, she also reflects on the value of international collaboration in this field, the role of science fiction in imagining alternative futures, and her perspective—balancing realism and hope—on the future of life on Earth.

Ursula K. Heise was awarded for “advancing the development and global application of the field of Environmental Humanities.” Over the past two decades, the Professor of Literary Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) “has explored, through her pioneering research, the diverse forms that environmental thought, narrative, and activism take across different regions of the world,” as highlighted by the award jury.