Shipping Human and Nature and Promoting Activism through Terry Bisson’s “Bears Discover Fire” : Applying an Ecocritical Lens and the Biophilia Hypothesis to Literature for Implications in the EFL-Setting

Abstract: The planetary crisis is a factor with undoubted effects on society. Education in Sweden concerns itself with preparing students for societal life through passing on values and emphasising the need for critical thinking. Many students today engage in environmental activism with the agenda to demand change from governing bodies to mitigate climate change. To understand the process of change, additional information is needed regarding what it means to be human. This text concerns itself with environmental teaching for the EFL-setting. Through focusing on literature, and contributing to an in-depth understanding of the characters, increased awareness about what it means to be human can be achieved. By selecting the short story “Bears Discover Fire,” it is illustrated how such an understanding can be found through fictional works. This paper covers an ecocritical reading focusing on how representation, relationship, and structures detrimental for the climate figure in Terry Bisson’s story. In addition, it argues that a deeper understanding of the characters results from applying the biophilia hypothesis. The findings from the analysis of characters and the representation of nature and relationships are applied to the EFL-setting, providing examples for how teaching can be conducted to promote further activism and strengthen the relationship between students and nature.