Over the past several years, near-constant news tells of the “wildfire crisis” and rising temperatures across North America. As the number of cities and rural areas devastated by wildfire escalates, we must contemplate our historical opposition to fire. Rising energy use caused by the expansion of power grids; widescale use of fuel-dependent vehicles; the proliferation of AI data centers; and, ironically, air conditioning: these and many other factors are increasing temperature, not least of all in large urban centers. Moreover, rising heat and fire threaten mental and physical health—both human and nonhuman alike. Writers, artists, and scholars have attempted to define human relationships to heat and fire. Where do these attempts fail and how might they succeed? How can Indigenous burning practices provide ways to coexist and cooperate creatively with wildfire? Finally, how do we continue to work, teach, and learn with heat?

Panelists:

Hsuan L. Hsu, Professor of English, University of California, Davis

Hsuan L. Hsu has research interests in U.S. literature, Asian diasporic literature, race studies, cultural geography, sensory studies, and the environmental humanities. His recent publications include Olfactory Worldmaking (forthcoming from University of Minnesota Press, 2026), Air Conditioning (Bloomsbury, 2024), The Smell of Risk (New York University Press, 2020), and “Race, Urban Heat, and the Aesthetics of Thermoception” (American Literary History, 2023).

Jennifer Ladino, Professor of English, University of Idaho

Jennifer Ladino is the author of Reclaiming Nostalgia: Longing for Nature in American Literature (University of Virginia Press, 2012) and has authored or co-authored many book chapters and articles related to the webinar topic including “Unsettling Fire: Recognizing Narrative Compassion” (2024) and “How Nostalgia Drives and Derails Living with Wildland Fire in the American West” (2022). Ladino’s work with the Confluence Lab and the Artists-in-Fire project supports artists and writers in the telling and reimagining of “fire stories.”

Alan Taylor, Professor Emeritus of Geography, Penn State

Alan Taylor is a renowned forest ecologist and fire expert best known for researching forest dynamics, fire disturbance, climate, and human impact in the Pacific Northwest. Taylor addresses theoretical and applied questions in his research and uses a wide range of methodological approaches, including tree ring analysis, spatial analysis, statistical modeling, simulation modeling, and historical ecology.

Moderator:

Ella Campopiano, Graduate Student, Department of English, Penn State