Profile by
Carol Harvest
I work on a lot of things by contributing, but the thing that makes me an activist is that I am always looking to make change in everyday spaces, whether working on college committees or in spaces outside the college.
Lauren E. Cagle is an Associate Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies and Affiliate Faculty in Environmental and Sustainability Studies at the University of Kentucky (UK). As a scholar and a community member, Cagle’s activism centers on disability rights, voting rights, unionizing, and environmentalism; her early scholarship in graduate school and at UK focused on environmental rhetoric, inspiring her to become an activist in climate change. She recognized an interconnectedness between environmental concerns and many other types of activist work, especially as a graduate student at the University of South Florida where she became involved with the union. I was thrilled to interview Cagle because of our shared interests in environmental activism and justice; while my work has so far focused primarily on analyzing postcolonial texts, I anticipate becoming more active in my community and partnering with local activists, as Cagle has been able to do.
Collaboration, as activists will readily admit, is necessary for any activist movement to take off. Once Cagle arrived at UK, she began attending environmental events and kept bumping into Carmen Agouridis, Associate Dean at UK who is also an Associate Professor of Ecosystem Restoration in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. Cagle knew she wanted to get involved by practicing engaged research and making connections with the community. When people found out she was working in climate communication, she was asked to be on panels and give talks. Noticeable was a lack of climate-focused events; while there were plenty of environmental activist opportunities to tackle problems about water, for example, there seemed to be no dedicated attention to climate. Through shared environmental concerns and scholarly interests, Cagle and Agouridis created the Kentucky Climate Consortium in 2019, which has grown to become a large multi-institutional collaboration. The newly formed consortium was in danger of not surviving the Covid pandemic, but it endured because everyone worked together to keep the project going. Cagle attributes the consortium’s survival to active collaboration, noting that no one performs activism by themselves.
How do scholars engage with community members in productive and civil discussions? In a 2018 publication, Cagle argues for “achieving eudaimonia in cooperation with others.” Eudaimonia is a Greek word that means “thriving” or maintaining a “good spirit.” When engaging with skeptics about climate change, for example, Cagle has had varying experiences communicating with people, but due to an understanding of rhetorical approaches and the importance of virtues, she says that it’s all about balance. Civility does not automatically trump all over virtues. Thinking about patience, respect, and virtue, she has been able to resist becoming frustrated or angry right away and has instead embraced a long-term view of what communication looks like. Cagle observes that it is rare for someone to be moved by a single rhetorical act; instead, there are many rhetorical moments that may lead up to change. The ultimate goal is not conversion; instead, activists can share information that may lead to a more nuanced perspective. Even though Cagle admits she may never know if a singular conversation indeed had any effect, she has done what she can in the moment. As an environmental activist, she carefully considers her obligations. By remaining open when engaging with climate change skeptics and acknowledging what is important about the other person’s statement, Cagle is modeling civil discourse.
Activist-scholar work is often most effective when scholars reach out to local community organizations. In 2017, Cagle partnered with Roberta Burnes, an environmental educator at the Kentucky Division for Air Quality (DAQ), to create an environmental technical communications course at UK. Students produced deliverables for the DAQ that the organization did not have the time to create themselves. The two have teamed up again recently by focusing on accessibility. Students made three user guides for state government employees, which explained how to make PowerPoints, PDFs, and data visualizations accessible. Materials that had been posted online, for example, were not accessible. Cagle argues that this is a way to provide people with the practical tools to make social change. Additionally, Cagle has led a series of accessibility workshops for the Kentucky state government, yet another avenue for partnership and collaboration.
However, when thinking of activist work, Cagle wants to make it clear that the work of activism is “really hard,” and it’s important for her to not water down that work by conflating it with work that is not, perhaps, as risky as some activist work. Collaborative work with Burnes, for example, is best described as “‘participatory action teaching,’ which encompasses and extends the boundaries of service-learning.” Activism is about making change. That is not what we are often doing in the classroom, Cagle admits, but she tries to give students the chance to do action-oriented tasks even though she hesitates to require them to do so. Not everyone wants to be an activist. Some students are, indeed, not ready. She believes, however, that she could do more in terms of exposing students to the possibility of rhetorical action.
As Cagle looks ahead, she would like to continue having time to do research, which is also an opportunity to step back and look at how best to create long-term impact. She can think about where to put her energy, whether that might be scholarship, research, teaching, and/or activism. A pressing issue for her is helping to bring about collective bargaining in Kentucky. As a “right to work state,” and with a sordid history of anti-unionization in the past, creating action to help workers will be a challenge and a true, collaborative effort. I wish her the best at helping those workers and in the many projects to come.
Author Bio
Carol Harvest is an Associate Professor of English and Humanities at Eastern Florida State College and a PhD student in the English department at Old Dominion University. Her research interests include environmental humanities, feminist and gender studies, and postcolonial studies.
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