In September 2021, the History Department’s Dr. Teresa Cribelli worked with Allison Grant from the Department of Art and Art History to present a new photographic exhibition, entitled “Dangerous Landscapes.” Dr. Cribelli’s contributions offer a meditation on modern industry and nature.

The exhibit juxtaposed 19th century views of industrialization and progress with present-day industrial sites in West Alabama, where toxic pollution and climate change pose increasingly dangerous environmental threats. In this way viewers were invited to contemplate the history of industrialization in the 19th century and its effects on our natural world some 150 years later.

In conjunction with the exhibit, a panel discussion, “An Uncertain Climate: Alabama in the Age of Climate Change” was held on September 21 at Gorgas Library. The panel included Dr. Cribelli and Allison Grant, as well as scientist and engineer Christine Bassett and Marshella Hood, activist against environmental racism and a member of Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health in Justice in Uniontown, Alabama. The discussion aimed to encourage conversations within Alabama about how climate change will impact the Deep South, a region expected to experience profound climactic shifts.