On March 4th, the Institute of European Studies at UC Berkeley welcomed Professor Christina Gerhardt for a presentation on her recently published book, Sea Change: An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean. The book won a silver medal at the California Book Awards and was praised as a “work of art” by the LA Times; the New Scientist listed it among the “Best Popular Science Books of 2023.” Gerhardt is an author, academic and environmental journalist specializing in environmental humanities, film, and critical theory. She is a Senior Fellow at Berkeley and has held various visiting positions at Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, the Free University of Berlin, and Clark University. Writing as Tina Gerhardt, her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Nation, or Orion, among others.
Gerhardt’s background in environmental humanities and journalism shaped her approach to climate communication. The book was inspired by her coverage of the 2009 UN yearly climate negotiations in Copenhagen, where she witnessed global climate talks and heard testimonies from nations at risk. She highlighted the 2009 underwater cabinet meeting held by the former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed to draw attention to carbon emissions—an event largely overshadowed by media focus on the U.S.-China climate debate. This lack of visibility for vulnerable nations became a driving force behind Sea Change
Her goal was to make the impact of sea levels’ rise on island nations more accessible, crafting a “coffee table book” that would engage a broad audience rather than purely academic text. Sea Change is a polyvocal work integrating essays, archival research, interviews with residents, scientists and local indigenous communities, as well as maps by UC Berkeley cartography alumna Molly Roy, illustrating projected sea level rise for 2050 and 2100. Each entry details the island’s history, indigenous communities, ecology, and linguistic heritage, and shifts the focus from anthropocentric narratives to a broader ecological and cultural perspective.
Gerhardt stressed the need to decolonize spatial and temporal frameworks. She included Inuit (Ammassalik) carved maps, which prioritize knowledge embedded in the mapping process rather than Western Cartographic conventions. She also mentioned Amitav Ghosh’s The Nutmeg’s Cruse, which critiques European-imposed disciplinary boundaries, and Christina Sharpe’s In the Wake, which calls for “undisciplined” to counter oppressive academic structures.
A key aspect of Sea Change is its focus on solutions rather than despair. Gerhardt sees speculative fiction as a valuable tool in environmental humanities, helping envision possible futures and the steps to reach them. Her interdisciplinary approach blends geography, cartography, environmental studies and humanities, creative writing, and Caribbean studies.
Central to her argument is that climate change is not only an environmental crisis, but also a justice issue. Island nations contribute less than 0.03% of global CO2 emissions, yet they face the greatest risks. Climate change disproportionately affects the poor, people of color, women and children—inequalities rooted in colonial histories and economic disparities. She references Epeli Hau’ofa’s Our Sea of Islands, which challenges the colonial perception of islands as isolated and instead emphasizes their interconnectedness. She also critiques terms like “Anthropocene,” which obscure the uneven historical responsibility for climate change by implying all humans share equal blame.
Gerhardt’s presentation underscored the need to shift climate narratives from abstract data to human-centered experiences. By weaving together science, history and Indigenous knowledge, Sea Change serves as both a nuanced exploration and an urgent call to action in the fight against climate injustice.