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Environmental Studies

COURSES

120 ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY (Same as Geology 120)

The physical environment has begun to show signs of our earth’s expanding population and the increasing need for natural resources. Geologic materials such as soil, water, and bedrock, and geologic processes such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, and running water often pose constraints on land use. This course is designed to introduce students to the relationship between humans and their geologic environment: the earth. We will focus on understanding the processes that shape the surface of the earth, and how these processes affect human activity. We will use current scientific methods to collect and analyze data. Topics include surface-water dynamics and flooding, groundwater and groundwater contamination, pollution and waste management, landslides, volcanic and earthquake hazards, and global climate change. Format: three hour block per week of local field excursions, lectures, and/or laboratory exercises; evaluation will be based on project reports and homework/classroom assignments, and one exam (final). No prerequisites. Fall semester. (4 credits)

130 SCIENCE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY (Same as Physics 130)

This is a course on the current status of the most promising alternative and renewable energy options from a primarily scientific and technological perspective. Current methods of electricity generation and transportation energy sources will be briefly reviewed (fossil fuels, nuclear fission, and hydroelectric), including discussion of their limitations and environmental consequences. The focus of the course will be on understanding the scientific basis of alternative and renewable energy sources, and their promise and technological challenges for wide scale implementation. Biofuels, wind, photovoltaics, concentrated solar power, hydrogen, nuclear fusion, and geothermal will be considered in depth. Three lectures and one two-hour laboratory per week. No prerequisites. Spring semester. (4 credits)

133 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

This course provides basic scientific knowledge and understanding of how our world works from an environmental perspective. Topics covered include basic principles of ecosystem function, human population growth, production and distribution of food, soil and agricultural ecosystems, integrated pest management, water resources and management, water pollution, hazardous chemicals, air pollution and climate change, biodiversity and its conservation, solid waste, energy resources, and sustainability. There are no prerequisites. Three hours lecture and one three-hour lab per week. Every semester. (4 credits)

215 ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS AND POLICY (Same as Political Science 215)

This course provides an introduction to the field of Environmental Politics and Policy. Using a comparative approach, the course engages the meaning and development of environmental governance. We will explore the tandem rise of the modern environmental movement and profound new environmental legislation in the U.S. and internationally. Topics investigated will include: deforestation, hazardous wastes, climate change, population growth, and loss of biodiversity. Every spring. (4 credits)

229 ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS (Same as Philosophy 229)

A course that addresses a variety of theoretical positions and applied topics in environmental ethics from both traditional and non-traditional perspectives. The positions include: traditional ethics concerning the environment that do not constitute an environmental ethic (or, ethic of the environment); utilitarian and rights-based animal welfarism; an ethics of respect; Leopold’s Land Ethic, environmental pragmatism; continental environmental ethics; deep ecology; ecofeminist ethics; Black and Third World feminist positions on environmental ethics; and, indigenous and earth-based community perspectives in environmental ethics. We will also consider the viability of these theoretical positions in applied, real-life contexts by considering such topics as: their implications for public policy; environmental ethics and environmentalism as a social justice movement, human overpopulation; pollution; globalization; colonialization; and grassroots activism. The ultimate objective is for each student to develop their own conceptually deep, theoretically grounded, and concrete environmental ethic. Every year. (4 credits)

231 ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND POLICY (Same as Economics 231)

This course analyzes the economics of public policy toward the environment. It examines the problem of market failure in the presence of externalities and public goods, and considers policy responses to these market failures, including command-and-control regulations, tax and subsidy incentives, and marketable pollution permits. These policies are examined in the context of, for example, urban air pollution, ozone depletion and global warming, water pollution, municipal and hazardous waste, threats to biodiversity, and economic development. Particular attention is paid to methods of quantifying the benefits and costs of environmental protection. Prerequisite: Economics 119. Every year. (4 credits)

232 PEOPLE, AGRICULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT (Same as Geography 232)

This course introduces you to the study of human-environment interactions from a geographic perspective, with a special emphasis on the role of humans in changing the face of the earth and how, in turn, this changing environment influences humans. The course will examine environmental issues in a variety of geographic contexts (developed and developing countries) and the connections between environmental problems in different locations. Students will explore the fundamentals of environmental science, economics, cultural and political ecology, as well as a number of sectoral issues. There is a special focus on agriculture, but we also will explore human population growth, water resources, biodiversity, forest resources, energy use, climate change, and environmental health. No prerequisites. Fall semester. (4 credits)

234 AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY (Same as History 234)

People have always had to contend with the natural world, but only recently have historians begun to explore the changing relationships between people and their environment over time. In this course, we will examine the variety of ways that people in North America have shaped the environment, as well as how they have used, labored in, abused, conserved, protected, rearranged, polluted, cleaned, and thought about it. In addition, we will explore how various characteristics of the natural world have affected the broad patterns of human society, sometimes harming or hindering life and other times enabling rapid development and expansion. By bringing nature into the study of human history and the human past into the study of nature, we will begin to see the connections and interdependencies between the two that are often overlooked. Offered Fall and Spring 2009–2010. (4 credits)

236 CONSUMER NATION: AMERICAN CONSUMER CULTURE IN THE 20TH CENTURY (Same as History 236)

“Of all the strange beasts that have come slouching into the 20th century,” writes James Twitchell, “none has been more misunderstood, more criticized, and more important than materialism.” In this course we will trace the various twists and turns of America’s vigorous consumer culture across the twentieth century, examining its growing influence on American life, its implications for the environmental health of the world, and the many debates it has inspired. Not offered 2009–2010. (4 credits)

237 ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE (Same as History 237)

Poor and minority populations have historically born the brunt of environmental inequalities in the United States, suffering disproportionately from the effects of pollution, resource depletion, dangerous jobs, limited access to common resources, and exposure to environmental hazards. Paying particular attention to the ways that race, ethnicity, class, and gender have shaped the political and economic dimensions of environmental injustices, this course draws on the work of scholars and activists to examine the long history of environmental inequities in the United States, along with more recent political movements—national and local—that seek to rectify environmental injustices. Fall semester. (4 credits)

252 WATER AND POWER (Same as Geography 252 and Political Science 252)

This course develops an interdisciplinary approach to studying water resources development, drawing from geography, anthropology, history, politics, hydrology, and civil engineering. With a focus on large river basins, the course examines historical and emerging challenges to the equitable and sustainable use of transboundary waters. After first exploring the American water development model, the course will examine the promulgation of this model in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Dam development for irrigation, electricity, navigation, and flood protection will be discussed. Prerequisite: Environmental Studies 120, 133, or 232. Next offered 2010–2011. (4 credits)

265 JUSTICE (Same as English 265)

In this course we will examine texts by, about, and for workers for social justice. Our method will be interdisciplinary. With an eye toward aesthetics, we will examine novels and plays that have at their center protagonists who have been called to realize a vision of the just society or, more desperately, to stand alone against seemingly inevitable assaults upon human dignity. We will at the same time examine philosophical and sociological accounts of political action, including works that evaluate the effectiveness of different individual and organizational strategies for social change. Central issues may include obedience and disobedience, economic justice, eco-activism, globalization, human rights, gender, race, and the question of personal vocation—that is, how do we bring together our ethical commitments and our working lives? Central figures will range from Sophocles to Naomi Klein, Zola to James Baldwin. Students will be provided extensive opportunities for service and experiential learning in local organizations committed to social justice. Alternate years. (4 credits)

266 FIELD, FOLK, AND TABLE: LITERATURE OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE (same as English 266)

What counts as sustainable creation of our food, and what do literary writers explore about farming it? This course studies writers of essays, fiction, poetry, and visual arts on questions of sustainable agriculture, food supply, labor, and justice. We’ll look at current critical issues that concern agrarian writers: agricultural labor and laborers, migration and immigration, sufficiency, dearth and abundance, with the specific purchase on these issues that literature offers. Readings from Michael Pollan, Raymond Williams, Willa Cather, Thomas Hardy, Thoreau, Hesiod, Virgil; we’ll study Coyote and Monkey, Zen monks, ancient goddesses, theologian-cooks, farmers, anthropologists, singers, food writers; paintings and lyric poems on agrarian motifs of ploughman, orchard and meadow, seedtime and harvest, and farm animals. Alternate years. (4 credits)

267 LITERATURE AND ENVIRONMENT: POETRY OF DWELLING (same as English 267)

This course studies a wide array of poetry, along with selected creation myths, cosmologies, and essays, to consider poets’ sense of habitation in environment. What environs us? How do we find just principles of dwelling? How do poets evoke the vitality of sensory experience within elemental environments? What forms and genres lend themselves to literary investigation of how to inhabit a place? Are broad scientific virtues of exactitude of observation, and a contemplative spirit, also virtues in environment poetry? Readings from poets and cosmologists of ancient China, ancient Greece and Rome, Britain, and especially from 20th- and 21st-century poets of the United States, among them Robert Frost, Lorine Niedecker, Elizabeth Bishop, A.R. Ammons, Gary Snyder, Alice Oswald; essays from the fields of literary history, anthropology, religious studies, architecture. Alternate years. (4 credits)

280 ENVIRONMENTAL CLASSICS (Same as English 269)

What has the environment meant to past generations? How have writers shaped the ways we understand our relationships with the natural world? This course explores these questions, drawing in roughly equal measure on “classic” texts from the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Required for Environmental Studies majors. It is recommended that students complete this course during the spring of their sophomore year. Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor or two of the following: Environmental Studies 133, 215, 234. Spring semester. (4 credits)

285 ECOLOGY (Same as Biology 285)

The subject of this course is the natural world and the current and past ecological processes that have shaped it. Various ecological patterns are described and potential underlying mechanisms are investigated through field and laboratory studies. The impact of humans on natural systems is also examined. The course is guided by a strong evolutionary approach and an emphasis on systems behavior, such as feedback mechanisms, threshold responses, and alternative stable states. Three hours lecture and one three-hour lab per week. Prerequisites: none. Every semester. (4 credits)

304 MYTH AND ENVIRONMENT IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE (same as English 304)

This course studies poems, tales, myths, and non-fiction of the British and Scandinavian archipelagos in medieval times, focusing on accounts of magic, marvels, enchantment and disenchantment, nature spirits, dragons, demons, shape-shifters, fairies, and uncanny animals. These narratives and character types, surprisingly, constitute medieval literature’s most complex explorations of environment, home and homelessness, invasion and settlement, the fates of indigenous religions and its spirits as Christianity spread, and people’s encounters with seas, forests, lands, weathers, and other humans of those northern worlds.

Works will be drawn from the Scandinavian Volsung Saga and The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki; the Irish legends Sweeney Astray, The Life of Saint Gall, The Taìn; the Welsh Mabinogion; the lais of Anglo-French writer Marie de France; the English Beowulf, The Wedding of Sir Gawain & Dame Ragnelle, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale and Franklin’s Tale, excerpts from Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur, and Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away. We will make connections among scholarship in literary history, religious studies, anthropology, philosophy, and historical geography. Alternate years. (4 credits)

335 SCIENCE AND CITIZENSHIP (Same as Political Science 335)

This course explores the dynamic relationship between science, technology and society. The course will examine how, and which members of, the public make controversial environmental decisions over topics such as endangered species, genetically modified foods, bioprospecting, climate change, and toxic waste disposal. Through these case studies, the course will critically examine concepts of risk and uncertainty, trust, credibility, expertise and citizenship. Every spring. (4 credits)

340 U.S. URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY (Same as History 340)

In the minds of many Americans, cities are places where nature is absent—places where nature exists only in the crevices and on the margins of spaces dominated by technology, concrete, and human artifice. This course confronts this assumption directly, drawing on the scholarship from the relatively young field of urban environmental history to uncover the deep interconnections between urban America and the natural world. Among the other things, we will examine how society has drawn upon nature to build and sustain urban growth, the implications that urban growth has for transforming ecosystems both local and distant, and how social values have guided urbanites as they have built and rearranged the world around them. Using the Twin Cities has a backdrop and constant reference point, we will attempt to understand the constantly changing ways that people, cities, and nature have shaped and reshaped one another throughout American history. Not offered 2009–2010.(4 credits)

343 IMPERIAL NATURE: THE UNITED STATES AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT (Same as History 343)

Although the United States accounts for just five percent of the world’s population, it consumes roughly twenty-five percent of the world’s total energy, has the world’s largest economy, and is the world’s largest consumer and generator of waste. Relative to its size, its policies and actions have had a significantly disproportionate impact on global economic development and environmental health. Mixing broad themes and detailed case studies, this course will focus on the complex historical relationship between American actions and changes to the global environment. Not offered 2009–2010. (4 credits)

345 CAR COUNTRY: THE AUTOMOBILE AND THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENT (Same as History 345)

At the dawn of the twentieth century, automobiles were newfangled playthings of the very wealthy; by century’s end, they had become necessities of the modern world. This momentous change brought with it a cascading series of consequences that completely remade the American landscape and touched nearly every aspect of American life. This course will explore the role that cars and roads have played in shaping Americans’ interactions with the natural world, and will seek an historical understanding of how the country had developed such an extreme dependency on its cars. In the process, we will engage with current debates among environmentalists, policymakers, and local communities trying to shape the future of the American transportation system and to come to grips with the environmental effects of a car-dependent lifestyle. Alternate years; not offered 2009–2010.(4 credits)

365 ENVIRONMENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY (Same as Anthropology 365)

This course examines how the concept of culture can contribute to our understanding of environmental issues, in terms of how human beings adapt to their environment and the way in which they understand and give meaning to the world they live in. It examines the nature of the political, cultural, and socio-economic structures that together generate contemporary environmental problems. It aims to develop an anthropological understanding of the environment and to understand the way the “environmental crisis”—of resource scarcity and ecological degradation—is the outcome of particular structures of power, economic relations and consumption. Alternate years. (4 credits)

368 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND THE GLOBAL FUTURE (Same as International Studies 368)

This course thoroughly examines the concept of sustainable development. We will define the term, examine its history, and evaluate its political, philosophical, scientific, and economic significance. Implementation of sustainable development in both the world’s North and South are considered. Close attention is given to non-governmental organizations and nation states, the loss of global biodiversity, and existing and proposed remedial actions. Prior coursework in international, development, political, scientific, and/or environmental issues is strongly recommended. Every spring. (4 credits)

370 EDUCATION AND THE CHALLENGE OF GLOBALIZATION (Same as Educational Studies 370)

The complex phenomenon of globalization affects the quality of learning and life worldwide. In the United States and abroad; across dimensions of philosophy, policy and practice; educators, government officials, policy makers, public intellectuals, and citizens struggle with the implications of globalization for public education and civic life. The purpose of this course is to join in that struggle. We will explore interdisciplinary scholarship and policy design that integrates civic, environmental, moral, and multicultural education for the purpose of mitigating the negative consequences of cultural economic globalization. Every year. (4 credits)

477 COMPARATIVE ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES (Same as Geography 488 and International Studies 488 only when offered as the seminar with the same title)

A concern for the relationship between nature and society has been one of the pillars of geographic inquiry and has also been an important bridge between other disciplines. By the 1960s, this area of inquiry was referred to variously as “human ecology.” Over the last decade, certain forms of inquiry within this tradition have increasingly referred to themselves as “political ecology.” The purpose of this seminar is to review major works within the traditions of cultural and political ecology; examine several areas of interest within these fields (e.g., agricultural modernization, environmental narratives, conservation, ecotourism); and explore nature-society dynamics across a range of geographical contexts. Towards the end of the course we will explore how one might begin to think in practical terms about facilitating development in marginal environments. Prerequisite: Geography 232 or permission of instructor. Fall semester. (4 credits)

488 SENIOR SEMINAR IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

In this seminar, students will explore the difficult and often controversial issues surrounding environmental problems. Through readings, discussions, guest speakers, field trips, independent research, writing, and oral presentations, students will develop a clearer understanding of the underlying causes and long term implications of some of the environmental problems facing the world today. Both local and global environmental problems will be examined in the seminar. Taking advantage of the diverse academic backgrounds of the student participants, the seminar will bring together the knowledge, perspectives, and insights of the natural and social sciences and the humanities. Prerequisites: Senior standing in the environmental studies major. Every spring. (4 credits)

489 ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP PRACTICUM

This course is an intensive internship experience (8-10 hours/week) with an environmental organization or business in the Twin Cities metro region. An internship is an excellent way for students to apply knowledge learned in the classroom and laboratory, to learn more in an environmental area, and to explore career options. Required for Environmental Studies majors. It is recommended that students complete this course during the fall of their junior year. This course must be taken concurrently with Environmental Studies 490. Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor or two of the following: Environmental Studies 133, 215, 234. All internships graded S/D/NC only. Every fall. (4 credits)

490 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES LEADERSHIP SEMINAR

This course complements the internship experience through reflective writing, mentor profiles, and individual and group projects. Required for Environmental Studies majors. It is recommended that students complete this course during the fall of their junior year. This course must be taken concurrently with Environmental Studies 489. Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor or two of the following: Environmental Studies 133, 215, or 234. Every fall. (2 credits)

614 INDEPENDENT PROJECT

This is an opportunity for students to do independent study or research on an environmental topic. This may be undertaken in the Environmental Studies Program laboratory and/or field facilities under the direct supervision of a faculty member. It may also be undertaken at another college, university, or similar institution under direct supervision, or in certain circumstances, it may be undertaken off campus with minimal direct supervision. Given the nature of independent projects, students need to demonstrate that they have the necessary background, including appropriate coursework, in the area they are interested in pursuing before an independent project is approved. Prerequisite: Sponsorship by an Environmental Studies faculty member. (2–4 credits)

624 INTERNSHIP

This is an opportunity for students to work with professionals in the environmental field outside of academia. Students will work with a faculty sponsor and their site supervisor to develop a set of learning goals, strategies to meet these goals, and methods of evaluation for the internship, including the nature of the final product. An internship is an excellent way for students to apply knowledge learned in the classroom and laboratory, to learn more in an environmental area, and to explore career options. The internship may be undertaken during a semester or during the summer and must encompass 140 hours of work by the student. It is expected that the student will make a poster presentation of his/her experience. Prerequisite: Sponsorship by a faculty member on the Environmental Studies Coordinating Committee. All internships graded S/D/NC only. (2–4 credits)

634 PRECEPTORSHIP

Work assisting a faculty member in planning and teaching a course. Prerequisite: Invitation by a faculty member. Every semester. (4 credits).

644 HONORS INDEPENDENT

Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite: Sponsorship by an Environmental Studies faculty member. Every semester. (1–4 credits)

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