In response to requests from Duke undergraduate and graduate students for information on available courses with a focus on environmental justice, we have compiled an initial list of relevant courses at Duke, NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill to help inform bookbagging this week.
We recognize this list is far from complete. If you are a faculty member whose course includes a significant focus on environmental justice, or a student who knows of such a course, please email Nicki Cagle [nicolette.cagle@duke.edu] and Nicholas Fairbairn [nicholas.fairbairn@duke.edu] with the course number and title and a short description of the relevant content and we will add it to the list.
Don’t see what you’re looking for? Check out the Enivronmental Justice Campus Committee‘s list of EJ Course offerings in Duke, Durham and beyond here.
UPDATE: As of April 2022, the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG) Climate Crisis Committee Resolution on Environmental Justice passed unanimously. Among its demands, the resolution calls for “improving the environmental justice curriculum offerings.” Read the full resolution here.
Links to institution course catalogues:
Use the below buttons to navigate to courses on this page…
Duke University
(NOTE: 100-499 range undergraduate courses can be taken but credits cannot be counted towards MEM and MF degrees)
ENVIRON 790.40 (lec) SP TOP (Spring) – Environmental Justice (3 credits)
Environmental Justice is the Civil Rights of the 21st century. This is particularly true for those professionals dealing with health and environmental issues affecting minority and low-income communities, and local, state, tribal and federal governments. While there is no federal or state Environmental Justice “law,” there are numerous regulations and policies still in place that can have important and expensive consequences for those working on these issues for the foreseeable future. This course will examine the history, monumental events in the environmental justice movement and the impacts that this movement has on conditions in minority and low-income communities. Students will study the juxtaposition of environmental justice communities and the response in urban, suburban, and rural settings. In addition, students will consider how the development and acceptance of environmental justice impacts daily life. Course materials and class discussions will also include a look at international environmental justice as well. Students will be tasked with exploring the implications of decision making at the local, state, federal, and international level.
Students will gain an understanding of:
- The origins and significant milestones of the environmental justice movement.
- How environmental justice is defined across various organizations and how those definitions may impact local, state, national and international policies.
- Significant cases that have impacted the implementation of environmental justice policies and principles.
- The importance of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in resolving environmental justice concerns.
- Use of various tools to identify environmental justice communities.
- The importance of community engagement and transparency in working with and in environmental justice communities.
ENVIRON 790.02 (lec) SP TOP (Fall 2021) – Environmental Justice Practicum (1 credit)
Environmental justice provides us with a framework for recognizing, analyzing and addressing inequalities in environmental conditions in local communities. This 1-credit practicum will integrate with the Amplify Environmental Justice seminar and workshop series to be held in the spring of 2021. The purpose of the Amplify EJ project is twofold: to build greater awareness at the Nicholas School of the Environment about the root causes and long-term impacts of environmental injustice and, building on existing partnerships, to learn from and foster stronger involvement and ties with communities in our region fighting for environmental justice. In this course, we will deepen our understanding of the challenges of responding to environmental injustice, while expanding our toolkit of strategies for addressing it. We do this through a place-based, community-based case study approach that gives us the opportunity to explore these challenges and strategies on-the-ground with local community partners.
ENVIRON 506: Environmental Justice: Theory and Practice for Environmental Scientists & Policy Professionals (NEW, Fall 2022)
Examination of concepts related to theory and practice of environmental justice including: data and analytics used by researchers, decision-makers and other parties; concepts related to meaningful engagement with special attention to American Indian tribes and Indigenous peoples; and broader perspectives on environmental justice related to climate change, cumulative impacts, and other topics. Investigate recent case studies involving food, energy, water, and climate through readings, guest speakers, and classroom discussion. Required field trip. Instructor: Emanuel.
CA 419S.01 – Global Environment/Political Nature (Spring)
Exploration of several themes: how local, national, and transnational organizations manage the environment, discuss it, study it, protect and defend it; who speaks for nature and to what ends; the differences between capitalist and socialist approaches to the environment; how relations among natures, nations, social movements, individuals, and institutions have changed over time.
ENVIRON 214s – Ethical Challenges in Environmental Conservation (Spring)
Consideration of environmental issues with an ethical lens, including examining controversies in conservation, rights-based approaches to policy and management challenges, and the history of marginalization of voices and bodies in environmental work. Students engage with external materials (readings, podcasts, videos, etc) and also with their own positions, values, and beliefs, as we create space to ask why we do this work, and what might sustain us in the future.
ENVIRON 332S – Environmental Justice: The Economics of Race, Place, and Pollution (Fall Only, varies)
Minorities, people of color, and low-income households bear a disproportionate burden from environmental pollution. Since the Clinton Administration, addressing environmental injustice has been among the policy objectives of the Environmental Protection Agency. Course examines how environmental injustices may arise out of discriminatory behavior and/or market forces founded on individual, firm, and government incentives. We begin with the theoretical framework used to document and explain disproportionate exposures, then review existing empirical evidence through case studies and evaluate competing explanations for injustice using an economics framework. Prerequisites: Econ 201D, 205D, 208D. Instructor: Timmins
Readings: Environmental Justice (Fall 2020)
This is a one-credit seminar introducing students to the field of environmental justice. This course focuses on a discrete area of environmental law that intersects with constitutional and civil rights law. It is fundamentally a course about social justice. Students will deploy both legal and non-legal sources to construct effective legal arguments and advocacy options. There are no prerequisites for this course. Course Description Environmental justice is a transdisciplinary field where environmental and social justice issues collide. It involves a complex mix of law, health, economics, and history. However, it is important to understand that environmental justice is more than just a field of study or issue to be addressed. Environmental justice is about people and the communities of which they live.
Some populations in this country, particularly low-income communities and communities of color, experience disproportionate environmental burdens and enjoy fewer environmental amenities. These communities are described as suffering from a lack of environmental justice. This readings course will focus on both environmental justice and environmental injustice, and consider advocacy options for achieving equity. Through readings and discussions, students will explore the importance of collective responsibility and community-driven efforts to pursue environmental justice. A central tenet of this course is that environmental justice is achievable through the remedying of systemic and structural conditions, including racism and privilege, that lead to inequity.
Environ 343S – Energy Futures and Environmental Justice (occasionally)
Advanced undergraduate seminar on comparative energy crises and natural resource management. Uses case studies of fossil fuel, nuclear, and renewable energy resources drawn from anthropology, natural sciences, and even business economic readings. Appropriate for students interested in global politics, economic development, human rights, or environmental issues. Instructor: Folch
PHIL 215 – Applied and Environmental Ethics
A critical examination of ethical dimensions of several contemporary individual and political normative problems, including abortion, affirmative action, national and international economic redistribution, and the environmental impact of economic changes and political decisions. Instructor: Staff
ETHICS 190FS/Public Policy 190FS (Special Topics, Focus Program): Environmental Justice Dynamics: Movements, Countermovements, and Institutional Responses (SS, EI, CCI)
This course examines the environmental justice movement, its countermovements, including nationalist and conservative movements, and how their interplay shapes political opportunities and responses. We will consider the substantive concerns of the environmental justice movement (the needs of humans in the built environment), its methods (community-based political organizing carefully coordinated with allies within legal professions and academia), and the scales at which it operates (local, national, global). Because social movements of political significance will generate opposition, we will also consider the rise of nationalist and conservative movements that interact with and challenge the environmental justice movement. These topics will be explored using a range of materials, including scholarly books, articles, case studies, and documentary films. Instructor: Jowers.
HOUSECS 59-04: Climate Justice & Intersectionality
The house course aims to provide students with a strong understanding of climate justice. It highlights the connections between environmental justice internationally and within the United States. This course is set up as a series of guest lectures given by prominent academics and environmental justice advocates as well as small group discussions. It is a deep dive into the relationship between people, culture, justice, climate, and the environment. It touches upon the intersection of climate justice and health, energy, migration, disability rights, LGBTQ+ rights, transgender rights, and food systems, in the hope to amplify the voices and experiences of the diverse cultures, races, and identities fighting on the front lines to address these issues globally. Undergad only, guest lectures open to all. More info here.
MARSCI 286A / ENVIRON 286A / PUBPOL 281A: Marine Policy
With Special Topic: Informing Policy through Science, Technology, Local and Traditional Knowledges
Topics to include (1) policy and policy-making concerning the coastal marine environment (2) history of marine-related organizations, legislation, and issues and their effects on local, regional, national, and international arenas (3) use of theoretical and methodological perspectives, including political science, sociology, and economics. This class is taught at the Duke Marine Lab (DUML) in Bookhout 220 and on Zoom. Instructor: Julia Bingham, Ph.D (she/her, they/them). More info here and full course description here.
EDUC 201: Introduction to Engaged Citizenship and Social Change
Introduction to key concepts, theories, and critiques of civic engagement and social change, with a focus on competing notions of democratic citizenship. Examination of voluntarism, philanthropy, community service, political participation, social activism and other forms of community engagement. Critical reflection on ethical issues related to community engagement and social change, including critiques of progressivism and service. Students will also be asked to apply these various approaches to pressing social issues of our time, such as income inequality, environmental justice, education reform and gender and race equality. Instructor: Mlyn.
HISTORY 345: North American Environmental History
Historical roles of nature—as a cultural construct and a set of biological relationships—in shaping human choices in North America, from colonial times to the present. Special attention to historical origins of contemporary environmental politics, including the origins of wilderness; environmental justice movements; the changing politics of food, animal rights, and pollution; and tragedies of the commons, and the ethical challenges posed by global warming and population growth.
ENVIRON 201: Integrating Environmental Sciences and Policy
Interaction between the natural and the social systems as they relate to the environment. Focus on ecological and earth system cycles, processes, and fundamental relationships. The environmental impact of human-induced change at the local, regional, and global levels. The role of technology and the policy process in determining how environmental problems evolve and are addressed. Use of ethical analysis to evaluate environmental tradeoffs. Use of case studies to integrate multiple disciplinary perspectives on environmental problems and to address issues of environmental justice. Prerequisite: Environment 102 or consent of instructor. Instructor: Charlotte Clark.
BIOL156S: Environmental Justice & Equity
The EPA describes environmental justice as “no population due to policy or economic disempowerment, is forced to bear a disproportionate burden of negative human health or environmental impacts of pollution.” Examples include evidence demonstrating that low wealth communities have less tree cover, a deficit that leads to higher cardiopulmonary health issues. Course explores environmental justice in the U.S.. Topics covered include crime and stress, food security, air and water quality, park provisioning, environmental gentrification, and environment-related maladies. Course uses team-based learning. Typically offered Spring only. Click here for more info.
BIO 750S: Introduction to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (IDEA) in Biology
This half-credit course is designed for graduate students in biology with an interest in inclusion, diversity, equity, and anti-racist (IDEA) efforts in science. We will explore the history of racism and oppression in biology and interrogate the epistemic values and assumptions embedded in the field and its subfields. We will discuss current events related to IDEA topics in biology along with ongoing efforts in universities towards inclusion, equity, diversity, and antiracism. Finally, we will consider how biologists can promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in ways that complement their research. Typically offered Fall/Spring. Click here for more info.
ENV 869/LAW 443: Environmental Law & Policy Clinic
The Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic is an interdisciplinary clinic that represents non-profit community-based and environmental organizations throughout the region to address a wide variety of environmental concerns in a variety of different venues. Students work in interdisciplinary teams and engage directly with clients to develop legal and advocacy strategies, conduct site-based assessments, develop legislative and regulatory proposals, and participate in community outreach and education efforts. Students also may engage in litigation, regulatory, and policy proceedings as case needs dictate. Skills training is conducted in weekly seminars and case management meetings and emphasizes client counseling, legal and policy advocacy, working with experts, and networking. Although the mix of topics addressed varies among semesters, matters typically include environmental justice, climate change, water quality, natural resources conservation, endangered species protection, sustainable agriculture, public trust resources, and environmental health. Clinic faculty make an effort to honor student preferences for case assignments, consistent with case needs and each student’s objectives for professional growth and development. Offered every semester. Click here for more info.
ENV 222 / HIST 222 / LATAM 222: Environment and Global Capitalism in Latin America
Global capitalism relies on the ever increasing extraction and displacement of natural resources around the world. The discovery and subsequent colonization of Latin America by European powers meant the massive circulation of organisms (from germs to human beings) and natural resources (organic and mineral) across continents with lasting consequences for humans, animals and landscapes. Focusing on Latin America, this course analyzes the environmental history of global capitalism. Our aim will be to explore what happens when massive amounts of natural resources are relocated from one place to another. Instructor: Goldin. Previously offered Spring 2020, Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. Click here to learn more.
ENV 275: Food, Farming, and Feminism
Viewing “agriculture,” “nature,” and “consumption” as pressing feminist themes and exploration of various dimensions of the cultural and political ecology/economy of producing, processing, circulating, preparing, and consuming sustenance. Particular focus on the ethical impact of US policy on rural farm communities and developing nations. Instructor: Staff. Click here for more info.
ENV 579S / PUBPOL 579S: Collective Action, Environment, and Development
Examines the conditions under which collective or participatory decisions may raise welfare in defined ways. Presents the growing empirical evidence for an environment and development setting including common property issues (tragedy of the commons and competing models). Identifies what evidence exists for sharing norms on a background of self-interested strategies. Definitions of and reactions to equity and/or its absence are a focus. Providing scientific information for policy is another. Experimental and behavioral economics are frequently applied. Campus: DUML. Instructor: Pfaff. Click here for more info.
ENV 860SA: Political Ecology
Seminar to examine concept of political ecology as means of conceptualizing conservation and development conflicts and solutions. Intended to engage students with political ecology to strengthen usefulness, enrich possibilities, and improve participants ongoing research, collaborations and critical inquiries. Enrollment limited to graduate students. Taught in Beaufort at Duke Marine Lab (DUML). Instructor: Campbell. Click here for more info.
ENV 536 / LAW 636: Food, Agriculture and the Environment: Law and Policy
This course will survey how law and policy helped create and perpetuate the interrelated social, economic and environmental iniquities of our modern food and agriculture system. More optimistically, we will study how law and policy can address systemic issues and move us toward values of equity and environmental justice, conservation, restoration, community health and economic sustainability. And if you read Omnivore’s Dilemma and want to learn what the Farm Bill actually does, this is your chance. Typically offered: Fall only. Full course description and more info here.
ENV 820S: Conservation Ethics
Students will delve into the tension between science and advocacy through the lens of environmental ethics. Students will gain a strong foundation in principles of environmental ethics, drawing from the rich literature on this topic from the fields of philosophy and ethics, environmental communications and education, and conservation ecology. Seminar-style course requires students to actively lead and participate in weekly discussions, write a series of essays and collaboratively design and initiate a semester project. Ultimately, the course is about reflecting on not just the academic literature and individual scenarios but seriously considering the role our own values play in our work. Instructor: Vidra. Click here for more info.
Divinity School: Certificate in Faith, Food, and Environmental Justice
The Certificate in Faith, Food, and Environmental Justice is for students seeking training and preparation for engaging faithfully in environmental justice work, agricultural production, healthy food access and food systems, creation care ministries, land use issues, policy advocacy, and environmental management. The context of such work might be congregational ministry, nonprofit work, farming, or governmental agencies. It is also for students who may have a more general interest in addressing the array of urgent challenges related to the ecological crisis, rural precariousness, resource conflicts, animal suffering, climate change, environmental racism, and industrial agriculture. Click here for course list.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(NOTE: 700 and above are grad-level courses)
ENEC 325 – Human Rights and Water Resource Management
This course explores logistical, political, social, and economic challenges in supplying every human with adequate access to clean water, the most basic human right.
ENEC 350 – Environmental Law
This course gives students an overview of environmental law and some practical experience in environmental policy making.
ANTH 539 – Environmental Justice
Course examining issues of race, poverty, and equity in the environmental movement. Cases include the siting of toxic incinerators in predominantly people-of-color communities to resource exploitation on indigenous lands.
ENVR 784 – Community-Driven Research and Environmental Justice
In this course, students will learn from community residents who challenge public health scientists to conduct research on environmental and occupational hazards that impact their health.
EPID 786 – Community-Driven Epidemiology and Environmental Justice
Principles for conducting research within communities unduly burdened by environmental health threats are presented. Topics include research ethics, community presentations, study design and implementation, and student research projects.
GEOG 240 – Introduction to Environmental Justice
Environmental justice is about social equity and its relationship to the environment. This course provides an introduction to the principles, history, and scholarship of environmental justice. It traces the origins of the movement in the US and globally and its relationship to environmentalism. Students will use case studies and engagement to become familiar with environmental justice concerns related to food systems, environmental health, climate change, and economic development.
GEOG 435 – Global Environmental Justice
This advanced course brings geographical perspectives on place, space, scale, and environmental change to the study of environmental justice. In lectures, texts, and research projects, students examine environmental concerns as they intersect with racial, economic and political differences. Topics include environmental policy processes, environmental justice movements, environmental health risks, conservation, urban environments, and the role of science in environmental politics and justice. (GHA)
GEOG 468 – Environmental Justice in Urban Europe
While much attention has been given to Europe’s “green” cities and the region’s examples of sustainable development, less attention has been given to the ways in which the uneven distributions of environmental degradation have social and spatial ramifications within and beyond the region. This course will provide an overview of environmental justice in urban Europe to consider the key concepts, topics, debates, and trends shaping people and places there.
ENEC 368/PHIL 368 – Living Things, Wilderness, and Ecosystems: An Introduction to Environmental Ethics
The meaning of environmental values and their relation to other values; the ethical status of animals, species, wilderness, and ecosystems; the built environment; environmental justice; ecofeminism; obligations to future generations.
ENVR 610 – Global Perspectives on Environmental Health Inequalities
Students will learn about how social, economic, and political factors impact environmental health outcomes and will be introduced to theories and methods for incorporating social determinants frameworks into environmental health research, as well as the role of environmental justice movements.
AAAD 333/ POLI 333 – Race and Public Policy in the United States
Exploration of the relationship between race and public policy in the U.S. Primary focus on African Americans, but other racial groups also studied. Key areas include reproductive justice, health care, employment, labor, welfare, education, housing, environmental justice, policing, criminalization, foreign policy, immigration, and war.
ENEC 51 – First-Year Seminar: Balancing the Environment: Science, Human Values, and Policy in North Carolina
This course examines the ways in which scientific information, human values, and the policy process interact to produce environmental change, economic growth, and social justice in North Carolina.
PHIL 70 – First-Year Seminar: Gateway to Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
This course uses insights and techniques from philosophy, politics, and economics to answer questions like: What makes a modern civilization possible? How can our societies continue to improve? What role do property rights, markets, and political action play in creating flourishing civilizations? How do we address environmental degradation, distributive justice, and economic exploitation? Our answers will draw from rational choice theory, utility theory, game theory, public choice economics, etc. Course is limited to PPE minors.
PUBH 510 – Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Global Health
Explores issues, problems, and controversies in global health through an interdisciplinary perspective; examines the complex tapestry of social, economic, political, and environmental factors that affect global health; analyzes global health disparities through a social justice and human rights lens; and exposes students to opportunities in global health work and research.
ANTH 237/ENEC 237 – Food, Environment, and Sustainability
Explores the nexus of agricultural, ecological, and food systems as they dynamically interact. The class examines case studies from North Carolina and other parts of the world. Themes include nutrition, food security, agroecology, and sustainable livelihoods. Students engage in readings, class projects, and hands-on activities in a laboratory setting.
ENEC 201 – Introduction to Environment and Society
Human-environment interactions are examined through analytical methods from the social sciences, humanities, and sciences. The focus is on the role of social, political, and economic factors in controlling interactions between society and the environment in historical and cultural contexts. Three lecture hours and one recitation hour a week
ENEC 208 – New Frontiers: Environment and Society in the United States
By employing a multidisciplinary approach, this class will give students a sense of the role that the environment has played in shaping United States society and the role that our society plays in producing environmental change at the national and global level.
ENEC 451 – Population, Development, and the Environment
Introduction to contemporary and historical changes in human population, international development, and the global environment and how these processes interact, drawing on population geography as an organizing framework. Previously offered as GEOG 450.
ENEC 51 – First-Year Seminar: Balancing the Environment: Science, Human Values, and Policy in North Carolina
This course examines the ways in which scientific information, human values, and the policy process interact to produce environmental change, economic growth, and social justice in North Carolina.
IDST 114 – Science Fiction, the Environment, and Vulnerable Communities
This course focuses on the question of how the genre of science fiction has been used to address the world’s environmental concerns and how these concerns affect communities differently depending on their gender, race, and class. The course investigates global environmental challenges including resources, overpopulation, consumption, and climate change. Emphasis will be placed on texts and characters created by women and ethnic minorities. Students will be introduced to comparative, global, intersectional, and interdisciplinary approaches.
North Carolina State University
PHI 214 – Issues in Business Ethics (Fall/Spring/Summer)
An analysis and evaluation of major issues in business ethics. Topics include the social responsibility of business; social justice and free enterprise; the rights and duties of employers, employees, manufacturers, and consumers; duties to the environment, the world’s poor, future generations, and the victims of past injustices; the moral status of the corporation; and the ethics of advertising.
PHI 221 – Contemporary Moral Issues
Philosophical analysis and theory applied to a broad range of contemporary moral issues, including euthanasia, suicide, capital punishment, abortion, war, famine relief, and environmental concerns.
CE 250 – Introduction to Sustainable Infrastructure (Fall/Spring)
History and future of civil infrastructure; engineering problem solving; environmental sustainability and life-cycle assessment; social sustainability; engineering economics; problem-driven, sustainability-focused case studies related to different aspects of civil infrastructure.
CNR 250 – Diversity and Environmental Justice (Fall/Spring)
Differences between people can impact how they see one another and engage with one another. In this class we talk about those differences and address numerous facets of diversity to pique the curiosity of the students. As we learn together, we investigate content that can influence dynamics [how we feel] and we explore different ways to investigate environmental justice issues. This course is designed to create a safe learning environment for reflection, engagement, risk-taking, and the development of personal awareness while looking at how each individual can improve environmental justice. 75% of the seats will be restricted for CNR students.
ES 100 – Introduction to Environmental Sciences (Fall/Spring/Summer)
Interrelationships between human populations and the natural environment. Human population trends, agriculture, air and water pollution, biological diversity, forest and land use, energyand mineral resources, and toxic substances. Consideration of related economic factors, laws, politics, political behavior, and ethical questions.
ES 150 – Water and the Environment (Spring)
This interdisciplinary course focuses on the essential role of water in supporting all life on earth, and the expected impacts of rapidly changing water resources. Aspects of water issues will include physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, and social sciences. Case studies outline the importance of water in the global context and in specific settings, including North Carolina. The course will help prepare students for living in a rapidly changing world.
ES 200 – Climate Change and Sustainability (Fall/Spring)
This course explores the relationships between humans and the environment with interdisciplinary content. Focus is on past impacts of climate change on human activities and future prospects. Course content is based on lectures with students also responsible for developing and presenting seminars.
FW 221 – Conservation of Natural Resources (Fall/Spring/Summer)
This course examines the importance of natural resources and their role in the progress of human civilization. Physical, biological and ecological principles are described that underlie sustainability of natural resources, particularly as these relate to the consequence of human impacts as resources are used to meet societal needs. The course emphasizes renewable natural resources, the importance of habitat, and a broadly-international context. The course has an optimistic perspective that life on Earth can and will be better in the future if we learn and practice good resource management today.
FW 511 – Human Dimensions of Wildlife and Fisheries (Spring)
Study of human interactions with wildlife and fisheries, including principles important for understanding and addressing wildlife management and conservation challenges. Discussions of wildlife at the urban fringe, human attitudes towards hunting and fishing, and the public trust approach to wildlife management are included.
HI 340 – History of Agriculture (Spring)
An introduction to the history of agriculture from a global perspective. The course explores our evolving relationship with plants and animals, including the earliest experiments in domestication and husbandry, short- and long-term developmental trajectories, local- and global-scale patterns, and coverage of diverse places and times. Themes include agricultural practices, food systems, landscape transformations, technological innovations, social and political organization, inequality, exploitation, food security, and sustainability.
HI 540 – American Environmental History (Spring)
Interactions between humans and their environments in America; environmental focus on themes in American history such as colonial settlement, industrialization, progressivism, the New Deal, the 1960s. Credit will not be given for both HI 440 and HI 540.
IDS 201 – Environmental Ethics (Fall/Spring/Summer)
Interdisciplinary consideration of ways in which field of study coupled with personal/cultural values contribute towards either solving or compounding environmental problems; provides framework for process of making ethical decisions.
IDS 303 – Humans and the Environment (Fall/Spring/Summer)
Interactions among human populations in the biophysical system and the environment. Emphasis on current issues, ecological principles and their relationships to basic biophysical processes; considers food, population dynamics, public land and common resources, renewable natural resources, pollution, water resources, energy and non-renewable resources.
LAR 535 – Environmental Social Equity and Design (Spring)
Principles of environmental justice and social equity in the context of design and community engagement; focus on the trends affecting environmental and human health in the built environment.
LAR 542 – Human Use of the Urban Landscape (Spring)
Urban environment-behavior field research methods at site planning scale (behavior and cognitive mapping, interview and survey methods, archival research), suitable for application in practice. Methods of integrating user needs into design programming using participatory approaches. Evidence-based design applied to residential neighborhood, health, education, and recreation settings. Research activities conducted in small groups. No required texts. Overnight, weekend field trip at student expense.
PRT 560 – Theory and Practice of Partnerships for Conservation and Community Sustainability (Spring)
Understanding of collaborative processes and the role of partnerships in public land management, community based conservation, tourism development, and community health and recreation. Examination of literature and evaluation of collaboration and partnerships in practice.
PS 236 – Issues in Global Politics (Fall/Spring/Summer**)
Selected problems facing the world community, related political issues, and international responses to them, including international trade, economic development, wars, arms control, terrorism, ethnic conflict, human rights, status of women, population growth, food security, and environmental degradation.
SOC 220 – Cultural Geography (Fall/Spring/Summer
Investigates the world’s past and present cultural diversity by studying spatial patterns of population, language, religion, material and non-material culture, technology and livelihoods, communities and settlements and political organization and interaction.
SOC 350 – Food and Society (Spring)
Relationships among individuals, groups, and organizations in the production, consumption, and distribution of food. Influences of gender, class, race, and ethnicity. Impacts of laws and regulations, markets, and social movements.
SOC 761 – Contemporary Debates in Food & Environment (Fall/Spring)
This course will be organized around contemporary debates related to the intersections between food and race, class, and gender inequalities. We will focus largely on recent books on these topics, with attention to both their substantive findings as well as the methods and theory employed.
SSC 185 – Land and Life (Fall/Spring)
Soil is a fundamental natural resource that sustains life on earth. Detailed information is provided about soils at local, community, regional, national, and global scales; and their importance to world food security and human health, agricultural production, environmental quality, and sustainable ecosystems. Students will gain practical knowledge about soils, their use and management, and their critical role in supporting life. Understanding basic soil properties, their interactions, and how they are influenced or impacted by human activity is essential to everyday life and to being a well-informed citizen.
STS 323 – World Population and Food Prospects (Fall/Spring)
Examination of the dynamics of population size and food needs, production, distribution and utilization. Consequences of inadequate nutrition and food choices, efforts to increase the compatibility of effective food production systems and alternate crops and cropping systems examined.
WGS/ENG 308 – Contemporary Issues in Ecofeminism (Spring)
Contemporary issues in ecofeminism provides a historical introduction to and global perspectives on women’s sociopolitical, ethical, and economic contributions to the 20th and 21st century environmental movement. Theory and political action as they interweave issues of gender, race, and class in western and non-western contexts will be emphasized. Students will read works by and about female scientists/activists/writers and examine their own communities, analyzing the ways that individuals, community values, and dominant institutions impact women’s relationships with the environment. Students will formulate questions, responses, and interpretations through critical reading practices, class discussion groups, self-reflective writing, and comparative analyses. Special attention will be paid to the role of literature–memoir, novel, short story, essay–in the dissemination of ecofeminist ideas.