Envs
4950 Integrative Seminar in Environmental Studies, Spring 2019
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Calendar
last update: April 23, 2019
Class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:25-11:20 in Ball
Hall 313.
Abbreviations:
- Kolbert = The
Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert, 2014.
- BSNW = Best American Science and Nature Writing,
2017
Week 1
Monday, January 14: Introductions.
Wednesday, January 16:
Read the prologue to Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth
Extinction. Browse the book. Bring the book to class.
Review the custom syllabus assignment, and browse the sample
syllabi from previous Envs students: faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/2019spring/envs4950/syllabi.htm
Read the following, online:
- "What is
Environmental Studies?" Michael E. Soule and Daniel Press. BioScience 48,
5 (May 1998): 397-405. http://cstpr.colorado.edu/students/envs_5720/soule_press_1998.pdf .
(Or
click here for a cached version.)
-
"Environmental Sciences vs. Studies." The University of Wisconsin
Environmental Sciences Major website. No date. envirosci.cals.wisc.edu/environmental-sciences-vs-studies/
Browse "Environmental Studies" Wikipedia
article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_studies
Due: Write
a short memo (300-600 words) to me and to your classmate, explaining your
interest in environmental studies. Where do you see yourself fitting into the
field, as it is described in the readings, above? What classes have you taken?
What particular area of environmental studies interests you? Why are
you interested in that area? What's your personal connection to it? Include a
draft of a working title for your customized syllabus for this course. Also
include any comments you have on the service placement you would prefer. Be
prepared to present to the class.
Week 2
Monday, January 21: Martin Luther King day. ETSU closed.
Wednesday, January 23: In Kolbert, read Chapters 1, 2
and 3.
Week 3
Monday, January 28: In Kolbert, read Chapters 4, 5
and 6.
Wednesday, January 30: In Kolbert, read Chapters 7
and 8.
Due:
Select an interesting, currently living person that you've encountered in the
first 8 chapters of Kolbert's book. Use the internet to find out what that
person's job is. In a memo to me and your classmates, write up a brief
professional profile of that person. What is that person's job like? Would you,
yourself, want that job? What is the highest degree that person has earned?
Also say a word about the organization that employs them: Is it private
industry, nonprofit, government? Where does the money come from, for this
person's salary?
Week 4
Monday, February 4: In Kolbert, read Chapters 9,
10 and 11.
Due:
Write a memo to me and your classmates, in which you describe your service
placement: What is the name and the nature of the organization you're working
for? Whom are you working with? Describe the nature of the work you're doing.
Say something about the nature of the organization: Government, private
non-profit, for-profit? What is the mission. Where does the money come
from?
Wednesday, February 6: In Kolbert, read Chapters 12
and 13.
Note: - Daniel Dennett, a Darwinian philosopher of the mind,
speaks at the Millenium Centre at 7:30pm on Thursday Feb 7. His work
speaks to some of the issues raised in Kolbert's chapters 12 and 13, about the
difference between homo sapiens and
other humans.
Week 5
Monday, February 11: Readings from BSNW will be
announced.
Due: Write up your customized
syllabus, describing what you're doing in this class, this semester. See guidelines
and examples, here: faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/2017spring/envs4950/syllabi.htm
Bring a printout to class today. Also, email me an
electronic version.
Wednesday, February 13: In BSNW, read "The Parks
of Tomorrow" by Michelle Nijhuis, p131-137; and read "Out Here, No
One Can Hear You Scream" by Kathryn Joyce, p253-270.
Week 6
Monday, February 18: In BSNW, read "A Song of
Ice" by Elizabeth Kolbert, p93-113; and read "The New Harpoon"
by Tom Kizzia, p77-92.
Wednesday, February 20: In BSNW, read "How
Factory Farms Play Chicken with Antibiotics" by Tom
Philpott. Also read "We’re Living on Corn!" [a review of
Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma], by Tim
Flannery, The New York Review of Books, June 28, 2007. michaelpollan.com/reviews/were-living-on-corn/
Week 7
Monday, February 25: Begin reading the first book that
you've selected, related to your service placement.
Due:
Select a key passage from the book you're reading. In a memo to me and your
classmates, write a response that incorporates that passage. Also in your
response, introduce the book and the passage, and explain why the passage is
significant. Also include a full, formal citation of the passage and the book.
Be prepared to present in class.
Wednesday, February 27: Continue reading the first
book that you've selected, related to your service placement.
Week 8
Monday, March 4: Review
for exam 1.
Wednesday, March 6: Exam1.
SPRING BREAK: MARCH 11 - 15
Week 9
Monday, March 18: Further discussion of Mooallem's Wild Ones and Rhodes Energy.
Wednesday, March 20: Further discussion of Mooallem's Wild Ones and Rhodes Energy. Finish your
second book by today.
Week 10
Wednesday, March 27: In BSNW, read "The Invisible Catastrophe"
by Rich, p151-156.
Week 11
Monday, April 1: Rough draft of written final project due. Bring
a total of three copies for peer review.
Wednesday,
April 3: Begin
reading your 2nd book. Bring it to class
to discuss.
Week 12 (Mon Apr 8; Weds Apr
10) More discussion of your books.
Week 13 (Mon Apr 15; Weds Apr
17) Second draft of written final
project due on Wednesday.
Week 14 (Mon Apr 22; Weds Apr
24)
Final exam period:
Wednesday, May 2, 9-10am. (The official final exam schedule says the period
starts at 8am, but we'll start at 9am.) Final
project due. Completed service log due. Presentations in class.