STETSONUNIVERSITY
Department of American Studies
Paul J. Croce Spring 2010
Office Hours: MW 11-1, TuTh 1-2:30 FSem (CRN# 3700)
Sampson 218; 822-7530; MWF 10-10:50
TA: Mandi Desormeaux, Sampson 213
American Environmental Issues
A General Education Seminar using the materials and methods of American Studies and Environmental Science
Goals of the Course
This course is a First Year Seminar and an introduction to the interdisciplinary fields of American studies and environmental science. We will begin with an examination of modern global environmental issues especially in relation to the United States. We will then explore the American interaction with nature, which has ranged from awe and spiritual respect to careful management or rampant exploitation of resources. Being in nature is often associated with the simple life, but in our time, this relationship has become complex, and it haspresented challenging ethical dilemmas about the value of the untrammeled earth and the virtues of modernization. We will evaluate diverse contemporary ways to live in relation to landscape and resources. Our main approaches to the range of American encounters with the natural world will be historical and cultural, in answer to two key questions: how did Americans come to their current relations with this slice of the planet; and how are they coping with the present results of that history? In addition, we will make use of a number of other fields including ecology, sociology, literature, ethics, religious studies, economics, and politics. By using these diverse methods and a wide range of materials, the course will give students the grounds for understanding environmental debates and help each seminar participant decide his or her own position (and contribute to shaping vocational choices for a range of majors and career plans) in relation to them. Through work with the books and other texts, library research, films, class projects, lectures, and discussion, emphasis will be placed on your development of thinking, reading, writing, and speaking skills. Please fill out a card so I can begin to get to know your academic interests right away.
Course Requirements and Grading
--Participation: attendance in class,involvement in} 20% of final grade
discussions and projects, and 10 journals}
--One research report 20%
--TwoMidtermExams 20% each
--Final Exam 20%
I assume academic honesty. It is simply part of life in a learning community. Anything less will be taken seriously at the department and university levels. Your work for this class must be your own, with quotations or references to the work of others clearly cited. For questions on this and on ways to improve writing, you have resources from this class and at the WritingCenter (Flagler 209; 822-7717; writinglab.stetson.edu) and the Writing Program ( Students with special physical needs or learning disabilities should let me know and also contact the Academic Resource Center, Stacy Collins, director, , 101 CUB, 822-7127; .
This course is a small seminar, designed to provide interaction and experiential learning to facilitate everyone’s understanding of the material. To do this right,your participation is crucial. In the course, there are many forms of participation, including reading before each class, writing comments and questions in preparation for class, careful listening, reviewing notes after class, and of course asking questions and engaging in class discussion. More than three unexcused absences will be reported to the administration and will put your grade in jeopardy. The presentations will become part of the course, and so all members of the class are responsible for the material presented.
The journals areplaces for you to capture your thoughts, practice writing, and prepare for class; in class, it can serve as a basis for comments and questions. The entries can allow you to test out ideas you are exploring, even serving as early drafts for papers or parts of papers. I encourage you to write, even if only briefly, every time you do some work for the class (before or after class, after reading, or after a project). In addition to this general advice, there are ten journals due as part of your participation grade—that is about once per week (this allows for a few crazy weeks!). Turn in journals within one week of the material discussed; journals submitted late will contribute to a lower Participation grade. Write a paragraph on one typed page in response to the class material of that day and the few days before it, or some class project. The journal format will also be the assignment for any days without other assignments—it will be a form of participation by other means. Also, I encourage you to attend events in the community and on campus and the Stetson Undergraduate Research and Creative Arts Symposium on April8—or submit your own research!—with extra credit for extra journals.
The work of the research report will grow during the semester: during the first month, read magazines and choose your topic; then turn in your paragraph on your research report. With the library exercise in February,add library material, including at least one book, one encyclopedia entry, one web page or government document, and one scholarly journal article (or equivalents). In March, prepare and deliver an oral presentation of your topic, which will also serve as a draft of your paper. Andin April, turn in your eight -page paper. One goal of this project is to encourage reporting on how ecological issues are being presented in the culture, and to evaluate what is or is not being done about the issue, and why.
The mid-terms will be essay questions that ask you to analyze the material of the course. The final exam will also be in essay format; one part of it will be a “second mid-term” and the other will be comprehensive. For maximum self-improvement in your writing, turn in your earlier writing with each successive writing assignment. In grading oral and written work, I will emphasize your understanding of the material, the persuasiveness of your argument, and your clarity of presentation. Please see the writing handouts on the American Studies Web Page.
I encourage you to print on used paper or on two sides and to turn in only your paper, stapled, without any folders or binders.
On the American Studies Web Page: The department web page has many documents designed to help you do your best work in the course and in life in general. In particular, click on Faculty, then on my name, then Teaching; or go directly to see the Guide to Learning and Writing, Research Projects, Writing Guides, Grading Guide, and Guide to Public Speaking. Also on the same department web page, go to the Learning By Doing link, then to Work to Learn/Learn to Work; or go directly to to see, at the bottom of that page, a few documents that reach beyond this course and may contribute to your future work: an overview of What Students Can Learn from American Studies and the American Bar Association’s Guide to Legal Education.
Books for Purchase
John McNeill, Something New Under the Sun
Chris Magoc, So Glorious a Landscape
Juliet Schor and Betsy Taylor, eds., Sustainable Planet
On the Web:
Julian Simon, Hoodwinking the Nation: and go to Introduction, Chapter 1, and Conclusion (most of this on Blackboard, Information, which also has Foreword by Ben Wattenberg)
On Blackboard: This computerized bulletin board has copies of course documents and new and related material. It will also be a place to post course information and assignments throughout the semester, including bibliography, Guide to Web Readings, suggestions for projects (for example, Action Steps and Local and Contemporary Ideas), News-Journal articles on local environmental issues, samples of views from the Right and from the Left, my essay “Thinking Like a Market,” and more.
Schedule of Topics and Readings
DateTopicsRequirements
Jan. 13Introductionsoverview, world map, and “America the Beautiful”
Jan. 15Managing NatureSimon (Wattenberg Foreword recommended: see Blackboard, Information), choose magazines
Jan. 18: Martin Luther King, Junior, Day: NO CLASS
Jan. 20Consumerism and the Environmentfilms: “The Story of Stuff”and Rev. Billy
paragraph on research report
Jan. 2220th-CenturyDistinctivesMcNeill, through ch. 1
Jan. 25Global Overviewpreview McNeill, chs. 2-11
choose McNeill reporting days
Jan. 27**SPECIAL EVENT: Walking the Campus with Green EyesAdmissions Tour with Nicki Giordano
Jan. 29Cities on the Earth’s CrustMcNeill, chs. 2 and 9
Feb. 1Air for Cities and Other Living ThingsMcNeill, chs. 3-4
Feb. 3Water, Wild and ControlledMcNeill, chs. 5-6
Feb. 5Contact of StrangersMagoc, through pt 1
Feb. 8Controlling the CrittersMcNeill, chs. 7-8
Feb. 10: **DIVERSITY DAY: Environment and Social JusticeMagoc, chs. 23, 24, and 28
Feb. 12Fuels and ThoughtsMcNeill, chs. 10-11
Feb. 15Trying to CopeMcNeill, ch. 12
Feb. 17Living DeliberatelyMagoc, pt. II through ch. 11
Feb. 19Meeting the Land AgainMagoc, pt. II, chs. 12-15
for the First Time
Feb. 22scholars' perspectivesmonograph project
Feb. 24Library basement # 15 advice from librariansFirst Mid-Term
Feb. 26Library East Room comparing textsjournal on library project
Mar. 1-5: Spring Break: NO CLASS
Mar. 8Local ProblemsNews-Journal articles: Got Water?,Natural Treasures, and/or Exoticsarticles
Mar. 10Science and ConscienceMagoc, pt. III
Mar. 12Mankind the ManagerMagoc, pt. IV
Mar. 15Raising AwarenessMagoc, pt. 5 through ch. 26
Mar. 17Destructive Values and Hunting for HopeMagoc, chs. 27-32
Mar. 19studying deliberatelyreview for reports
Mar. 22,7pm ** presentation of research reports…… for environmental education
Mar. 24Sprawlfilm: Fairy Tales of Growth
Mar. 25, 7pm ** presentation of research reports…… for environmental education
Mar. 26, 3:30pm at CUB circle **SPECIAL EVENT: go to BlueSpringState Parkfor behind-the-scenes tour
Mar. 29 Looking for HopeSchor and Taylor, pp. ix-32
Mar. 31Greening the MarketSchor and Taylor, pp. 33-78
Apr. 2Simple Living in Complicated TimesSchor and Taylor, pp. 79-127
Apr. 5Thinking Globally Schor and Taylor, pp. 129-73
While Living in Community
Apr. 7EfficienciesSchor and Taylor, pp. 175-208
Apr. 9Getting ThereSchor and Taylor, pp. 209-51
Apr. 12So What?... ….about class readings and student reports
Apr. 14View from the Right: We’reartifacts of government and business; Managing the Problems student reports
Apr. 16View from the Left: Beware!artifacts of reform; student reports
Apr. 17, 10am**GillespieMuseum: Third Annual Tour DeLand
meet DeLand again for the 1st time, by bike
Apr. 19Right and Leftstudent reports
Apr. 21, 7pm**ELC: Crusading with Attitude film: Erin Brockovich
Apr. 23Political or Practical?—or bothCroce, “Thinking Like a Market”
Apr. 26Political Debatereview political viewsresearch report due
Apr. 28What Now?course review, last word from the Lyre Bird