Environmental Studies 102: Introduction to Sustainability (3 Credits)

Environmental Studies 102: Introduction to Sustainability (3 credits)

UW-Oshkosh Environmental Studies Program Spring 2017

Class meets: 4218 Sage Hall, TuTh 3:00-4:30

Instructor: Dr. Jeffrey Filipiak

Office Hours: Room 3475 Sage, 2-2:30 TTh, or by appointment. Please feel welcome to come talk to me.

Email: (Best way to contact me. Please include class title, the time it meets, and your topic, in the subject line of email.)

Course Description: In this course, we explore the many contested meanings of the term “sustainability,” as well as its application in a variety of ways. Sustainability might mean, for some people, nothing more than tips for how to live “green.” In this class, however, we will treat sustainability as a lens of inquiry, a way of analyzing and assessing the complicated social, economic, and environmental problems that our society faces in the twenty-first century. These issues arise all around us, in the food we eat, the cars we drive, and the communities that we inhabit. And they occur at a variety of scales—from the very local (such as the campus of the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh) to the global. There is no single path to sustainability, no single solution to complicated problems. In this class we will learn to think critically about sustainability issues, policies, solutions, and responsibilities. We will seek to answer the question: How do people understand and create a sustainable world?

Course Themes:

1. Different levels: personal, community, organization, government, economic systems

2. Different ways of thinking about how to achieve sustainability

3. Our key subject areas will be: food, energy, transportation, waste.

4. Connecting consumption and production; how are individual experiences connected to larger systems.

Learning Outcomes: Upon completing this course, students will be able to:

1.)  Define sustainability and explain why definitions of the term are complicated and contested.

2.)  Identify the three pillars of sustainability (economic, ecological, social) and explain the interconnections of the three pillars as they relate to a policy, practice, activity, or object.

3.)  Explain how sustainability issues, policies, and activities are revealed and addressed at a variety of scales (local, community, national, global).

4.)  Demonstrate an understanding of the responsibilities implied by knowledge of sustainability and its applications at personal, communal, and governmental scales

5.)  Recognize key resource-related challenges (including climate change)

6.)  Each student should analyze their connections, as individual and household, with larger sustainability issues

7.)  Explore complexity of sustainability issues, including challenges in addressing such issues

8.)  Analyze sustainability issues in written essays, using relevant evidence

Readings:

There are two required texts, which are available at the University Book Store:

1. James Farrell. The Nature of College: How a New Understanding of Campus Life Can Change the World. (Milkweed Editions: Minneapolis, MN, 2010.)

2. Sustainability: A Reader for Writers. Edited by Carl Herndl. (Oxford: NY, 2013.)

Other readings will be available through the D2L site for the course, so be sure to become familiar with that site.

Methodology: My lectures and our readings will be key to this course. But we will also explore the period through your participation in class discussions and group projects; video presentations; and the effort you put into learning and organizing the material on your own in exams and written assignments. You need to put effort into keeping up with the readings, engaging the ideas of the course, studying.

Grade Weights

Attendance, Participation, Responses 18%+

Potential Change Assignment 5%

Personal Connections Paper 10%

Sustainability Interconnections Paper 21%

Object Analysis Paper 23%

Final Exam (take-home essays) 23%

(Note: in order to pass the course, you MUST complete each of the last two major assignments, and you must do so within one week of the due date.)

Grading Scale

A 100-94 A- 93.9-90

B+ 89.9-87 B 86.9-83 B- 82.9-80

C+ 79.9-77 C 76.9-73 C- 72.9-70

D+ 69.6-67 D 66.9-63 D- 62.9-60

If your average is below 60, you will fail the course. (Grades will eventually be available on D2L.)

On your exams and papers, you will be expected to mix analysis and evidence. I will ask you to identify the key themes, the points of greatest significance, and to carefully focus on the specific question I asked (not other issues). Then add details that support your answer, demonstrating your awareness of relevant course material.

Class Policies

Attendance: It is important that you attend class. In class, I present and explain important material – I expect your papers and other work to reflect your engagement with this material. This course will only be successful with full student engagement and participation.

As a college student, you are an adult who is now responsible for yourself. It is up to you to decide if you are not able to attend class on a particular day – but if you miss too many classes, your grade will suffer because of it. If you miss more than three classes, your participation grade will drop significantly: and you should talk to me about your attendance problems. If you miss more than nine classes, you will fail the course. If you miss class, it is your responsibility, not mine, to make sure you discover what material, assignments, etc., were discussed while you were absent.

Assignments. A penalty of 10% (1 full grade) will be assessed for late submissions, and penalties will increase each day you wait to turn an assignment in. (If you need an extension, you need to ask me before the due date.) If you turn in assignments late, you may receive them back late as well.

After one week, papers and exams will NOT be accepted and you will receive ZERO points for the assignment. It is the student's responsibility to contact me about making up an assignment; and to make sure I receive any paper turned at times other than the class hour it is due.

Academic misconduct I want to see your work, ideas written in your voice. The course is designed for you to learn and engage ideas. Don’t worry if you are nervous about your writing skills – it is better to build your own writing skills than to show me someone else’s ideas. Keep in mind that instructors are experienced in spotting lazy copying of material. If you want to build on someone else’s ideas, that’s OK – be sure to quote and cite them. But show me that you understand their argument and are using it to develop your own. Plagiarism can be grounds for failing the course. Don't take that risk.

I follow University policies in cases of academic misconduct. According to the UW system rules, “academic misconduct” includes, but is not limited to, “submitting a paper or assignment as one’s own work, when a part or all of the paper or assignment is the work of another.” If you have further questions please see the UW System rules, Chapter 14. In cases of academic misconduct the instructor recommends the penalty.

Behavior in class: While in the classroom, and particularly when participating in discussions, students are expected to conduct themselves in a mature fashion. This means treating the instructor and other students with respect so that an environment that is conducive to learning is created. Participation grades can be lowered if students violate such policies – for instance, behaving rudely, or holding conversations which make it difficult for others to hear course material. (If you need to answer a phone in an emergency situation, leave the room before talking on it.) You are expected to arrive in class before the class period begins. If you arrive late, you need to do all you can to avoid disrupting the class already in progress.

Emergency situations and disabilities: will be handled on an individual basis, but be aware that some evidence will be required. Student athletes, students with disabilities, or students with other situations that might make meeting deadlines or attendance difficult should set up appointments and arrangements with appropriate university officials to develop accommodations – and then let me know, preferably during the first two weeks of class.

Checking email: Please check your email account regularly for updates and last minute information about upcoming class meetings. Also, email is generally the best way to get in contact with me.

Sustainability Schedule

Jan 31 Intro: what is sustainability?

Feb 1 Further Introduction

Read syllabus

Freidman, 273- in Herndl

Nolen, “Health Consequences” (Flint)

Feb 7 Challenges we face

Essay on Anthropocene, via d2l

Montgomery, 309- in Herndl, on soil

IPCC 2014 report

Plait.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/science/earth-highest-temperature-record.html

Feb 9 The Nature of College: Introduction

Ferrell, ix-34

Feb 14 Sustainability and Education

David Orr, from Earth in Mind

Walljasper, “Winter Cities,” Project for Public Spaces

Feb 16 Stuff: Individual Choices, what products mean to us

Ferrell, Chapters 2 and 3.

Feb 21 Defining Sustainability and Health

Little

Onion, “Man’s Garbage…”

More TBD

Feb 23 Screens and connections

Farrell, Chapter 6.

Frankel et al, “Cobalt Pipeline,” https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/batteries/congo-cobalt-mining-for-lithium-ion-battery/

Feb 28 Energy

National Research Council in Herndl, 183-196

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-solve-global-warming-its-the-energy-supply/

Roberts, “Renewable Energy,” http://grist.org/climate-energy/renewable-energy-is-getting-cheaper-and-cheaper-in-6-charts/

Roberts, “Clean Energy Jobs,”http://www.vox.com/2015/10/21/9586214/clean-energy-jobs-politics

optional: http://grist.org/climate-energy/we-did-the-math-on-clean-coal-and-it-doesnt-add-up/

Mar 2 Fiscal Security

Brehm and Pellow, “Environmental Inequalities,” http://thesocietypages.org/papers/environmental-inequalities/

Queally, “Minorities face 40% more exposure,” http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/04/16/environmental-injustice-minorities-face-nearly-40-more-exposure-toxic-air-pollution

Sustainable World Handbook reading, “A Just Society” http://www.vox.com/world/2016/10/2/13123980/extreme-poverty-world-bank

Be ready to discuss main argument of paper?

Mar 7 Food, 1

Berry, “Pleasures of Eating”

Pollan, Intro to Omnivores Dilemma

Pollan, “Unhappy Meals”

Mar 9 Visit Food Services

Paper 1 due

https://reeve.uwosh.edu/sustainability

Mar 14 Food, 3: agriculture: problems, and local connections

Real Food Challenge reading, and talk

Richard Marosi, http://graphics.latimes.com/product-of-mexico-camps/

Growing Power, selections from press kit

Wes Jackson, from New Roots for Agriculture

Berry, “People, Land and Community”

Mar 16 Food and Ag, 4: consumer alternatives

Pollan, “Food Movement, Rising”

Philpott, “Too far in slamming organic”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet

Reading on Fair Trade

Spring Break (Mar 21-23)

Mar 28 Trash

Annie Leonard in Herndl, 48-65 (and skim footnotes)

Mar 30 TBD.

Apr 4 Measuring Economy and Quality of Life

Caradonna, Sustainability: A History Chapter 4

Treehugger, ‘GDB as arbiter,”http://www.treehugger.com/economics/5-philosophies-challenge-gdp-arbiter-human-well-being.html

Leonard, selections from The Story of Stuff

Apr 6 Transportation, Infrastructure, Urban Design

Ferrell, Chapter 5;

Baker,http://www.plannersnetwork.org/1997/09/eight-myths-of-traffic-planning/

Grant, http://grist.org/biking/virtuous-cycle-10-lessons-from-the-worlds-great-biking-cities/

Apr 11 TBD

http://www.earthday.org/take-action/footprint-calculator/

Paper 2 due: Object Analysis

Apr 13 Design Hopes

“Resource Abundance by Design,” McDonough video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcO1O99UoUs

LEED standards http://www.usgbc.org/leed

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/4/6107203/cars-in-the-us-are-more-fuel-efficient-than-ever-here-are-5-reasons

Apr 18 Culture and Earth Day

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/35-who-made-a-difference-andy-goldsworthy-114067437/?no-ist

http://edgeeffects.net/video-games/

http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/apr/20/climate-change-reality-dystopian-fiction

Apr 20 Sustainability at UWO presentation: Brian Kermath

Reading on UWO sustainability

Paper #3 due: Interconnections

Apr 25 Regional changes over time

Read opening, skim parts of rest: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v519/n7543/full/nature14240.html

Selections from Cicerone, “Finding Climate Change and Being Useful,” in Herndl; 162-167, 178-82.

Cannon, “Gender and Climate Hazards in Bangladesh” in Herndl

“Flooding… has already begun” http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/science/flooding-of-coast-caused-by-global-warming-has-already-begun.html

And an additional reading, depending on group, to be announced

Apr 27 TBD

May 2 Ideas

Leopold, Land Ethic

Selection from Diamond in Herndl, Chapter 1

Pope Francis, Laudato Si summary

“Ecomodernist Manifesto,” Intro and section 5

Robin Wall Kimmerer, selections: “Black Ash Basket,” from “Honorable Harvest” and “A Mother’s Work”

May 4 Successes

UNEP, “Ozone Layer” http://www.unep.org/stories/Climate/Ozone-Layer-Begins-to-Heal.asp

Johnson, “Gains from Clean Air Act” http://grist.org/energy-policy/2011-03-02-gains-from-clean-air-act/

Hirtenstein, “Green power” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-25/record-green-power-installations-beat-fossil-fuel-for-first-time

May 9 Business Hopes

Rishi Tea FAQs on Fair Trade

Sodexo, ‘Sustainable Meals’

And one of the following:

New Covenant LED

Urban Evolutions

Smithfield

Airport

Organic Valley

May 11 Last Day

Lopez, “Ways world is getting better”

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/how-warren-buffetts-son-would-feed-the-world/476385/

Miner, ‘Alice’s Garden,” http://newfoodeconomy.com/milwaukee-community-garden-deep-roots/

Final Exam due