Life has existed on Earth for nearly four billion years, shaped by massive extinction events. In the short span of the last 10,000 years, humans have become important agents in shaping global environmental change. The question this course considers is straightforward: Have humans been modifying the environment in ways that will, in the not distant future, cause another worldwide extinction event? There are no simple, much less uncontested, answers to this question. We will have to consider the ways we have altered habitats and ecosystem processes. We will also consider the economic consequences of disturbed ecosystems and assess contemporary policy responses and solutions. One lecture and one discussion section per week.
Limited to 50 students. Spring semester. Professors Dizard and R. Levin.
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2025Our global environment as a subject of concern has emerged in recent decades with the rise of scientific and media attention to the ways ecological issues like climate change and biodiversity loss matter in the daily lives of global citizens. But are all “global environmental citizens” equally responsible for and influenced by what are currently considered global environmental challenges? Why is it that some forms of nature are considered global while others are resolutely local? Are international agreements and development and conservation organizations effective at addressing the problems they intend to solve, or do they create new problems that should be accounted for in our understanding of global environmental politics? In this course, we will explore these questions and others by examining various ecological crises – climate change, deforestation, fisheries management, air and water pollution, hazardous waste disposal, among others – from critical perspectives that raise questions about key political issues, including markets, states, science, power, knowledge and social movements. This course is organized into thematic case studies, through which we will examine the production and negotiation of environmental problems by diverse social actors and institutions, including: producers and consumers, members of different socio-economic groups, actors of institutions and social movements, and citizens of diverse polities.
Limited to 35 students. Spring semester. Pick Visiting Assistant Professor Stewart.
Other years: Offered in Spring 2023The nascent field known as “conservation social science” is emerging among the major conservation organizations, like the World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy, as they realize the need to move beyond their traditional biological foundations towards the social sciences. Conservation landscapes and species of interest are embedded in complex, and often long-standing, human-environmental relationships that require the retooling of conservation science to better understand and address integrated challenges. This shift towards a “people are the solution” conservation framework requires knowledge about the ecological and social concerns and implications of conservation, which is a well-suited pursuit for interdisciplinary Environmental Studies scholars. This course prepares students to engage with this emerging field by understanding what conservation social science means in the history and trajectory of conservation, and what its foci and approaches should be in the coming years. We begin the class with a historical review of the "greening" of the World Bank and the scaling up of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) during the 1980s, which brought "the environment" and the "community" together in development and conservation agendas. Moving forward, we review critical social science literatures that examine the social impact of conservation to refine meaningful ways forward for community-centered conservation endeavors. Key themes will include: participation, traditional ecological knowledge, ecological baselines, sustainable yields and sustainability.
Requisite: ENST 120. Limited to 35 students. Fall semester. Pick Visiting Professor Stewart.
Other years: Offered in Spring 2023Invasive species are the leading cause of extinction, accounting for 39 percent of known species extinctions on Earth. A recent report noted that invasive species in the United States cause major environmental damage and losses adding up to more than $138 billion per year. There are approximately 50,000 non-native species in the U.S. and the number is increasing. But what, exactly, are invasive species, and why do they pose such tremendous problems for the conservation of biodiversity and the nations’ economies? In this course, we will explore the biological, economic, political, and social impacts of invasive species. We will start by examining the life history characteristics of invasive species which make them likely to become pests, and the features of habitats which make them most susceptible to invasion. We will then consider the consequences of invasive species for loss of native biodiversity and the disruption of ecosystem processes, as well as their global environmental and political impacts. Lastly, we will address the tougher issues of what can be done to halt or eradicate invasive species once they have become established, and how to identify and prevent the introduction of potential pest species.
Requisite: ENST 120, BIOL 230, or consent of the instructor. Limited to 14 students. Not open to first-year students. Omitted 2013-14. Professor Temeles.
2023-24: Not offeredThe dependence of many countries on marine organisms for food has resulted in severe population declines in cod, bluefin tuna, swordfish, and abalone, as well as numerous other marine organisms. In this seminar we will examine the biological, sociological, political, and economic impacts of the global depletion of fisheries. Questions addressed will include: What is the scope of extinctions or potential extinctions due to over-harvesting? How have overfished species responded to harvest pressures? How are fisheries managed, and are some approaches to harvesting better than others? How do fisheries extinctions affect the societies and economies of various countries and marine ecosystems? How do cultural traditions of fishermen influence attempts to manage fisheries? Does aquaculture offer a sustainable alternative to overfishing? What is aquaculture’s impact on marine ecology? Three class hours per week.
Requisites: ENST 120 or BIOL 230/ENST 210 or consent of instructors. Not open to first-year students. Limited to 20 students. Omitted 2013-14. Professors Temeles and Dizard.
Other years: Offered in Spring 2013, Spring 2021, Spring 2023Environmentalists are divided between those who believe there must be a fundamental change in our values and our devotion to the market and those who believe our values and the market offer the best hope for achieving sound environmental policy. If we are to achieve sustainable management of natural resources, is it necessary that we first transform ourselves and the basis of our social organization or do we already possess the tools to accomplish the task, in which case fundamental transformations might actually make things worse?
In this course, we will join this debate and closely examine the claims and counterclaims made for each position. We will examine specific issues, ranging from reducing greenhouse gases to regulating genetically modified crops, in hopes of working our way toward an assessment of policy choices.
Students will be expected to select an environmental issue (not necessarily one on which our course readings will focus) on which they will write a term paper that comes to grips with our options and that will suggest, albeit tentatively, which option(s) seem most promising.
Limited to 25 students. Not open to first-year students. Spring semester. Professor Dizard and Senior Lecturer Delaney.
2023-24: Not offeredIndependent reading course.
Fall and spring semesters. The Department.
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2024The Senior Seminar is intended to bring together majors with different course backgrounds and to facilitate original independent student research on an environmental topic. In the early weeks of the seminar, discussion will be focused on several compelling texts (e.g., Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring or Alan Weisman’s The World Without Us) which will be considered from a variety of disciplinary perspectives by members of the Environmental Studies faculty. These discussions are intended to help students initiate an independent research project which may be expanded into an honors project in the second semester. For students not electing an honors project, the seminar will offer an opportunity to integrate what they have learned in their environmental studies courses. The substance of the seminar will vary from year to year, reflecting the interests of the faculty who will be convening and participating in the seminar.
Open to seniors. Fall semester. Professors Martini and Sims.
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024Fall semester. The Department.
Other years: Offered in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, January 2021, Fall 2021, January 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024Spring semester. The Department.
Other years: Offered in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2025Contesting values of and struggles over the control of “nature” are at the heart of environmental politics, and differently positioned political, economic, and social interest groups contend for and exert power through the U.S. environmental policy-making process. In this course we will examine the politics of U.S. environmental policies, focusing on how local, regional, and national governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations and interest groups, and some publics (but not all) define environmental problems and actionable solutions. We will examine the relationship between science, policy and politics, and critically evaluate when and how "objective" scientific truths are mobilized for particular agendas--while not for others--and what "citizen science" means with respect to the U.S. environmental policy process. The class will be divided into two parts: Part I will begin with key environmental writings, and move into an overview of the institutions, actors, and concepts that shape our policy process. Part II will use a case study approach to ground our understanding of how multi-scalar interactions, plurality and uneven power relations influence how and why some issues and interests are validated in the policy process, while others are not. Case studies may include: fracking, Keystone XL pipeline, Endangered Species listings and New England cod fishery regulations.
Recommended requisite: ENST 120. Limited to 35 students. Fall semester. Pick Visiting Professor Stewart.
Other years: Offered in Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024What we know and how we know about "the environment" is influenced by cultural, political, historical and social contexts. Why are some knowledges about the environment perceived to be more accurate, objective and true than others? How might our collective understandings of environmental change shift if multiple forms of knowledge--"western" scientific, indigenous, etc.--were mobilized in the production, dissemination and application of environmental knowledge? These questions are both academic and policy-oriented and sit at the interface of political ecology and science studies scholarship on nature/society and conservation and development practice: environmental management contestations and outcomes are shaped by what counts as valid knowledge. In this seminar we will examine how attention to the politics of knowledge potentially shifts the current formations of environmental studies and policy–in theory and practice--towards more integrated and democratized engagements with social and environmental change. This course is anchored in the field of political ecology, which is a sub-field of geography that is concerned with the complex power dynamics of knowing and making claims on "the environment." Our readings and discussions will examine critical perspectives on nature/society boundaries; the role of "western" scientific knowledge in the politics of conservation and development; and meaningful ways to integrate "western" scientific and indigenous environmental knowledges in environmental studies.
Requisite: ENST 120; recommended requisite: ENST 250. Limited to 35 students. Spring semester. Pick Visiting Professor Stewart.
2023-24: Not offered