ENVS100/L
Ecology & Society - Environmental
Studies, UC Santa Cruz
Fall 2007 Profs. Jeff Bury, Greg Gilbert, and Erika Zavaleta
Course Overview, Goals, Texts, & Expectations
This 5-unit lecture course explores interdisciplinary approaches to analyzing and addressing environmental problems. The course is built around critical evaluation of two texts: Gus Speth's book on environmental politics Red Sky at Morning, and the monumental Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reports. The 2-unit writing lab, 100L, is required of all students, and focuses on writing, peer editing, numeracy, and group projects.
While this is the only required core course in the Environmental Studies major, it is not an "overview" or "survey" course — the object is not to learn a little bit about everything!
Rather, we hope to help you develop key intellectual and practical tools for upper division work and future careers in environmental studies.
Our first goal is to model the interdisciplinary use of natural science (especially ecology) and policy analysis (drawing especially on politics and political economy) to understand complex environmental problems.
A second goal is to help students articulate, challenge, and justify their assumptions or positions about environmental problems, their causes, and appropriate responses.
Finally, a major goal of this class is to develop and apply different kinds of analytical and learning tools.
We want all students to leave the course comfortable with:
1. finding, reading, and critically evaluating scientific and policy literature relevant to environmental issues,
2. writing clear, concise arguments about environmental issues,
3. reading and evaluating graphical and statistical representations of data.
C. Required Texts (all needed the first full week of class)
The course uses three required texts, available at the Bay Tree Bookstore.
1. Speth, James Gustave. 2004. Red Sky at Morning. America and the Crisis of the Global Environment. Yale University Press, New Haven. 329 pp.
2. ENVS100 Reader, drawn largely from the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
3. Hacker, Diana. 2006. A Writer's Reference, 6th edition. Bedford St. Martin's. (5th edition OK)
Reader contents (except from the Millennium Assessment) are also available electronically on ERes (http://eres.ucsc.edu ). There is one hard copy in the Science and Engineering Library.
1. Come to the course with a background in politics, economics, ecology, and statistics, thereby allowing us to move beyond review to practical, interdisciplinary applications.
2. Engage the material deeply and critically. Treat your education as if it is helping prepare you to change the world (which it hopefully is!)
3. Participate conscientiously and professionally in peer-review and group efforts.
4. Attend lectures and sections and participate fully.
5. Complete the assigned readings before coming to class.
6. Complete and turn in assignments on time.
7. Maintain the highest standards of academic integrity.
8. Take the initiative to use course resources - teaching assistants, writing tutors, and professors - to get the most out of the course.
9. Treat other students and the teaching staff with the respect you expect for yourself.
10. To avoid disrupting other students and the instructors, please be on time, avoid going in and out during the lecture, and be in your seats and ready to go at the end of the 10-minute break.
You can expect that the teaching staff will:
1. be organized
2. be available for help
3. return assignments in a timely fashion
4. treat you with respect
5. do our best to provide you with a stimulating, useful, and fun course.