ENVS 001: Introduction to Environmental Studies (SU)
Amy L. Seidl, Ph.D. MWF 10:50-11:40
Office hours: Tue. 10-12 & Wed. 1-3 Fall 2016
Call for an appointment 656-4055 Billings Lecture Hall
Bittersweet, Bldg., 153 S. Prospect
Graduate TAs: Hallie Schwab ; Jennifer Santoro
Undergraduate TAs: John Alessi, Rosie Cohen, Eli Coretti, Gina Fiorile, Lilla Fortunoff, Erica Gilgore, Deke Ludwig, Ian Lund, Ariana Matthews-Salzman, Sara Meotti, Zack Pensak, Emily Peters, Stevie Raymond, Jeremy Romanul, Henry Sollitt, Rose Thackeray, Anna Wyner
ENVS 001 offers students a broad overview of environmental concepts and issues, with an emphasis on local, regional, and national concerns. In contrast, ENVS 002 takes an international approach to global concerns of sustainability and development, drawing more on the social sciences. ENVS 001 welcomes students of all interest areas and is a required foundation course for all ENVS majors and minors.
Learning Outcomes:
1) Understand key concepts and issues in the interdisciplinary study of the environment including ecological principles, social behavior, equity, and governance processes.
2) Recognize grand challenges in environmental studies and identify their existence at city, state, national and international levels.
3) Explain the current state of biodiversity loss and the integration of natural and social science fields that address species extinction, ecosystem health, and ecosystem services.
4) Understand and employ ecological footprint analysis as a metric of consumption, affluence, inequity of resource allocation, and waste at varying scales.
5) Explain the history and elements of the Green Revolution as well as current agroecological responses to food systems and their environmental impact
6) Describe the drivers – physical and social - behind anthropogenic climate change and the state of mitigative and adaptive policies, including those applied to emerging renewable energy technologies.
7) Address the challenges of creating a sustainable world using a systems perspective, an interdisciplinary approach and an emphasis on equity.
8) Examine personal and social values as they relate to the ethical dimensions of human-environment
decision-making.
9) Develop academic skills in listening, reading, writing, and critical thinking and integrate analytic, reflective, and experiential ways of learning.
Writing and Information Literacy Outcomes:
1) Students will be able to know when to use different writing approaches, e.g., reflective versus descriptive versus analytical versus abbreviated text for social media.
2) When called for, students will be able to logically construct a piece of writing that has a clear beginning, middle, and end.
3) Students will be able to properly cite sources, including images, using a consistently recognized style format.
4) Students will be able to synthesize content for an assignment and/or writing approach, e.g., a persuasive essay or a thesis-driven research paper.
5) Students will understand how to differentiate, critically evaluate, and use appropriate sources to meet information needs and writing assignments.
6) Students will be able to evaluate environmental information for quality, relevance, and appropriateness for a specific assignment.
7) Students will be able to access, acquire, and use information ethically and legally.
Course Texts:
Humans in the Landscape: An Introduction to Environmental Studies, Lee, K. et al. W.W. Norton and Company. Sixth Extinction Kolbert, E. Henry Holt and Company.
Texts are available at the UVM Bookstore.
Additional readings will be assigned by the professor or by individual teaching assistants as part of the writing assignments. These articles will be available on the course website.
Course Outline: Reading (for day listed):
AUG 29 Mon Introduction to course
31 Wed Grand challenges HIL Chpt. 1. Pp. 3-18
SEP 2 Fri History of the environmental movement HIL Chpt. 2. Pp. 19-44
HIL Chpt. 11. Pp. 287-309
5 Mon Labor Day – no class
7 Wed Origins of environmental problems HIL Chpt. 3. Pp. 45-76
HIL Chpt. 4. Pp. 77-98
9 Fri Origins of environmental problems 6thX Prologue – Chpt. 4 Guest Visit: Professor Brendan Fisher, Behavioral Experiment
12 Mon Systems and ecosystems HIL Chpt. 5. Pp. 100-110
6th X Chpt. 5-9
14 Wed Systems and ecosystems HIL Chpt. 5. Pp. 111-126
6th X Chpt. 11-13
14 Wed 6th Extinction
Guest Lecture: Elizabeth Kolbert, Ira Allen Chapel 5:00-6:30 pm
16 Fri No lecture (Note: Friday labs will still meet.)
19 Mon Biodiversity HIL Chpt. 9. Pp. 225-257
21 Wed Biodiversity
23 Fri Ecological economics HIL Chpt. 13. Pp. 347-371 Guest Lecture: Professor Jon Erickson, Environmental Program and RSENR
26 Mon Ecological footprint HIL Chpt. 8. Pp. 191-203
HIL Chpt. 10. Pp. 258-286
28 Wed Ecological footprint HIL Chpt. 6. Pp. 140-154
HIL Chpt. 14. Pp. 372-382
30 Fri FIRST MIDTERM EXAM
OCT 3 Mon Agroecology and Rural Livelihoods
Guest Lecture: Professor Ernesto Mendez, Environmental Program and Plant & Soil Sci.
5 Wed Food systems and agriculture HIL Chpt. 6. Pp. 131-137
7 Fri Food systems and agriculture
10 Mon Fall recess – No class
12 Wed Agricultural alternatives
14 Fri Climate science and impacts HIL Chpt. 7. Pp. 155-170
17 Mon Climate science and impacts TBD
19 Wed Climate science and impacts HIL Chpt. 7. Pp. 171-190
21 Fri Climate science and impacts
Guest Lecture: Professor Cecilia Danks, Environmental Program and RSENR
24 Mon Climate justice and activism HIL Chpt. 15. Pp. 402-432
26 Wed Energy and transportation
28 Fri Energy and transportation
Guest Lecture: Professor Richard Watts, Environmental Program and CDAE
31 Mon SECOND MIDTERM EXAM
NOV 2 Wed Environmental policy HIL Chpt. 12. Pp. 310-324
4 Fri Environmental politics in Vermont HIL Chpt. 12. Pp. 324-346 Guest lecture: Kesha Ram, State Legislator
6 Mon Environmental policy
9 Wed Environmental planning & sustainability HIL Chpt. 8. Pp. 204-224
11 Fri Environmental planning & sustainability
14 Mon Environmental humanities HIL Chpt. 14. Pp. 382-401
16 Wed Guest Lecture: Vanessa Gray HIL Chpt. 11. Pp. 287-309
18 Fri Film: The Mighty River, Frederick Back
21-25 Thanksgiving break – no class
28 Mon Environmental humanities: Eco-art
Guest Lecture: Professor Cami Davis, Department of Art and Art History
30 Wed Emerging values & principles HIL Chpt. 11. Pp. 287-309
DEC 2 Fri Emerging values & principles HIL Chpt. 15. Pp. 402-432
5 Mon Student art cabaret
7 Wed Closing reflections and course evaluations
FINAL EXAM Friday December 16th: 7:30 am - 10:15 am Billings LH
Lab Sections
All students are required to attend their assigned lab each week. The lab portion of the course is the equivalent of one of the four credits for ENVS 001, so we expect you to take it seriously. Attendance will be taken. Competitively-selected undergraduate Teaching Assistants, familiar with the course and the Environmental Studies Program, lead and facilitate labs. They will expect you to act respectfully in your lab meetings and to contribute to making the labs a positive and enriching experience for everyone involved. The labs are meant to serve as learning communities where you will gain environmental knowledge through field trips, engaged learning activities, discussion, debate, and personal reflection. Success in this course is predicated on lab attendance and engagement. You are expected to take personal responsibility for being in the right place at the right time for your lab’s activities; you should pay particular attention to announced locations for field trips and protocols for handing in assignments.
Schedule for Writing Assignments
Writing assignments are designed to reflect the content and approach to the associated lab session. The lab sessions and writing cover a wide range of topics, field and classroom experiences, and homework challenges.
Week Topic Writing Assignment (due the following week at the beginning of lab)
9/5 No lab Personal letter of introduction
9/12 Centennial Woods Field studies science report
(field trip)
9/19 Consumerism Consumer product review (QUIZ 1)
(field trip)
9/26 Eco-footprint/library Footprint reflections, letter to editor
10/3 Intervale Debate: pros & cons of vegetarianism
(field trip)
10/10 Food mapping Food video review
10/17 Climate change Review of climate models (QUIZ 2)
10/24 Climate justice TBD
10/31 Energy Letter to Congress/energy issues
11/7 Urban Sustainability planning Research skills
(field trip)
11/14 Media literacy and Self-observation (QUIZ 3)
ecopsychology
11/21 Thanksgiving Break
11/29 Environmental ethics, Credo
religion & art
Course Information
All course information will be posted on the class site on Blackboard, our on-line portal for all classes using electronic access. You should check this site frequently for updates. All assignments, study guides, extra credit, and grades will be posted to this site. If you have trouble accessing information on Blackboard, please call the UVM helpline. For issues related to our particular class site, please contact a grad TA.
Course Guidelines and Policies
1) Reading -- You will benefit the most from the assigned readings if you read them before the lecture on the topic. The reading serves as background for the lectures which will cover additional material as well as underscoring the ideas in the reading. Taking notes on key points or highlighting your text can be helpful for exam review. Study guides will be available for all exams and will direct you to concepts, definitions, etc. in the text that will be on the exams.
2) Lectures -- You are expected to attend all lectures and arrive on time. Lectures will begin promptly at 10:50. Please make every effort to arrive on time to be respectful to your classmates and the professor. Doors to the classroom will close at 11:00. Please respect the instructor and guest speakers by giving them your full attention. Do not make work for others by leaving your trash behind.
3) Lab sections – You are required to attend all lab meetings, beginning the first week of class (Note: There will be no labs the second week of class due to Labor Day). You are responsible for all weekly lab assignments and for staying in touch with your TA. Lab sections may meet for field trips in alternate locations, so watch for email alerts about your weekly section meeting. After the second week of class, you will sit with your lab section in the lecture hall. This makes for a “community” setting and allows TAs to easily pass information to their students.
4) Absences -- Attendance will be taken by your TA in lecture and lab. You are not allowed to be absent from lab. Please reschedule your lab with one of the grad TAs if you are not able to make it. You are allowed three unexcused absences from lecture after which each unexcused absence is a deduction of 5 pts. Absences are not “excused” unless they are personally cleared by a grad TA by phone or email. This applies to religious holidays as well; please notify your TA ahead of time when you need to miss lab for religious observances. [1]
5) Exams -- There are two mid-terms and a final exam. Exams will be part multiple choice, part short answer, and part short essay. The TAs will offer study sessions before the exams for those who are interested. You are expected to be in class for all exams; missing an exam means failing the exam. If you cannot take an exam on the scheduled day and time, you must present correspondence citing your reason supported by your college dean. Make-up exams are granted solely at the discretion of the professor. People with registered learning disabilities should make alternative exam arrangements with the ACCESS office.
6) Quizzes – There will be three quizzes given in lab. These will be comprised of multiple choice and short answer questions to encourage you to stay current with lecture and reading content. Material from the quizzes will be used on the exams. There are no make-ups on quizzes. If you miss a quiz, consider increasing your points by doing some extra credit.
7) Writing assignments -- Each week there will be a writing assignment of 3-4 pages aimed at developing environmental writing skills. Guidelines and grading criteria for the exercises will be given in class and posted on Blackboard. All written work should be proofread for errors and neatness. Writing assignments #1 and #2 will be turned in by hand. Thereafter, your TA will inform you of his/her/their preference for handing in assignments, i.e., either paper copies or electronic submission. All assignments are due by the beginning of lab. Late work will receive one point deduction for each day a paper is late. TAs will not accept papers if they are more than one week late.
8) Cell phones and laptops – UVM does not permit cell phone use in class. This means cell phones should be turned off during class. Texting is not allowed. When you are in class you are expected to pay attention to the course material that is being discussed. Much of a college education is aimed at developing your attention and concentration so your mind is capable of more complex thinking challenges. Learning how to minimize distraction is an important skill for developing your mind.
Some people have specific needs for the use of a laptop computer to take notes in class. This is the only permissible use of laptops in class. Checking email, Facebook, or playing e-games should be done outside of class time. If you require the use of a laptop for lecture class, please see the grad TAs for permission.
9) Participation -- There are numerous opportunities for participation in your discussion groups. Each person in the group is expected to speak up and contribute to the discussion each week. You may also participate through your discussion section contributions to the lecture sessions. Regular attendance goes a long way to generating good levels of participation.
10) Extra Credit -- Opportunities for extra credit will be announced in class. These will include campus lectures, environmental screenings, and environmental conferences. Each extra credit write-up is worth up to 10 points (10 pts. = an A+ write-up) and must be completed and turned in to your TA one week after the event. You can earn up to 20 pts of extra credit to raise your course grade. Extra credit options and directions for write-up will be posted on Blackboard.
11) Communication – Contact your section TA first for all questions about assignments, meeting locations, exam review, course policies and expectations. Contact the grad TAs for questions about lecture-based web postings, extra credit, excused absences, and athletic or special needs requests. Contact Professor Seidl if your need does not fit in these categories. If the TAs cannot answer your question, they will forward it to the professor for a response. You can also make an advising appointment with Professor Seidl at 656-4055.