- Environmental Justice

Catalog description

Using waste as a focusing lens, this course examines the theory and application of environmental justice and environmental inequality within a global context. The objective of this course is to understand, explore, and analyze the inequities and power dynamics associated with many types of socio-environmental issues, thus illustrating environmental (in)justice at multiple scales. Using several case studies (e.g., electronic waste, renewable energy, and climate change, among others), we explore three core questions: 1) How are justice issues experienced locally by different social groups? 2) How do socio-environmental issues relate to broader structural injustices? And 3) How can we reimagine solutions for environmental justice? By thinking critically about these questions, we challenge our thinking on a variety of topics, including consumption, circular economy, the meaning of waste, and why it matters today and in the future. Importantly, students in this course engage significantly with the oral communication of environmental justice issues to different audiences within the broader community.