Geographic Perspectives on Environment, Society and Sustainability

Catalog description

Recommended Preparations: Completion of a basic rhetoric and composition course ( ENGL 15 ; ENGL 30 ENG 137 CAS 137 ESL 15 ) OR completion of College of Earth and Mineral Sciences First-Year Seminar EMSC 100 is recommended. A major theme in the discipline of geography is the study of the relationships between humans and the natural environment. GEOG 230 introduces students to the multiple ways in which people and the environment are interconnected. From a dynamic systems perspective, we refer to this interconnectedness as 'coupled social-ecological systems.' The course uses a geographic perspective to understand how differently these linkages are shaped in various ecological and cultural settings around the globe. The course follows an interdisciplinary approach, exploring from multiple angles major environmental and societal challenges such as climate change, genetically-modified food, over-consumption, disease, and environmental service provision in the industrialized North and the Global South. It promotes critical thinking regarding key concepts such as carrying capacity, ecological footprints, feedback, stability domains, and resilience. Students are encouraged to examine their role and responsibilities for the sustainability of the social- ecological systems we inhabit and to take action in their own lives to contribute to a more equitable and sustainable environment. The course will provide students with the opportunity to read, learn, and debate about the ways in which humans value, use, affect, and are affected by small-scale and large-scale human-environment interactions. It will provide them with skills for critically analyzing and evaluating the ways in which humans have transformed the environment in different parts of the world. They will also learn how to assess what future pathways are sustainable and ethically sound. One key goal of the course will be to help students increase their sensitivity to the global and international context of human interactions with nature. A discussion section allows students to explore controversial issues such as biotechnology, nature as a commodity, and global warming, and to develop critical positions on such issues. Through attendance of lectures, participation in discussion sections, and completion of reading and writing assignments, successful students will: -build an interdisciplinary understanding of how biophysical and social environments are intertwined and shape one another -comprehend the range and importance of different disciplinary approaches to researching human-environment systems - develop a toolkit of key concepts and theories for understanding human-environment systems and evaluating questions of sustainability - evaluate and critique different perspectives for intervening in human-environment interactions, including sustainable development, deep ecology and degrowth.