www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_2412_f09
Fall, 2009…………………………………Lecture: Tue and Thur 11:00-11:50…………………………..Muen E050
Instructor:
William Travis, 1333
Office Tue/Thur 1-3 or by appointment.
Teaching Assistants:
Lead TA: Abby Hickcox, Guggenheim 311; abby.hickcox@colorado.edu
Thurs. 1:00-3:00 and by
appointment
TA list: www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_2412_f09/index.html
Text: There will be no text this year—we will experiment with web based content.
Recitation Exercises: www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_2412_f09/recitation.html
[download these files to prepare your written exercises, reformat as needed.]
Course Structure: This is a lecture and recitation course designed to survey principles and outcomes of the interaction of nature and society, a major theme in academic Geography and related fields. We won’t use a text this fall. Instead we will take up three major themes and concepts in lectures, which will be supported by the lecture notes (on the class website) and selected readings from the class site or other web sources. And we will explore some concepts more intensely in your recitation discussions and exercises.
The course will examine the interaction of human culture and natural environment via three main themes:
Theme 1: Perception of the environment, and of Our Role in It.
Theme 2: The Human Transformation of the Earth.
Theme 3: The Environment as Resource and as Hazard
We’ll wrap up with a look at environmental policy and emerging "Sustianable Development" and “Sustainability Science.”
The class will focus on assessment and analysis, and not on prescription (e.g., how to solve environmental problems, except more broadly in our brief look at environmental policy and the emergence of “sustainability science” in the final weeks). We will examine some key issues via major recent assessments: of global ecosystems (The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment) and of climate change (IPCC Assessment Reports). Such studies bring the best science together in ways no textbook can, explicitly deal with the interaction of nature and society, and illustrate the modern approach to collaborative research.
Recitation Sessions: Will focus, through discussion and written exercises (exercises are obtained from the class website), on issues and arguments in environmental geography (e.g., the human understanding of nature, behavior in the environment, etc.). The sessions also allow for review and discussion of lecture and exam material. Recitation procedures and grading policies will be explained and distributed in your recitation section, but please note that attendance and participation are part of your recitation grade.
Learning Goals/Grading: Your goals are to learn the main points from lectures, exercises, and outside readings. The lectures (and lecture notes) will be your key guide to the exam material, so keep good notes and use the outlines posted on the web to guide your studying. In recitations be sure to participate in discussions, and turn in all exercises, complete and on time. You should be able to answer straightforward multiple-choice, true-false and matching questions about the lecture, readings, and recitation material on three short, in-class exams (the last of which is administered during the regular final exam time) for a total of 50% of final grade, as well as demonstrate your analytical and writing abilities in seven recitation exercises (50% of final grade). Recitation grades will also reflect recitation attendance and participation in the discussion. The grading base begins with 10% increments per letter grade: 90-100% = A; 80-89% = B; 70-79% = C; 60-69% = D; <60% = F. This grading scale may be statistically curved and/or the letter grade break points altered after the first or second exam, and if so the new scale will be described on this site and in class.
Our responsibilities to you are to present the material
clearly and in an interesting way, stick to the class schedule (recognizing
that the material may call for some drift, or that student requests for clarification
might alter the schedule slightly at times), to respond to all of your requests
for clarification and further explanation, and to grade you fairly. Your
responsibilities include attending class and your recitation section regularly,
taking good notes, asking questions where needed for clarification, making
comments as appropriate to the material, and behaving in a way that allows
other students to pay attention and take good notes (meaning not talking during
class, nor making loud and disturbing arrivals and departures in mid-lecture). See polices on classroom behavior, academic honesty,
disabilities, and religious observances, at these web sites:
Classroom behavior: http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html
Academic honesty: http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html
and http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/index.htm
Accommodation for
disabilities: www.Colorado.EDU/disabilityservices
Campus policy
regarding religious observances: www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html
Lecture and Recitation Schedule
Week 1
T-Aug. 25: Introduction to class, and models of nature and society
Th-Aug. 27: Introduction to Theme 1: Human Perception of the Environment, and of Our Role in It. Reading: Lowenthal: “Awareness of Human Impacts.” www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_2412_f09/Lowenthal.pdf
Recitation: Introductions, policies
Week 2
T-Sep. 1: Cont. Lowenthal reading
Th-Sep. 3: Ecological
paradigms. Reading: Dunlap et al:
“Measuring Endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm.” www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_2412_f09/Dunlap.pdf.
Recitation: Discussion: Part of or Apart from?
Week 3
T-Sep. 8: Cont. Ecological paradigms.
Th-Sep. 10: Cont. on Lowenthal and Dunlap
Recitation: Exercise 1: Analyze the Class’s Ecological Paradigm. [Monday
recitations: attend another session of your choice]
Week 4
T-Sep. 15: How attitudes, beliefs, and values, affect the environment. Reading: Leiserowitz et al: “Do Global Attitudes and Behavior Support Sustainable Development?” http://sustsci.harvard.edu/ists/docs/env_leiserowitz_0511.pdf
Th-Sep.17: wrap-up environmental perception; Introduction to Theme 2: Human Transformations of the Earth
Recitation: Exercise 1 continued.
Week 5
T-Sep. 22: Cont. Theme 2: Human Transformations of the Earth
Th-Sep. 24: “Drivers
of Change.”
Recitation Exercise 2: Human Transformations of Earth: A Personal Log
Ex. 1 due.
Week 6
T-Sept. 29: cont.
Th-Oct. 1: Exam 1
Recitation Exercise 3: Calculating
Ecological Footprints
Ex. 2 due.
Week 7
T-Oct. 6: Rates and Patterns of Transformation: Biodiversity: Source: Millennium Assessment Vol. 1, Chapter 4, “Biodiversity” sections: “Main Messages”, and 4.3, 4.4 and 4.6:
http://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.273.aspx.pdf
Th-Oct. 8: Rates and Patterns of Transformation (cont)
Recitation Exercise 4: Species Loss
Ex. 3 due.
Week 8
T-Oct 13: Introduction to Theme 3: Interacting
with the Environment as Resource and as Hazard
Th-Oct. 15: The environment as natural resource.
Recitation: 5: Water Resources Management in
Ex. 4 due.
Week 9
T-Oct 20: Case
study: Water Management in the West and
Th-Oct. 22: Cont.
Recitation: 5: continued;
Week 10
T-Oct. 27: The
environment as natural hazard
Th-Oct. 29: Hurricane
Katrina and the Recovery of
Recitation: review, catch-up
Exercise 5 due.
Week 11
T-Nov. 3: Exam 2
Th-Nov.
5: Wrap-up hazards; Introduction to the human
response to the threat of global warming.
Recitation: introduction to Exercise 6: Social Response to Global Warming
and discussion of coming Synthesis Essay (Ex. 7)
Week 12
T-Nov. 10:
Putting it all together: Global Warming Impacts,
Vulnerability and Adaptation.
www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_2412_f09/Smith
et al.pdf
Th-Nov. 12: cont.
Recitation: Exercise 6 cont.
Week 13
T-Nov. 17: Stretching the Resource/Hazards Concept:
Is There a “Safe” Level of Climate Change?
www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_2412_f09/Yamin et al.pdf
Th-Nov. 19: Cont
Recitation: Discuss Synthesis
Essay
Ex. 6 due.
Week 14
T-Nov. 24: NO CLASS -- FALL BREAK
Th-Nov. 26: NO CLASS – FALL BREAK
No Recitations this week
Week 15
T-Dec. 1: Environmental Management Institutions
Th-Dec. 3: Sustainab;le Development and Sustainability Science; can we get there? Source: Kates et al. “What is Sustainable Development?”: http://sustsci.harvard.edu/ists/docs/whatisSD_env_kates_0504.pdf
Recitation: Exercise 7 due, brief presentations
Week 16
T-Dec. 8: Check
in at the Copenhagen Conference on a new Global Warming treaty.
Th-Dec. 10: Last Class; wrap up and review for final
Recitation: Review, and pre-final
grades
Exam 3: Saturday, Dec. 12, 7:30 pm