Geography 2412: Environment and Culture
Fall, 2002 Lecture:
Monday and Wednesday 1:00-1:50 Chemistry 140
Please note: No recitations
during the first week of class.
Instructor: William Travis, 102-C Guggenheim, 492-6312 e-mail: wtravis@colorado.edu
Office
Hours: M, Tu & W 10-11 or by appointment.
Text: Harper, Environment and Society. (Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall)
Recitation Guide: Travis, Environment and Culture. 2002 Edition
(Littleton, CO: Pearson Custom Publishing).
Course Structure: This is a lecture and recitation course designed to survey global and regional issues at the interface of society and nature, with an emphasis on the social dimensions of environmental problems. We will also attempt in lectures and recitations to make the connection between broader issues and specific environmental and land use problems in the American West, where you happen to live right now. The interaction of nature and society, and natural resources management, have long been themes in academic geography, and they evoke one of the profound questions of our times: What ought to be the relationship between humans and the natural environment?
Special
note on text: Harper’s text is
really a monograph, written not as a standard textbook but more as a narrative
exploration of environment and society theories and issues. He uses few textbook conventions (though
important terms and concepts are italicized) and you will have to read rather
than skim the book for exam material. There’s more to read in a monograph like
this, but I will guide you through the text (note page numbers on
syllabus---note that we do not always read the text sequentially and we will
skip sections) and point out the concepts and facts that you should know for
the exams, and sections you can skip.
Lectures: Will cover a few
key points each session, which in most cases will be collated with the text. A
few lectures are not aligned with the text; they offer additional concepts and
are noted as "lecture notes" in the syllabus. Outlines for these
lectures are in the Recitation Guide.
Recitation
sessions will focus on issues
and arguments in environmental geography (e.g., the best international response
to global warming) and resource issues like water management. The sessions also
allow for some review of lecture material.
Goals/Grading: Your goals are to learn the key theoretical perspectives on
nature and society and the main points of the problems and case studies. You
should participate in recitation discussions, 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, text, and recitation
material on two 50 minute exams, a midterm and a final (for a total of 50% of
final grade), as well as demonstrate your understanding and views in short
answers and essays in recitation exercises (50% of final grade). Recitation grades will also reflect
attendance and participation in the discussion. The final exam is not
cumulative in the traditional sense: it will cover the material after the
mid-term, but some questions on the final might draw on key concepts presented
in class before the midterm (e.g., carrying capacity). The final should only
last an hour, like the mid-term, though you may have longer if you need it. The
grading base begins with 10% increments per letter grade (it may be adjusted
after the exams): 90-100% = A; 80-89% =
B; 70-79% = C; 60-69% = D;
<60% = F.
Our responsibilities to you are to
present the material clearly and in an interesting way, stick to the class
schedule (recognizing that the material and Travis’s lecture style may call for
some drift, or that student requests for clarification and repeat 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).
You should also adhere to campus policies on academic honesty, which will be
discussed in class. See also the following memo to faculty from the Dean:
The Fine Print:
This memo serves
to remind all faculty of some important legal and policy requirements they have in the conduct of their
courses. We strongly recommend that all course syllabi specifically attend to all four
items mentioned below.
Item 1: By federal law, faculty are required to make reasonable academic accommodations
for persons with various disabilities. Students with disabilities who qualify
for academic accommodations must provide a letter from
Disability Services (DS) and discuss specific needs with the professor, preferably during the first two weeks of
class. DS determines accommodations based on documented disabilities
(303-492-8671, Willard 322, www.colorado.edu/sacs/disabilityservices)
Item 2: Faculty are expected to make reasonable and appropriate
accommodations for students who have conflicts between religious
observance dates and course examinations or
assignments. A recently revised,
somewhat more flexible, campus policy has
been drafted and approved. The campus policy can be viewed at: http://www.colorado.edu/policies/index.html.
Item 3: As a
result of extensive discussions with and recommendations from faculty and students, a new classroom behavior policy
and associated new procedures have been adopted. Students should read this information
at: http://www.colorado.edu/policies/index.html.
Item 4: The new
Student Honor Code system has now been implemented in all schools and colleges and you should direct your
student's attention to these new policies and
procedures. Faculty should also provide
very clear, explicit
and detailed instructions about what
constitutes plagiarism as we repeatedly
see situations in which students and faculty are very
much at odds over what does or does not constitute plagiarism, after the
fact. You can see the honor code
information at http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/
M-Aug.
26: Introduction to class
W-Aug.
28: Ways of thinking about nature and
society: Cassandras vs. Pollyannas.
No recitation sessions during the first
week of class.
M-Sep.
2: Labor Day, no class (Monday
recitations catch-up next week)
W-Sep.
4: Ways of thinking about nature
and society (Chap. 1, pp. 3-12, and 25-31; plus lecture notes); Intro to “Human
Systems, Environment and Social Science” (Chapter 2: pp. 32-38)
Recitation: Exercise 1: Gloom and
Doomers vs. Techo-Optimists
M-Sep. 9: Human
systems (Chap. 2) continued: Types of societies (pp. 39-49)
W-Sep.
11: Human systems (Chap. 2)
continued: Political economy, and environmental social science (pp. 49-69)
Recitation: Exercise 1: continue
discussion
M-Sep.
16: Human systems (continued)
W-Sep. 18: continued
Recitation: Exercise 2: Are People
Part of or Apart from Nature?
M-Sep. 23: Humans
and ecosystems (Chap. 1, pp. 11-24 and Chap 2, 69-72)
W-Sep. 25: continued
Recitation:
Exercise 3: Human Transformations of Ecosystems
M-Sep. 30: Resources
(Chap. 3): soil and water (pp. 81-91)
W-Oct.
2: Case Study: Water in the Western
United States (lecture notes)
Recitation:
Exercise 4: Human Interventions in the Water Cycle
M-Oct. 7: Resources
(Chap. 3): bio-diversity/species and forests (pp. 91-103)
W-Oct. 9: (continued)
Recitation:
Exercise 5: Endangered Species
M-Oct. 14: Resources
(Chap. 3): Minerals, materials, and pollution (pp. 103-119)
W-Oct. 16: continued
Recitation:
Introduce Exercise 6, review for mid-term
M-Oct.
21: Catch-up and Review
W-Oct. 23: Mid-term
[No recitations this week]
M-Oct. 28: Population,
environment and food (Chap. 5)
W-Oct.
30: Population (continued)
Recitation:
Exercise 6: The Geography of Hazardous Materials:
What,
Where, Why and Who?
M-Nov.
4: Population (continued) pp.
198-213.
W-Nov.
6: Global climate change (Chap. 4)
Recitation:
Exercise 7: Should Humans Limit Their Population?
M-Nov. 11: climate
change (continued)
W-Nov.
13: Energy and society (Chap. 6)
Recitation:
Exercise 8: Responding to the Threat of Global Warming: Assessing the Threat
and Uncertainties
M-Nov. 18: Energy
(continued)
W-Nov. 21: Alternative
Futures (Chap. 7): back to Pollyannas and Cassandras
Recitation:
Exercise 9 Responding to the Threat of Global Warming: Mitigation
M-Nov.
25: Alternative Futures (continued)
W-Nov. 27: No Class: Thur/Fri classes held Tue/Wed
this week
M-Dec. 2: Environmentalism and behavioral change (Chap. 9)
W-Dec.
4: (continued)
Recitation
10: Modifying Local behavior: Driving Less in Denver
M-Dec. 9: U.S.
Environmental management Institutions (lecture notes)
W-Dec.
11: catch-up, wrap-up, and review for
final
(no recitations this week)
Final
Exam: Monday, Dec. 16, 10:30 am