www.colorado.edu/geography/courses/geog_2412_f05
Fall, 2005 …………………………………Lecture: Tue and Thur 11:00-11:50…………………………..Muen E050
Instructor: William Travis, 102-C Guggenheim, 492-6312; e-mail: wtravis@colorado.edu
Office Tue/Thur 9-10; and 2-3 or by appointment.
Teaching Assistants: see: www.colorado.edu/geography/courses/geog_2412_f05/index.html
Text: William
M. Marsh and John M. Grossa, Jr., Environmental Geography: Science, Land Use
and Earth Systems. Second Edition (
Recitation Exercises: www.colorado.edu/geography/courses/geog_2412_f05/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 global and regional
issues at the interface of society and nature, with an emphasis on the social
dimensions of environmental problems. The interaction of nature and society,
and natural resources management, have long been important themes in academic
geography, and they evoke one of the profound questions of our times: What
ought to be our relationship with the natural environment? We will also attempt
in lectures and recitations to make the connection between broader issues and
specific environmental and land use problems in the
Lectures: Will cover a few key points each session, collated with the text. Brief lecture notes will be made available on the class website. A few lectures offer additional concepts not covered in the text, and carry the notation "lecture notes" on the syllabus.
Recitation sessions: Will focus, through discussion and written exercises (exercises are obtained from the website), on issues and arguments in environmental geography (e.g., carrying capacity; the best international response to global warming; whether population growth should be slowed), and natural resource issues (like oil and endangered species). The sessions also allow for review and discussion of lecture and text material. Recitation procedures and grading policies will be explained and distributed in your recitation section.
Learning Goals/Grading: Your goals are to learn the key perspectives on nature and society and the main points of the substantive themes (e.g., population and carrying capacity) 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 60% of final grade), as well as demonstrate your understanding and views in short answers and essays on eight recitation exercises (40% 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. The grading base begins with 10% increments per letter grade (it may be statistically curved after the first exam, and if so the curve will be announced): 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 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, etc, at:
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: http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html
Lecture and Recitation Schedule
T-Aug. 23: Introduction to class
Th-Aug. 25: Ways of thinking about nature and society (lecture notes)
Recitation: Introductions
T-Aug. 30: Environment and Humanity in the 21st century (Chap 1 and lecture notes)
Th-Sep. 1: Chap 1 continued
Recitation: Discussion: Humans and
the Natural Environment
T-Sep. 6: An Enduring Balance? (Chap. 2).
Th-Sep. 8: Chap. 2 continued
Recitation Exercise 1: Are People
Part of or Apart from Nature? (5 pts)
T-Sep. 13: Global Context and Human Use of the Earth (Chap 3, pp. 30-32; 36-47)
Th-Sep. 15: Chap. 3 continued
Recitation Exercise 2: Gloom and
Doomers vs. Techo-Optimists (10 pts)
Ex. 1 due.
T-Sep. 20: The Spread of Human Development (Chap 6)
Th-Sep. 22: Global Environmental Cycles and Systems (Chap. 4)
Recitation Exercise 2: continued
T-Sep. 27: Chap 4 continued
Th-Sep. 29: Ecosystems (Chap 5)
Recitation Exercise 3: Your “Ecological Footprint” (5 pts)
Ex. 2 due.
T-Oct. 4: Ecosystems (Chap 5) continued
Th-Oct. 6: Chap. 5 continued
Recitation Exercise 4: Human
Transformations of Earth: A Personal Log (10 pts)
Ex. 3 due.
T-Oct 11: Human Population (Chap. 7)
Th-Oct. 13: NO CLASS – FALL BREAK
Fall Break: No recitations
T-Oct 18: Chap. 7 continued
Th-Oct. 20: Agriculture and Food Production (Chap 8), brief review for midterm
Recitation: Review and Discussion
Ex. 4 due.
T-Oct. 25: Mid-term Exam
Th-Oct. 27: Agriculture and Food Production (Chap 8) continued
Recitation Exercise 5: Essay: Why is there hunger? (15 pts)
T-Nov. 1: Chap. 9 Energy
Th-Nov. 3: Chap 9, cont.
Recitation Exercise 6: Changing Energy Use Behavior: How? (10 pts)
Ex. 5 due.
T-Nov. 8: Focus on Global Warming (Chap 10, pp 206-216)
Th-Nov. 10: Hydrologic Environment (Chap 12)
Exercise 7: Assessing the Threat of Global Warming: Greenhouse Gas
Scenarios (15 pts)
Ex. 6 due.
T-Nov. 15: Water Resources (Chap 12)
Th-Nov. 17: Biological Diversity (Chap. 16)
Recitation Exercise 7 (continued)
T-Nov. 22: Chap. 16 continued; begin: Open Land Resources: Parks and Preserves (Chap 17)
Th-Nov. 24: NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING
No Recitations this week
T-Nov. 29: Chap 17 continued
Th-Dec. 1: Managing the Global Environment (Chap 18)
Recitation Exercise 8: Endangered Species (10 pts)
Ex. 7 due
T-Dec. 6: Chap. 18 continued; U.S. Environmental Management Institutions (lecture notes)
Th-Dec. 8: Last Class; review for final
Recitation: Review
Ex. 8 due
Final Exam: Mon, Dec. 12, 4:30-7 PM