Brian McMorrow or Nancy Parkes Turner
866-6000 ext. 6524 866-6000 ext. 6737
Within the larger contexts of environmental education and policy, we will focus on air quality, global waring, and forest practices. Our emphasis will be on forging personal connections and examining individual and community values related to the issues that we study. Students will have the opportunity in small groups to create a public education project based on a local environmental issue. The program will feature expert speakers, informative texxts, collaborative work, field trips and individualized study. Upper division credits will be awarded in environmental studies, public policy and hitory. "Earth in the Balance" will place a strong emphasis on co-management and collaborative methods of achieving environmental policy.
Goals for "Earth in the Balance" include helping
students to consider co-management and collaborative problem solving in
addressing environmental issues; helping students to communicate more effectively,
both orally and in writing; working cooperatively across disciplines; using
creative problem solving; connecting theory with practice; learning to
analyze public policy issues; conducting surveys and interviews; examining
environmental issues from many perspectives, and probing the individual's
aesthetic and spirtitual connections to the environment.
Approach and Learning Strategies
"Earth in the Balance" will draw upon various expert perspectives as we carefully examine the social, economic and political complexities of each environmental issue. We will read theme-related books and discuss them in thought-provoking, interactive seminars as well as bring in guest speakers and films to enrich our discovery.
As with the fall quarter, students in winter quarter will choose a community environmental issue related to the global theme. Students will work in small groups to create public education campaigns about a community environmental issue relating to program themes. We encourage presentations in a variety of media. The end product will be made available to public policymakers, business, advocacy groups and the public. Students will sharpen research and writing skills in the process of this work. They will have the opportunity to share their work by publishing projects on the program website and presenting them to peers and policymakers.
We will also expect students to write questions for seminars, and an article or editorial regarding our environment. Each student will also keep an academic/personal journal that demonstrates how he or she engages with program work throughout the quarter. These materials will be due to faculty as listed in the syllabus.
During fwinter quarter, students will attend a field trip on Saturday, Feb. 7, to certain sites in Olympia or the immediate vicinity. There will be no class on Jan. 19 and Feb. 16, which are holidays.
Faculty Office Hours
Brian McMorrow and Nancy Parkes Turner will maintain regular
office hours on class days from 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. and will be available
at other times by request.
Faculty will evaluate students based on the Program Covenants
(included as an addendum to this syllabus) and work completed in a timely
fashion. Attendance at the first class is mandatory and more than one absence
may result in a loss of credit.
Jan. 14: The Final Forest by William Dietrich, ISBN 0-14-01777-50
Jan. 26: Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind by Roszak, Gomes, Kramer (eds), ISBN 0-87156-496
Feb. 2: Stuff: The Secret Life of Everyday Things by J. Ryan and Alan Durning, ISBN 1-8886093-04-0
Feb. 11: This Place on Earth by Alan Thein Durning, ISBN 1-57061-127-0
Feb. 18: Words from the Land by Stephen Trimble, ISBN 0-87417-264-0
Feb. 23: Thinking Ecologically: The Next Generation
of Environmental Policy by Marian R. Chertow and
Daniel C. Esty, ISBN 0300-07303.
* All assignments will be covered in greater detail during classroom time.
Continuous maintenance of an academic/personal journal in which the student will write about how he or she is engaging with program work. This will include engagement and reflection on seminars, lectures and peer group projects.
Jan. 5 Discuss project and project group;
environmental speaker
Jan. 7 Potluck; film; discussion
Jan. 12 Project selection/discussion
Jan. 14 Panel discussion on forest practices and seminar
on The Final Forest
Jan. 21 Collaborative statements/project summaries
Jan. 26 Panel discussion on spirituality and environmental
protection and seminar on Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing
the Mind
Jan. 28 Lectures
Feb. 2 Seminar on Stuff: The Secret Life of Everyday
Things
Feb. 7 Green Day!
Feb. 9 Lecture on politics of congestion
Feb. 11 Seminar on This Place on Earth
Feb. 18 Seminar on Words from the Land; writing
workshop
Feb. 23 Seminar on Thinking Ecologically: The Next
Generation
Feb. 25 Collaborative project summaries
Mar. 2 Project presentations
Mar. 4 "
"
Mar. 7 "
" and complete program notebooks
Mar. 9 "
" and schedule consultations
with faculty. (Bring faculty evaluations to conference.)
Mar. 11 Potluck celebration; learning summary; revisit
individual and program goals