FACULTY:
Rob Cole, SEM 2, E 4112 (867-6714); Email: Rob C.
Robert Smurr, SEM 2, C 3112 (867-5056); Email: Rob S.
Office hours are arranged by appointment.
Earth Stewards: Sustainable Living in a Threatened World
(CRN: 222249)  Fall, Winter 2009-10

To me it's all about working hard, having fun, and...then like,
working really hard some more…but then
having some more fun.… – Derek Zoolander

COURSE SCHEDULE:

Classes will be held at the following locations and times:

Tuesday Lecture
Seminar		 9:00-11:00
2:00-4:00		 SEM 2, A 1107   
LIB 2205 (Rob C.)
LIB 2207 (Rob S.)
Wednesday Workshop and Research 9:00-11:00 SEM 2, E 1107
Thursday Film and Review 9:00-1:00 SEM 2, B 1107
Friday Lecture
Seminar		 9:00-11:00
2:00-4:00		 SEM 2, D1105
SEM 2, B2107 (Rob C.)
SEM 2, B2109 (Rob S.)

PROGRAM SCHEDULE:

Week 1 -- Stewardship as a Concept
9/29 Lecture: Course Introduction
9/29 Seminar:  Introduction
9/30 Wkshp & Rsch:  Analyzing the concepts of “stewardship” and “sustainability”
10/1 Film & Discussion:  This is Nowhere (87 min.)
                               The Wilderness Idea (58 min.)  
10/2 Lecture: On History and Environmental History (Rob Smurr)
10/2 Seminar:  Uncommon Ground, pp. 23-113
Week 2 -- Discovering the Place of Olympia, Washington
10/6 Lecture: The Bioregion, Resources and Development (Rob Cole)
10/6 Seminar: Uncommon ground, pp. 379-408; 426-437
10/7 Wkshp & Rsch:  Finding Appropriate Databases for Research
                          And mapping information for research and quiz on 10/28
10/8 Film & Discussion:  An American Nile –  Cadillac Desert, pt. 2 – (55 min.)
                               Mystery of the Megaflood (56 min.)
                               *Stapled* PAPER #1 DUE (before start of films)
10/9

DAY FIELD TRIP: Olympia’s Environment.  Depart promptly at 9:30 from in front of CRC

Field Trip to Local Area -- video by Matthew Elswick

Week 3 -- WEEKLONG FIELD TRIP: Exploring and Analyzing the Columbia River 
                                                           10/12-10/16 (Monday through Friday)
  Special Note: we leave on Monday morning from TESC at 9:30 from in front of CRC and return on Friday evening around 5:00.

READ for seminars the following articles, all of which are available on-line via J-STOR:
Joyce, Stephanie.  Is it worth a Dam?  Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 105, pp. 1050-1055.
Black, Harvey.  Dam-building Decisions: A New Flood of Fairness.  Env. H & P, Vol 109, pp. A80-A82.
Shepherd, James.  The Benefits and Costs of the Columbia Basin Project: Earlier Perspectives and  
                             Changing Perceptions.  Agricultural History Society, Vol. 76, pp. 463-480.

AND The Organic Machine, pp. ix – 113.   
Read the entire book prior to the trip, and be prepared to discuss it in detail (with quizzes) during the field trip seminars.  Further details for our trip this week, including information concerning our vans, drivers, destinations, and activities will be provided to all students later on a separate sheet. 

Five Days in Ten Minutes -- video by Matthew Elswick

Week 4 -- A River Lost – What Does it Mean?               

10/20 Workshop/Lecture: Field Trip de-brief; Dams on the Snake River (Rob Cole)
                Seminar: Articles on the Snake River         
10/21 NO CLASS (work on rewrite of paper #1)  
10/22 Film & Discussion:  Mulholland’s Dream – Cadillac Desert, pt. 1 – (85 min.)
                              The Mercy of Nature – Cadillac Desert, pt. 3 – (55 min.)                                                        
10/23 Lecture:  Rivers in Real Life (Rob Cole)
10/23 Seminar:  Rivers for Life, pp. xi-117
                PAPER #1 REWRITE DUE in Seminar
Week 5 -- A River Found – What Does it Mean?
10/27 Lecture:  Rivers, Currents, and Time: The World before Damned Nations (Rob Smurr)
10/27 Seminar:  Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson; and Walking, Henry David Thoreau
10/28 Wkshp & Rsch: Geography, research help, and MAP QUIZ #1
10/29 Film & Discussion:  Rivers and Tides Working with Time (90 min) 
10/30 Guest Lecture:  John Yost, co-founder of SOBEK Expeditions    
10/30 Seminar:  SOBEK articles and discussion with John
                PAPER #2 Due in Seminar
Week 6 -- Titans of U.S. Environmentalism
11/3 Lecture:  A Holy Trinity of American Wilderness: Thoreau, Muir, and Leopold
11/3 Seminar:  The Wilderness World of John Muir
11/4 Wkshp & Rsch:  SHORT (1 hour) MIDTERM EXAMINATION
11/5 Film & Discussion:  Monumental: David Brower's Fight for Wild America (80 min.)
                              Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (57 min.)
11/6 Lecture:  The Legacies of Carson and Brower – Where Are We Today?  (Rob Cole)  
11/6 Seminar:  A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There
Week 7 -- Nature as a Refuge and a Playground
11/10 Lecture:  Wilderness and Wildness in the Western World: a Brief History (Rob Smurr)
11/10 Seminar:  The Idea of Wilderness, chapters 1, 3, 5, 6
11/11 Wkshp & Rsch: MAP QUIZ #2
11/12 Film & Discussion:  a few sections of the film Twitch
                              Touching the Void (106 min.)
11/13 Lecture: The Battle for the Wilderness Act in the United States (Rob Cole)
11/13 Seminar: The Idea of Wilderness, chapters 7-10
               PAPER #2 REWRITE DUE in Seminar 
Week 8 -- --  WEEKLONG FIELD TRIP: Investigating the Olympic Peninsula                  
                                                               11/16-11/19 (Monday through Thursday)
  Special Note: we again leave on Monday morning from TESC at 9:30 from in front of CRC but return on Thursday evening around 6:00.

READ for seminars the following articles, all of which are available on-line via J-STOR:
Stan Gregory, et. al.  The Conceptual Basis for Ecological Responses to Dam Removal.  Bio Science, Vol.
                                   52, pp. 713-723.
Stanley and Doyle. Trading Off: The Ecological Effects of Dam Removal.  Frontiers in the Ecology and  
                                Environment, Vol. 1, pp. 15-22
Ancient Tribal Relics Found in Northwest.  The Science News-Letter, Vol. 5, pp. 7-8

AND this book: Across the Olympic Mountains: The Press Expedition, 1889-90

More details for our trip this week, including information concerning our vans, drivers, destinations, and activities will be provided to all students later on a separate sheet.

THANKSGIVING BREAK from November 21 until November 30
Week 9 -- Climate Change
12/1 Lecture:  Climate Change, Global Warming, and All That (Rob Cole)
12/1 Seminar: Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions,   pp. 139-196 
               PAPER #3 DUE in Seminar
12/2 Wkshp & Rsch:   Your research findings (first group)
12/3 Film & Discussion:    Koyaanisqatsi, Life Out of Balance (90 min.)
12/4 Lecture:  Resisting Change: Why?  (Rob Smurr)
12/4 Seminar:  Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change
Week 10 -- Controlling Nature?
12/8 Lecture:  Mindfulness – When is Enough Enough?  (the Robs)
12/8 Seminar: Mindfulness in the Marketplace (Chapters 1, 2 & 6, on Evergreen Online Learning) 
12/9 Wkshp & Rsch:  Your research findings (second group)
12/10 Film & Discussion:  Winged Migration (90 min.)
                               Man and Nature (11 min.);
                               Metaphysical Assumptions Underlying Western Culture (11 min.)
                              The Hedgehog in the Fog (14 min.)
12/11 Lecture:  1. COURSE FINAL
               2.  PAPER #3 REWRITE DUE
               3.  COMPLETE PORTFOLIO DUE
               4.  SELF-EVALUATION DUE   (NO SELF-EVALUATION = NO CREDIT)
Week 11 -- NO CLASS  --  Evaluation Week  -- December 14-18

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