Environmental College Courses Fall 2011
Select from the menu of courses using the Online Residential College Request Form.
RESC 098 05 CRN: 15806
Cadillac Desert
Prof. Christopher Daniel, Geology
Fulfills the following fequirements:
First-Year Course, Writing Level 1
Water is our most important natural resource. We can survive without oil, coal and natural gas but we cannot live without water. Would you rather drink gasoline or water? Not only do farms and cities require large amounts of water, but also it must be relatively clean in order for us to drink it and to use for irrigation purposes. Thus, both water quantity and quality are important. How clean is clean? Did you know that the EPA says it is okay to have some lead and arsenic in your drinking water? Should you be worried? What are the economics and politics of water? Does it make economic sense to irrigate the deserts in California and Nevada to grow crops? Did you know that irrigation is responsible for destroying thousands of acres of farmland? How different are the water issues in the western and eastern U.S.? What is water mining?
This class will use a classic book about water in the western U.S. Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner to introduce many of the environmental, economic, political and social issues involved in water and how it is stored, managed, used and reused. We will examine water issues in both the western and eastern U.S. Will the western U.S. run out of water in the next 100 years? What about the eastern U.S.? What is the meaning of water conservation? Does water conservation mean the same thing to someone from Wyoming as it does to someone from Pennsylvania? Should dams be torn down or more dams be constructed? We will further explore these topics and issues through independent and group research, readings, written projects and oral presentations. An emphasis will be placed on research, writing and oral presentation skills. Local and regional field trips will be incorporated into the class.
RESC 098 06 CRN: 15807
Islands & Beaches: The Nature of Others
Prof. Stephen Jordan, Biology
Fulfills the following fequirements:
First-Year Course, Writing Level 1
Greg Dening, author of a landmark meditation on the history of the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, has written, "... islands and beaches is a metaphor for the different ways in which human beings construct their worlds and for the boundaries that they construct between them." Although particularly suited to the isolated civilizations of Oceania, this metaphor transcends time and space - all cultures, groups, families, and even individuals, develop firm notions of "us" and "them." A beach must be crossed if meaningful communication is to occur between groups, and when efforts are not made to do this, the cultural and environmental consequences can be tragic.
This foundation seminar will begin with a brief exploration of the Marquesas Islands and the islands and beaches metaphor, with readings from Dening and Melville, video from "Survivor Marquesas," and art from Paul Gauguin and native Marquesans. We will then spend the bulk of the semester exploring how cultural misunderstanding and the objectification of others has allowed some of the world's major environmental crises to proceed. We will examine oil production in the Niger River Delta, natural gas production in Pennsylvania, climate change, and land use patterns in the western United States, as well as other case studies.
As part of the Environmental Residential College, this course will include service and outreach components and intensive study of the policies and politics of natural gas drilling and its social and economic effects. The semester will culminate with a fieldtrip to speak with politicians and their staffs about gas production in Pennsylvania.
RESC 098 07 CRN: 15808
The Human Impact: An Evolutionary Perspective
Prof. Mark Spiro, Biology
Fulfills the following fequirements:
First-Year Course, Writing Level 1
Nearly 150 years ago, Charles Darwin proposed, in "The Origin of Species", that all life descended from a common ancester through natural selection. Today an overwhelming body of scientific evidence confirms the unity of life, that humans and all organisms arose by a process favoring organisms well adapted to their environment. The three billion year history of life has been accompanied by tremendous global environment changes resulting in mass extinctions. Homo sapiens are relative newcomers arriving on the scene in the last two hundred thousand years. However, humans themselves have precipitated rapid environmental change and set into motion a new period of mass extinction. The progress of society has been accompanied by profound ecological impact from the domestication of animals and plants to the current destruction of ancient forests and alteration of the global climate.
An understanding of the process of geological and evolutionary change will provide a perspective on the magnitude and urgency of the problems that humans face as a result of anthropogenic change. Specifically we will consider global warming, the loss of biodiversity and unsustainably exploitation of natural resources.
