Environmental College Courses Fall 2008

To join the Environmental College, select up to three of the following courses as your top foundation seminar preference (in order of preference).

FOUN 099 10 CRN: 13993
The Power of Green Design
Prof. Tom Rich
Fulfills the Following Requirements:
First-year course; Writing Level 1

The new paradigm of green architecture is aimed at creating buildings that are in harmony with our natural environment. Questions to be addressed include: How do architects design buildings? What areas of design are amenable to concepts of sustainability? How are new buildings rated for their “greenness?” What are other products of modern society that can be designed using a green approach? What are the benefits to America and the rest of the world through the adoption of the philosophy of sustainable design? In other words, what is the power of green design? In addition to developing answers to these and other questions, students will design their own green buildings using modern computer aided design (CAD) software. Specific technologies that support green buildings will be explored including daylighting, geo-thermal energy, green building materials, natural ventilation, solar power, water and waste handling, and wind turbines.

FOUN 099 31 CRN: 10765
Consuming Nature
Prof. Peter Wilshusen
Fulfills the Following Requirements:
Engineering Humanities;First-year course; Natural & Fabricated Worlds; Writing Level 1

This seminar explores the political, ethical, and scientific complexity inherent in many of the individual and collective choices we make. Whether as individuals or societies, humans consume resources and generate waste or pollution. Both consumption and pollution can produce negative social and environmental impacts. The main task, therefore, will be to critically examine three areas of the consumption-pollution cycle that present a complex tangle of choices: (i) land use and food production, (ii) toxic pollution, and (iii) the oil economy and global conflict.

FOUN 099 54 CRN: 13793
The Times They are a Changin'
Prof. Mark Spiro
Fulfills the Following Requirements:
First-year course; Writing Level 1

The first portion of this course will focus on the processes that have resulted in life on Earth as we know it. We will investigate the mechanisms and scale of geological, evolutionary, and anthropogenic change and consider the major discoveries and theories that have shaped our understanding of the natural world. The primary text for this course will be “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson. This book provides an accurate, yet entertaining, history of such scientific luminaries as Newton, Lyell, Pasteur, Linnaeus, Darwin, Mendel, and Watson and Crick. In addition to the text in some cases we will read excerpts of the original work of these scientists. An understanding of the processes 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, unsustainable exploitation of natural recourses, and the increasing problem of pollution at the local, regional, and global level. Finally, we will consider the use of political action and non-violent protests to obtain social and political reform. We will consider such figures as Thoreau, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. and their impact on the development of the grassroots environmental movement.

More to Come...

Prof. Tom Rich