1. Course ID and Number: ENVSC 11
College of the Redwoods
CURRICULUM PROPOSAL
C-ID Descriptor (if applicable):
2. Course Title: Environmental Ethics
3. Check one of the following:
New Course (If the course constitutes a new learning experience for CR students, the course is new).
Required - Justification for Need (Provide a brief description of the background and rationale for the course. This might
include a description of a degree or certificate for which the course is required or the relationship of this course to other
courses in the same or other disciplines. To see examples of such descriptions, consult pages 10-11 of The Course Outline of
Record: A Curriculum Reference Guide.
Updated/Revised Course
If curriculum has been offered under a different discipline and/or name, identify the former course:
Should another course be inactivated? No
Yes
Inactivation date:
Title of course to be inactivated:
(If yes, complete a Course Inactivation Form found on the Curriculum Website.)
4. If this is an update/revision of an existing course, provide explanation of and justification for changes to this course.
Be sure to explain the reasons for any changes to class size, unit value, and prerequisites/corequisites.
The course is being proposed to satisfy College of the Redwoods General Education Area E - Multicultural
Understanding.
5. List the faculty with which you consulted in the development and/or revision of this course outline.
Faculty Member Name(s) and Discipline(s): All Sciences full-time faculty & Tim Baker - Forestry and Natural
Resources
6. If any of the features listed below have been modified in the new proposal, indicate the “old” (current) information
and “new” (proposed) changes. If a feature is not changing, leave both the “old” and “new” fields blank.
FEATURES
OLD
NEW
Course Title
TOPS/CIPS Code
Catalog Description
(Please include complete text of
old and new catalog descriptions.)
Select
Select
none
ENGL-150 or ENGL-102
Repeatability—
Maximum Enrollments
Select
Select
Other
none
Add CR GE Area E Multicultural Understanding
Grading Standard
Total Units
Lecture Units
Lab Units
Prerequisites
Corequisites
Recommended Preparation
Maximum Class Size
Curriculum Proposal: Revised 04.25.14; 09.09.14
Academic Senate Approved: 05.02.14
Page 1 of 8
1. DATE: 4-20-15
2. DIVISION: Math, Science, Behavioral and Social Sciences
3. [CB04] COURSE CREDIT STATUS: D Credit-Degree Applicable
4. [CB01] COURSE ID AND NUMBER: ENVSC 11
5. [CB02] COURSE TITLE: Environmental Ethics
(Course title appears in Catalog and schedule of classes.)
6. SHORT TITLE: Environmental Ethics
(Short title appears on student transcripts and is limited to 30 characters, including spaces.)
7. [CB03] LOCAL ID (TOPs code): 0302.00 Taxonomy of Program Codes
8. NATIONAL ID (CIP code): 03.0103 Classification of Instructional Program Codes
9. DISCIPLINE(S): Ecology, Humanities, Interdisciplinary Studies Select from Minimum Qualifications for Faculty
Course may fit more than one discipline; identify all that apply: Ecology, Humanities, Interdisciplinary Studies
10. FIRST TERM NEW OR REVISED COURSE MAY BE OFFERED: fall 2015
11. COURSE UNITS (Note: 1 lecture unit requires 18 hours in-class/36 hours out-of-class; 1 lab unit requires 54 in-class hours)
[CB07]
TOTAL UNITS:
TOTAL HOURS:
[CB06]
3.0
3.0
min. units
max. units
54
54
min. hours
max. hours
Lecture Units:
3.0
Lab Units:
0.0
Lecture Hours:
54
Lab Hours:
0.0
12. MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 35
13.WILL THIS COURSE HAVE AN INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FEE? No
Yes
Fee: $
If yes, attach a completed Instructional Materials Fee Request Form found on the Curriculum Website.
GRADING STANDARD
Letter Grade Only
Pass/No Pass Only
[CB12] Is this course a repeatable lab course? No
Grade-Pass/No Pass Option
Yes
If yes, how many total enrollments? Select
Is this course to be offered as part of the Honors Program? No
Yes
If yes, explain how honors sections of the course are different from standard sections.
Honors sections will require additional reading, writing, and contact with the instructor: typically, at least one additional
work or substantial group of readings and one more piece of writing or a substantially larger work of critical and analytical
writing will be required along with one or two office tutorials. Honors writing projects will also reflect more focused
reading in secondary critical sources, and honors students may also be asked to make presentations on research and lead
some classroom discussions.
CATALOG DESCRIPTION - The catalog description should clearly describe for students the scope of the course, its level, and
what kinds of student goals the course is designed to fulfill. The catalog description should begin with a sentence fragment.
An examination of issues arising out of ethical considerations related to the general environment and specific ecosystems,
life forms, and places. Students will engage scientific, philosophical, and cultural concepts of nature and explore the social
and personal ramifications for current ethical choices regarding local, regional, national, and global issues.
Special Notes or Advisories (e.g. Field Trips Required, Prior Admission to Special Program Required, etc.):
PREREQUISITE COURSE(S)
No
Yes
Rationale for Prerequisite:
Course(s):
Curriculum Proposal: Revised 04.25.14; 09.09.14
Academic Senate Approved: 05.02.14
Page 2 of 8
Describe representative skills without which the student would be highly unlikely to succeed.
COREQUISITE COURSE(S)
No
Yes
Rationale for Corequisite:
Course(s):
RECOMMENDED PREPARATION
No
Yes
Course(s): ENGL 150 or ENGL 102
Rationale for Recommended Preparation:
Students who are unable to 1) assess the strengths and weaknesses of arguments, 2) distinguish between major ideas and
supporting evidence, and 3) compose an arguable thesis relevant to a general college audience will be unlikely to succeed.
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES –This section answers the question “what will students be able to do as a result of taking this
course?” State some of the outcomes in terms of specific, measurable student actions (e.g. discuss, identify, describe, analyze,
construct, compare, compose, display, report, select, etc.). For a more complete list of outcome verbs please see Public
Folders>Curriculum>Help Folder>SLO Language Chart. Each outcome should be numbered.
1. Apply methods of inquiry to shape useful questions regarding current environmental problems, claims, arguments,
and/or cultural values.
2. Analyze questions of ethics to arrive at reasoned responses to environmental issues and how they impact a diverse
global community.
COURSE OBJECTIVES - This section describes the objectives the course addresses through the course content. Objectives can
include specific disciplinary questions or goals that are central to the course subject matter and are meant to address what
the various intents of the course are. Each objective should be numbered.
1. Students will inquire into the relationship between diverse cultures and their persepctives on nature.
2. Students will engage in dialog about problems arising from human conceptions of utility value of flora, fauna, and place.
3. Students will examine issues of morality, value, and utlitarianism in the context of cross-cultural ideas about the
environment.
4. Students will explore multiple specific philosophical and social concepts of wildness, artificiality, and otherness.
5. Students will examine current ideas regarding scientific knowledge as it relates to current and past issues of
environmental policy.
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION – Clear methods by which instructor will facilitate acquisition of objectives. Include here
descriptions, NOT lists. Course outline must clearly articulate how these methods of instruction are related to, and help
student work towards, achieving the objectives and student learning outcomes. Instructional methodologies will be consistent
with, but will not be limited to, the following types orexamples.
LECTURE will deliver course content in order to increase student knowledge about specific aspects of the arguments and
ideas and provide students with several interpretive frameworks.
INSTRUCTOR LED DISCUSSION will engage students in thinking critically and developing analytical skills needed to interpret
a wide variety of arguments, questions, and ideas in environmental philosophy.
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING EXERCISES engage students with comparative (and contrasting) perspectives, ideas, and
information, helping them to grasp the complexity of environmentsl inquiry in different historical, social and cultural
contexts.
COURSE CONTENT–This section describes what the course is “about”-i.e. what it covers and what knowledge students will acquire.
Concepts: What terms and ideas will students need to understand and be conversant with as they demonstrate course
outcomes? Each concept should be numbered.
1. Anthropocentrism.
2. Biocentric egalitarianism.
3. Biophilia.
4. The biotic community.
5. Co-evolution.
6. Conservation.
7. Deep ecology.
8. Ecofeminism.
9. Ecosystem.
10. Empiricism and scientific perspective.
11. Environmental justice.
Curriculum Proposal: Revised 04.25.14; 09.09.14
Academic Senate Approved: 05.02.14
Page 3 of 8
12. Epistemology.
13. Evolution.
14. Extinction.
15. Gaia hypothesis.
16. Geologic time.
17. Global climate change.
18. Intrinsic value.
19. Instrumental value.
20. The Land Ethic.
21. Social ecology.
22. Sustainability.
23. Teleology.
24. The sublime.
25. Worldview.
Issues: What primary tensions or problems inherent in the subject matter of the course will students engage? Each issue
should be numbered.
1. The problem of property ownership and ecosystem interrelationships.
2. Interpretation of scientific data and its effect on public policy and social values.
3. The ethics of removal of exotic life forms for ecosystem stability.
4. Capitalist economies in an interdependent global environment.
5. Labor, class, and community and traditional economies in modern global markets.
6. National-, regional-, and local-cultural identity and their relationship to land-use practices and consciousness regarding
domesticated and wild animals.
Themes: What motifs, if any, are threaded throughout the course? Each theme should be numbered.
1. The relationship between specific culture, belief system, ideology, and world view.
2. Social consciousness and the transformation of social conscience.
3. Anthropocentrism, animal welfare, and the more-than-human world.
4. The social construction and conception of “Nature.”
5. Property, ownership, and cultural practices as they relate to ecosystem stability.
6. Hypothesis, knowledge, and scientific methods in popular understanding.
Skills: What abilities must students have in order to demonstrate course outcomes? (E.g. write clearly, use a scientific
calculator, read college-level texts, create a field notebook, safely use power tools, etc). Each skill should be numbered.
1. Reading and comprehending complex arguments carefully and thoughtfully.
2. Analyzing details of philosophical arguments to form individual interpretations.
3. Recognizing the relationship between theoretical complexities and practical considerations.
4. Writing to discover, to articulate, and to clarify an interpretation in response to complex questions.
5. Recognizing and applying basic course terminology to discuss complex topics.
6. Identifying, formulating, and developing questions at issue.
REPRESENTATIVE LEARNING ACTIVITIES –This section provides examples of things students may do to engage the course
content (e.g., listening to lectures, participating in discussions and/or group activities, attending a field trip). These activities
should relate directly to the Course Learning Outcomes. Each activity should be numbered.
1. Listening to lectures.
2. Close out-of-class reading of complex texts.
3. Participating in classroom discussion.
4. Developing lines of inquiry through sequential questioning.
5. Participating in online discussion forums.
6. Viewing historical and cultural representations of environments and more-than-human life.
7. Researching current issues through print and electronic media.
ASSESSMENT TASKS –This section describes assessments instructors may use to allow students opportunities to provide
evidence of achieving the Course Learning Outcomes. Each assessment should be numbered.
Representative Assessment Tasks (These are examples of assessments instructors could use.):
1. Critical Essays.
2. Exams.
3. Journal entries.
Curriculum Proposal: Revised 04.25.14; 09.09.14
Academic Senate Approved: 05.02.14
Page 4 of 8
4. Discussion participation (in class and online).
5. Oral reports.
Required Assessments for All Sections (These are assessments that are required of all instructors of all sections at all
campuses/sites. Not all courses will have required assessments. Do not list here assessments that are listed as representative
assessments above.):
At least one piece of out-of-class critical writing addressing an environmental issue or issues will be required each term.
EXAMPLES OF APPROPRIATE TEXTS OR OTHER READINGS –This section lists example texts, not required texts.
Author, Title, and Date Fields are required
Author James Title Environmental Philosophy: An Introduction Date 2015
Author Keller (ed.) Title Environmental Ethics: The Big Questions Date 2010
Author Mies & Shiva Title Ecofeminism (Critique. Influence. Change.) Date 2014
Author Leopold Title A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology Date 2013
Other Appropriate Readings: Course packets and contemporary media (magazines, news articles, scholarly journal
articles, web pages, films, etc.) relevant to environmental issues.
COURSE TYPES
1. Is the course part of a Chancellor’s Office approved CR Associate Degree?
No
Yes
If yes, specify all program codes that apply. (Codes can be found in Outlook/Public Folders/All Public Folders/
Curriculum/Degree and Certificate Programs/choose appropriate catalog year):
Required course for degree(s)
Restricted elective for degree (s) FNR.AS.FOR.TECH
Restricted electives are courses specifically listed (i.e. by name and number) as optional courses from which
students may choose to complete a specific number of units required for an approved degree.
2. Is the course part of a Chancellor’s Office approved CR Certificate of Achievement?
No
Yes
If yes, specify all program codes that apply. (Codes can be found in Outlook/Public Folders/All Public Folders/
Curriculum/Degree and Certificate Programs/choose appropriate catalog year):
Required course for certificate(s)
Restricted elective for certificate(s)
Restricted electives are courses specifically listed (i.e. by name and number) as optional courses from which
students may choose to complete a specific number of units required for an approved certificate.
3. [CB24] Is the course Stand Alone?
No
Yes (If “No” is checked for BOTH #1 & #2 above, the course is stand alone.)
4. [CB08] Basic Skills: NBS Not Basic Skills
5. [CB10] Work Experience: NWE Not Coop Work Experience
6. [CB22] Noncredit Category: Credit course, not applicable
7. Course eligible Career Technical Education funding (applies to vocational and tech-prep courses only): No
8. [CB23] Course developed using a Chancellor’s Office Economic Development Grant: No
Yes
Yes
9. [CB11] Purpose: Y Credit Course Course Classification Status
10. Accounting Method: W Weekly Census
11. [CB13] Disability Status: N Not a Special Class
12. [CB09] Course SAM Priority Code: E Not Occupational Definitions of SAM Priority Codes
COURSE TRANSFERABILITY
1. [CB05] Current Transferability Status: A Transferable to both UC and CSU
Curriculum Proposal: Revised 04.25.14; 09.09.14
Academic Senate Approved: 05.02.14
Page 5 of 8
2.
[CB21] Course Prior to Transfer Level: Y Not Applicable Definitions of Course Prior to Transfer Levels
CURRENT TRANSFERABILITY STATUS (Check at least one box below):
This course is currently transferable to:
Neither CSU nor UC
CSU as general elective credit
CSU as a specific course equivalent (see below)
If the course transfers as a specific course equivalent give course number(s)/ title(s) of one or more currently-active,
equivalent lower division courses from CSU.
1. Course
, Campus
2. Course
, Campus
UC as general elective credit
UC as specific course equivalent
If the course transfers as a specific course equivalent give course number(s)/ title(s) of one or more currently-active,
equivalent lower division courses from UC.
1. Course ESP-10, Campus UC Davis 2. Course
, Campus
PROPOSED CSU TRANSFERABILITY (Check at least one of the boxes below):
No Proposal
Remove as General Education
Propose as General Elective Credit
Propose as a Specific Course Equivalent (see below)
If specific course equivalent credit is proposed, give course number(s)/ title(s) of one or more currently-active, equivalent
lower division courses from CSU.
1. Course ENVS 01, Campus San Jose State
2. Course ENVS 110, Campus Sac State
PROPOSED UC TRANSFERABILITY (Check one of the boxes below):
No Proposal
Remove as General Education
Propose as General Elective Credit OR Specific Course Equivalent (fill in information below)
If “General Elective Credit OR Specific Course Equivalent” box above is checked, give course number(s)/ title(s) of one or more
currently-active, equivalent lower division courses from UC.
1. Course PHIL 28, Campus UC Santa Cruz
2. Course
, Campus
CURRENTLY APPROVED GENERAL EDUCATION (Check at least one box below):
Not currently approved
CR
CR GE Category(-ies): Area C: Humanities, Secondary GE Category (if applicable)
CSU
CSU GE Category: C-2
IGETC
IGETC Category: 3-B
PROPOSED CR GENERAL EDUCATION (Check at least one box below):
No Proposal
Remove as General Education
Review to maintain CR GE Status
New GE Proposal
__X_ _Approved as CR GE by Curriculum Committee: 05.08.15 _
____ _ Not Approved
(DATE)
____ _ Approved to remove CR GE status
CR GE Outcomes
GE learning outcomes in Effective Communication, Critical Thinking, and Global Awareness must be addressed in all
general education courses.
o Effective Communications: Explain how the proposed GE course fulfills at least one of the CR GE outcomes in this
category.
Exploring environmental ethics requires complex communication, both in the course requirement of "At least one
piece of out-of-class critical writing addressing an environmental issue or issues" and in outcome #2, which requires
application of the process of inquiry in order to form useful questions. The practice of philosophical inquiry and its
Curriculum Proposal: Revised 04.25.14; 09.09.14
Academic Senate Approved: 05.02.14
Page 6 of 8
use in public discourse is at the center of developing responses and communicating them in the public arena, and
this course hinges on the fundamental need to both know one's audience and to communicate adequate and
convincing reasons to that audience in order to affect social change and critical reflection.
o Critical Thinking: Explain how the proposed GE course fulfills at least one of the CR GE outcomes in this category.
The course focuses on current and historical problems of environmental concern and is at center a course in critical
thinking on a variety of complex, interdisciplinary levels, including historical, cultural, scientific, economic, and
practical issues. The skills list required for ENVSC 11 is a detailed description of what is meant by the term "critical
thinking":
• 1. Reading and comprehending complex arguments carefully and thoughtfully.
• 2. Analyzing details of philosophical arguments to form individual interpretations.
• 3. Recognizing the relationship between theoretical complexities and practical considerations.
• 4. Writing to discover, to articulate, and to clarify an interpretation in response to complex questions.
o Global Awareness: Explain how the proposed GE course fulfills at least one of the CR GE outcomes in this category.
ENVSC 11 encompasses the Global Awreness category in all of its ramifications: students in the course read and
respond to arguments about global economics, cultural difference, and historical change relevant to multiple places,
times, and topics. Students in this course will read about and discuss topics as diverse as anthropogenic global
climate change, various cultural concepts of animal life and domestication, therapeutic hunting, ecosystemic
viability vs. political practicality, government regulation of land use, and more. Students who successfully complete
this course will enhance their global perspectives in multiple ways.
GE Criteria for Breadth and Generality
GE courses should be broad and general in scope. Typically such courses are introductory-- not advanced or
specialized—and the content encompasses a broad spectrum of knowledge within a given field of study.
Explain how the proposed GE course fulfills GE criteria for breadth and generality.
The course exposes students to texts and ideas as varied as creation narratives, academic philosophical argument, and
modern environmental discourse. It introduces students to the general discipline of environmental studies from the
broad interdisciplinary perspectives available, including aspects of philosophy, history, literature, biology, earth sciences,
art, sociology, economics, political science, anthropology, and geography.
CR GE Area Designation
Course Learning Outcomes and Course Content should provide evidence of appropriate GE Area Designation.
Additional rationale for GE Area Designation (optional):
A course in environmental philosophy and humanities, ENVSC 11 engages a wide variety of ideas and arguments
addressing multiple perspectives in environmental history from early agriculture through feudalism and tribal concepts of
relationships to nature, as well as early and late industrialization, concluding by vigorously examining globablization and
its effects on societies across class structures and over a wide spectrum of ethnicity. Texts examined in the course treat
such varied concepts and topics as collective behavior as it applies to gendering nature, cultural affinity for flora, fauna,
and place, creation narratives from across time, place, and culture, socio-economic oppression and equality,
environmental racism and environmental justice, and colonialism and neo-colonialism, and the effects of resource
extraction, sustainability and non-governmental organizations in the developing world. Cultural epistemes creating values
relevant to non-human animals, land use, social organization and governance structures, and topophilia are also explored
in depth.
Area A:
Area B:
Area C:
Area D:
Natural Science
Social Science
Humanities
Language and Rationality
D1: Writing
D2: Oral Communications
D3: Analytical Thinking
Area E: Multicultural Understanding*
*To be considered part of CR GE Area E, all courses must meet the following two conditions: 1. The course must
also be (or be proposed) in one other CR GE area AND 2. The course must be articulated with HSU as meeting
their lower-division Diversity and Common Ground GE requirement.
Curriculum Committee Approved: 04.25.14; 09.01.14
Academic Senate Approved: 05.02.14
Page 7 of 8
PROPOSED CSU GENERAL EDUCATION BREADTH (CSU GE) (Check at least one box below):
NO PROPOSAL
A. Communications and Critical Thinking
A1 – Oral Communication
A2 – Written Communication
A3 – Critical Thinking
B. Science and Math
B1 – Physical Science
B2 – Life Science
B3 – Laboratory Activity
B4 – Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning
C. Arts, Literature, Philosophy, and Foreign Language
C1 – Arts (Art, Dance, Music, Theater)
C2 – Humanities (Literature, Philosophy, Foreign
Language)
D. Social, Political, and Economic Institutions
D0 – Sociology and Criminology
D1 – Anthropology and Archeology
D2 – Economics
D3 – Ethnic Studies
D5 – Geography
D6 – History
E. Lifelong Understanding and Self-Development
D7 – Interdisciplinary Social or Behavioral Science
E1 – Lifelong Understanding
D8 – Political Science, Government and Legal Institutions
E2 – Self-Development
D9 – Psychology
Rationale for inclusion in this General Education category: Same as above
Proposed Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) (Check at least one box below):
NO PROPOSAL
1A – English Composition
1B – Critical Thinking-English Composition
1C – Oral Communication (CSU requirement only)
2A – Math
3A – Arts
3B – Humanities
4A – Anthropology and Archaeology
4B – Economics
4E – Geography
4F – History
4G – Interdisciplinary, Social & Behavioral Sciences
4H – Political Science, Government & Legal Institutions
4I – Psychology
4J – Sociology & Criminology
5A – Physical Science
5B – Biological Science
6A – Languages Other Than English
Rationale for inclusion in this General Education category: Same as Above
Submitted By: Peter Blakemore
Tel. Ext.: 4314
Dean/Director: Tracey Thomas
Date: 4-20-15
Review Date: 4/24/15
For Dean/Director only: Does this course change require a substantial or nonsubstantial change to a degree? Yes
CURRICULUM COMMITTEE USE ONLY
Approved by Curriculum Committee: No
Yes
Date: 05.08.15
Academic Senate Approval Date: 05.15.15
Board of Trustees Approval Date:
Curriculum Committee Approved: 04.25.14; 09.01.14
Academic Senate Approved: 05.02.14
Page 8 of 8
No