Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change
York University
UNDERGRADUATE COURSE SYLLABUS
Course: ENVS 4440 Environmental Disasters
Term: Winter 2026
Calendar Description
The overall objective of this course is to gain an understanding of the causes and responses to
natural and technological disasters. An in-depth examination of various case studies of disasters
will be used to illustrate the principles involved. Topics include: the history of disaster research,
emergency management, normal accidents, and the psycho-social impacts of disasters.
Selected themes in environmental disasters will be emphasized, including the ecological crisis,
post-normal thinking, ambiguity of harm, low probability extreme events, root causes, social
construction, vulnerability and disaster incubation. Selected case studies will be featured.
Prerequisite(s)
Fourth-year standing or by permission of the Course Director. Students with Third-year standing
may have access subject to space availability and approval from the Faculty.
Course Director
Dr. Peter R. Mulvihill
prm@yorku.ca
Course consultation hours: by appointment on campus or Zoom (Zoom link on eClass).
Course Management
The Course Director will be responsible for all components of the course. This course will take
place in-person. Students are expected to attend classes on campus. This is not a hybrid course
and there will be no remote access, recorded lectures or asynchronous elements.
Time and Location
Fridays 11:30 – 14:30 ACW 005 (Accolade West building)
Purpose and Objectives of the Course
The purpose of this course is to explore disasters from a variety of viewpoints and develop a
holistic perspective in the analysis of environmental disasters. The specific objectives of the course
include:
1. Discuss through case studies of environmental disasters, some of the factors that contribute
to the onset of disasters;
2. Critically examine some of the ways in which disasters are theorized and analysed;
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3. Develop an understanding of how disasters are not simply events, but processes that are
shaped by cultural, ecological, political and economic forces.
4. Explore concepts pertaining to disaster research such as resilience, vulnerability, risk
society, social construction, disaster incubation, manufactured risks, etc.
The specific learning outcomes of the course include:
1) Firm grasp of the context in which environmental disasters unfold;
2) Firm grasp of key and emerging concepts pertaining to disaster research and analysis;
3) The ability to critically analyse disaster cases;
4) An enhanced appreciation of the complexities involved in the analysis of disasters.
Organization of the Course
Content and format: required readings, lectures, discussions, weekly quizzes, occasional videos.
The required readings are central to the course. The lectures will serve to enrich, clarify, and
illustrate crucial issues from the readings. Students are responsible for attending all lectures and
taking careful notes. The course director will not distribute lecture notes. This course will use
eClass for dissemination of information and grades.
There will be a Quiz in class each week, beginning in Week 2. The Quiz questions will not be
available in advance and will pertain to the required readings and lecture from the previous week
(see weekly schedule). Quizzes must be hand-written on paper provided by the Instructor. Weekly
quizzes will begin promptly at 11:40 and end at 12:20. After a short break, lectures will begin at
12:30. In the event of lateness or absence, there will be no make-up quizzes.
Evaluation
The grade for the course will be based on the following items weighted as indicated:
80% Weekly quizzes, calculated on the basis of the student’s 9 best quiz marks over the semester
(best 9 out of 11 quizzes). The final quiz on April 4 will be a “double quiz”, with extra
weighting in the final calculation of quiz marks. Quiz marks will be posted weekly on eClass and
students will have received more than 50% of their overall grade by March.
20% Attendance and participation.
Final course grades may be adjusted to conform to Program or Faculty grades distribution profiles.
Required Readings
The required course readings consist of journal articles, all available electronically through the
York University Library. Students are responsible for accessing all required articles – this is an
essential library / research skill and a key requirement.
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Supplementary Reading
There are numerous books and journals and other sources pertaining to environmental disasters.
Students are encouraged to explore this literature.
Schedule of Topics and Readings by week
The following list of lecture topics and readings is subject to change. Remember that the readings
listed under each date will be discussed in the lecture that week.
January 9
Social construction and root causes of disasters / toxic disasters
Oliver-Smith, A., Alcantara-Ayala, I., Burton, I. & A. Lavell “The social
construction of disaster risk: Seeking root causes”. International Journal of
Disaster Risk Reduction 22(2017) 469-474
Freudenberg, W.R. “Contamination, Corrosion and the Social Order: An
Overview” Current Sociology July 1997, Vol. 45(3): 19-39
January 16
Quiz 1 (January 9 readings / lecture)
Engineering failure and disasters/ disasters and media
Vallero, D.A. & T.M. Letcher, Unravelling Environmental Disasters
(Chapter 1: Failure) Waltham, MA: Elsevier, 2013 (electronic book
available from York U. Library) pages 1-32
Bray, L.A. “Media and ‘undone science’ in West Virginia’s Elk River
chemical spill”. Environmental Sociology, 2017 Vol. 3, No. 4, 359-369
January 23
Quiz 2 (January 16 readings / lecture)
Normal accidents theory: implications for environmental disasters
Silvast, A. & I. Kelman “Is the Normal Accidents perspective falsifiable?”
Disaster Prevention and Management Vol. 22, No. 1, 7-16, 2013
Le Coze, J.C. “1984-2014. Normal Accidents. Was Charles Perrow Right
for the Wrong Reasons?” Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management
Volume 23, Number 4, December 2015
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January 30
Quiz 3 (January 23 readings / lecture)
Disaster incubation
Turner, B.J. “The Organizational and Interorganizational Development of
Disasters” Administrative Science Quarterly September 1976, volume 21,
378-397
Beamish, T.D. “Waiting for Crisis: Regulatory Inaction and Ineptitude and
the Guadalupe Dunes Oil Spill” Social Problems Vol. 49, No. 2 (2002) 150177
February 6
Quiz 4 (January 30 readings / lecture)
Post-normal thought and disasters / Black Swan theory
Marshall, B. K. & J. S. Picou “Postnormal Science, Precautionary
Principle, and Worst Cases: The Challenge of Twenty-First Century
Catastrophes” Sociological Inquiry Vol. 78, No. 2, May 2008, 230-247
Masys, A.J. “Black swans to grey swans: revealing the uncertainty”
Disaster Prevention and Management Vol. 21, No. 3 (2012) 320-335
February 13
Quiz 5 (February 6 readings / lecture)
Inaction and disasters / Post-normal (continued)
Buck, H., 2020. “Understanding inaction in confronting ecosystem
collapse: community perspectives from California’s Salton Sea” Ecology
and Society 25(1): 27
Rodriguez-Giralt, I. “Birds as lines: The production of alternative regimes
of environmental management in the aftermath of a toxic disaster”
Geoforum 66 (2015) 156-166
February 20
Reading Week (no class)
February 27
Quiz 6 (February 13 readings / lecture)
Social construction of environmental disasters: two cases
Worster, D. “Grass to Dust: The Great Plains in the 1930’s” Environmental
Review: ER Vol. 1, No. 3 (1976), pp. 2-11
Murphy, R. “Nature’s Temporalities and the Manufacture of Vulnerability”
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Time & Society Vol. 10, No. 2/3 (2001) 329-348
March 6
Quiz 7 (February 27 readings / lecture)
Learning from accidents & disasters? / Nuclear disasters
Sovacool, B.J., Kryman, M. & Laine, E. “Profiling technological failure and
disaster in the energy sector: A comparative analysis of historical energy
accidents”. Energy 90 (2015) 2016-2027
Aldrich, D., Forester, S. & E. Horhager, 2019. “Triggers for policy change:
the 3.11 Fukushima meltdowns and nuclear policy continuity”.
Environmental Politics Vol. 28, No. 7, 1214-1235
March 13
Quiz 8 (March 6 readings / lecture)
Extractivism and disasters / Oil disasters (1)
Bradshaw, S. (2024) “Extractivism and the engendering of disasters:
disaster risk creation in the era of the Anthropocene” Disaster Prevention
and Management 33(3): 194-205
Hellstrom, T. (1998) “The Exxon Valdez disaster: environmental safety
implementation in an incrementalist mode”. Social Science Information
Vol. 37, no. 2, 361-380
March 20
Quiz 9 (March 13 readings / lecture)
Oil disasters (2)
Joye, S.B. “Deepwater Horizon, 5 years on”. Science August 7, 2015 Vol
349 Issue 6248
Hoffman, A.J. & P. Devereaux Jennings, 2011. “The BP Oil Spill as a
Cultural Anomaly? Institutional Context, Conflict, and Change” Journal of
Management Inquiry 20(2): 100-112
Matejova, M., 2023. “Silver Linings: Environmental Disasters as Critical
Junctures in Global Governance”. Environment: Science and Policy for
Sustainable Development Vol. 65, No. 1, 4-14
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March 27
Quiz 10 (March 20 readings / lecture)
The Lac Megantic disaster / Preventing environmental disasters?
Dunford, D.T. “The Lac-Megantic Derailment, Corporate Regulation, and
Neoliberal Sovereignty” Canadian Review of Sociology 54:1 2017 69-88
Mulvihill, P.R. “Environmental disasters and the elusiveness of prevention”
Disaster Prevention and Management 33(4): 353-366 August 2024
April 6
Quiz 11 (March 27 readings) (3 questions, beginning 11:40, extra time)
For details on Grading Schemes, Assignment submissions, Lateness Penalties, Missed Tests, Group Work,
Inclusivity in EUC, Religious Observance Days, Academic Honesty, Intellectual Property Notice, Student Conduct,
Student Support and Student Accessibility Services. See https://euc.yorku.ca/academic-policies-procedurespetitions/ and go to “Undergraduate Courses Common Instructions”.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Apps
According to York’s Senate Policy on Academic Honesty, using AI apps such as ChatGPT, GPT-3, DALL-E,
among others to complete academic work without your instructor’s knowledge or permission, is considered to
be a breach of academic honesty. More specifically, using text-generating tools (such as ChatGPT) would be
considered to be cheating (Senate Policy, section 2.1.1) and using image-generating tools (such as DALL-E)
would be considered to be plagiarism (Senate Policy, section 2.1.3).
Academic Consideration for Missed Course Work (The following notes are excerpted from
University Policy on Academic Standards, Conduct of Examinations) This new policy will
be posted on the Senate website beginning Fall 2025 at the following webpage:
https://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/policies/?wpv_view_count=151&wpv_post_search&topic
valuevalue=academic-standards-grades-conduct-ofexaminations&approvalauthority=0&wpv_filter_submit=Search
This policy applies to students in all undergraduate academic credit courses, and students in integrated
(graduate/undergraduate) academic credit courses. The Policy does not apply to:
- Osgoode JD program
- requests for academic consideration for missed examinations during the scheduled formal
examination period, or
- assessments that are worth more than 20% of the overall course grade.
A. The following extenuating circumstances QUALIFY for students’ requests for academic
consideration under this policy:
i.
A short-term health condition such as illness, physical injury, or scheduled surgery;
ii.
Bereavement of an immediate family member; and/or
iii.
An unforeseen or unavoidable incident beyond a student’s control that precludes a
student from meeting their academic obligations.
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B. The following circumstances DO NOT QUALIFY for students’ requests for academic
consideration under this policy:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
Personal social obligations;
Travel unrelated to a student’s academic program;
Technological issues;
Non-medical circumstances such as family or employment obligations;
Ongoing physical or psychological illness or an existing disability;
- For ongoing illness or disability, students may contact Student Accessibility Services
for support. Accommodation may be sought through Student Accessibility Services
under the Policy, Guidelines and Procedures on Academic Accommodations for
Students with Disabilities.
Religious observances;
-Students may seek accommodation under the Policy, Guidelines and Procedures on
Academic Accommodation for Students’ Religious Observances.
Mandatory legal obligations such as jury duty;
-Students must inform instructors immediately on notification of legal obligation and
discuss alternate plans, where needed, to meet academic obligations.
C. Students may submit up to two self-reported absence requests per 12-week term, and one self-
reported absence request per six-week term, without needing an attending physician’s
statement.
D. Requests for academic consideration will cover a maximum period of seven (7) continuous
calendar days across all courses (hereafter the “consideration period”). The seven-day window
can be retroactive or proactive from the date of the missed assessment or assignment deadline.
E. An instructor, course department or Faculty may request supporting documentation, such as an
attending physician’s statement, for academic consideration requests beyond what is permitted
under 5.1.c. and 5.1.d. of this Policy.
F. Academic consideration, regardless of when requested or granted, will terminate at 08:30
Eastern Time (ET) on the day following the last day of classes in the term or at 23:59 ET on the
Sunday before the start of the exam period, unless otherwise specified by a student’s home
Faculty.
G. It is at the discretion of the course director, course department, or the Faculty, to determine
appropriate accommodation options for academic considerations granted under this policy,
which include but are not limited to:
i.
ii.
iii.
Waiver of assignment
An extension
A modified schedule for assignments, projects, labs, or placements
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iv.
v.
An alternative assignment
A re-weighting of term marks
H. Where built-in accommodations are established for the course for the 5.1.a, the Course
Director may decline providing additional accommodations based on 5.1.g.
I. Students must communicate with instructors about options for missed academic obligations no
later than two (2) business days after the end of the consideration period covered by the selfreported absence/request, or upon their return following an absence supported by medical or
other verifiable documentation.
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