BIO 605: Spring 2013
Graduate Seminar in Biology
Instructor: Dr. Kenneth Gobalet
Office: Science I, Room 120
Phone: 654-3038
Email: kgobalet@csub.edu
Office hours: Any time I am in my office and free, Monday- Thursday
Location: MW 1:00 – 3:05 PM Classroom Bldg. 104
Course Description: Formal student presentation on a topic of the student’s choice (e.g.
current research project) and discussion focusing on selected literature on the
Environmental Movement.
General Information/Course Format:
Biology 605 is a graduate-level seminar course. Student success or failure in the
course depends upon participation. Each student will give one formal (PowerPointbased) oral presentation (40 minutes to an hour) and one leading the discussion of
the assigned reading for that class meeting. During the formal presentation, nonpresenting students must be prepared to ask thoughtful questions of the presenter.
Students will also contribute to the grading of the formal presentations made by
their peers, but not the discussions. As the discussion leader for the less-formal
presentation, it will be your responsibility to provide an overview and lead the
discussion. The individual presentation will constitute 60% of the course grade.
Required Books:
Carson, Rachel. 1962. Silent Spring.
Dunlap, Thomas R. 2008. DDT, Silent Spring, and the Rise of Environmentalism.
Articles From: Peterson, L.H. and J.C. Brereton. 2008. The Norton Reader,
An Anthology of Nonfiction. 12th Edition.
Abbey, Edward. 1968. The Serpents of Paradise. in Desert Solitaire. (6 pgs)
Chief Seattle. 1855. Letter to President Pierce. (1 page)
Cronon, William. 1995. The Trouble with Wilderness (> 4 pgs. long)
Gore, Al 2004. The Climate Emergency (10 pages)
Krutch, Joseph Wood. 1961. The Most Dangerous Predator. (7 pgs)
Leopold, Aldo. 1949. The Land Ethic in A Sand county Almanac (6 pgs)
Muir, J. 1894. A Wind-storm in the Forests. in The Mountains of California. (6 pgs)
Pollan, Michael 2002. An Animal’s Place (15 pgs)
Steingraber, Sandra 2006. Time of the Tuna Fish (3 pgs)
Tuchman, Barbara 1978. This is the end of the World: The Black Death from A
Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century. (12 pgs)
Tuchman, B. 1978 supplement
Other Readings:
Diamond, Jared 2003. The Last Americans, Environmental collapse and the end of
civilization. Harpers Magazine (June)
Fiege, M. 2012. It’s a Gas, The United States and Oil Shock of 1973-1974. in: The
Republic of Nature, and Environmental History of the United States. (44 pgs)
Guha, R. 2006. Chapter 9. How Much Should a Person Consume? (30 pgs)
Guillette, L.J. and T. Iguchi. 2012. Life in a contaminated world. Science 337: 16141615.
Hardin, G. 1968. The tragedy of the commons. Science 162: 1243-1248.
Heckel, D.G. 2012. Insecticide resistance after Silent Spring. Science 337:1612-14.
McGlone, Matt. 2012. The hunters did it. Science 335: 1452-1453.
Reisner, Marc. 1993. Afterword to the Revised Edition. Cadillac Desert. (22 pgs)
Wallace, David R. 2011. Epilogue: The Sphinx’s Lair in Chuckwalla Land, the Riddle
of California’s Deserts. (7 pgs)
Wilson, E.O. 2002. How Much is the Biosphere Worth? in: The Future of Life (25 pgs)
And Perhaps:
Gore. Al. 2013. The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change.
Halverson, Anders 2010. An in Entirely Synthetic fish, How Rainbow trout Beguiled
America and Overran the World.
Chapter 8: A full-scale military operation
Chapter 12: It doesn’t do any good.
Video: An Inconvenient Truth
Date
April 3
Topic
Introduction, Instructor’s rambling pontification
Hardin 1968
April 8
Dunlap 2008: ix-62, Chief Seattle 1855, Muir 1894,
Tuchman 1978 and 1978 supplement
April 10
Dunlap 2008: 63-103, Diamond 2003, Abbey 1968.
April 15
Dunlap 2008: 104-144, Leopold 1949, McGlone 1012,
Pollan 2002
April 17
Carson: 1962 1-51, Wallace 2011, Steingraber 2006
April 22
Carson: 1962 53-100, Guha 2006
April 24
Carson: 1962: 103-152, Reisner 1993
April 29
Carson 1962: 155-216, Gore 2004
May 1
Carson 1962: 219-261, Wilson 2002
May 6
Carson 1962: 263-297, Guillette and Iguchi 2012, Heckel 2012.
May 8
Fiege 2012, Cronon 1995, Krutch 1961
May 13
Two Student Presentations
May 15
Two Student Presentations
May 20
Two Student Presentations
May 22
Two Student Presentations
May 27
Holiday
May 29
Two Student Presentations
June 3
Two Student Presentations
June 5
Two Student Presentations
June 10
Wrap up, instructor’s tree-hugging smug self righteousness
No Final