ENVS 411 Proposal
Wilderness Perceptions and the Balance between Consumerism
and Environmentalism.
Sarah Mazze
Greg Bothun
Course Description
The environmental movement or environmentalism is deeply rooted in history and culture
and at its core, represents a manifestation of the individuals’ relationship to nature. The
various forces that shape this individual relationship with nature will be the focus of this
class. At the root, environmental ethics and practices by various cultures are driven by their
spiritual relationship (or lack thereof) with the land as well as the culture’s respective balance
of humility versus arrogance. To illustrate this point we provide three, somewhat simplified
examples: 1) The Native Americans embraced the concept that the land is sacred because its
composed of the dust of their forefathers; 2) Europeans view the land as something that
needs to be shared and re-used in order to support and sustain the relatively crowded living
conditions from one generation to the next; 3) American with its wide open and pristine
lands, views land as something to be owned and then arbitrarily dealt with.
Environmentalism in America is therefore the convolution of all three of these ideals in that
transplanted Europeans (view 2 above) arrive to a pristine continent and own it, effectively
wiping out view 1 and then creating “Wilderness” areas after the fact! Our experience with
suggests that these kinds of viewpoints have not been strongly considered by the students in
our ENVS program and are only tangentially addressed in extant ENVS courses or
associated courses the students would take. This societal relationship to land must be
connected to the broader question of the meaning and practice of environmentalism in a
highly consumptive society. Are these mutually orthogonal (which leads to no convergence)
or can there be a method of co-existence that eventually leads to wisdom when it comes to
planetary resource management? Ultimately this comes down to a consideration of the
quality and manifestation of one’s own relationship with nature and we will ask our students
to critically think about this. We will urge our students to consider this history in conjunction
with what it means to be an environmentalist in a country where resource usage grows each
year – where essentially the land needs to be consumed first before wilderness areas are
created. What cultural impediments precluded us from consider the whole thing as
wilderness in the first place?
Throughout the class we will deeply examine perspectives and myths surrounding
wilderness; their origins and their effects on consumption, land classification, and the
environmental movement. We will explore the cultural and economic contexts of
colonization and expansion vs. cooperation and conservation as two different means of
resource management in order to put current environmental concerns into the proper
framework. We will directly address the overarching question, in a historical context, of the
need for environmentalism – that is, why doesn’t it come to us naturally? Why do we
require resource scarcity or destroyed ecosystems to act as a catalyst for the environmental
movement? That is, why, as a culture, do we seem to adopt a perception of
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wilderness and the importance of wilderness after most of it is gone? We, of course,
realize that there are no easy answers to these questions, but we propose this course in order
to introduce these questions to our students for discussion and investigation. We will focus
primarily on the United States, but will look at multiple cultural constructions of nature and
wilderness within other countries. The course will involve a considerable amount of reading
and discussion, which will be ameliorated by students’ weekly or bi-weekly written responses,
usually in the form of in-class mini-debates, to those readings. Students will move the topic
out of the theoretical by grounding their responses in local examples and applications of the
topics at hand. The course will have further grounding in a research project that considers
the effect of nature/society duality on either the Bureau of Land Management’s impact on
western states or a project of similar scope such as energy production in the Pacific
Northwest.
Course Goals
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To increase understanding of and exposure to the connection between our perspectives
on wilderness and our modus operandi.
To understand the historical context of nature/society duality and wilderness
perspectives and from that perspective to formulate a rational environmental strategy.
To apply that understanding to our local environment (in the broadest sense of the
word).
To improve critical thinking, writing, and research skills.
Course Justification
We feel that the course themes are important ones for students to examine deeply, both for
their own future in this field and for their ability to behave as responsible citizens. While
students spend some time on the topic during ENVS 201, the introductory nature of that
course does not allow for the level of depth and investigation that this course will offer.
This course is not an environmental history or ethics class but rather is an attempt to
integrate history and culture into a context that exists in the real world and in which the
environmental movement must successfully co-exist. In other words, so okay, students
want to change the world– what strategies are likely to be the most effective in the real
world, given our historical treatment of that world. This is meant to be an ambitious and
provocative course.
Scheduling
We would prefer to teach the course during winter term in two sessions of one hour and 20
minutes per week, but are open to other scheduling suggestions. Greg Bothun will be
teaching ENVS 350 in the fall that would serve as a good introduction and preparation for
any students who take both courses. Indeed, as there are two of us to shoulder the grading
burden in this class, we would be willing to take up to 40 students.
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Methods of Instruction
We plan to use several different instructional methods, including class discussion and debate
(based on readings of divergent viewpoints), small group projects, experiential activities and
brief lecturing. We would like this class to be a place where students can reflect on these
fundamental questions using various source materials as input. The operation of the class
will be modeled somewhat after the very successful Science and Culture class (now listed as
PHYS 361/HUM 361/HIST 361) taught by Bothun and John Nicols the last two years in
which multiple viewpoints are simulataneously introduced and discussed in real time by the
students.
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Schedule and Readings:
Week 1
Day 1: Introduction
- Themes: Wilderness myths – ancient and modern,
- Definitions of wilderness, nature.
- In class activity: What does wilderness mean to you? What does it do for you?
Assignment:
Day 2: What is wilderness and how does it affect the non-wild?
- Does it contribute to the creation of urban wasteland?
Assignment Due: Find a local example supporting either side.
Reading/Response Due:
- Cronon, William. “The Trouble With Wilderness; or Getting Back to the Wrong
Nature.” Cronon, William, Ed. Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in
Nature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1996.
- Soulé, Michael. “The Social Siege of Nature.” Soulé, Michael E. and Gary Lease,
Eds. Reinventing Nature? Responses to Postmodern Deconstruction. Washington D.C.:
Island Press. 1995.
Week 2
Day 1: Cultural Constructions of Nature
- Cultural context of place names
Reading/Response Due:
- Basso, Keith. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western
Apache. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1996. p. 3-36
Day 2: Cultural constructions cont.
Reading/Response Due:
- Price, Jennifer. “Looking for Nature at the Mall: A Field Guide to the Nature
Company.” Cronon, William, Ed. Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in
Nature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1996.
HWK Assignment 1 Due: Oregon Book of Names exercise
Week 3
Day 1: Religion and wilderness
Reading/Response Due:
- Turner, Fredrick W. Beyond Geography: The Western Spirit Against the Wilderness. New
York: Viking Press. 1980 p. 85-92, 118-143.
Day 2: Value systems/cultural Myth
- Ancient & modern myths: What do they do for us/say about us?
Reading/Response Due:
- Turner, Fredrick W. Beyond Geography: The Western Spirit Against the Wilderness. New
York: Viking Press. 1980 p. 95-117.
Term Project Part I Due
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Week 4
Day 1: Pristine Myth
- National Parks (United States)
Reading/Response Due:
- Olwig, Kenneth R. “Reinventing Common Nature: Yosemite and Mount
Rushmore – A Meandering Tale of a Double Nature.” Cronon, William, Ed.
Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature. New York: W.W. Norton
& Co. 1996.
Day 2: Constructed nature
Reading/Response Due:
- Spirn, Anne Whiston. “Constructing Nature: The Legacy of Frederick Law
Olmsted.” Cronon, William, Ed. Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human
Place in Nature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1996.
- Borgmann, Albert. “The Nature of Reality and the Reality of Nature.” Soulé,
Michael E. and Gary Lease, Eds. Reinventing Nature? Responses to Postmodern
Deconstruction. Washington D.C.: Island Press. 1995.
Week 5
Day 1: Pristine Myth abroad
- Ramifications of the myth on native populations
Reading/Response Due:
- Sluyter, Andrew. “Material-Conceptual Landscape Transformation and the
Emergence of the Pristine Myth in Early Colonial Mexico.” Zimmerer, Karl S.
and Thomas J. Bassett, Eds. Political Ecology: An Integrative Approach to
Geography and Environment-Development Studies. New York: The Guilford
Press. 2003.
Day 2: Pristine Myth abroad contd.
- Relocation of indigenous people
- What role should humans play?
Reading/Response Due:
- Newmann, Roderick P., “The Production of Nature: Colonial Recasting of the
African Landscape in Serengeti National Park.” Zimmerer, Karl S. and Thomas
J. Bassett, Eds. Political Ecology: An Integrative Approach to Geography and
Environment-Development Studies. New York: The Guilford Press. 2003.
Week 6
Day 1: The mighty frontier
- West, Elliot. The Way to the West: Essays on the Central Plains. Albuquerque:
University of New Mexico Press. 1995. p. 127-166
Day 2: Frontier remnants
- Modern Frontiers
Term Project Part II Due
Week 7
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Day 1: The environmental movement
- History of the movement in the U.S.
Reading/Response Due - First half of:
- Rothman, Hal. The Greening of a Nation? : Environmentalism in the United States Since
1945. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. 1998.
Day 2: Contd.
Reading Response Due: Second half of Rothman.
Week 8
Day 1: Daily life
Term Project Part III Due
Day 2: Connection to the Great Outdoors
Reading/Response Due:
- White, Richard. “’Are You an Environmentalist or Do You Work for a Living?’:
Work and Nature.” Cronon, William, Ed. Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the
Human Place in Nature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1996.
Week 9
Day 1: Student Presentations
Day 2: Student Presentations
Week 10
Day 1: Activism
Day 2: Wrap up discussion
Term Project Final Paper Due
Grading Criteria/Assignments
Reading Responses: 20%
- About one reading response per week.
Homework Assignments: 20%
- Creative assignments regarding wilderness perceptions.
Term Project: 40%
In groups, students will write-up and present research on either a state by state study
from 1935 to 1960 of all the western states greatly impacted by the Bureau of Land
Reclamation. Some student groups may chose to research a current project with a
similar scope of impact – for example, the effects of local energy production on the
Pacific Northwest. Each group will research a state or a region, integrating the
impacts of course themes on their chosen state or region.
 Part I: Description of state/region and of BLM work that took place
there.
 Part II: Examination of the impacts of the BLM on state/region and
connections with course themes.
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
Part III: Suggestions for alternate methods of proceeding with future
change.
 Final Paper: The final paper will be a synthesis and rewrite of the
previous parts.
 Presentation
Note: Parts I-III will be turned in throughout the term
Participation/Attendance/Discussion: 20%
Bibliography/Reading List
We anticipate assigning ~50 pages of reading per class from the following sources.
Week 1:
Cronon, William. “The Trouble With Wilderness; or Getting Back to the Wrong
Nature.” Cronon, William, Ed. Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in
Nature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1996.
Soulé, Michael. “The Social Siege of Nature.” Soulé, Michael E. and Gary Lease, Eds.
Reinventing Nature? Responses to Postmodern Deconstruction. Washington D.C.: Island Press.
1995.
Week 2:
Basso, Keith. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1996. p. 3-36
Price, Jennifer. “Looking for Nature at the Mall: A Field Guide to the Nature Company.”
Cronon, William, Ed. Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature. New York:
W.W. Norton & Co. 1996.
Week 3:
Turner, Fredrick W. Beyond Geography: The Western Spirit Against the Wilderness. New York:
Viking Press. 1980
Week 4:
Olwig, Kenneth R. “Reinventing Common Nature: Yosemite and Mount Rushmore – A
Meandering Tale of a Double Nature.” Cronon, William, Ed. Uncommon Ground:
Rethinking the Human Place in Nature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1996.
Spirn, Anne Whiston. “Constructing Nature: The Legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted.”
Cronon, William, Ed. Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature.
New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1996.
Borgmann, Albert. “The Nature of Reality and the Reality of Nature.” Soulé, Michael E. and
Gary Lease, Eds. Reinventing Nature? Responses to Postmodern Deconstruction. Washington D.C.:
Island Press. 1995.
Week 5:
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Sluyter, Andrew. “Material-Conceptual Landscape Transformation and the Emergence of
the Pristine Myth in Early Colonial Mexico.” Zimmerer, Karl S. and Thomas J.
Bassett, Eds. Political Ecology: An Integrative Approach to Geography and
Environment-Development Studies. New York: The Guilford Press. 2003.
Newmann, Roderick P., “The Production of Nature: Colonial Recasting of the African
Landscape in Serengeti National Park.” Zimmerer, Karl S. and Thomas J. Bassett, Eds.
Political Ecology: An Integrative Approach to Geography and EnvironmentDevelopment Studies. New York: The Guilford Press. 2003.
Week 6
West, Elliot. The Way to the West: Essays on the Central Plains. Albuquerque: University of New
Mexico Press. 1995. p. 127-166
Week 7
Rothman, Hal. The Greening of a Nation? : Environmentalism in the United States Since 1945. Fort
Worth : Harcourt Brace College Publishers. 1998.
Week 8
White, Richard. “’Are You an Environmentalist or Do You Work for a Living?’: Work and
Nature.” Cronon, William, Ed. Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature.
New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1996.
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Instructors’ Qualifications:
Dr. Darkmatter:
Bothun has a reasonably good history of teaching interdisciplinary courses (e.g. the science
and culture class with John Nicols – see http://zebu.uoregon.edu/2004/sc.html) and is
slightly more well rounded than the averaged tunnel vision physicist. He has taught for years
a course called Cosmology and the Origin of Life in which planetary management is used as
the basis for defining intelligent life in the Universe. He also enjoys teaching subversive
courses and forcing students to think about complicated issues.
Sarah Mazze:
I co-taught and designed an ENVS 411 titled “Comparative Approaches to
Sustainability” in fall of 2005; worked as a teaching assistant for ENVS 201; served as
project manager for the Service Learning Program’s campus energy conservation campaign;
and am currently project managing for a second campus based SLP project. Prior to my
experiences at the University of Oregon, I worked as a science teacher and crew leader for
an alternative education program at Lincoln Middle School in Cottage Grove, where I
integrated varied levels of curriculum with our activities on crew. Previously, I spent several
years working as an outdoor educator and naturalist for Naturalists at Large, Outward
Bound, and Adventures Cross Country. All of these positions honed my facilitation and
curriculum development skills.
I have received very positive feedback from my students in ENVS 411, ENVS 201, and
SLP. I have taken several workshops offered by the Teaching Effectiveness Program, and
plan to take advantage of more of their programming to prepare for this course.
Finally, my research topic directly involves the proposed topic of this course. I have
begun to and will continue to deepen my own understanding of the topic through
coursework and readings.
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