ENR 2000 Syllabus: Environment and Society
Spring 2009
Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:20 – 2:35
Agriculture 4021
Instructors
Jill Lovato, Instructor, Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources
Office: 208 Wyo. Hall
Office Hours: Mondays 9:00 – 10:30, Wednesdays 1:00 – 2:30, and by appointment
Email: jillberg@uwyo.edu Phone: 766-5146
Tara Nelson, Office of the President
Office: 206 Old Main
Office Hours: Mondays 2:00 – 3:30, Wednesdays 10:00 – 11:30, and by appointment
Email: trnelson@uwyo.edu Phone: 766-4019
Mandy Vellia, Graduate Student, American Studies
Office: Cooper House, upstairs
Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:45 – 4:00, Wednesdays, 3:30 – 5:30
Email: avellia@uwyo.edu Phone: 766-3898
Course Information
Readings: Many readings will be provided and can be found and downloaded from the WyoWeb course
webpage. Required texts may be purchased through the University Bookstore or other book retailers.
They are:
Carson, R. 1962. Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York.
Diamond, Jared. 2005. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Penguin Press, New York.
USP Designation: This course fulfills the Global Awareness (G) requirement of the 2003 University
Studies Program. Global Awareness (G) courses strive to broaden our perspectives through the
exploration of viewpoints from other societies, cultures, religions, or geopolitical regions. With an eye on
both historical and contemporary experience, G courses are designed to challenge our assumptions about
the ways of the world and to help us understand and embrace global cultural diversity.
Purpose: This course will explore the cultural dimensions of environmental and natural resource issues, in
particular the ways in which people perceive, approach and evaluate the environments and natural
resources they use. Environmental issues will be examined within a number of cultural contexts using case
studies to illustrate the contemporary and historical role of individuals and societies in identifying and
addressing environmental issues at scales ranging from local to global. Students will develop the ability to
compare and contrast the unique characteristics of differing cultural relationships with the environment, as
well as the universality of human experience with the physical world through examination of traditions and
social organization within contemporary western, indigenous and global/international human systems.
Students will develop the ability to analyze and understand the interconnectedness of global and local
concerns. Our own culturally-based assumptions about our relationship with the environment will be
challenged, and alternative viewpoints for relating to the environment on a cultural and personal level will
be explored.
ENR 2000: Spring 2009
Class objectives include the following:
 to introduce students to classic texts within the environmental canon;
 to explore environmental viewpoints from other societies and culture;
 to consider our personal relationships with the environment;
 to encourage students to personalize their relationship to the environment and understand the human
perspectives and lenses that shape how they and others relate to the environment, as well as the
interconnectedness of global and local concerns;
 to examine the unique characteristics of differing cultural relationships with the environment, as well as
the universality of human experience with the physical world through examination of contemporary
and historic western, indigenous and global/international cultural contexts;
 to challenge our assumptions about the ways of the world and to help us understand and embrace
global cultural diversity;
 to help students develop and/or refine skills in analysis, critical thinking, and writing;
 to give students experience working in a collaborative setting; and
 to give students experience in taking responsibility for their own learning.
Prerequisites: None.
Grade Policies and Distribution
Grading:
Grading will be on a straight scale:
A = 90-100%, B = 80-89%, C = 70-79%, D = 60-69%, F = < 60%.
Attendance and Participation
Reading Response Activities
Independent Research Paper and Presentation:
Global Group Project:
Total
150 points
150 points
100 points
100 points
500 points
Course organization and assignments
Attendance and Participation
This course requires active participation and engaged listening from all class members. You will be
expected to attend class and share your thoughts and ideas with the class. Good participation is a matter
of both quality and quantity. Good participation reflects the material or area of discussion of the given
class. If you do not volunteer thoughts, you may be asked to contribute. Complete attendance, with limited
(or no) unexcused absences, will be rewarded. More than three unauthorized absences during the course of
the semester will result in a reduction in your overall grade by one letter. Six absences will result in a
reduction of your overall grade by two letters. Nine absences will result in failure of the class. We consider
three (3) tardies as one (1) absence. Please refer to University Regulation 713 (Student Absence Policy) for
information on what constitutes an authorized absence. Please email one of the instructors as soon as
possible if you cannot attend class because of illness or an emergency situation.
Reading Response Activities (RRAs):
Coming to class ready to discuss the readings is essential to the success of the class. Reading response
activities (RRA) will be used to develop class discussions and assess your overall preparedness to engage in
a full class discussion. RRAs are written responses to questions the instructors provide about the reading
assignments. They will either be written at home ahead of class or during the beginning of class time. The
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ENR 2000: Spring 2009
purpose is to hold you accountable for the reading assignments, to generate class discussion, and for you
to practice producing written responses to material you have just read.
Independent Research Paper and Presentation:
Each student will select one of the authorized course texts (or gain approval for a suggested text) as the
basis for a report, 5-7 pages in length and including a 10 minute oral presentation. More information on
the requirements for this report will be provided in a separate handout.
Group Project Report and Presentation Guidance:
Class members will divide into groups to prepare a paper and presentation on a global society, using Jared
Diamond’s five-point framework. More information regarding the group project requirements will be
provided in class.
Writing Guidelines
Excellent written communication is essential to being an effective natural resource manager, policy maker,
involved and effective citizen, as well as a successful college student. Writing assignments require the
student to research a diversity of source materials and to cite these appropriately. All assignments will be
evaluated on content as well as writing mechanics (grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.) and style (clarity,
flow, etc.). All papers should be double-spaced and have the following: 1” margins on all sides; 12 point,
Times font; subheadings to organize content; and page numbers.
Student Support
If you have a physical, learning, or psychological disability and require accommodations, please let the
instructors know as soon as possible. You will need to register with, and provide documentation of your
disability to, University Disability Support Services (UDSS) in SEO, room 330 Knight Hall, 766-6189,
TTY: 766-3073.
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ENR 2000: Spring 2009
ENR Student Code of Conduct
1.
Students should exhibit respectful classroom values and behavior by:
•
engaging in appropriate communication, interaction and preparedness;
•
demonstrating trust, respect and civility;
•
approaching course content as important and necessary;
•
meeting all deadlines for assignments and team member obligations;
•
turning off cell phones in class;
•
avoiding unnecessary talking; and
•
refraining from reading outside material or doing other work during class.
2.
Students should contribute to a positive learning environment by:
•
coming to class prepared for the session’s activities as outlined in the class schedule;
•
arriving, attending and departing class in a respectful manner;
•
taking responsibility for team and individual assignments; and
•
developing cooperative relationships with other students and faculty.
3.
Students should support a professional learning environment by:
•
avoiding inappropriate language;
•
refraining from unrealistic expectations in dealing with administration, faculty and staff;
and
•
communicating with the instructor if changes could be made to improve the learning
environment.
4.
Students must uphold the academic integrity standards expected by the University of Wyoming.
Academic integrity is conceptualized as doing and taking responsibility for one’s own work. This includes
individual assignments and the assumption of responsibility for work that is turned in as the “work
product” of a team. Each team member is equally responsible for the work presented as the output of that
team’s effort. Each team member must carefully collaborate and have jointly participated in the final
output. The University of Wyoming’s definition of Academic Dishonesty referenced in the Student Code
of Conduct: “An act attempted or performed which misrepresents one’s involvement in an academic task
in any way, or permits another student to misrepresent the latter’s involvement in an academic task by
assisting the misrepresentation.” These acts include, but are not limited to: “Representing as one's own
work material copied or borrowed from any source, written or otherwise, public or private, without proper
citation of the source.” See University of Wyoming Regulation 802. A good rule of thumb is to never use
more than five consecutive words from a source without providing a citation. Student work may be
evaluated for plagiarism using anti-plagiarism software if the instructor suspects academic dishonesty.
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ENR 2000: Spring 2009
Texts for ENR 2000 Independent Research Paper Requirement*
Each student will read one book from the following list for a report and presentation to the class.
Unit I: Defining our environment:
Title
Desert Solitaire
Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land
Use in America
The Book of Yaak
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
The Solace of Open Spaces
Illumination in the Flatwoods: A Year with the Wild
Turkey
Into the Wild
Close Range: Wyoming Stories
Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2
Walden
Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert
The Last Season
One Man's Wilderness; an Alaskan Odyssey
Author
Abbey, Edward
Babbitt, Bruce
Date published
1985 (essays)
2005 (nonfiction)
Bass, Rick
Dillard, Annie
Erlich, Gretel
Hutto, Joe
1996 (literary nonfiction)
1998 (essays)
1986 (literary nonfiction)
2006 (literary nonfiction)
Krakauer, John
Proulx, Annie
Proulx, Annie
Thoreau, Henry D.
Williams, Terry Tempest
Eric Blehm
Richard Proenneke
1997 (literary nonfiction)
2000 (short stories)
2004 (short stories)
1910 (essays, memoir)
2002 (essays)
2005 (nonfiction)
1973
Unit II: Environment and indigenous society:
Title
Author
To Timbuktu: A Journey Down the Niger
Jenkins, Mark
All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and
Life
The Snow Leopard
Journeys to the Far North
Culture of Habitat: On Nature, Culture, and Story
What You See in Clear Water: Life On the Wind
River Reservation
Ceremony
Savage Dreams: A Journey into the Landscape Wars
of the American West
Matthiessen, Peter
Murie, Olaus
Nabhan, Gary
O'Gara, Geoffrey
Date published
1997 (literary nonfiction,
travel)
1999 (nonfiction, poetry,
folklore, philosophy)
1987 (literary nonfiction)
1964 (nonfiction)
1988 (essays)
2001 (nonfiction)
Silko, Leslie Marmon
Solnit, Rebecca
1977 (fiction)
1994 (nonfiction)
LaDuke, Winona
Unit III: Collapse: looking at patterns in history to bridge the present to the future:
Title
Author
Date published
Guns Germs, and Steel
Diamond, Jared
1999 (nonfiction)
River Teeth
Duncan, David James
1995 (stories, essays)
Tracks
Erdrich, Louise
1988 (fiction)
Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious
Lockwood, Jeff
2004 (nonfiction)
Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the
American Frontier
The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age Quammen, David
1997 (nonfiction,
of Extinctions
adventure)
Cadillac Desert: The American West and its
Reisner, Mark
1993 (nonfiction)
Disappearing Water
Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for
Solnit, Rebecca
2007 (essays)
Politics
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ENR 2000: Spring 2009
Marking the Sparrow’s Fall: The Making of the
American West
The Abstract Wild
Stegner, Wallace
1999 (essays, novella)
Turner, Jack
1996 (essays, philosophy)
Unit IV: Environmentalism and the modern environmental movement:
Title
Author
The Monkey Wrench Gang
Abbey, Edward
Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William
Callenbach, Ernest
Weston
Forcing the Spring
Gottlieb, Robert
Encounters with the Archdruid
McPhee, John
Control of Nature
McPhee, John
The Botany of Desire
Pollan, Michael
The Omnivore’s Dilemna
Pollan, Michael
Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
Williams, Terry Tempest
Date published
2000 (fiction)
1975 (fiction)
1993 (nonfiction, history)
1971 (essays)
1989 (essays)
2001 (nonfiction)
2006 (nonfiction)
1991 (memoir)
*Students may also propose an alternative book for the book report assignment. The student should not
have previously read the book, and permission from the instructors must be granted in advance.
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ENR 2000: Spring 2009
Tentative Class Schedule
Subject to change at instructors’ discretion
Unit I: Defining our environment
Date
13 Jan
Reading
Activity
Introductions, course overview (exploring the universality of human
experience with the physical world through examination of
traditions and social organization within contemporary western,
indigenous and global/international human systems), facilitated
discussion around course expectations.
15 Jan
Bring an image of the
environment for in-class writing
Lottery of books for independent research reports; written response
to personal image
20 Jan
Berry 1985, Galvin 1992, Hogan
1995
Reading response activity, human relationships to the environment
22 Jan
Cullinan 2008, White 1996
What is nature?; the value of landscapes; work, play and
environmentalism
27 Jan
Corbett 2006
Talking about the environment: why can “environmentalist” be a
dirty word?
Unit II: Environment and the indigenous society
Date
3 Feb
Reading
Tribe Land Ethic
Tribe website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/tribe/
Activity
Review of Unit I, what is a native or indigenous group?; book
reports
5 Feb
Barnhill 2005, Bol 1998, Chief
Seattle 1854
Reading response activity; cultural views of nature; book reports
10 Feb
Krech III 1998, Momaday 1998
Romance versus reality of indigenous relationships with the
environment; book reports
12 Feb
Film: In the Light of Reverence, discussion; book reports
17 Feb
Book reports; Film: In the Light of Reverence; Discussion wrap-up and
link to Unit III
Unit III: Collapse: looking at patterns in history to bridge the present to the future
Date
24 Feb
Reading
Diamond 2005
Activity
Introduction to Diamond and Collapse (prologue); book reports
26 Feb
Diamond 2005
Chapter 2: Easter Island; Discussion; book reports
3 March
Diamond 2005
Chapter 6 : Vikings, discussion; book reports
5 March
Diamond 2005
Chapter 10: Rwanda; Reading response activity; discussion; book
reports; mid-semester evaluations
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ENR 2000: Spring 2009
10 March
Diamond 2005
Chapter 11: Dominican Republic and Haiti; Discussion; book
reports
12 March
Diamond 2005
Chapters 14 & 16; Discussion; wrap-up Unit III and link to Unit IV
Unit IV: Environmentalism and the modern environmental movement: redefining our
environment
Date
Reading
Activity
17 March
Spring Break
No class
19 March
Spring Break
No class
24 March
Leopold 1949
Reading response activity; discussion: pioneers of the modern
environmental movement; book reports
26 March
Carson 1962
Chapters 1-3; Reading response activity; discussion; book reports
31 March
Carson 1962 and Lockwood
(forthcoming)
SPECIAL LUNCHTIME SESSION: Jeff Lockwood (discussant) and
lunch
2 April
Carson 1962
Student presentations of Carson (1962) chapters 4-8; book reports
7 April
Carson 1962
Student presentations of Carson (1962) chapters 9-14; book reports
9 April
Carson 1962 and Maniates
2001
Carson (1962) chapters 15-17; discussion: who is responsible for the
state of the environment?; book reports
April 14
Shellenberger and Nordhaus
2004 and 2007
Reading response activity; discussion: the death of environmentalism as
we know it; book reports
Global Group Project and Discussion
Date
16 April
Reading
N.A.
Activity
Global group project work day
21 April
N.A.
Global group project presentations (2)
23 April
N.A.
Global group project presentations (2)
28 April
N.A.
Global group project presentations (1); peer evaluations; class
wrap-up
30 April
N.A.
Final course retrospection (in-class writing activity), course
evaluations
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