Course Syllabus
Environmental Ethics and Politics
POT 3503-12BD; Spring 2015
MWF period 6 (12:50 – 1:40) Instructor Seaton Tarrant
Classroom: FAC127 Office: Anderson Hall 320
Office Hours: Wednesday 2 – 3pm ; Friday 9 – 10am Email: seatonius@ufl.edu
Course Description
Environmental Ethics is the study of human values and relationships with(in) the non-human world. This course will explore possible historical roots of our current environmental situation and contemporary responses from a variety of disciplines and worldviews. We will explore environmental virtues, obligations of environmental citizenship, and “deep” approaches to connecting with the world. We will discuss this body of knowledge with respect to our own personal and collective relationships with the earth, and specifically with regard to climate change, food scarcity, and technological approaches to environmental flourishing. This year we are focusing on climate change and innovation strategies along side classic literature in environmental ethics.
Course Objectives
Students taking this course will:
1. Gain knowledge of a diverse spectrum of environmental ethics issues and scholarship, including the role of religion and distinct cultural worldviews, the impact of ecological and systems sciences, and different approaches to naming and valuing nature.
2. Become familiar with the discourses of ecofeminism, deep ecology, sustainability, environmental justice, and environmental pragmatism.
3. Critically assess, evaluate and utilize interdisciplinary knowledge to reflect upon and discuss the most pressing environmental issues of our time.
4. Demonstrate effective research and writing skills, articulate and defend their own understanding of environmental ethics as it applies to specific environmental issues.
5. Practice learning and thinking critically, constructively and collaboratively about the relationship between humans and the planet we inhabit.
Required Texts
(HE) Berry, Wendell, Home Economics. Counterpoint Press, 2009.
(NH) Snyder, Gary, Nobody Home. Trinity University Press, 2014.
(TCE) Klein, Naomi, This Changes Everything. Simon and Shuster, 2014.
(DF) Ausubel, Kenny, Dreaming the Future: Reimagining Civilization in the Age of Nature. Chelsea Green Publishers, 2012.
Course requirements and grading
Weekly Reading Notes – 30%
Weekly Class Notes – 30%
Weekly reading notes and class notes will be kept in a spiral notebook or electronically. If you decide to keep your notes electronically, you will be required to do so using a Canvas ePortfolio. Directions for this can be found at http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/40313-what-is-an-eportfolio. If you keep your notes in a spiral notebook, every page should be dated, and no pages should be left blank. This notebook will be graded twice during the term.
Current Events Discussion Post – 10%
Each week, three to four students will post a current event relevant to this weeks readings, in short essay form with at least three hyperlinks that connect their peers to news content especially relevant to the current event. Each post should include a provocative image to attract your peers. Hyperlinks should be embedded, not listed at the end of the post. Your discussion post should be opinionated and pose a challenging question to the class. Highest grades go to those posts that garner the most student replies. Current Event Discussion Posts are due Monday at noon. This means, the week you are assigned a discussion post, you should have all the reading for the week completed and your discussion post completed before the first day of class that week.
Current Event Replies – 10%
Each week I will be monitoring replies to Current Event Discussion Posts. Students who consistently reply with a substantial, opinionated comment to at least one of the current event discussion posts will receive a full ten points; your reply needn’t be lengthy, but it must show that you have investigated the resources provided in the discussion post, and your opinion has been informed by what you found. Students who respond to a discussion post every couple weeks should expect to receive 5 of the 10 points. Students who wait till the last month of the term and then start replying obsessively will receive 3 points. Students who wait till the last two weeks of the term and then start replying will receive a pat on the back. Current Event Replies are due by Friday at 3pm.
Final Exam – 20%
The final exam will involve a short section defining key terms, followed by an essay. Students may opt out of the final exam and complete a 15 page, double-spaced, 1-inch margin research paper instead. For highest marks this paper should include reference to at least 20 academic sources.
Course Policies
While Laptops are allowed in class for taking notes, or reading electronic copies of a book, I reserve the right to revoke this for any student that comes to class but fills their 50 minutes with social media, email, or work for another course.
While food is allowed in class, I ask that you bring only non-obtrusive, non-fast-foods to the class. In other words, a sandwich, fruit, nuts, a cup of yogurt, a piece of chocolate, and the like are always fine. A huge burrito that fills your desk, a big bag of crinkly potato chips, or any sort of food that makes the classroom smell like the inside of a McChickKing, are not allowed.
Reading Schedule
The Reading Schedule through April 13th is available on your Canvas Calendar. Please refer to the Canvas calendar each week for what is due. The Gary Snyder book of letters is included in this course as “toilet reading.” This means, you should keep this book around during the semester; read it at your leisure, and be sure to incorporate what you found there into your reading notes for the course. Also feel free to bring up what you read in this book during class discussions.
After April 13th, you have the choice among a number of related topics to read as a small student discussion group. Students will meet in the setting of their choice for these discussions. At least four people must choose a topic or else it will be dropped. I will assign group leaders within each reading group, based on the quality of work so far reviewed. We will discuss all of them generally as a group.
Topics include:
Geoengineering
Ecofeminism
Eco-pragmatism
Ecological Democracy
Place and Community
Environmental Justice
Environmental Education
Deep Ecology
Animal Rights
Florida Cutting Back on Solar Incentives and Reneging on new standards
Obama’s 2025 Carbon Cut Target Agreement with China
Date Details
Wed Jan 7, 2015
Come to Class! 12am
Fri Jan 9, 2015
Berry, 49-53 and 76-97 12am
Shrader-Frechette, 178-194 12am
The problem with meaning 12am
Mon Jan 12, 2015
Against Environmentalism 12am
Berry, 21-48 12am
Wed Jan 14, 2015
Malthus on Population 12am
Thoreau on Perfectibility 12am
Fri Jan 16, 2015
Limits to Growth 1-44 12am
Mon Jan 19, 2015
Watch Klein on Colbert: http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/k5a58t/naomi-klein 12am
Wed Jan 21, 2015
Klein, ch 1 12am
Fri Jan 23, 2015
Klein, ch 2 12am
Mon Jan 26, 2015
Klein, ch 3 12am
Wed Jan 28, 2015
Klein, ch 4 12am
Fri Jan 30, 2015
Klein, ch 5 12am
Mon Feb 2, 2015
Schumacher, “Age of Plenty” 12am
Wed Feb 4, 2015
Lynn White – The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis 12am
Fri Feb 6, 2015
Smith, “The Purpose of Wealth” 12am
Mon Feb 9, 2015
Berry, p. 54-75 12am
Berry, p.123-135 12am
Wed Feb 11, 2015
Salatin, “Everything I want to do is illegal” 12am
Fri Feb 13, 2015
Interlude ~ Environmental Political Thought readings 12am
Mon Feb 16, 2015
EPT Readings Part 2 12am
Wed Feb 18, 2015
EPT Readings 3 12am
Fri Feb 20, 2015
EPT 4, Eckersley, Role of States 12am
Mon Feb 23, 2015
Journal Collection 1 due by 11:59pm
Wed Feb 25, 2015
Muir, “Wild Wool” 12am
Wapner, Introduction 12am
Fri Feb 27, 2015
Berry, p. 137-151 12am
Slaughter 2011 12am
Mon Mar 2, 2015
spring break 12am to Mar 6 at 12am
Mon Mar 9, 2015
Concepts and Frameworks 1 12am
Wed Mar 11, 2015
Concepts and Frameworks 2 12am
Fri Mar 13, 2015
Excerpts in the key of Gaia 12am
Mon Mar 16, 2015
Klein, ch 7 12am
Wed Mar 18, 2015
Ausubel, p.1-20 12am
Fri Mar 20, 2015
Ausubel, p.21-76 12am
Mon Mar 23, 2015
Klein, ch 9 12am
Wed Mar 25, 2015
Klein, ch 10 12am
Fri Mar 27, 2015
Ausubel, p.77-99 12am
Mon Mar 30, 2015
Ausubel, p. 100-142 12am
Wed Apr 1, 2015
Klein, ch 11 12am
Fri Apr 3, 2015
Ausubel, p. 143-164 12am
Mon Apr 6, 2015
Ausubel, p. 165-190 12am
Wed Apr 8, 2015
Deep Ecology Readings 12am
Fri Apr 10, 2015
Eco-Pragmatism Readings 12am
Mon Apr 13, 2015
Eco-Feminism Readings 12am
Wed Apr 15, 2015
summation discussion 12am
Fri Apr 17, 2015
student reading group selection 12am
Mon Apr 20, 2015
student reading groups 12am
Wed Apr 22, 2015
student reading groups 12am
Fri Apr 24, 2015
student reading groups 12am
Mon Apr 27, 2015
group reflection 12am
Journal Assessment 2 due by 11:59pm
Wed Apr 29, 2015
Final Exam due by 11:59pm
Current Event Replies
Current Events Post