2007–2008 Environmental Studies Courses
Disturbed Terrain: Environmental Design in the Twenty-First Century
Level: Open
Semester: Fall
This course investigates emerging technologies, philosophies, and practices of environmental design and management in the early twenty-first century, from the level of regional landscapes to the level of cells. What are the values, visions, and assumptions that animate contemporary developments in environmental design? What forms of technological know-how and knowledge production practices enable these developments? What ethical, aesthetic, and political implications might these shifts in the making of environments and organisms entail? The course begins with an introduction to debates on the nature of nature in conservation debates during the late 1990’s. We then turn to examine contemporary developments in environmental design in several domains including landscape architecture; cyborg technology; simulation, mediation, and virtual environments; and agriculture and biotechnology/ biowarfare. We examine the work of bioartists and engineers, landscape architects, genetic engineers working for private industry and the government, as well as the work of environmental collaboratories including the Critical Art Ensemble, Rhizome, and the New Media Caucus. Developments in contemporary environmental design, including fashion (dresses that self-illuminate in the presence of contaminants), environmental monitoring technologies, at scales ranging from the width of blood vessels to entire planets, form part of this itinerary. Attitudes toward pollution are undergoing sea changes as landscape designers remediate toxic sites using natural processes and time-scales. On a micro level, molecular biologists and nanoengineers are creating emergent forms of tissues and organisms. On the battlefield, the nature of war is rapidly changing. Monarch butterflies, funded by the Department of Defense, are being redesigned as cyber creatures, capable of flying to “hot zones” and conveying information to human screeners a half-world away from the actual battle scene. Organisms and organismic processes are being enlisted and drafted into military service. What does it mean to be human in this disturbed terrain? What might it mean to be a citizen in this changing state of nature?
Science, Politics, and Environmental Problems
Level: Open
Semester: Year
When we look into any of the host of environmental problems in the world today, we quickly come upon science and politics. Often we find ourselves in contact with an assumption that scientific evidence, free of political interests, leads to policy. At the same time, we are frequently faced with the contradictory belief that environmental policymaking is entirely political, with barely a pretense of a scientific base. As we shall see in this course, usually science and politics are inseparably stuck together in debates about environmental problems (and otherwise).
This year-long course begins with a discussion of how science and politics are produced together, even while they often appear to be binary opposites. We then examine the environmental policy-making process, giving attention to how scientific evidence is used as a resource in policy making, and how judgment is also used as a resource in policy making, even as it is sometimes obscured. We will also study the requirement in U.S. environmental law of public review, which involves the input of citizens – from the grassroots to the corporate – directly to administrative agencies and indirectly, via lawsuits and the courts. Along the way we will look at the origins of the idea of science-based policy in the Progressive Era. We will also examine the historical roots of public participation in the corporate response to decision making in administrative agencies.
We will then zero in on some case studies of the environmental laws of the 1970s, focusing on the preference in their letter for taking precaution rather than risk, and the preference in their implementation for risk-taking. Here we will learn about risk assessment, a policy-making technique that held and may still hold great promise, and its cousin cost-benefit analysis, which undermined the former in the neoliberal climate of the last three and a half decades. We will also give some attention to how burdens of proof have been established, and the “bad science” movement.
From the examination of the policy-making process, we will have seen how expertise is a very important a resource in influencing environmental policy. And we will take a look at expertise – its historical and social production, its political economy – asking the questions, How do people get to be experts? Why are some groups frequently represented among experts, and other groups not? What about the expertise of laypersons? We will discover that although expertise is a crucial resource for figuring out what should be done, the organization of expertise in our society conflicts with the value we place on democracy. We’ll end the course by reading about some visions of how the organization of expertise and environmental policy-making could be more democratic.
Strategies of Visibility: Arts of Environmental Resistance
Level: Intermediate
Semester: Fall
In Germany, landscape architects design public parks in which toxic chemicals, the residues of decades of industrial production, remain buried on the site and strangely colored flowers spring up, responding to the chemical contaminants in the soil. In rural Pennsylvania, designers work to revitalize the scarred, polluted terrain of mining landscapes. Across Europe, a natural science illustrator follows the track of the Chernobyl nuclear cloud, drawing deviations in the antennae, legs, chromatic patterns, and bodies of leafhoppers. Her work is an attempt to alert the public and the scientific community to the “mutant ecologies” we now inhabit and that inhabit us. In New York City, a political group identifies and exposes governmental and private sector surveillance sites. In the American Southwest, downwind from a nuclear reactor, a pack of robotic dogs is released to “sniff out” radiologically contaminated zones. How is the invisible made visible—rendered accessible to the senses and amenable to political action? This course is an exploration of the techniques, strategies, and effects of the politics of visibility in a variety of sites. We examine the strategies used by environmental and human rights groups to render visible that which is “invisible” or hidden. How, for example, do nongovernmental environmental organizations seek to publicize threats including radiological hazards or the presence of toxics? We look at these strategies and tactics in a number of media, including maps, biological illustrations, film/video, Internet sites, photographs, architectural plans, performances, as well as narrative techniques. This course draws on theory and cases in environmental design and environmental politics, performance studies, media studies, and human rights.
Sophomores and above, with permission of the instructor.
Courses in Related Disciplines
Concepts of International Law and Human Rights: Their History and Contemporary Practice
Level: Open
Semester: Year
Global human rights are rife with apparent contradictions. Should governments ignore fundamental freedoms and detain without trial individuals who might otherwise succeed in executing terrorist attacks? Why did the U.S. government help its corporations overseas guard their HIV medicine patents while threatening to breach its own patent for ciprofloxacin, a drug that treats anthrax? Why are some territories, but not others, permitted to secede from their predecessor state and achieve statehood? The first half of the course analyzes such apparent contradictions under different theories of human rights and international law as they have evolved over the previous several hundred years. The course will discuss the universalist, relativist, and central case approaches to human rights alongside the positivist and policy-oriented approaches to international law. By applying human rights and international law theories to global decision-making processes involving governments, nongovernmental organizations, the media, and other actors, the course offers varying explanations of global human rights as they currently exist. In the second half of the course, students will apply various human rights theories to different contemporary human rights problems, such as the right to self-determination under different models of national government; human rights and national security in the context of terrorism; socioeconomic rights of developing countries versus the rights of foreign corporations to the protection of investments; the right to medicines versus the patent rights of pharmaceuticals; gay and lesbian rights; women’s rights; freedom to practice religions that may be antithetical to other human rights; and freedom of movement across nations versus national rights to protect citizens and citizenship. If there is sufficient interest among seminar participants, students may each draft sections of a larger law review article on a pressing human rights issue.
Ecological Principles
Level: Intermediate
Semester: Spring
Ecology is the science of the relationship of living things to their living and non-living environments. While providing the underpinnings for environmentalism, ecology exists independently as a basic science. This course will introduce the student to the major concepts of ecology: the flow of energy and cycling of nutrients through ecosystems, the regulation of population size, the ways in which species are grouped together to form natural communities, and the factors that contribute to the stability of natural systems. These concepts will help students evaluate such current issues as biodiversity, global warning, ozone depletion, food production, and energy use. Classes will be augmented by field trips.
Environmental Chemistry
Level: Open
Semester: Fall
This course provides an introduction to the basic concepts of chemistry and their application to current environmental issues. Topics include acid rain, ozone depletion, air pollution, global warming, and surface water and groundwater pollution. We will then consider how human activities such as transportation, energy production, and chemical industries influence the environment.
First-Year Studies: Conflicts in Biology
Level: FYS
Semester: Year
As the frontiers of science are pushed forward, conflicts naturally emerge between new hypotheses and established ideas. Biology is no exception to this rule. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, new proposals examining the biological nature of humans and the living world have initially met with resistance and even ridicule before becoming established as modern paradigms. What appears obvious now was once regarded as revolutionary, while it is conceivable that current ideas one day will be regarded as bordering on the absurd. Oftentimes these conflicts arise not only due to the convergence of scientific principles, but also result from personality clashes of the individuals involved in the research area. Paradigm shifts have occurred in a variety of biological fields, ranging from early ideas on heredity and evolution to more recent advances in prions and mad cow disease, animal model usage, sex determination, cutting-edge cancer therapies, and the interplay between genes and the environment. Using these and other examples, we will examine the progress of biological thought and the persistence of the scientific method in changing our understanding of life.
First-Year Studies: Political Economics of the Environment
Level: FYS
Semester: Year
Is it possible to provide economic well-being to the world’s population without destroying the natural environment? Is sustainable development a possibility or a utopian dream? How do we determine how much pollution we are willing to live with? Why are toxic waste dumps overwhelmingly located in poor, frequently minority, communities? Whether through activities such as farming, mining, and fishing; through manufacturing processes that discharge wastes; or through the construction of communities and roadways, human economic activity profoundly affects the environment. The growing and contentious field of environmental economics attempts to analyze the environmental impact of economic activity and to propose policies aimed at balancing economic and environmental concerns. There is considerable debate, with some theorists putting great faith in the market’s ability to achieve good environmental outcomes, while others advocate much more direct intervention in defense of the environment, and some question the desirability of economic growth as a goal. Underlying these differences are political economic questions of distribution of power and resources among classes and groups within the United States and across the globe. This course will explore the range of views, with an emphasis on understanding the assumptions underlying their disagreements and on the policy implications of these views. The concepts will be developed through an examination of ongoing policy debates on issues such as air pollution and global warming, the decimation of the world’s fish population, automobiles and the reliance on petrochemicals, and the possibility of sustainable development.
Gender and Development: Politics, Violence, and Livelihoods in South Asian and African Societies
Semester: Spring
In this seminar, we will examine and discuss key issues of gender and development as they are relevant for rural and urban communities in African and South Asian countries. To what extent are gender politics used to include or exclude community members in the development process? How are gender associations used symbolically, and in what ways are these associations detrimental to gender equality? What limitations do community members face due to gender bias as they develop their livelihoods? To what extent is gender-based violence “learned” in schools and other institutional settings? What work is being done to improve gender equality in the development process? In Africa and South Asia, the geographical foci of the course, we will explore how gender has played a significant role in development, politics, violence, and livelihood strategies. We will begin with an overview of general themes and topics of gender and development, discussing issues of identity, misconception, and prejudice. We will discuss how the body is used metaphorically by societies and how this affects the roles of all individuals in various cultural contexts. We will explore specific case studies of gender politics, livelihoods, and violence in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, South Africa, the Gambia, and other African and South Asian countries. Complicated and sensitive issues such as HIV/AIDS, cultural initiation rights, and sexual violence will be discussed. This seminar will conclude with a hopeful look forward with an examination of work being conducted toward gender equality and analysis of projects using gendered approaches to the peace process. Weekly films, mass media, books, and selected readings will be used to inform debate and discussion. A structured conference project will integrate closely with one of the diverse topics of the seminar.
Sophomore and above. Some experience in the social sciences desired but not required.
General Biology
Level: Open
Semester: Year
The number and diversity of living organisms on earth is staggering, so common that we often take their very existence for granted. Yet the nature of these organisms, their mechanisms of survival, and their modes of interaction with each other and the environment form the basis of endless and fascinating study. This course serves as a fundamental introduction to the science of life—the broad field of biology. As such, we cover a wide variety of topics ranging from the microscopic to the macroscopic and the laboratory to the field. The course will be divided into three parts. The first portion of the year will focus on the biology of cells and the chromosomal basis of inheritance. We will then turn our attention to the mechanisms of evolution and biological diversity. Finally, we will conclude by examining organismal functions and ecology. In addition to the science involved, we will discuss the individuals responsible for major discoveries and the process of hypothesis formation, experimental design, and interpretation of results. Classes will be supplemented with weekly laboratory work.
Ms. Olson, first semester
Mr. Clarke, second semester
General Chemistry I
Level: Open
Semester: Fall
Chemistry is called the molecular science. The physical and biological world contains an almost infinite variety of molecules ranging from small (nitric oxide, sodium chloride, water) to intermediate (glucose, Prussian Blue) to large (asphalt, nylon, DNA). The objectives of chemistry are to isolate chemical substances from natural sources, to create new ones by synthesis, and to describe the properties of chemical materials. We will begin by developing the concept of atomic structure and the bonding tendencies of atoms. Then, with an understanding of molecular structure, we will explore how one molecule is transformed into another. Topics will include atomic and molecular structure; liquids, solids, and gases; and classes of chemical reactions, thermochemistry, and periodic properties of the elements. The laboratory will emphasize basic techniques in synthetic and quantitative chemistry.
General Chemistry II
Level: Intermediate
Semester: Spring
General Chemistry II is a continuation of General Chemistry I. Topics will include the properties of solutions, reaction rates, equilibrium, thermodynamics, acids and bases, electrochemistry, and introduction to organic chemistry and nuclear chemistry. The laboratory will emphasize basic techniques in synthetic and quantitative chemistry.
Global Geographies: From Colonization to the World Bank
Level: Open
Semester: Year
In this yearlong seminar, we will discuss and analyze competing paradigms and approaches to the concepts of “development” and the “third world.” We will begin by examining how the world functioned 500 years ago, in order to understand how the forms of development since then have impacted the way we live and think. This first part of the course will acquaint us with (and allow an analysis of) the historical origins and evolution of an international political economy of which the third world is an intrinsic component. We will thus study the transition from feudalism to capitalism, the rise of merchant and finance capital, and the colonization of the world by European powers. We will analyze case studies of colonial development to understand the evolving meaning of this term. In particular we will examine the Congo, South Africa, and India. These case studies will help us assess the varied legacies of colonialism apparent in the emergence of new nations through the fitful and uneven process of decolonization that followed. The next part of the course will look at the United Nations and the role some of its associated institutions have played in the post-World War II global political economy, one marked by persistent and intensifying socioeconomic inequalities as well as frequent outbreaks of political violence across the globe. By examining the development institutions that have emerged and evolved since 1945, we will attempt to unravel the paradoxes of development in different eras. We will deconstruct the measures of development through a thematic exploration of population, resource use, poverty, access to food, the environment, agricultural productivity, and different development strategies adopted by third world nation-states. We will then examine globalization and its relation to emergent international institutions and their policies. We will analyze the work of the IMF, World Bank, and WTO through a variety of readings. Throughout the course, our investigations of international institutions, transnational corporations, the role of the state, and civil society will provide the backdrop for the final focus of the course—the emergence of regional coalitions for self-reliance, environmental and social justice, and sustainable development. Conference work will be closely integrated with the themes of the course, with a two-stage substantive research project beginning in the fall semester and completed in the spring. Project presentations will incorporate a range of formats, from traditional papers to multimedia visual productions. Where possible, students will be encouraged to do primary research over the winter and spring breaks.
Global Value Chains: The Geographies of Our Daily Needs
Level: Open
Semester: Fall
In this seminar, we will examine and discuss key issues of globalization, consumerism, environmental justice, and global value chains. From day-to-day, we all use various commodities, such as coffee, fresh fruits and vegetables, chocolate, and gasoline. Perhaps we think about where these items on our daily shopping lists are made, but most often we do not. What are the global realities involved in the production and trade of the items we buy each day? How do the producers and traders along the value chain benefit from our consumerism? What are the social, political, and environmental costs? To what extent is the place of origin used, hidden, masked, manipulated, or marketed to sell an item? What roles do consumers play in global commodity chains? How are our preferences catered to through the strategies of marketing geographies of commodities? In this course, we will explore how global value chains shape the livelihoods of urban and rural communities across the globe. We will begin with an overview of general themes and topics of globalization, consumerism, environmental justice, and global value chains. We will discuss how the demands of one region of the world can guide the political economy of another. Through a careful analysis of relevant case studies, we will explore the costs and benefits of free trade and economic liberalization. We will also study the fair trade movement and the complex opportunities this movement has presented to global producers. This seminar will conclude with a hopeful look forward with an examination of work being conducted toward more equitable involvement of the world’s producers in the global economy. Weekly films, mass media, books, and selected readings will be used to inform debate and discussion. A structured conference project will integrate closely with one of the diverse topics of the seminar.
Hello World! An Invitation to Computer Science
Level: Open,Lecture
Semester: Spring
What is computer science? Ask 100 computer scientists and you will likely receive 100 different answers. In this course, we will not only attempt to provide an answer, but also discuss why it is such a challenging question. Along the way, we will introduce fundamental computer science concepts such as algorithms and the study of their efficiency, digital circuits, programming languages, and networking. We will also consider how these concepts relate to some of the most visible applications of computer science: the Internet and the Web, database management systems, and artificial intelligence. In particular, we will explain why searching the Web syntactically (using keywords) is practical no matter how many pages are out there, while searching it semantically (for what we really mean) remains a daunting task. We will illustrate how simple circuits can be used to solve complex problems and how the power of abstraction tells us that the core principles of computer science apply regardless of whether computers are constructed from silicon, DNA, or tinker toys. Finally, we will show that computers cannot solve all problems and, in particular, they cannot universally prevent system crashes and the “Blue Screen of Death.” On the other hand, we will argue that while there are very definite limits to computation, those limits do not preclude the dream of “thinking” machines. Group conferences will offer students hands-on experience with several different programming languages, applications, and simulations and will stress the distinction between markup languages for Web design (such as HTML and XML) and programming languages such as Python and Java.
Introduction to Genetics
Level: Open
Semester: Spring
At the biological core of all life on earth is the gene. The unique combination of genes in each individual ultimately forms the basis for that person’s physical appearance, metabolic capacity, thought process, and behavior. Therefore, in order to understand how life develops and functions, it is critical to understand what genes are, how they work, and how they are passed on from parents to offspring. In this course, we will begin by investigating the theories of inheritance first put forth by Mendel and then progress to our current concepts of how genes are transmitted through individuals, families, and whole populations. We will also examine chromosome structure and the molecular functions of genes and DNA, and how mutations in DNA can lead to physical abnormalities and diseases such as Down and Turner’s syndromes, hemophilia, and cancer. Finally, we will discuss the role of genetics in influencing such complex phenotypes as behavior and intelligence. Classes will be supplemented with laboratory work.
Marine Biology
Level: Open
Semester: Fall
The ocean is the last of the great frontiers on earth and is widely heralded as the source of our future energy and food resources. The ocean is believed to be the cradle of life and certainly supports a much greater variety of living things than the freshwater or terrestrial environments. What is the nature of life in the ocean? How does marine life capture and share the sun’s energy? Why are some areas of the ocean rich in life and others almost devoid of life? Can we farm the seas? These and other questions will be discussed in a systematic inquiry into marine biology. We will study the physical characteristics of each of the major zones of the ocean and then examine the kinds of marine organisms and the adaptations that suit them to their characteristic zones. This will lead to a discussion of our present use of the seas and our impact on the organisms that live there. With this knowledge, we will examine some of the exotic schemes proposed to harvest food and energy from the ocean and evaluate their probable effects on the ocean system. Classes will be supplemented by laboratory sessions and field trips. Conferences will be used to explain class material, to review the tests, and to discuss conference papers, which may be written on any basic or applied aspect of marine biology.
The Anthropology of Bodies
Level: Open
Semester: Year
How do the cultures in which we live shape how we use and think of our bodies? How do social relations between people or pervasive economic or political forces contribute to ideas of bodily normality or deviance? How might we best understand the relation between cultural dynamics and such diverse phenomena as tattooing, anorexia, the genome project, and panoptic forms of visual observation? In this seminar in cultural anthropology, we will try to develop answers to these questions by considering a range of anthropological writings on the links between sociocultural forces and bodily experience in such places as Nepal, Bali, and the United States. In the first semester, we will explore research on cultural representations of bodies, body modifications, and ideas of sexual and bodily deviance. In the second semester, we will focus on the politics of embodied action, medical engagements with bodies, and the cultural patterning of sensory perception. By reading, talking, and writing about, say, the politics of hunger in Brazil, bodily adornment in Nigeria, the sale of body organs in India, political prisoners in Northern Ireland, or an apprentice boxer in Chicago, we will learn to think critically about how the bodies and lives of humans tie into complex webs of cultural, social, and political forces.
The Incredible Shrinking World
Level: Open
Semester: Fall
. . . Or how technology connects everyone and everything, for better or worse. The title refers to the miniaturization of electronic computers and the resulting increase in computing power, decrease in cost to harness that power, and near ubiquity of computer networks. The title also refers to how technology brings people and places together—making distances formerly thought of as insurmountable evermore trivial. This happens physically, as jet planes allow people to travel around the world in fewer hours than the distance they have traveled in time zones. But, much more, this happens virtually: it allows information of all kinds (text, voice, images, movies, and more) to flow across those distances almost instantly. In this course, we will consider how a wide variety of information can be represented using bits on digital computers and how it can be transmitted accurately and efficiently on the Internet. We will emphasize leapfrogging technologies and their role in the developing world and debate whether programs like One Laptop per Child help bridge the digital divide. We will focus on how technology affects travel, whether it replaces travel via Skype, videoconferencing, and Web-based virtual museums or facilitates travel via GPS, Google Maps, and online travel agencies. And how, once there, technology dramatically alters the experience of being far away from home. We will also consider the dark side of a highly connected society: the more BlackBerrys, the more workaholics; the more cell-phone calls, text messages, and e-mails exchang-ed, the less privacy; the more iPods, the more music and video piracy; and the greater reach of the Internet, the greater the distribution of spam and pornography. Finally, we will ask what happens when face-recognition software catches up with digital cameras and YouTube?
The Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment
Level: Open,Lecture
Semester: Year
Since the early 1980’s, laissez-faire has become the conventional wisdom. Mainstream economists explain the socioeconomic marginalization of large sections of the world’s population by claiming that poor countries have failed to implement “appropriate” policies. These “appropriate” policies include free trade, free capital mobility, labor market flexibility, and a reduced role for the state with regard to industrial and social policies. In recent years the neoliberal socioeconomic vision has been challenged politically and intellectually, as is readily seen by the large-scale rejection of such policies across much of Latin America. This course will introduce students to the current debates regarding global laissez-faire. Our focus will be on the forces that shape global inequalities. It will be argued that ultimately proposals regarding more or less state intervention need to be grounded in an understanding of the process of market competition itself and the behavior of capitalist firms. Thus a crucial feature of the course will be a theoretical and empirical investigation of what one might call the microeconomic foundations of state policies. Some of the questions we will pose are as follows: What are the historical roots of international uneven development? Should there be more or less government involvement in lowering international inequalities and domestic poverty? Should the state in developing countries be involved in the process of industrialization, or should this be left to the free market? Under what conditions would private firms reject or accept state intervention? What was the historical experience of the developed countries with regard to the role of the state and industrialization? What are the social consequences of globalization? After dealing with core theoretical controversies in economic theory, this yearlong lecture will introduce students to the concrete development experiences of several countries in both the developing and developed worlds.
World Architecture and Urban Design: 1945-Present: Postwar, Postmodern, Post-Theory
Level: Open,Lecture
Semester: Year
The theory and practice, semantics and structure of architecture and the development of cities from 1945 to the present will be studied through close reading of primary and secondary texts, slide lectures, and discussions. Initial weeks will be spent developing familiarity with the assumptions and architects of High Modernism—Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto—and the organicists—Antoni Gaudí, Frank Lloyd Wright, Erich Mendelsohn. In the next weeks, we will cover the developing issues of monumentalities, spatialities, pop-technism, pomo-ornament, deconstructive constructionists, and sustainable symbolists. Architects studied and situated will include Louis Kahn (U.S.), Arata Isozaki (Japan), Luis Barragan (Mexico), Zaha Hadid (U.K. and Iraq), Coop Himmelblau (Austria), and others. Emphasis will be equally on individual achievements and the problematic circumstances of cultural production and modern capital. Cities to be used as case studies will be Berlin and the Cold Warriors, Toyko and the Metabolists, Los Angeles and the Critical Regionalists, Brasilia and the International Nationalists, New York and the Post-9/11 Memorialists. Group conference in the first semester will include works by Michel Foucault, Aldo Rossi, Robert Venturi, Bernard Tschumi, Rem Koolhaas, Colin Rowe, Reyner Banham. The second semester will focus either on readings in contemporary urbanism, analyses of student’s hometowns as urban planning, and develop- ment projects or design workshops dealing with campus or park design.