INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
Environmental Science at UB
The way it used to be!
But
where is home? Surely not the walled-in prison of the cities, under that low
ceiling of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides and acid rain-the leaky malaise
of an overdeveloped, overcrowded, self-destroying civilization where most people
are compelled to serve their time and please the wardens if they can. For many,
for more and more of us, the out-of-doors is our true ancestral estate. For a
mere five thousand years we have grubbed in the soil and laid brick upon brick
to build the cities; but for a million years before that we lived the leisurely,
free, and adventurous life of hunters and gatherers, warriors and tamers of
horses. How can we pluck that deep root of feeling from the racial
consciousness?
Impossible.
Edward Abbey-- from
Down
the River
Course Syllabus for SSC 118
Spring Semester 2010
Interdisciplinary Degree Programs-Environmental Sciences
State University of New York at Buffalo
Buffalo, New York 14260
Office: 203 Clemens Hall
Department 716-645-2245
E-mail: jcallen@buffalo.edu
Tuesdays, 4:10-6:50 PM Consultation hours: By Appointment Room: 110 Baldy Hall
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will introduce students to a variety of current critical environmental problems facing the Earth. A general ecological knowledge and a basic science approach is central to this course. The academic nature will focus on the historical Idea of land exploitation, wilderness/natural areas preservation, bringing ecological, economic, social, religious and political ideas to bear if possible, Environmental ethics/morals will be explored along with outdoor-oriented environmental awareness and activism. Solutions to our environmental crisis also involve a multitude of societal and cultural changes that will be addressed from an alternative (i.e. "deep ecological") perspective, not from a pragmatic, "governmental solution" approach; this course is taught with respect to an environmental priority (i.e. "bias"). With this approach begins the questioning of personal lifestyles and philosophies, a topic difficult for some to self-examine within the present cultural "standards." Selected literature will be examined. This course requires substantial reading; these readings are central to the context of the course.
EVALUATIONS: 4 Evaluations: 3 Tests - 2 hours each-some multiple choice, short answer, an eclectic variety of evaluative exercises, relating to lecture, films seen, discussion and readings. Each test will be of equal percentage value, averaged together for a final score. No Make-Up Tests! AND at 10 of the class meetings, students will be required to provide a brief written response or reaction to a specific point or concept brought up during the class-10 questions total - 10 points each = 1 test grade. You MUST be present to receive credit for class questions. Grades are non-negotiable. Grades will be based on the 2009-2010 Undergraduate Catalog: http://undergrad-catalog.buffalo.edu/policies/grading/explanation.shtml
Evaluation Synopsis: 4 Evaluations:
Test 1, Test 2, Test 3-equal percentage value
10-In-class Questions-10 points each-total points valued the same percentage a as test
CLASSROOM PROTOCOL: ALL CELL PHONES And/or other communication devices must be TURNED OFF and NOT USED in this class. Their use/abuse is a constant annoyance; If you cannot live without being in IMMEDIATE contact with the KNOWN universe for 3 hours, do not take this class; If your cell phone rings while in this class, you will be responsible for the purchase of enough chicken wings or tofu wings to feed the entire class! same condition applies to me!
ATTENDANCE: This is NOT a correspondence course! There are NO online notes. I don't do UBLearns. Attendance in class is crucial to achieving a desirable grade. Just doing the readings will not get you through this course. The readings offer additional information and relevance to lectures and are critical to the context of this course. Class conflicts, for whatever reason, must be arranged/resolved by the student. Since my classes only meet once a week, keep in mind that missing 1 class is equivalent to missing a week of regularly scheduled classes. REGARDLESS OF THE REASON, if a student is absent 2 - 3 times during the semester, a final average grade reduction penalty will be assessed based on the + & - scale. For example, if a student has missed 3 classes and has a grade of a B+ (highly unlikely), his/her grade will be reduced to a B; 4 or more missed classes will result in a whole letter grade drop of the final average grade-Honestly, if you miss that much class, you should drop.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: The Undergraduate Academic Integrity Policy as described in the UB Undergraduate Catalog is strictly enforced. If you have any questions about this policy, see the Undergraduate Catalog for examples of academic dishonesty and the procedures relating to academic integrity: http://undergrad-catalog.buffalo.edu/policies/course/integrity.shtml
DATES, ORDER & CONTENT OF THE FOLLOWING IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE BASED ON THE EVER-CHANGING NEEDS OF THE COURSE:
Dates: Topic(s): links in red
01/12 introduction, course description, Where Are You At With the Environment?, why aren’t you pissed off? Principles for Understanding & Sustaining the Earth Handouts
01/19 urgency of environmental crisis, dominant social paradigms/results thereof, indigenous genocide (film-How the West Was Lost), historical perspective, religious and cultural implications
01/26 basic ecological concepts, predators & trophic cascades, natural cycles, biodiversity
02/02 human population explosion/environmental implications (film-Extinction)
02/9 Test 1
02/16 natural resources/exploitation/mismanagement, (film-The End of Suburbia)
02/23 natural resources/exploitation/mismanagement
03/02 natural resources/exploitation/mismanagement (film-In These Ancient Trees)
03/16 natural resources/exploitation/mismanagement
03/23 Test 2
03/30 air pollution, chemical toxicity, global warming and ozone depletion/water resources, acid rain, atmospheric crisis, consumerism (l=PAT) and militarism and the television
04/06 wilderness, natural lands, wild species, ethics of land use and alternative paradigms, environmentalism, (film-Wolf Recovery in Yellowstone-Lords of Nature), ecophilosophy, The Wildlands Project
04/13 wilderness, natural lands, wild species, ethics of land use and alternative paradigms, environmentalism, environmental activism (film-Planet Earth Series-Wilderness)
04/20 Test 3
ASSIGNED READINGS CORRESPOND TO EACH TESTING PERIOD ABOVE:
Selected articles on reserve in the Undergraduate Library and the UB web from the Wild Earth Journal
Articles from the Wild Earth Journal on Reserve at Undergraduate Library and on the UB Web
To access the UB hyperlinks for the articles below, click on the article and then do the following:
type in the Course No: SSC118
OR
type in Instructor Name: Allen
then choose from the list
Articles covered in Test I
Spring 92 Volume 2, #1: Right to Life or Loving the Population Bomb
Summer 92 Volume 2, #2: Responses and Non-responses to Overpopulation
Spring 93 Volume 3, #1: Malthus Was Right
Summer 95 Volume 5, #2: The Environmental Consequences of Having a Baby in the US
Fall 95 Volume 5, #3: Baby Questionnaire
Winter 97/98 Volume 7, #4: The Great Denial
Fall 99 Volume 9, #3: Sizing Up Sprawl
Fall 2000 Volume 10, #3: Nature and Homo sapiens
Summer 2001 Volume 11, #2: Battling Bioinvasion
Articles covered in Test 2
Spring 91 Volume 1, #1: The Impoverished Landscape
Spring 92 Volume 2, #1: The Forest Crisis
Some Ecological Costs of Livestock
Summer 92 Volume 2, #2: Forest Health or Forestry?
Summer 95 Volume 5, #2: Ecological Differences Between Logging and Wildfire
Summer 99 Volume 9, #2: The Role of Top Carnivores in Regulating Terrestrial Ecosystems
Summer 2000 Volume 10, #2 Livestock Grazing in the National Park and Wilderness Preservation System
Fall 2000 Volume 10, #3: The Microcosm
Articles covered in Test 3
Winter 97/98 Volume 7, #4 The Not-So-Hidden Costs of Consumption
Summer 91 Volume 1, #2: What Can Wilderness Do For Biodiversity?
Summer 92 Volume 2, #2: Civil Obedience
Fall 93 Volume 3, #3: Envisioning Wildland Restoration
Winter 95/96 Volume 5, #4: Wilderness: From Scenery to Nature
Special Article: The Wildlands Project by Reed Noss
Winter 99/00 Volume 9, #4: Big Wild
So Many Ways to Think About the Future
Spring 2000 Volume 10, #1: A Personal Brief for the Wildlands Project
The Earth At Night - Pathetic
Why Does It Have to Come to This?
Links to other places on these web pages:
THE WILDLANDS PROJECT & THE WILD EARTH JOURNAL
SSC 441 WILDLIFE AND WILDLANDS MANAGEMENT
SSC 493 ECOLOGY OF UNIQUE ENVIRONMENTS-WIND RIVER RANGE, WYOMING
SSC 493 ECOLOGY OF UNIQUE ENVIRONMENTS-YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - 2012
LINKS
Some Links to Grassroots Environmental Organization Related to Public Land Use
Allegheny Defense Project Negative Population Growth
Earth First! The Wilderness Society
Heritage Forest Campaign The Siskiyou Regional Education Project
Wild Wilderness Southern Rockies Wolf Web
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Adbusters
Earth Island Institute Endangered Species
Wilderness Volunteerism Wilderness Defense!
Wilderness on the Web Natural Resources Defense Council
American Rivers Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics
African American Environmentalist Association
Since I refuse to spend my life on this computer, if you have a good link that meets the requirement of grassroots and not a gigantic group of armchair environmentalists, e-mail me with the link address.
Outhouse Productions@