- Bill McKibben, ed., American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau
- Ted Steinberg, Down to Earth: Nature’s Role in American History
- Ernest Callenbach, Ecotopia
- Gretel Erlich, The Solace of Open Spaces
- Lawrence Buell, Writing for an Endangered World: Literature, Culture, and Environment in the U.S. and Beyond
- John M. Meyer, Engaging the Everyday: Environmental Social Criticism and the Resonance Dilemma
Class Schedule with assignments noted on due date
NB: In addition to the classes shared with 2532 noted below there will be three seminar meetings for this course. Assignments for these meetings will follow.
SEMINAR MEETINGS FOR 4532
1. 16 Feb 14:15-16:00 GM, SR 115
2. 15 Mar 14:15-16:00 GM, SR 115
3. 12 Apr 14:15-16:00 GM, SR 115
SEMINAR MEETINGS FOR 2532 + 4532
All classes meet in PAM SR 13; note film screenings in GM 219
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DATE |
CLASS TOPICS |
READINGS and Electronic Texts |
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19 Jan Double session: Film screening (GM 219) + Class discussion |
- Wandering & Freedom
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- Into the Wild (feature film, 2007) - BBC documentary film, How the Earth Made Us http://vimeo.com/20074359 |
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26 Jan Double session: Film screening (GM 219) + Class discussion |
- Imagining nature - Origins and new beginnings
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- The New World (feature film, 2005) - Thoreau from Walden in American Earth, 9-19 - Helen and Scott Nearing, from, Living the Good Life in American Earth, 318-322 - Leslie Marmon Silko, from Ceremony in American Earth, 582-590 - Steinberg, Down to Earth, Chap 1 |
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2 Feb |
Human Ecology |
- Steinberg, Down to Earth, Chaps 2-4 - William Cronon, “Seasons of Want and Plenty” from Changes in the Land in American Earth, 632-658
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9 Feb |
Nature: Seeing and Telling
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-Walt Whitman, “Song of the Redwood Tree” from Leaves of Grass in American Earth, 65-70 - Steinberg, Down to Earth, Chap 8 - Robert Marshall, from Wintertrip into New Country in American Earth, 225-234 - John Burroughs, “The Art of Seeing Things,” American Earth, 145-159 - Edward Abbey “Polemic Industrial Tourism in the National Parks,” in American Earth, 413-433 - Hudson River School landscape paintings on Classfronter - John Burroughs, “The Art of Seeing Things,” in - Jeremiah Johnson (feature film, 1972; portions shown in class)
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16 Feb |
Ecology and Inspiration: Renewing/Restoring |
- John Perkins Marsh, from Man and Nature in American Earth, 71-80 - Aldo Leopold, from Sand County Almanac in American Earth, 266-294 - Rachel Carson, from Silent Spring in American Earth, 366-376 - Kenneth Boulding, from “The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth,” in American Earth, 309-404 - Robinson Jeffers, The Answer in American Earth, 251-252 - Jane Jacobs, from The Death and Life of Great American Cities in American Earth, 359-365
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WINTER BREAK |
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1 Mar |
From Conservation to Environmentalism
|
Steinberg, Down to Earth, Chaps 8-9, 15 Dreiser, “A Certain Oil Refinery” in American Earth, 186-191 J. Lelyveld, “Millions Join Earth Day Observances Across the Nation,” in American Earth, 484-489 - Garrett Hardin, from The Tragedy of the Commons, in American Earth, 438-450 - Benton MacKaye, “The Indigenous and the Metropolitan,” from The New Exploration in American Earth, 209-223
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FREE WEEK
Office Hours kept during class time
ESSAY PROPOSAL DUE Friday 11 March 17.00 |
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15 Mar |
Utopia/Dystopia
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Ernest Callenbach, Ecotopia, Ursula Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (Listen:) |
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EASTER HOLIDAY
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5 Apr |
Consumption as way of life |
- Steinberg, Down to Earth, Chaps 11-14 - Gifford Pinchot, “Prosperity,” in American Earth, 173-180 Alan Durning, “The Dubious Rewards of Consumption,” in American Earth, 770-780 - BBC documentary, The Men Who Made Us Fat (Episode 2 of 3) https://vimeo.com/44892521 Amory Lovins, Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken? in American Earth, 559-569 |
|
12 Apr |
Globalism/Globality |
- Jonathan Schell, from The Fate of the Earth in American Earth, 622-631 - Paul Erlich, from The Population Bomb, in American Earth, 434-437 - Bill McKibben, from The End of Nature in American Earth, 718-724 - Wes Jackson, “Outside the Solar Village: One Utopian Farm,” in American Earth, 595-608 - Steinberg, Down to Earth, Chap 16 - BBC Documentary, How to Feed the Planet (Episode 2 of 3: Should I Eat Meat?) http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24ieya_horizon-2014-2015-2-should-i-eat-meat-how-to-feed-the-planet_lifestyle
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19 Apr |
What is left? |
Gretel Erlich, The Solace of Open Spaces |