Urban and Environmental Policy Program
ENV. 101
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
Fall 2002
Monday and Wednesday 3:30-4:55 PM
Professor Robert Gottlieb
(ext. 2712; office: UEPI 202; gottlieb@oxy.edu)
Environment and Society (ENV. 101) is an introductory course on the environment. It is designed for students with an interest in environmental issues who might want to pursue further studies in Urban and Environmental Policy as well as for those who are interested in the topic even though they may be pursuing another major. The course will include lectures and presentations in different topical areas; films and speakers that provide insight into the nature of environmental problems and their possible solutions; and class discussions and presentation sessions on the readings and topics.
Class time will be divided into different segments, including lectures, speakers and films, and class discussions on the readings and assigned topical issues. The readings will consist of a few texts available in the bookstore as well as an Environment 101 reader to be accessed on line.
There will be one introductory session on background issues to the Environment and Society theme and four topical areas for the class that broadly encompass ways to understand and conceptualize environmental issues, while providing different kinds of perspectives on the environment. These topical areas include:
TRANSPORTATION AND FREEWAYS (freeways in our lives – and possible alternatives of how to get where you want to go)
FOOD (where our food comes from and how it is manufactured and sold)
NATURE IN THE CITY (the urban environment)
MATERIALS, WASTES AND HAZARDS (sources and impacts of pollution)
For each area there will be specific readings, and one or more lectures, speakers, and/or films. There will also be four presentation teams for each of the topical areas. Since there are several different topical areas, the readings, discussions, and presentations are designed to introduce important entry points for the broader discussion of environment and society. Presentation teams are encouraged to develop an imaginative and lively session to capture key issues and arguments. Field trips (for example, for the ArroyoFest event) are also an option for the presentation team.
By November 8, students will need to decide which of the two options they would like to select for their major assignment of the semester. Options include 1) a take home, full length (10-12 pages) written final examination on a particular topical area; or 2) a research paper (approximately 10-12 pages in length, although it could be longer) involving specific issues or questions associated with one of the five topical areas. A memo will be due on November 8 identifying which of the two options the student has selected, the topical area and/or research topic for the paper, and a bit of background regarding the choice. Depending on the size of the class, students will also have an opportunity to present their findings and conclusions for their major assignment. There will also be a take home midterm essay that will be assigned on October 11 and due on October 18. Grades will be evaluated in terms of participation in the class discussions and presentation sessions (40%), and the written assignments, including the research paper or final exam (which includes the ability to meet deadlines as well as extra credits for a presentation) and the midterm exam (60%).
Introductory Session: Environment and Society: How Are They Connected
September 4-September 16
Readings
“Environmental Crisis in the City: The Relationship Between Industrialization and Urban Pollution,” chapter 2 in Effluent America: Cities, Industry, Energy, and the Environment, Martin Melosi, pp. 23-48
Environmentalism Unbound: Exploring New Pathways for Change, Robert Gottlieb, pp. 3-45
“A Dream that Dares Disaster,” Patricia Nelson Limerick and William Travis, Los Angeles Times, July 7, 2002
“The Whole Horse: The Preservation of the Agrarian Mind,” Wendell Berry, in Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture, Edited by Andrew Kimbrell, pp. 7-12
Topic #1: Transportation and Land Use: Are We Forever Auto-Dependent?
September 18-October 9
Readings
Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth, Lester Brown, Chapter 9, “Redesigning Cities for People,” pp. 187-208
“The Joys of Automobility,” Melvin Webber, in The Car and the City, edited by Martin Wachs, pp. 274-284
“Creating a Healthy Environment: The Impact of the Built Environment on Public Health,” Richard Jackson and Chris Kochtitsky, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Sprawl Watch Clearinghouse Monograph Series
City Routes, City Rights: Building Livable Neighborhoods and Environmental Justice by Fixing Transportation, Conservation Law Foundation, pp. 3-17
“SUV Surge Driving Out Small Parking Lots,” Hugo Martin, May 21, 2002
“SUV Mileage Debate Shifts to Personal Gear,” Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2000
“Government Should Steer Clear of the Fuel Economy Issue,” William Niskanen and Peter Van Doren, Los Angeles Times, March 1, 2002
“Detroit and California Rev Their Engines Over Emissions,” Danny Hakim, New York Times, July 28, 2002
“Powering Tomorrow’s Cars,” Carola Hanisch, Environmental Science and Technology, November 1, 1999
“GM Jolts Electric Vehicle Market,” John O’Dell, Los Angeles Times, July 5, 2002
“’Pavley’s Ploy’ May Carjack Motorists’ Right to Choice,” Kenneth Green, Los Angeles Times, July 5, 2002
“Car Makers to Challenge State’s New Emissions Law,” Terril Yue Jones, Los Angeles Times, July 26, 2002
“The Fifth Ecology: Fantasy, the Automobile, and Los Angeles,” Margaret Crawford, in The Car and the City, pp. 222-233
Topic #2: Materials, Wastes and Hazards: Sources and Impacts of Pollution
Readings:
Materials Matter: Toward a Sustainable Materials Policy, Kenneth Geiser, (Chapter 1, “Material Incompatibilities”), pp. 1-15
“Designing a New Materials Economy,” Lester Brown in Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth, pp. 121-143
“Smog: The Urban Syndrome”, in Richard Turco, Earth Under Siege, pp. 139-156
“Air Pollution Harmful to Babies, Fetuses, Studies Say,” Gary Polakovic, Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2001
“Research Links Air Pollution to Lung Cancer,” Gary Polakovic, Los Angeles Times, March 6, 2002
“Studies Link Heart Attacks to Moderate Air Pollution,” Marla Cone, Los Angeles Times, June 5, 2000
“Diesel: Heavy Use and Heavy Exposures,” Chapter 1, in Exhausted by Diesel, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Coalition for Clean Air, pp. 1-12
“Diesel’s Stranglehold on Economy is Hard to Break,” Marla Cone, Los Angeles Times, May 31, 2000
“Community Fighting to Ban Diesel Trucks,” Antonio Olivo, Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2000
“EPA Says Toxic Chemicals Pose Added Cancer Risk,” Elizabeth Shogren, Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2002
“Phasing out Persistent Organic Pollutants,” Anne Platt McGinn, in State of the World 2000, the Worldwatch Institute, pp. 79-100
Midterm Exam Paper, Due October 21
Topic #3: Nature in the City
November 4 - 13
Readings
“Expanding Environmental Horizons,” Robert Gottlieb, Los Angeles Times, April 16, 2000
Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education, Michael Pollan, “Why Mow?” and “Compost and its Moral Imperatives,” pp. 65-89, “Weeds Are Us,” pp.116-138, “The Idea of a Garden,” pp. 222-233
“Suburban Genetics: Scientists Searching for a Perfect Lawn,” David Barboza, New York Times, July 9, 2000
“’Lawn Police May be Coming to Palmdale,” Martha Willman, Los Angeles Times, May 6, 2001
“Dow Seeks to Ban Its Own Weedkiller,” Emily Green, Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2002
Flight Maps: Adventures with Nature in Modern America, Jennifer Price, “A Brief Natural History of the Plastic Pink Flamingo,” pp. 111-165; “Looking for Nature at the Mall,” pp. 167-206; and “Roadrunners Can’t Read: The Greening of Television in the 1990s,” pp. 207-256
“Worms Make for a Fertile Earth Science Class,” Nancy Wride, Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2002
“With Rubber Sidewalks, Trees are on the Rebound,” Bob Pool, Los Angeles Times, May 21, 2002
Topic #4: The Food Shed: From Farm to Table
Readings
Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser, pp. 13-28; 111-131; 133-147; 149-166; 169-190; 193-222
“The McLibel Trial Story,” in McDonaldization: The Reader, George Ritzer, editor, pp. 233-244
“The Tomato as Agricultural Metaphor”, Lucille Salitan, Why Magazine, Winter 1996
“Hamburger and French Fries: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things,” John Ryan and Alan Thien Durning, Race, Poverty and the Environment, Winter 2000, pp. 42-44
“Study of Suspected Carcinogen Rattles Snack Firms,” Melinda Fulmer, Los Angeles Times, June 26, 2002; plus “New Tests Confirm Acrylamide in American Foods,” Center for Science in the Public Interest, June 25, 2002
“Organic Farms Viable Despite Lower Yields, Study Finds,” Emily Green, Los Angeles Times, May 31, 2002
“Dispel the Myth that Cheap Food Comes Without High Costs,” Frances Moore Lappe and Anna Lappe, Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2002
“To Feed World’s People, Modern Practices Must Supplant Organic Fads,” Jim Wells, Los Angeles Times, June 4, 2002
“Can an Organic Twinkie be Certified?” Joan Dye Gussow, in For All Generations: Making World Agriculture More Sustainable, edited by J. Patrick Madden & Scott Chaplowe, pp. 143-153
“Uncle Ben: Goin’ Organic Just Like We Used to,” Jim Hightower, in Fatal Harvest, pp. 337-339
“Tainted Meat Prompts Outcry,” Melinda Fulmer, Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2002
The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View of the World, (“The Potato”), Michael Pollan, pp. 183-238
“The Emperor’s New Crops,” Brian Halwell, Worldwatch, July/August 1999, pp. 21-29
December 4, Exam and Papers Due December 9