Environmentalisms

Interdisciplinary Studies 151, Section 6
Spring 2006
Rik Scarce, Instructor

Office: Tisch Learning Center 221
Office Phone: 580-5416
Home Phone (no calls before 7 a.m. or after 9 p.m., please): 893-0597
E-mail: rscarce@skidmore.edu
Web page: www.skidmore.edu/~rscarce/Environmentalisms.html
Office Hours: Mondays 1:30-2 p.m. and Wednesdays 10-11 a.m. (I'm in a lot more often–drop by any time my door is open!) and by appointment

Required Texts

Stephen Fox, The American Conservation Movement
Rik Scarce, Eco-Warriors Updated Edition

Introduction

Reading a newspaper or watching a television broadcast that mentions "environmentalists," have you ever wondered who those environmentalists are? When someone mentions "the environmental movement," does that label leave you scratching your head? Are all environmentalists the same? Does the environmental movement really include everything from the Sierra Club's lobbying efforts to the Earth Liberation Front's arson attacks? How comfortably does such obvious variability fit beneath one umbrella?

By my having raised these questions, you can guess my response. The environmental movement is a lot more complex than it may seem on its face, and environmentalists do not all agree on the movement's best tactics—or even what "the environment" that they're working to preserve is!

That variability is why I titled this course "Environmentalisms." Together we will pursue those environmentalisms fairly single-mindedly, but you will find that trying to tease out how environmentalists and environmental groups differ inevitably draws-in an array of other fascinating issues. Our semester will be shaped, for the most part, by an historical approach toward the topic, but philosophical issues will arise quite often—and so will political, economic, and scientific ones. As a sociologist, I'll encourage us to see things from my home discipline's point of view quite often, but we'll also work with anthropological notions like "culture," and even art and music are likely to pop up at least once.

So we will cover a lot of intellectual territory as we explore our seemingly narrow subject. Along the way, I hope you will make your own connections between what we read and your own experiences, be they intellectual, activistic, or otherwise. This is our course, not mine. We all have a responsibility to make it work.

Course Goals

I am eager for you to take away a number of things from this experience. I hope you will gain an appreciation for the diverse motivations that compel people to decide to struggle on behalf of the environment. They embrace so many ideologies and use so many different tactics, create wildly varied kinds of organization and locate themselves in a host of different political places; come May, you will, I think, gain an appreciation for those differences. Moreover, although our focus will primarily be on U.S. environmentalisms, we will spend some time discussing environmentalisms elsewhere, so I expect that you will be able to articulate the same sorts of issues I just noted on a global scale.

There's another set of goals I have set out for us as well. I take seriously our course's "ID" designation, and that commitment means that I will encourage you to make interdisciplinary connections of the sort I alluded to above. We will integrate material from several disciplines, and we will also explore the material orally and in written form. In other words, I hope this course will be a microcosm of your Skidmore experience, a place where liberal learning is practiced every moment we're together.

A Word about Focus

My first one-hour course was in graduate school, a "pro seminar" on the Ph.D. experience. We had no homework, no papers, and no expectations on us except that we would show up and speak when spoken to—not the ideal educational experience, and definitely not what I thought grad school was all about!

We're not going to do things that way: You will have reading each week, and you will need to come to class prepared to discuss it. Class participation counts for 20 percent of your final grade, and I expect everyone to participate during every class meeting. Our discussions will be based on the reading, and sometimes in the reading, but the readings will always only be starting points for us, not our sole focus.

I mention these topics to motivate you but also to warn you: When a course meets only once a week, it is easy to forget about it, to completely put off reading or wait until the last minute to do it, and to say just anything in class. Try not to make those mistakes. You will need to attend class every week (see below), to study the reading intensively, and to share thoughtful comments that are solidly based in the course material and/or that help the class build upon its discussions.

Critical Thinking and Writing

One of the hallmarks of liberally-educated persons is their ability to think critically. You have heard that phrase before, but what does it mean? Critical thought involves a couple of activities. First, it takes place when you question an author or an "actor"—someone (or a group) that an author discusses. That questioning can come in numerous forms, including asking: What is an author's core argument or thesis? Do you agree with that perspective? Do the data (or does the information you have been given) support some other interpretation? Why did someone (or some group) behave one way rather than another? Would an alternative approach have resulted in "better" results?

Second, critical thinking may involve re-evaluating your own assumptions of perspectives. In light of material that you have read or discussed with others, how might you view things differently or alter your behavior?

Critical thought is important in its own right, and it will be an important part of our class discussions. It should also be a centerpiece of your writing. How can you think and write critically?

∙ One of the best ways to demonstrate critical thought is to create a conversation (or a dialog) between you and the author(s). Creating conversations involves a couple of things. First, never take for granted what an author—or a professor or another student—is asserting unless you are persuaded by the data or the logic that he or she gives you in support of what they are saying. Take on a skeptical attitude. It's OK to be persuaded; if you are and you are also provoked to thought by a passage, then elaborate on it. If data are presented but you feel that they are weak, question the author and state your basis for disagreeing. You should also consider alternative explanations.

∙ Second, to create a conversation in your writings you should include material from the readings, from class discussions, and even from current events. These quotes or paraphrases may be used to highlight what you found troubling or agreeable in a reading. Quotes, especially, do a couple of things. They will remind you of what you are doing in your writing. Are you consistent and thorough about the questions you are raising and how you are answering them? And quotations ground you in the material you are reacting to—they bring additional focus to your thesis and your supporting arguments.

∙ A conversation also shows me, your audience, how well you have grasped the material–how well you have understood what you have read and what has been discussed–and how well you can do something with it. The course material is merely a springboard for further examination of ideas!

∙ By the way, "conversations" and "dialogues" are not the same as "dialog" in a novel. I want you to write in essay format, not the sort of back-and-forth interactive conversation that you read in fictional works. If you are confused about this point, come see me.

∙ As we move through the course, you should use ideas from the prior class discussions and the readings to aid your interpretations of later works. This practice includes viewing a later reading from the perspective of an earlier one to raise questions about or provide insight into an author's arguments. Such referencing demonstrates to me that you are engaged in the material presented in this class, that you have understood it, and that you can use it. That is what any instructor wants to see her or his students do.

∙ Still uncertain about critical thinking and writing? We will spend lots of time talking about what it is and strategies to develop it.

Course Requirements

Readings
There are two required books for this course; I will distribute a few additional handouts in class.

Written Assignments
Paper Guidelines. You will write two take-home papers for this class, and they will total 80 percent of your final grade. From time to time I will also ask you to hand-in brief in-class assignments. These brief papers will not receive a letter grade, but they are required for the course, and I will reduce your final grade should you fail to hand in any of them. You must submit all of your assignments on time. Because in some cases this requirement entails handing-in something you have written in class, I expect you to attend class regularly.

What will you be writing about? That will depend on three factors: the material that we have read and discussed in class, the questions that I pose to you, and your own creativity. Keep up with the reading, and as you read be sure to ask questions of the material.

What about writing "well"? Good writing is a too-rare thing. I want to help you improve your writing, and that goal means that together we need to work on the mechanics of your writing, things like spelling and punctuation, as well as the style and the content of your writing–what you have to say.

Strong Writing Emphasis. You should know that, with rare exceptions, one-half of your grade on each paper will be determined by the quality of your writing. This requirement upsets some students, so let me explain my rationale to you.

First, as an instructor at a "liberal arts" college, I think it is my responsibility to help educate you in an interdisciplinary fashion. There are some things that I and many other Skidmore professors, across all disciplines, emphasize. Good writing and speaking skills are among those emphases, and honing those skills are part of what a liberal education is all about.

Following that logic, English is, for us, a language, not a discipline. Thus, writing–and writing well–is not something you do in English class; it is something you do in every class.

Finally, if you write poorly the content of your work is almost certain to suffer–you be unable to get your ideas across to me–so writing well is often directly related to, and profoundly affects, what you are writing.

Perhaps the most important thing I can tell you now is to take my feedback about your writing seriously. This admonition does not mean that you should be defensive or angry or embarrassed. To the contrary, a serious approach to your writing means treating it as something that can and should be improved through practice. When you receive comments back on papers, study them. If you do not understand them, come see me. Let's work on your writing together–all of it, both the mechanics and the content. You will be amazed at the improvement.

Writing Tips. I have prepared a Web page titled "Writing Tips" that addresses many questions that come up regarding everything from the difference between "affect" and "effect" to how you should cite and reference materials. You are responsible for all of the material in "Writing Tips."  Please pay close attention to the guidelines for quoting and paraphrasing materials, as well as the related material on plagiarism. You may find a link to "Writing Tips" at the course web page.

Formatting of take-home assignments. Unless I say otherwise, any assignment that you work on outside of class must be typed, double-spaced, in an 11 or 12 point font. I will give you a word count for your assignments. Be sure to stay within the word limits that I give you, and write the exact word count in the upper right-hand corner of the first page. Write your name at the bottom of the back of the last page of your essay so that I can grade your paper anonymously. Cite your sources and include a reference section. References are not part of your word count. Do not use a cover sheet or a binder of any type–just staple the sheets of your paper together when you hand them in.

Paper Checklist. Before handing in each of your take-home papers, check for the following:
o Is your paper typed, double-spaced?
o Is your paper proofread? Neat, hand-written corrections on your final version are encouraged.
o Did you write an accurate word count at the top of the first page?
o Is your name written at the bottom of the back of the last page?
o Did you cite and reference your sources using the prescribed format?
o Does your paper take a critical perspective?

Grading. Your written assignments will be graded based both upon the quality of your writing and its content. Especially poorly written papers, either mechanically or in terms of their content, will be graded accordingly. All grades will be on a 100-point scale.

Class Participation and Attendance
Class participation is vital to this course and will count for 20 percent of your final grade. Your class participation grade will be based on three factors: (1) your attendance, (2) your involvement in class discussions and small group analyses and assignments, and, most important, (3) the quality of what you have to say and of your interactions with your peers in class and in small groups.

Some students express displeasure at being compelled to participate in class as part of their grade. I have a couple of responses. First, as college students you are expected to be able to express yourselves orally and in writing, so class participation is a reasonable expectation. Second, this is a small class, and, as such, those of you who are somewhat shy are likely to find that your discomfort at speaking out is not as great as it is in huge lecture sections. Finally, some students tell me that they are anxious about speaking out because what they have to say does not sound "as intelligent" as what others say. I know it is important to sound smart to your classmates, but keep in mind that I am the best judge of the quality of your remarks, so think about participating to impress me, not others; you will find that I am an appreciative audience.

So, full credit for class participation will go to those who enliven class discussion by grounding their comments in the class material but who, by the same token, allow others to speak and who respect others' views. If you are talkative, try to avoid dominating class discussion. Discussions in this class can get heated, and that is understandable given the topics that we will cover. However, any student who does not show respect for the views of others will be reprimanded, and any further acts of disrespect may result in the student failing the course.

To encourage your attendance at all class meetings, every time you are absent I will deduct five points from your class participation grade (and, thus, from your final grade) beyond your first absence. Should you miss more than three classes, I may award you a failing grade for the course on that basis alone.

Class Decorum
As a courtesy to me and to your fellow students, please arrive to class on time; if you are chronically late, I will deduct points from your class participation score. Do not begin preparing to leave until the class is concluded. I expect you to respect the views of others in the class, which means that you are free to disagree with them, but abusive language or actions will not be tolerated and may be reported to the Dean of Student Academic Affairs.

Plagiarism
Skidmore's Honor Code is quite clear regarding the severe consequences that result from any act of cheating. The form of cheating most likely to emerge in our class is plagiarism. Should I find evidence that you have plagiarized or cheated in any other way, you will fail the course. To help you avoid plagiarism, review the "Writing Tips" web page and follow the guidelines there and those discussed in class.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO TO DO WELL IN THIS COURSE

To do well in this class, you need to do several things, all of which are important.

∙ First, keep up with the reading.
∙ Second, think about what you read. Write notes for yourself in the margins of the pages as you read or on a separate piece of paper. Some of these notes should be in the form of questions that may go from the seemingly mundane to the insightful, but all questions are good ones! Be an active readerÉand lose the highlighter!
∙ Third, be active in class. Speak up, and ask some of those questions that you noted while you read, make seemingly off-the-wall connections, and do your best to be a teacher yourself. However, do not dominate small group or whole-class discussion; share this class with everyone and encourage everyone to be involved.
∙ Fourth, write well. Take my feedback on your papers seriously, change what needs to be changed, build on the good stuff, and grow as a writer.
∙ Fifth, write carefully. Do not plagiarize. Instead, use quote marks when you use someone else's words, attribute material to its author(s), and always cite and reference your sources. When you are unsure about whether or how you should quote, cite, or reference something, just ask me!
∙ Next, use this syllabus often, and not only the Course Schedule!
∙ Finally, drop by and see me some time. Let me help you be a better thinker and writer. Let's talk about your papers, your ideas, and whatever else is on your mind. I will be available before class, after class, during my office hours, by e-mail, by phone both in my office and at home, and I will be happy to meet with you whenever you need to make an appointment.

Summary of Course Requirements
Graded Papers ..................................... (2 papers @ 40percent each) 80 percent of your final grade
Class Participation............................................................................. 20 percent of your final grade
Occasional, ungraded papers.............................................................................................. Required

Final Grade Calculation

Your papers will be graded on a 100-point scale. At the end of the term, each paper will be weighted earlier papers receive a lower weight than later ones), and then the paper scores will be totaled and added to your class participation score to compute your final grade.

97 or more percentage points: A+ 77 - 79.99 percentage points: C+
93-96.99 percentage points: A 73 - 76.99 percentage points: C
90-92.99 percentage points: A- 70 - 72.99 percentage points: C-
87 - 89.99 percentage points: B+ 67-69.99 percentage points: D+
83 - 86.99 percentage points: B 60-66.99 percentage points: D
80-82.99 percentage points B- Less than 60 percentage points: F

COURSE CALENDAR
Monday, January 23........................................................................................... Course Introduction
Monday, January 30....................................................................................... Fox, Chapters 1 and 4
Monday, February 6................................................................................................... Fox, Chapter 5
Monday, February 13................................................................................................. Fox, Chapter 6
Monday, February 20................................................................................................. Fox, Chapter 7
Monday, February 27.................... Fox, Chapter 8; FIRST PAPER ASSIGNMENT DISTRIBUTED
Monday, March 6............. Fox, Chapter 10 FIRST PAPER DUE BY NOON, FRIDAY, MARCH 10
March 11-19.............................................................................................................. Spring Break
Monday, March 20................................................................................................. Scarce, Chapter 1
Monday, March 27................................................................................................. Scarce, Chapter 2
Monday, April 3.................................................................................................... Scarce, Chapter 5
Monday, April 10................................................................................................... Scarce, Chapter 8
Monday, April 17................................................................................................. Scarce, Chapter 16
Monday, April 24.............. Environmental Justice and International Environmentalisms (handouts);
FINAL PAPER ASSIGNMENT DISTRIBUTED
Monday, May 1.................................................................................................................. No Class

FINAL (SECOND) PAPER ASSIGNMENT DUE NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, AT 5 P.M.


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