SPRING 2023 COURSES

AH 351C Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Ecologies of Medieval & Renaissance Art     Instructor: N. Thebaut

An eco-critical approach to the study of Medieval and Renaissance art and architecture, ca. 500-1650. Topics will include representations of the natural world (including animals, rocks, trees, plants, and landscapes), the sourcing of raw materials, the effects of medieval art making on animals, and the fundamental role of Nature in religious images and texts. Students will also explore the relationship between climate change and early modern art as well as consider the stakes of both studying and exhibiting art objects in the wake of our own climate crisis.

Prerequisites: 1 Art History course or permission of instructor.

AS 251C Asian Ecologies and Cosmologies      Instructor: R. Overbey

What is humanity’s place in the cosmos? What moral obligations do we have to animals and plants, ourselves, and the planet? How have our ideas about the world shaped our history? In this interdisciplinary course, we explore the connection between religion, philosophy, history, and the environment in Asia. The course begins by tracing early Asian conceptions of the cosmos and our place in it. We then investigate case studies in Asian environmental history, asking how unique visions of the cosmos have been realized in India, China, and Japan. (Designated a non-Western culture course; counts towards Environmental Studies and Sciences.) 

BI 252 Wildlife Biology        Instructor: S. Ratnayeke

This course will deal with problems of managing threatened vertebrate populations with examples taken from different geographic regions. The focus will be mostly on globally threatened species, especially carnivores. Special attention will be given to human-wildlife conflicts and methodologies for monitoring wildlife populations, including rare and elusive species. Labs will focus on the use of datasets and simulations to address on-the-ground problems in wildlife management and statistical approaches for working with observational data.

Prerequisite: BI 108.

BI 352 Landscape Ecology           Instructor: S. Ratnayeke

This course is about using spatial data to improve planning and decision-making in conservation and wildlife management. The course will introduce basic GIS concepts and examine a variety of GIS applications for ecology and conservation using local and international examples. 

Labs: Hands-on exercises using GIS software ranging from introductory exercises in displaying spatial data and making study area maps, to working with datasets to predict species distributions and probability of occurrence. This will be in coordination with statistical analyses in R.

Prerequisite: BI 108 and two 200-level biology courses except BI 299, or ES 205 and ES 206.

ES 252D Regenerative Environmental Systems         Instructor: K. Covey

Shifting land use and a changing climate presents humanity with unprecedented global scale challenges threatening ecosystem integrity, resource productivity, and human health. Combating widespread ecosystem degradation requires developing regenerative models for managing dynamic environmental systems across the local and global scales. In this course, we’ll apply basic ecological concepts, theoretical principles, and advanced analytical techniques to regenerative systems design and assessment. We’ll use an interdisciplinary solutions-oriented framework to explore the benefits and challenges of regenerative systems in both developing and developed nations for urban, terrestrial, and marine ecosystem management. Students will build their understanding during discussions, problem sets, and labs evaluating solutions to our most pressing environmental challenges. This course stands for either ES 205 or ES 206 core requirement for the Environmental Science Major.

Prerequisites: ES 100 and BI 108 and placement at the AQR level or prior completion of an FQR course, or instructor permission.

ES 352C Radical Hope in Turbulent Times        Instructor: L. Parker

A creative exploration of “hope” as a renewable and essential resource necessary for addressing environmental challenges. This course analyzes hope as a political tool in order to reframe contemporary discussions centered on ecological change as crisis and move toward feasible and sustainable transformations. Using local and global case studies, students will identify multiple and overlapping spaces of hope and ask how these spaces can be mobilized for social change, producing their own “infrastructures of hope” as pathways forward. This course is inspired by the Radical Hope project begun by the Rachel Carson Center (Munich, Germany) in 2017.

Prerequisites: ES 100 and one 200-level ES course OR permission of the instructor. 

ES 352C Urban Planning               Instructor: T. Fabozzi

This course will examine the theory and practice of urban planning in the United States, the evolving structure of cities and suburbs and the ways they can be designed and developed. It will include a review of the dominant planning paradigms and how they have changed over time in response to social, economic and environmental conditions within the American political framework. The course will examine planning as a community process and professional activity, including an evaluation of its successes, failures and possibilities for shaping sustainable metropolitan regions.

Prerequisite: ES 100

MB 351C Sustainability, Prototyping, and Play           Instructor: C. Hill

An exploration of the elements of sustainable design and climate responsible businesses through the lens of prototyping and play.  We will discuss what makes a business sustainable from a scientific, political, economic, and biologic perspective. We will consider the impact of different business models and discuss how purpose driven businesses can combat the world’s biggest problems. We will discuss how to integrate your values into your work so that you can help transform firms into catalysts for system level change.