Interrogating Sustainability (FYS)
ENVS 209F
Fall 2022
| Section:
01
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| Course Cluster and Certificates: Sustainability and Environmental Justice |
In 1987, the United Nations' publication "Our Common Future" -- also known as the "Brundtland Report" -- elevated sustainability as a central concern in international policymaking. The report focused on sustainable development as an essential method for achieving sustainability, defining it as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Since then, sustainable development and other methods for fostering sustainability have played an important role in debates related to environmental, economic, and social policies at multiple scales around the world. In this course, we will interrogate the concept of sustainability, examining its history, its impact on environmental policies and social and economic development, critiques of the sustainability concept, and alternative visions for securing equity between current and future inhabitants of the earth. As a first year seminar, the course will use a variety of scaffolded writing assignments along with readings, discussions, and films to explore concepts including the commons, climate change, water scarcity, petrochemical and plastic pollution, land use, biodiversity loss, industrial agriculture, One Health, degrowth, ethical consumers, and circular economies. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
NSM ENVS |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (ENVS-MN)(ENVS)(STS) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 | | Special Attributes: FYS |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Readings will include: United Nations General Assembly, ¿Our Common Future;¿ United Nations Development, ¿Sustainable Development Goals;¿ Federico Cheever and John Derbach, ¿Sustainable Development and Its Discontents;¿ Kathleen Smythe, ¿An Historian's Critique of Sustainability;¿ Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons; Ingolfur Blühdorn, "Post-capitalism, Post-growth, Post-consumerism? Eco-political Hopes Beyond Sustainability;¿ Yanis Varoufakis, Another Now: Dispatches from an Alternative Present.
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Examinations and Assignments:
A final essay based on four scaffolded shorter writing assignments, weekly reflection papers. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Abrell,Elan Louis Times: .M.W... 01:20PM-02:40PM; Location: SCIE139; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: X | JR major: X | | |
| Seats Available: -3 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: X | JR non-major: X | SO: X | FR: 15 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 1 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 1 |
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