Course Calendar
Please note that this calendar is designed to be flexible: we may make changes along the way, depending on your interests and the needs of the class. Should you miss a class, you are responsible for knowing about—and adjusting for—any changes. Professional protocols and collegiality call for you to alert us if you’ll be missing on a day when we’re having a workshop or when you are scheduled to present materials.
| Week 1 Introductions, course goals; ecological narratives |
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| Monday 1/14 | Course introduction: key terms & goals Handout: Individual ecological narrative |
| Wed. 1/16 | In class: Discussing Oliver Reading: Oliver, What Do We Know; “sustainability” in the OED |
| Friday 1/18 | In class: Present individual ecological narrative Reading: Oliver, continued Due: Individual ecological narrative |
| Week 2 Reading nature: sustainability & the individual |
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| Monday 1/21 | MLK Day Celebrations“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. strove to raise awareness about urban environmental issues and public health concerns that disproportionately affect communities of color. Environmental justice is based on the principle that all members of a society have the right to clean air, water, and soil, as well as a right to live in communities where they can raise their families and send their kids out to play in healthy and nurturing natural environments.Further, it embraces the notion that no one possesses the right to degrade and destroy the environment, whether the government at all levels, private industry, or individual citizens.Finally, environmental justice includes a guarantee of equal access to relief and the possibility of meaningful community participation in the decisions of government and industry.” —Jerome Ringo, “The Other Inconvenient Truth,” 2008 |
| Wed. 1/23 | In class: Discussing Oliver Reading: Oliver, continued Due: your nature poem |
| Friday 1/25 | In class: The Rhetoric of Science Reading: Oliver, continued; preview Our Common Future Due: revised poem into textbook paragraph form; attach poem |
| Week 3 Reading science: sustainability & dirt |
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| Monday 1/28 | In class: Discussing Our Common Future Due: Reading journal |
| Wed. 1/30 | Guest speakers: Focus the Nation group –Amanda Norris, Bronwynn Kelly, Julie Jarvey, Katie Hietala |
| Friday 2/1 | Our Common Future, continued In class: Previewing Kingsolver |
| Week 4 | |
| Monday 2/4 | In class: Discussing Kingsolver Reading: Kingsolver, 1-10 |
| Wed. 2/6 | No class: Winter Carnival |
| Friday 2/8 | No class: Winter Carnival |
| Week 5 | |
| Monday 2/11 | In class: Discussing Kingsolver Reading: Kingsolver, continued (1-10) Due: Reading journal |
| Wed. 2/13 | In class: Kingsolver, continued (1-10) |
| Friday 2/15 | In class: Kingsolver, continued (11-20) |
| Week 6 The political economy of nature: dominion or stewardship? |
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| Monday2/18 | In class: Kingsolver, continued (11-20) |
| Wed.2/20 | In class: Kingsolver, continued (11-20) |
| Friday2/22 | In class: Kingsolver, continued (11-20) |
| Week 7 Seeing nature: sustainability & rhetoric |
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| Monday2/25 | Art, humanities, and the environment Group Presentations  |
| Wed.2/27 | Art, humanities, and the environment Group Presentations  |
| Friday2/29 | Art, humanities, and the environmentPreview: Grassroots Struggles for Sustainability in Central America Group Presentations  |
| Week 8 Writing nature |
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| Monday 3/3 | In class: Horton, Grassroots Struggles for Sustainability in Central America Due: Reading journal |
| Wed. 3/5 | In class: Horton, continued |
| Friday 3/7 | No class |
| Spring Break Saturday March 8th – Sunday March 16th | |
| Week 9 Writing nature |
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| Monday 3/17 | No class |
| Wed. 3/19 | In class: Horton, continued |
| Friday 3/21 | In class: Kingsolver pizza recipes, Wadsworth; food origins & transportation |
| Week 10 Writing nature |
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| Monday 3/24 | In class: Bigfoot |
| Wed. 3/28 | In class: Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder |
| Friday 3/28 | In class: Louv, continued Due: Reading response to Horton, based on reading journal questions: 500 words, typed, double-spaced |
| Week 11 Sustainability as a research practice? |
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| Monday 3/31 | In class: Microbial Communities: From Life Apart to Life Together & Previewing projects |
| Wed.4/2 | No class; work on project proposal |
| Fri. 4/4 | No class; work on project proposal |
| Sat. 4/5 | Northern Lights Film Festival: Ladies of the Land |
| Week 12 Sustainability as an ethic? |
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| Monday 4/7 | In class: Preparing projects and discussing Worldchanging: A Users Guide for the 21st Century Due: Project proposals |
| Wed. 4/9 | Project Development & Steffen’s Worldchanging |
| Friday 4/11 | Grayson family recipe @ Wadsworth Steffen’s Worldchanging |
| Week 13 Sustainability as an individual or collective action? |
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| Monday 4/14 | In class: Project workshop and previews |
| Wed. 4/16 | UP historical recipe @ Wadsworth Project workshop and previews |
| Friday 4/18 | In class: Project workshop and previews |
| Week 14 A Rhetoric of Sustainability: Presentations |
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| Monday 4/21 | Project Presentations |
| Wed. 4/23 | Project Presentations |
| Friday 4/25 | Stema family recipe @ Wadsworth Project Presentations |
| Finals Week | |