IDS 303/STS 303 Humans and the Environment- Online Version Nell Kriesberg, Division of Interdisciplinary Studies, Cell phone: 919-609- 9274; email: nkriesberg@nc.rr.com In this course we will focus on how we can best fulfill our own needs as a species while living in balance with the needs of other species. We will begin with a novel, a very famous one called Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. This book suggests a new way to look at the whole question of sustainability: Quinn clearly thinks outside the box. We will then examine the complexity of ecosystems with a view toward increasing our awareness and understanding of our own role and how we might adjust our activities so as to minimize our global impact on the environment. IDS 303 satisfies the General Education (GEP) in Interdisciplinary Studies: we are combining literature, ecology and ethics. It also satisfies the Global GEP requirement since the course necessarily embraces the whole planet. Course Learning Objectives: Our course is most of all, a course in environmental literacy. As citizens of the world, we have the job of combining scientific knowledge and social values in order to understand and analyze critically important dilemmas facing us both as individuals and as members of the global commons. By the end of this course students will be able to: 1. Identify how human activities cause changes in the biogeochemical cycles of the planetary ecosystems; 2. Distinguish the difference between a Taker and a Leaver paradigm as described in Ishmael; 3. Apply the Leaver paradigm to a particular environmental topic, (water, forests, oceans, biodiversity, etc.); 4. Diagram how human activities on a particular ecosystem differ depending on whether a Taker or Leaver paradigm is followed:
5. Design a set of daily tasks that follow the Leaver paradigm; 6. Evaluate daily tasks that are doable right now for promoting a Leaver approach. Textbooks: Peter H. Raven and Linda R. Berg. Environment 7th Edition (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010) All forms of the book will be available: hardback, paperback, notebook ready and electronic: used copies of the print versions will be. Daniel Quinn, Ishmael, (Bantam/Turner, 1992) paperback; used copies available. Description and Organization of Class: The class is organized around a Three Window a Week structure; Monday-Wednesday; Wednesday-Friday and Friday-Sunday. I normally do not like to assign specific work over the weekend but have found over the years, that this format works best for online students. Since each Window lasts for three days you will have plenty of time to accomplish your assignments. The course is asynchronous, so how you organize your time is up to you, but you do need to accomplish tasks within the Window they are assigned. We will begin with reading Ishmael, using the ideas in the book to frame our study of ecology. For this first section of the course we will have Discussion Forums as everyone proceeds through the book. We will then proceed through our textbook, taking in most but not all of the chapters, given the reality of a semester long course. We will thoroughly study basic areas in ecology so as to understand the scientific facts and inter- relationships that drive the planetary life systems. This will give us a basic understanding of the Environmental realities we need to begin to think through the challenge of our ecological footprints. I will have brief Lecture Notes for the chapters where I will bring out the important inter-relationships that you will want to focus on in your thinking about the chapter s topics. Necessarily, there are a great number of facts to learn: it seems to me clear that we first need to understand how nature works before we can think about our own impact on nature, and whether we need to make changes
in our activities or not and if so, what these changes need to encompass. In order to learn these facts about a wide variety of topics we will have open book study quizzes on a weekly basis, in the Monday Wednesday Window. These quizzes will be in multiple choice or short answer format, focusing on the major learning objectives in the textbook. The quizzes will be available actually on Sunday so that you can have more flexibility with your studying; realize that you will also have a Discussion assignment in the Friday Sunday Window if you choose to do the quiz on Sundays, instead of the Monday- Wednesday Window. We will then spend the Wednesday Friday and the Friday - Sunday Windows applying the facts, topics and ideas presented in the chapter we are studying. Most of the time we will have Discussion Topics that relate to the current chapter in our textbook, with a prompt question from me; other times we will look at a streaming video as the basis for a Discussion Forum. There will be some taped lectures from guest speakers. We will have 4 assignments focusing on the Case Study Approach as a way to analyze ethical questions. In lieu of a final essay, our last 4 Discussion Forums will focus on our food choices as an example of our connections with the environment. I will be actively involved in these activities, along with all of you. Class Requirements and Grading: Open Book Study Quizzes: Discussion Forums: 30 points 30 points Case Study Exercises (5 points each): 20 points Final Discussion Forums (5 points each): 20 points Brief Information about Final Discussion Forums: You will select your favorite food, one that you therefore eat pretty often. Then research this item of food: where it originates from, what processes are involved, how it gets to you, any details about that food that give you information about how that food relates to the details of the biogeochemical planetary cycles we have studied. What is the ecological footprint of your food choices? What options do you have? How might your food choices promote a Locavore paradigm, a voluntary simplicity paradigm, a Leaver paradigm? In what way might your food choices be doable right now? We will apply the Case Study approach in our Forum discussions that clarify many of the issues for us in terms of how our food choices directly influence the environment and other people on the planet. Grade Computation: A (A 100-90) B (89-80) C (79-70) D (69-65) You need to earn 65 points to pass the class and you must do the final essay to pass the class, even if your points earned by the end of the semester
without the final essay are enough to pass. I do give out +/- but not A+. Clearly you will need to spend time with this class in order to do well. NC State University policies on academic integrity and students with disabilities: It is expected that all students will follow the established policies on academic integrity: see http://www.ncsu.edu/student_affairs/osc/ We need to be particularly careful to quote correctly when doing online work and citing references. Please feel free to contact me about any specific concerns you have about this course or your work at any time; email me or call me on my cell phone, I am happy to talk with you in person as well, we can set up a time and place to meet. Any students with a specific disability should register with the Disability Services for Students: see http://www.ncsu.edu/provots/offices/affirm_action/dss/ Class Schedule Class Schedule Mon-Wed Window Wed-Fri Window Fri-Sun Window Wk 1 8/17 8/19 Wk 2 8/22 Wk 3 8/29 Ishmael Chs 4-8 Ch 1 Introducing Environmental Science Intro to class and class site, take Moodle tutorial. Practice Discussion Forum Wed 8 AM-Fri 8/24 Ishmael Chs 9-13 8/31 Take Ecological Footprint Quiz Ishmael Chs 1-4: view video of Daniel Quinn interview; view Ishmael Website Fri-8 AM- Sun 8/26 Leaver Communities and Green Roofs 9/2 Calculate your Discussion Group s IPAT
and Sustainability: Closes Wed Wk 4 9/5 Labor Day No Class Ch 2 Enviromental Laws, Economics and Ethics: Open Book Wk 5 9/12 Ch 3 Ecosystems and Energy: Open Book 9/7 Streaming Video: The God Squad 9/14 Case Study Approach: The Antarctic Food Web; Work on Your Case Study Assignment 9/9 Coffee as an Environmental and Ethical Issue 9/16 Case Study Assignment 1 Upload in this Window, topic is Humans and Net Primary Productivity (NPP) Wk 6 9/19 Wk 7 9/26 Ch 4 Ecosystems and Living Organisms: Closes Wed Ch 5 Ecosystems and the Physical Enviironment: Open Book Quiz available as of Wk 8 10/3 Ch 9 Addressing Population Issues: Open Book Quiz available as of 9/21 Video: The Salmon Forest 9/28 Work on Case Study Assignment 2 on the Biogeochemical Cycles 10/5 Fall 9/23 Research Current Global Efforts to Rebalance Salmon Ecosystems 9/30 Case Study Assignment 2: Upload in this Window 10/7 Break
Wk 9 10/10 Wk 10 10/17 Video of Population Issues Chs 11 Fossil Fuels and Selections from Ch 12 Nuclear Energy Open Book Quiz available as of Wk 11 10/24 Chs 14 Water: A Limited Resource+ selections from Chs 6 Aquatic Ecosystems: Closes Wed Wk 12 10/31 Ch 17 Biological Resources: Open Book Wk 13 11/7 Ch 21 Global Climate Change: Open Book Wk 14 11/14 Ch 19 Food Resources: Closes Wed Wk 15 11/21 10/12 Work on Case Study Assignment 3 on Population Issues 10/19 Comparing Risks of Different Energy Resources: Can We? 10/26 Video: Water Wars (TBA) 11/2 Lecture by David Tarpey on Bees (TBA) 11/9 Work on Case Study Assignment 4 on Global Climate Change 11/16 Food Choices Project 11/23 10/14 Upload Case Study Assignment 3 on Population Issues in this Window 10/21 Examples from Around the Globe of Leaver Approaches to Energy utilizing Ch 13 10/28 Examples from around the world of Leaver Approach to Water 11/4 Steaming Video: Milking the Rhino 11/11 Upload Case Study Assignment 4 on Global Climate Change in this Window 11/18 Food Choices Project 11/25 Food Choices Project Thanksgiving Break Wk 16 11/28 11/30 12/2 Last Day of Classes today so Wed-
Mon-Wed Ch 25: Tomorrow s World Discussion, no quiz Wed-Fri Food Choices Project and the Leaver Stance Fri Window closes at.