ENV 295 - Special Topics in Environmental Studies

Credits: 3 Prerequisites: ENV 110 or BIOL 111. This course examines special topics in environmental studies, such as ecotourism, the environment and development, local environmental issues, values and the environment, global fisheries, global climate change, tropical deforestation and similar topics of importance, which could change from year to year. This is a research-intensive course where the student would be expected to write a significant paper, either individually or as part of a group, of sufficient quality to be made useful to the scholarly and policy communities. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.

Spring 2021, ENV 295A-01: Special Topics in Environmental Studies: Nature and Natural Resource Protection Law (3). Prerequisite: ENV-110, BIOL-111, or instructor consent. “In the end we will conserve only what we love, [and] we will love only what we understand … .” (Senegalese engineer Baba Dioum). This interdisciplinary course is guided by the foregoing sentiment. We have entered a new geologic age - the Anthropocene - defined by humankind’s pervasive impact and dominance over the natural world, threatening biodiversity and degrading the quality and availability of water, air, and other essential natural resources. Students will explore their relationship with nature, rationales and methods for protecting nature, and laws governing natural resource protection, with a particular focus on policies and efforts in the United States. We will explore concepts related to natural resource protection, sustainable development, and ecotourism through several lenses, including the biological basis for conserving biodiversity, the legal framework for protecting nature, and philosophical/ethical viewpoints. J. Youngman.