ENS 201: COURSE OUTLINE AND UK POLICY STUFF

Introduction to Environmental Studies

Instructor:	Tad Mutersbaugh
Office Address:	871 Patterson Office Tower
Email:	tmute2@uky.edu
Office Phone:	257-1316
Office hours:	Thursday 8-10 am or by appt

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will provide you with training and insights to better understand social and ecological theoretical perspectives regarding the environment. This course examines how and why environmental problems happen, in other words, the social ‘root causes’ of environmental problems. The good news: we have all of the technology that we need to fully address environmental problems and live in an environmentally sustainable manner. The bad news: we aren’t using those technologies. Emphasis will be placed on people and their relationship with the physical environment and on understanding the processes that have led to environmental and social change. The course also provides the basic social theoretical tools to question simple assumptions of environmental change. This course will show how nature and society are so interlaced that they can be difficult to separate.

We will examine social approaches to understanding and theorizing environmental problems and how environmental problems are framed for ideas such as ‘market-based’ environmental policies; property rights; and social movements that promote concepts such as environmental justice. You will be to answer the following questions at the end of the course. How do we know that we have environmental problems? How are environmental problems framed and theorized? What are the policy implications of divergent framings of environment-society problems and issues?

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Ø  To become familiar with social theories to examine human/environmental issues.  

Ø  To gain a greater understanding of the complexities of human-environment relations and the divergent perspectives to understanding this complexity.

Ø  To gain tools for analyzing the social causes and consequences of environmental problems.

Ø  To put social theories into practice to examine various environmental issues at local, national, and international scales.

COURSE TEXTS

Robbins, P., Hintz, J., and S. Moore. 2010. Environment and Society: A Critical

Introduction. New York, NY: Wiley-Blackwell.

Tentative Course Schedule

SEE READINGS!!

COURSE Grading considerations:

Lecture Attendance and Participation (5%)

Lab Attendance, Participation, and Assignments (25%)       

Three Reflection Papers (30%)

Midterm Exam (20%)

Final Exam (20%)                  

A = 90+, B=80+, C=70+, D=60+, F =<60

REFLECTION ESSAY You will complete three subsequent drafts of a reflection essay on a topic of your choice. Each draft of your reflection essay should be submitted by the assigned due date and time (see schedule). For the first draft of your reflection essay, you are required to include one social-theoretical perspective to examine/analyze your chosen environmental issue/topic. The second draft for your reflection essay will require you to integrate one additional social-theoretical perspective to examine/analyze your chosen environmental topic/issue. While the number of social theories you use for this subsequent draft of your essay increases, your topic will remain the same throughout each draft so pick one you are very interested in! You must include at least five additional peer reviewed sources in addition to the assigned readings you can draw upon for your essay. Each draft should be no longer than five single-spaced pages. You will receive additional instructions regarding our expectations for your reflection essay as well as our grading guidelines for the reflection essay drafts and final reflection essay. The Final (Third) draft of the reflection essay will not include a new socio-theoretical perspective, but must be thoroughly revised based upon the comments received on the second draft. Course Policies:

Excused Absences:

Students need to notify the professor of absences prior to class when possible. S.R. 5.2.4.2 defines the following as acceptable reasons for excused absences: (a) serious illness, (b) illness or death of family member, (c) University-related trips, (d) major religious holidays, and (e) other circumstances found to fit “reasonable cause for nonattendance” by the professor.

Students anticipating an absence for a major religious holiday are responsible for notifying the instructor in writing of anticipated absences due to their observance of such holidays no later than the last day in the semester to add a class. Information regarding dates of major religious holidays may be obtained through the religious liaison, Mr. Jake Karnes (859-257-2754).

Students are expected to withdraw from the class if more than 20% of the classes scheduled for the semester are missed (excused or unexcused) per university policy.

Verification of Absences

Students may be asked to verify their absences in order for them to be considered excused. Senate Rule 5.2.4.2 states that faculty have the right to request “appropriate verification” when students claim an excused absence because of illness or death in the family. Appropriate notification of absences due to university-related trips is required prior to the absence.

Academic Integrity :

Per university policy, students shall not plagiarize, cheat, or falsify or misuse academic records. Students are expected to adhere to University policy on cheating and plagiarism in all courses.  The minimum penalty for a first offense is a zero on the assignment on which the offense occurred.  If the offense is considered severe or the student has other academic offenses on their record, more serious penalties, up to suspension from the university may be imposed. 

Plagiarism and cheating are serious breaches of academic conduct.  Each student is advised to become familiar with the various forms of academic dishonesty as explained in the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.  Complete information can be found at the following website: http://www.uky.edu/Ombud.  A plea of ignorance is not acceptable as a defense against the charge of academic dishonesty. It is important that you review this information as all ideas borrowed from others need to be properly credited.

Part II of Student Rights and Responsibilities (available online http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/Code/part2.html) states that all academic work, written or otherwise, submitted by students to their instructors or other academic supervisors, is expected to be the result of their own thought, research, or self-expression.  In cases where students feel unsure about the question of plagiarism involving their own work, they are obliged to consult their instructors on the matter before submission.

When students submit work purporting to be their own, but which in any way borrows ideas, organization, wording or anything else from another source without appropriate acknowledgement of the fact, the students are guilty of plagiarism.  Plagiarism includes reproducing someone else’s work, whether it be a published article, chapter of a book, a paper from a friend or some file, or something similar to this. Plagiarism also includes the practice of employing or allowing another person to alter or revise the work which a student submits as his/her own, whoever that other person may be.

 Students may discuss assignments among themselves or with an instructor or tutor, but when the actual work is done, it must be done by the student, and the student alone. When a student’s assignment involves research in outside sources of information, the student must carefully acknowledge exactly what, where and how he/she employed them.  If the words of someone else are used, the student must put quotation marks around the passage in question and add an appropriate indication of its origin. Making simple changes while leaving the organization, content and phraseology intact is plagiaristic.  However, nothing in these Rules shall apply to those ideas which are so generally and freely circulated as to be a part of the public domain (Section 6.3.1).

Please note:  Any assignment you turn in may be submitted to an electronic database to check for plagiarism.

Accommodations due to disability :

If you have a documented disability that requires academic accommodations, please see me as soon as possible during scheduled office hours. In order to receive accommodations in this course, you must provide me with a Letter of Accommodation from the Disability Resource Center (Room 2, Alumni Gym, 257-2754, email address: jkarnes@email.uky.edu) for coordination of campus disability services available to students with disabilities.