Assignments
The
class will involve considerable reading each week, class participation, several
short assignments, and a term paper and presentation.
Specifically
students will be expected to:
1. Read
the assigned texts before each class session. The reading will range from
30-60 pages per class. Students are required to do this reading (and it will
lay the basis for much of the class dialogue and learning).
2. Participate
fully in class discussions. The classes will be run as a guided discussion
with lecture interspersed. Engagement with the readings and the topics of
the day is critical to the learning experience.
3. Complete
four short problem sets during the semester. These will be designed to be
learning exercises focused on evaluating individual impacts on the environment
and society. For instance, one will involve calculating your personal ecological
footprint, another will involve evaluating our own "sweatshop" clothing.
Late problem sets will be counted down one grade (i.e., from A to A- or B+
to B) for every day they are late.
4. Write
a term paper for the course. In the process leading up to the final paper,
students will submit an outline for a proposed project and a bibliography
of sources for the project. Students will meet with the professor (or TA)
at least once during the semester to discuss their plans for the term project.
The term project will be due by 5 p.m. on December 10th, 2002. Late papers will not be accepted. No exceptions.
5. Finally
students will present their term project research to the class in short oral
presentations.
Evaluation:
The
course grade will be based on the following activities:
20% - Class
participation
30% - Problem
Sets
40% -
Term project
10% -
Class Presentation
1. Download the Ecological Footprint spreadsheet.
(You will need Excel or a similar spreadsheet program to calculate your footprint.)
State all of your assumptions - for example, are you calculating for an individual
or family? And fill in all of the blue boxes.
Print out your spreadsheet. Write your ecological footprint number at the
top of the page.