GCST 1970 - Environmental Justice and Nature Immersion Experience

Institution:

North Hennepin Community College

Subject:

Description:

This course, a collaborative partnership with YMCA Camp Northern Lights, will focus on environmental justice and equity, access, and inclusion in nature and outdoor spaces movements in Minnesota, the US, and beyond. Students will explore these communities' efforts to protect and preserve our natural spaces for current and future generations, while also breaking down barriers to ensure equitable access, participation, and inclusion of all cultural and ethnic groups. The course will have a particular focus on contemporary environmental justice issues, such as water quality, proposed pipelines through Minnesota tribal lands, food insecurity, and access for BIPOC and other marginalized groups to nature and outdoor spaces. This course is designed to provide a hands-on immersive experience that will expose students to the events, places, peoples, systems and organizations throughout Minnesota that have helped shape current environmental justice policies, action, and activism, as well as connections with national and international environmental justice organizations, such as Wild Path Farm, the Sierra Club, Honor the Earth, the Sierra Leone Foundation for a New Democracy, Friends of the Boundary Waters, MN350, and the Three Rivers Park District. The course challenges participants to assess and critique issues such as political power, racism, colonization and segregation, activism, access to resources, and our relationship with this land through diverse cultural lenses. Students will be encouraged to explore these issues through their own cultural heritage, while being exposed to the beliefs, traditions, and value systems of others. This course includes 8 weeks of in-class participation and an off-campus expedition to YMCA Camp Northern Lights, a wilderness camp in Northern Minnesota, where students will be immersed in nature for 5 days.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nhcc.edu

Phone Number:

(763) 424-0702

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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