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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study during a Short Term. Normally offered every year. Staff.
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3.00 Credits
An introduction to central concepts in environmental science-the function and interrelationship of physical, chemical, and biological systems-through the study of specific environmental issues. The laboratory links field studies of environmental systems to the scientific concepts and tools environmental scientists use. This course serves as the foundation for further study of environmental science at Bates. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. [S] [L] [Q] Normally offered every year. H. Ewing.
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3.00 Credits
Environmental issues rarely have only physical dimensions. They most often also have social and political aspects. This course familiarizes students with some of the major social scientific contributions to understanding how and why environmental problems arise, how they are defined, and how different groups are affected by and respond to them. The course first outlines the contemporary world system in which environmental debates take place and then identifies drivers of environmental change. Students then apply these ideas to a variety of ongoing environmental controversies, including climate change, oil dependency, agriculture, urbanization, biodiversity conservation, pollution, and environmental justice. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. Normally offered every year. S. Pieck.
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3.00 Credits
The course explores dynamics between natural environments and human cultures. Methods in environmental and cultural studies inform case studies drawn from animist cultures, creation stories, the wilderness concept, Romantic and transcendentalist writings, ecofeminism, urbanism, and art on and of the landscape. Additional topics include media environments, disaster narratives, food culture, the question of the animal and environmental justice. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. Normally offered every year. J. Skinner.
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3.00 Credits
Environmental thinkers from Gary Snyder to Wendell Berry have linked environmental responsiveness to localness and an intimate knowledge of place and home. What role does literature, oral and written, play in producing, recording, and transmitting such knowledge How are nature and the landscape around us remembered, imagined, shaped, mourned, and possibly protected by the stories, songs, and poems that humans create In what ways do writers assign personal or spiritual significance to the landscape This course uses Northern New England and the watershed of the Androscoggin as a base to investigate these questions. Readings include stories from Abenaki oral literature, poems, and stories by contemporary local writers, as well as other selected American writers who have given a strong voice to regionalism in their work. Open to first-year students. S. Strong.
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3.00 Credits
This interdisciplinary course explores the evolving practice of urban open space. Frederick Law Olmsted's contribution to the design of American urban parks, as well as their contested legacy in the civil rights movement, form a core study, along with some introduction to urbanist theories of space. Discussion of bioregional and cultural contexts focuses on issues around reclaimed and constructed landscapes. Study of the literature of open spaces, and of the interventions of contemporary artists and composers, develops an "expanded field" of aesthetics. Students are asked to pursue a creative-critical project, involving onsite investigation, in spaces at once social and natural. Not open to students who have received credit for Environmental Studies 200. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. J. Skinner.
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3.00 Credits
Where does water go and what does it do Humans across the globe extract, enjoy, use, waste, and conserve water and hence affect its distribution, movement, and quality. In this course students follow water from atmosphere to land to aquatic systems, emphasizing the controls on the movement and chemistry of water. They investigate not only the need of organisms for water but also the ways in which organisms, including humans, influence the distribution and chemistry of water. Some class meetings involve field and lab work. Prerequisite(s): one of the following: Environmental Studies 203; Chemistry 107A or Chemistry/Environmental Studies 107B and Geology 103; Chemistry 107A or Chemistry/Environmental Studies 107B and Biology 101 or 112. Recommended background: Chemistry 107A and 108A, or Chemistry/Environmental Studies 107B and 108B. Enrollment limited to 30. [S] H. Ewing.
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3.00 Credits
Science fiction endures as the privileged genre for exploring the big questions-ethical, philosophical, scientific-of the "posthuman" era. What does it mean to be human when biotechnology muddles inheritance and blurs the boundaries between species Does obsession with virtuality presage the "end of nature" What do the troubling identities o f I, Robo t have to do with animal rights Can we learn from utopian exercises in "terraforming" and apocalypse In this reading- and writing-intensive course, a range of science fiction works of literature and film are paired with philosophical texts, from Plato to Haraway, and discussed in the light of environmental issues. Prerequisite(s): one of the following: English 121, Philosophy 150, or Environmental Studies 205. Recommended background: Environmental Studies 205. Enrollment limited to 25. [W2] J. Skinner.
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3.00 Credits
Depending on one's point of view, soils are geological units, ecosystems, the foundation of plant life, a place for microbes to live, building material, or just dirt. This course takes a scientific perspective and explores the genesis of soils, their distribution and characteristics, and their interaction with plants. Field studies emphasize description of soils, inferences about soil formation, and placement within a landscape context. Labs investigate the chemistry of soils and their role in forestry and agriculture. Prerequisite(s): Environmental Studies 203; or one chemistry set (Chemistry 107A-108A or Chemistry/Environmental Studies 107B-108B) and one 200-level biology or geology course. Recommended background: one 200-level geology course. [S] [L] H. Ewing.
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3.00 Credits
The course examines the "nonfiction" impulse - in prose or verse - in relation to environmental concerns about place, science, history, advocacy, or social justice. Equal attention is paid to the practice of writing in a workshop environment and to critical and theoretical reflection. Students explore techniques particular to nonfiction including poetic forms and various approaches to science, documentary, and investigative writing, with considerations of narrative, metaphor, persona, and audience. Critical reflection focuses on constructions of "nonfiction," on theorizing connections between writing and environment, and on testing the genre's boundaries. The central concerns of "environmental literacy" run through both the practice and theory. Prerequisite(s): one of the following: English 291, 292, 395O, Environmental Studies 205, 213, s34, s36, Interdisciplinary Studies 220. Recommended background: Environmental Studies 203, 204, or 205. Enrollment limited to 15. [W2] J. Skinner.
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