The original tree huggers were rural Indian women who in the 1970s wrapped themselves around tree trunks to keep loggers at bay. It is this class of women who today trek long distances in search of firewood to cook dinner on wood stoves now deemed harmful to their own health, local forests, and the earth’s climate. From policy to individual livelihoods and aspirations, this course introduces you to the politics of environment in India from the colonial period (19th century) to today. Gender, class, caste, and indigeneity are key to understanding ‘environmentalism from below’ in India, where tiger protection, forest conservation, mega dams, industrial agriculture, the global patent regime and family planning initiatives have sparked public protest, everyday resistance, and social change. While the course will focus primarily on India, occasional comparative case studies offer insight into the Indian situation. We will reflect on these questions: How is your life connected to environmental and social processes unfolding on the other side of the planet? How do the questions we ask shape the knowledge we produce? How can we bring together knowledge from different fields to address complex human problems? Assignments include quizzes, exams, essays, and a final research project. This course assumes no prior knowledge of India or South Asia and meets a General Education requirement in the area of International and Global Issues. It is also an approved course for the Sustainability Certificate. For GWSS majors, it will fill the Global/Comparative Focus distribution requirement. For SJUS majors, it qualifies for two Social Justice Emphasis Areas: The Environment and Ecological Justice and Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies.
International and Global Issues SustainabilityCommunities across the globe are increasingly concerned that the byproducts from our industrial lives are causing climate change and irreparable damage to our natural environment. Anthropology provides a rich source of information on how humans interact with nature, and provides a baseline for understanding ecosystems’ dynamic pasts, which together can be used to place today's environmental crisis in perspective. Using examples and case studies from around the world, this course surveys the changing nature of human-environmental interactions over the last 60,000 years.
There are no required textbooks. Required readings will be posted on ICON.
Social Sciences SustainabilityThis class introduces students to sustainability, a critically-important subject that explores how humans can improve their interactions with the natural environment to support long-term economic, social, and ecological well-being. Students will explore the ways in which humans can address the environmental challenges we face today. We will examine key areas of sustainability including population dynamics, ecosystems, global change, energy and water use, food production, urbanization, environmental economics, policy, ethics, and equity. Sustainability includes multiple perspectives and disciplines, thus this class will include material from fields spanning the social, natural, engineering, and business sciences to produce a holistic understanding of sustainability and its practices.
Social Sciences SustainabilityClimate change is likely the most significant public health challenge facing the world. In this course, you will learn about the science and impact of climate change and environmental policy on the world’s health. You will understand linkages between the climate crisis and global energy policy, population, poverty, and disease. The course will help you understand strategies for addressing, adapting, and mitigating problems relating to our changing planet and will prepare you to listen to all voices, advocates and skeptics, with a critical ear. You will discover actions big and small that you can take to make a difference. Grades are decided based on attendance (10%), 5 quizzes (50%), team presentations (20%), and a final exam (20%). This course meets a requirement for the Sustainability Certificate.
International and Global Issues SustainabilityThe History of Oil 3 s.h.
This course provides broad historical perspective on the business, science, geology, technology, politics, environment, and culture of the global oil industry.
This course asks students to contemplate the big questions surrounding the origins, development, and meaning of the “Age of Petroleum,” an age in which we continue to live.
How and why did oil become the most powerful international business of the last 150 years? What were the factors behind oil’s emergence as the world’s main transportation fuel, a chief source of heat and electricity, and the building block for a proliferating array of consumer goods? How and why did struggles over oil become central to world politics and shape the rise and fall of nations? How do we wrestle with the trade-offs between the unprecedented wealth and prosperity generated by oil development and the social, economic, and environmental costs that have come with it? How has the search for oil fostered human awareness of both Earth’s deep history and the fragility of ecosystems on which we depend?
Students completing this class will gain a solid foundation in the history and science of oil. Both fields emphasize the importance of thinking historically, developing explanations for why the past unfolded as it did, rather than along an alternative path. In this class, which fulfills a general education requirement for “Historical Perspectives,” students study both primary and secondary sources to learn to do the work of professional historians. As oil development increasingly impacts our lives, this course is also designed to expand your understanding of the costs and benefits of oil to modern society and prepare you to confront the challenges of ensuring energy sustainability over the long run. This course will also serve as a gateway for further study in History or Earth and Environmental sciences, as well as in other energy and sustainability-related courses at the University of Iowa.
Instruction combines a mixture of lectures, discussions, and inquiry-based activities in order to sharpen analytical abilities, promote teamwork, and improve oral and written expression of ideas. The major graded assignments consist of three exams, class participation and discussion, and a research paper.
Environmental Communication 3 s.h.
In this course we will examine how the media, public relations practitioners, scientists, and decision makers in governments, corporations and other organizations talk about environmental and sustainability issues and how that influences public understanding of these issues. We will analyze strategies to get scientific knowledge to the public arena in ways that inform, educate and empower the public. We will also examine how individuals and organizations can communicate in ways that might mislead or confuse the public.
Sustainability Values and SocietyThe Global Environment 3 s.h.
We currently need 1.6 earths to sustain our use of natural resources. Where we live, what we eat, and our day-to-day activities modify the local environment. In turn, we are intricately connected to one another and to the environment on which our livelihoods depend. Understanding the global environment and the role people play within the earth system is essential to understanding current debates, policies, and their potential ramifications. This course introduces students to the natural processes, ranging from microscopic to global, and explores how the science of the global environment helps us understand the connections between people and environment. Students will learn how the earth's systems interact and the importance of these systems to people. The processes of observation, analysis, and inference underlying the science will be discussed throughout. This course provides an important foundation for future study of topics such as environmental studies, business, public health, journalism, and many other fields.
Natural Sciences without Lab SustainabilityOur Digital Earth 3 s.h.
The Earth is undergoing an era of rapid change. Understanding this change and its impacts on life on Earth depends on systematically analyzing and interpreting evolving data, tools, and theories that are highly interdisciplinary. Spatial technologies, such as geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing, are uniquely positioned to tackle sustainability issues to increase resiliency in a changing planet. There is a sizeable amount of spatial data that has become accessible through platforms such as Google Earth Engine. This class will introduce students to introductory geospatial skills using inquiry-based activities to build success in basic geospatial data analysis and critical spatial thinking. Through this class, students will use cutting-edge technology to examine sustainability issues such as urban heat islands, glacier retreats, deforestation, and drought. Ultimately the goal is for students to gain experience working with different types of geospatial data used to illuminate and improve sustainability issues that face our current and future generations.
Learning Objectives:
• Extend knowledge of the underlying physics to execute geospatial data analysis through the implementation of geospatial programming.
• Connect how geospatial data and analysis can support a systems-approach to sustainability concepts and topics.
• Critically examine geospatial datasets and visualizations regarding social-environmental issues to appraise how these may or may not be misleading to the general public by supporting your ideas with evidence and reason.
The demands on earth’s resources have never been greater, leading to a wide array of environmental impacts on a grand scale. This introductory course profiles the leading global environmental issues of our time, particularly those associated with land use, population change, pollution, energy, and climate change. The class adopts an interdisciplinary perspective that emphasizes their causes, consequences, and solutions. The major goals of the course are to: 1) explore the most urgent global environmental issues and their relationships with physical, social, biological, and economic processes; and 2) introduce you to basic geographic concepts in the context of current environmental challenges.
International and Global Issues SustainabilityIntroduction to Environmental Science 3, 4 s.h.
With human population growth and resource consumption growing exponentially, the impact of human interaction with the rest of our environment is increasingly relevant in many fields of study. Environmental Science is the interdisciplinary study of how Earth's natural systems interact, how these systems affect society, and how they respond to human activity. Environmental Science has the applied goal of solving environmental problems, drawing upon knowledge in disciplines as diverse as ecology, anthropology, economics, and political science. The specific student learning outcomes for the overall course are:
- Ability to critically evaluate popular media articles related to Environmental Science;
- Ability to locate and interpret data relevant to Environmental Science and interpret it;
- Understanding the relationship between their day-to-day life and Environmental Science, particularly in the context of sustainability;
- Recognize the multi-faceted nature of Environmental Science.
This course is taught in a blended environment, including traditional lectures, discussion periods in TILE classrooms, online learning, and both individual and group projects.
Natural Sciences with Lab Natural Sciences without Lab SustainabilityFundamentals of Environmental Science (ENVS:1085) is an interdisciplinary exploration of how Earth's natural systems interact, how these systems affect society, and how they respond to human activity. The course challenges students to explore how environmental problems can be solved and avoided by drawing upon knowledge in disciplines as diverse as ecology, anthropology, economics, chemistry, and political science. The course is delivered in a blended instructional environment, which includes traditional lectures, discussions and activity sessions in TILE classrooms, laboratory, online learning, peer-reviewed writing exercises, and service learning. The course is required for Environmental Science majors*, who are strongly encouraged to take this course during their first year. Other motivated students seeking a student-centered introduction to environmental science are also encouraged to enroll. Offered fall semesters.
Natural Sciences with Lab SustainabilityNatural Disasters 3 s.h.
One or more sections may be assigned to a TILE classroom.
Natural Sciences without Lab SustainabilityEngagement in scientific inquiry methods and exploration of the core principles and evidence underlying current knowledge regarding global socioscientific challenges like climate change and freshwater access; opportunity to gain scientific literacy and interdisciplinary understanding of life sciences alongside skills in investigation, data analysis, and decision-making processes.
Scientific inquiry methods and exploration of core principles and evidence underlying current knowledge regarding global socioscientific challenges like climate change and freshwater access. Scientific literacy and interdisciplinary understanding of life, physical, and earth sciences; skills in investigation, data analysis, and decision-making processes.
Natural Sciences without Lab SustainabilitySport and Globalization 3 s.h.
Sport is everywhere in the truest sense of the word; a nearly cultural universal. However, while sport involvement (both in terms of participation and spectating) could be said to be a globally ubiquitous practice, sport continues to act as a vehicle for the expression of local (in most cases, national or regional) cultural difference. From Argentina to Zimbabwe, sport plays an important role in forming the experiences and identities of people living in varying differing cultural, political, and economic conditions. Thus, sport could be said to be both a global and local phenomenon.
The specific aim of the course is to encourage students to consider how various sport practices, bodies, products, and spectacles operate and are experienced as manifestations of the global-local nexus. By examining sport within differing cultural settings, it becomes evident how contemporary sport cultures are influenced by the workings of global cultural, political, and economic forces, while simultaneously seeking to express local conditions and identities.
The course is organized around 4 primary modules - global sport practices (origins of global sport and its circulation), bodies (sporting migrants and celebrities), products (global labor forces and transnational corporations), and spectacles (global sport mega-events, tourism and activism) - with topics in each explored through a variety of case studies and related discussions, debates, and presentations.
International and Global Issues SustainabilityIntroduces the current state of sports participation and physical activity and how increasing both will lead to positive economic, human, and environmental outcomes. Learn the social-ecological model as a framework for understanding sports participation and physical activity; address strategies relevant to coaches and organizational administrators to create and deliver positive sport and physical activity environments.
The course informs students of the current state of sports participation and physical activity and how increasing both will lead to positive economic, human, and environmental outcomes. Students will learn the social-ecological model as a framework for understanding sports participation and physical activity. Furthermore, students will learn strategies relevant to coaches and organizational administrators (such as national sport governing bodies) to create and deliver positive sport and physical activity environments. As a result, students are equipped to contribute to sport participation framework roles such as coach, administrator, community member, and/or policy maker, leading to sustainable communities.
Unit 1 discusses the current state of sport and physical activity in the U.S., benefits of sport and physical activity, and the financial barriers many people encounter. Unit 2 discusses Long-Term Development for Sport and Physical Activity and emphasizes the importance of Physical Literacy. Unit 3 discusses effective coaching frameworks as encouraged by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Sport-Based Youth Development. Unit 4 discusses opportunities at multiple levels of the framework for effective sport participation and physical activity to reduce the environmental impact of the sport industry and improve mental health outcomes of athletes and participants.
Sustainability Values and SocietyIntroduction to 3D Design 3 s.h.
This is the foundation course for Product, Furniture, and Interior Design and the introduction to 3D Design with Sustainability. Students create four project and a Digital portfolio (Website).
They develop conceptual and critical design thinking while solving problems to make 3D structures with modular systems and sustainable material, processes, and consumption.
Students learn traditional hand drafting and model making, use AutoCAD software and Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) machine to create scale models, learn basic woodshop skills, research sustainable material and processes, practice how to pitch an idea and present projects, utilize map systems, take pictures using the lighting studio, edit images using Adobe software, and create a website portfolio.
Engineering Be Creative Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts Sustainability