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University of New Brunswick
Sociology 3553: Sociology andthe Environment
Winter, 2011
Shaun Bartone, MA, JD 453-4849
email: [email protected]
Office and Office Hours: Tilley 13
Thurs. 11-12 noon (or by appointment)
Course Description
Environmental sociology is the study of community in the largest
possible sense.
Ecology is typically defined as the study of natural communities
of plants, animals, and
their interaction with the biophysical environment (land, water,
air). Sociology is
frequently defined as the study of human communities.
Environmental sociology bringsthese two perspectives together by
studying human communities as part of natural
ecosystems.
The core idea linking the two senses of community is the idea of
sustainability
the notion that both the human community and the ecosystem can
coexist over the long
term. However, the trajectory of contemporary society based on
the conventional
wisdom of infinite economic expansion is not sustainable over
the long term. Thus,
action aimed at changing the direction of development, through
the creation of a more
sustainable future, becomes necessary.
Text and Required Readings1. Bell, Michael:An Invitation
toEnvironmental Sociology (3rd edition)
2. Material on Blackboard and/or available
from the instructor
Evaluation
1. Three Individual Exercises 40% (10% +
10% + 20 %)
Detailed instructions related to each will be available on
Blackboard
a. Carbon Emissions Comparison: Canada vs. the OECD
(10%, due January 21)
b. Calculating Your Ecological Footprint (10%, due February
3)
c. Summary on topics presented in textbook (20 %). See Page
3
2. One Group Project (25% total)
The class will be divided into groups of 4-5 people. Each group
will be
responsible for one project, the details of which are available
on Blackboard.
While some time will be given over in class to preliminary
organizing for these
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projects, they will require the groups to occasionally meet
outside of class time
for them to be done well.
a. Sustainable Cities Initiative. Your group will be responsible
for
developing, executing and reporting on a project aimed to
improve
environmental sustainability in Fredericton, NB. Work on this
project will
occur throughout the term, with the major presentation
componentoccurring in the last two weeks of class.
3. Class Attendance and Participation (10%)
4. Registrar Scheduled Final exam (25%)
There will be a registrar scheduled final exam covering material
from both
readings and in-class (i.e., lectures and articles).
Topic Schedule and Related Readings
Part 1: The Material
January 11-13: Environmental Problems and Society (Bell, Ch.
1)
Media and Environmental Communication (Hannigan, Ch. 6)
January 18-20: Consumption and Materialism (Bell, Ch. 2)
January 25-27: Money and Machines (Bell, Cha Ch. 3)
February 1-3: Population and Development (Bell, Ch. 4)
February 8-10 Body and Health (Bell, Ch. 5)
Part II: The Ideal
February 15-17: Environmental Domination (Bell, Ch. 6)
February 22-24: Environmental Concern (Bell, Ch. 7)March 1-3:
The Human Nature of Nature (Bell, Ch. 8)
March 7-11 Winter Break
March 15-17: The Rationality of Risk (Bell, Ch. 9)
Part III: The Real
March 22-24: Mobilizing the Ecological Society (Bell, Ch.
10)
Sustainable Cities Presentation Group 1 & 2
March 29-31: Environmental Movements: Global South and
Indigenous Cultures
(Gould, Lewis, Ch. 10) Global North: Transition Towns (web
article)
Sustainable Cities Presentation Group 3 & 4
April 5-7: Governing the Ecological Society (Bell, Ch. 11)
Additional Texts:
Hannigan, John. Environmental Sociology, 2d Edition (1995)
Routledge.
Gould & Lewis. Twenty Lessons in Environmental Sociology,
(2009) Oxford University
Press.
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Environmental Sociology Blog
We are going to learn about ecological communication by working
on a class blog this
semester.
I have started a Facebook Page called Enviro Sociology UNBF.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Enviro-Sociology-UNBF/177928032241404
Each week, two students will be assigned to find articles (at
least one each) on the web
related to the chapter of the week in Bell. They can be articles
from scholarly journals,
from popular environmental journals (such asAlternatives), and
news articles. The two
students will post links to these articles on the Facebook page
with a one or two sentence
description by Thursday evening. Everyone will be responsible
for reading these articles
and be prepared to discuss them in class the following
Thursday.
A list of peer-reviewed scholarly journals on environment,
society and technology are
already posted on the Facebook page. Start your research with
these journals first, then
popular journals, then news articles. If there is an article in
a scholarly journal that you do
not have access to, please let me know and Ill arrange to obtain
a copy.
Each of the two students will be responsible for writing a 250
word summary on each of
the article[s] they posted and how they relate to the chapter in
Bell. (250 words is the
average length of a journal abstract.) Those students will
present those summaries for
discussion in class on Thursday.
The posting and 250 word summary counts as 20% of your final
grade.
Environmental Sociology UNBF 3553 3
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Enviro-Sociology-UNBF/177928032241404http://www.facebook.com/pages/Enviro-Sociology-UNBF/177928032241404
