Bates College
AC-5: Immersive Experience

In Search of Higher Ground: Sea-Level Rise, Coastal Flooding, and the Future of the Eastern Seaboard (5-week course during Bates short term): Climate change, increased storm frequency, and intensity, and sea-level rise have created an urgent need for adaptation planning for many communities along the U.S. eastern seaboard. In this course, students examine adaptation strategies and vulnerability assessments to understand social and economic vulnerability and the complexities of coastal retreat. Utilizing climate adaptation planning tools, mapping technology, and on-the-ground observation, students examine adaptation strategies including managed retreat, buyouts, living shorelines, and green infrastructure. Students consider the current and future role of FEMA’s national flood insurance program as a major mechanism for incentivizing resilient or reckless coastal development. Based on experiential learning, students engage in discussions with experts, practitioners, and residents in highly vulnerable coastal areas in Maine, as well a ten-day trip to coastal communities in Virginia and North Carolina. BI/ES s14. The Ecology of Place: Field Methods for Coastal Research at Bates-Morse Mountain (5-week course during Bates short term): This course immerses students in coastal issues facing Maine with the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area and Phippsburg as the course setting. Students examine community dependence on fisheries and aquaculture and learn how to assess the health of the environment, including salt marshes, mudflats, the rocky intertidal zone, sandy beaches, and coastal forests. By combining the study of human and natural systems, students consider ways to manage resources within the broader context of a changing environment. The course introduces social-ecological systems theory and field methods including basic experimental design, data collection, and analysis.

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