Luther College
AC-5: Immersive Experience

Luther offers many immersive courses that include or focus on sustainability, as well as the opportunity for a student to develop their own immersive experience. The following immersive courses that focus on sustainability are listed as examples:

1. Earth and the Environment in Italy: ENVS 230: Earth Systems and the Environment: This course is designed for students who are looking for a rigorous program built around field-based projects that focus on the interactions between the major earth systems: the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere (including humans). One of the learning objectives is "to deepen knowledge in the earth sciences and in the interactions between people and the environment through the use of hands-on field-based activities and collaborative small group projects," helping students form sustainable relationships
with the environment and with one another.

2. Bio 140/240 Ecology of the Southwest: This course focuses on the ecology of the Southwest desert, particularly on the adaptations of organisms to arid conditions and ecological aspects of human water use. Time is spent discussing current environmental challenges and solutions, as well as the difficulty of devising economically and socially feasible solutions in a desert environment where water is limited.

3. Paideia 450: People and Parks: Pastoralism and Conservation in East Africa (Tanzania): This course examines the tension between the national parks movement and pastoralist societies through the lens of the Maasai people in northern Tanzania and southern Kenya. Of particular interest is how wildlife conservation efforts and ecotourism have impacted the relationship of Maasai to their environment, in turn causing rapid cultural change such as shifts from herding to agropastoralism and wage labor; modification of coming-of-age rituals; and increasing adoption of formal modes of education and Christianity in place of or alongside traditional modes and beliefs. From bases near the city of Arusha and the small town of Monduli, we will study “traditional” Maasai culture and examine the ways in which the Maasai of northern Tanzania are adapting to changing social, political, economic, and environmental conditions. All locations visited will help students explore points of intersection between wildlife conservation programs, ecotourism, and pastoralist societies.

4. Religion 243: Environmental Ethics (Holden Village, Washington): A critical examination of issues in environmental ethics from diverse Christian perspectives. The course examines root causes of environmental problems, philosophical and theological assumptions about nature, and resources for response in Christian traditions. Particular attention is given to demographic and economic factors at the global level as well as personal consumption decisions at the local level. Case studies ground reflection in concrete situation. Typically offered during alternate years at Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state.

5. Paideia II. P. Green Germany: Advanced Models of Sustainability: This course will survey social structures that have historically supported and promoted environmental pollution and destruction, particularly in Europe, and will draw on similarities between the German and American situations. Students will study and visit environmentally sustainable projects and engage with political parties and local citizen organizations in Germany, Iceland, and Denmark. Central to the course are ethical issues in the development of environmentally sustainable projects, including both the immediate impacts and long term implications on the local populations. The group will be based in Husum, northern Germany, a major wind energy center, and will visit Hamburg, Berlin, Denmark, and Iceland.