Sonoma State University
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses

SSU has successfully engaged in two grants programs funded by the CSU Chancellor's Office: "Sustainability in the Classroom" and "Campus as a Living Lab" In addition, the office of research sponsored programs provides funding for faculty to conduct research. Ten facullty received funds from the ORSP to conduct sustainability research. Beginning in 2014 The Executive Sustainability Committee in cooperation with the Waters initiative began offering grants totaling $6,000 to faculty to develop sustainability content in new or on-going classes. Faculty have responded enthusiastically. The syllabus for a new geography course supported by a first year grant is included in Notes below

Center for Sustainable Communities emerged from faculty sustainability research.

Society, Environment, and Sustainable Development: Geog 206 ~ Spring 2016 Dr. Jeff Baldwin – STEV 3064 Jeffrey.baldwin@sonoma.edu Office hours: MW 12:00-1:30 TuTh 9-10:30 & Tu 12-2:30 Th 12-1:00 Strike awareness The California Faculty Association is in the midst of a difficult contract dispute with management. It is possible that the faculty union will call a strike or other work stoppage this term. I will inform the class as soon as possible of any disruption to our class meeting schedule. Course description Through Modern worldviews have conceptually separated society and environment, all people and civilizations are intimately inter-related with local and global environments. Indeed, our bodies and our economies are foundationally constituted by flows of matters gotten from our environment. This course introduces students to the concepts, modes of analysis, and practices enlisted in efforts to create more sustainable relationships with our environments while working to improve human well-being (i.e. development). The interplay between development efforts and the roles of environments has been a central tension for civilizations throughout history. This concern with human-environmental relations is a central focus of geography. Understanding different ways of understanding and then addressing development issues to create more sustainable practices is a central focus of this class. The course is divided into three sections. o The first briefly introduces students to the earth’s biospheric systems and basic concepts from ecology and to the central issues around sustainable development. o The second and most extensive portion has two goals. First, to understand that there are different ways of thinking about environmental management and to become familiar with the most prominent of those schools of thought. Second, we will apply those ways of thinking about human-environment relations to specific areas of concern: climate change, food, wildlife, and wildlands. The goal is to be able to pragmatically conflicts between environments and development in order to understand the cause of the tensions and conflicts. o The third section focuses upon food and agriculture and sustainable development particularly in the developing world, but globally as well. Activities and evaluation. We will also engage with one of our Provost’s primary goals here at SSU, to treat our campus as a living laboratory. Towards that end, students will engage in four out-of-class exercises. The idea here is to learn by doing: 1) Each student will monitor their transportation in terms of greenhouse gas emissions for one basis week (2 points), and for four successive experiment weeks. At the end of the exercise you will submit a 300 word reflection upon the experience (7 points for worksheet, 3 points for reflection). 2) In much the same way, we will track our food related carbon footprint (2 and 7 points for worksheets, 3 points for reflection). 3) As an SSU student, the Sonoma County Transit system is free for you to use. Each student will make a round trip ride using local busses and write a 300 word reflection on the experience (5 points). I encourage you to go to the agency’s website at http://sctransit.com/maps-schedules/ and download schedules. Remember that weekend and holiday schedules are often less frequent. I encourage you to do this with a friend if you have not ridden public busses before. 4) Finally, each student will choose to participate in a campus sustainability tour/activity. These will cover topics such as: campus food gardens, sustainable building design, living with Copeland Creek, and sustainable practices in SSU’s culinary services. You will submit a 300 word reflection on your experience (6 points) Quizzes/exams 5) In order to cultivate student participation in the course and depth of understanding, we will have 11 unannounced quizzes covering the reading assigned for that day. You will submit your responses through our Moodle page. For those unable to access that interface in class, I will have paper response forms (3 point each) 6) Finally we will have two exams covering the first and the second half of the class. These will be objective exams. I will provide a study guide and a review session before each (15 points and 20 points) Learning Objectives addressed by this course: General Education Area D: 1. Develop knowledge of discipline-based methods of reasoning and research in the social sciences. 2. Examine social, political, economic, and environmental issues in temporal and spatial settings and in a variety of cultural contexts. 3. Understand how cultural diversity and complexity influence individuals, institutions, and societies. Sub-area 2: 1. Learn a variety of conditions in which complex social systems have emerged and in which they have transformed. 2. Acquire an appreciation for a significant range and diversity of societies across a broad temporal and geographic span. 3. Study the ways in which aspects of these societies function and interact. These aspects include belief systems, social stratification, differential access to resources, gender, exchange, and conflict. 4. Learn current theoretical constructs that explain these phenomena. 5. Study ways in which societies interact with their physical environment. These include adaptations to, and modifications of, the environment as well as reactions to change in the environment. Departmental leaning objectives: 1. Understand the basic processes of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere, and how those physical processes shape the patterns of the Earth's surface 2. Understand how a region's economic, political, cultural, demographic, and environmental processes intertwine within a region, between regions, and across scales to create the Earth's complex human-environment mosaic, and its rural and urban landscapes 3. Understand how human actions modify the physical environment and how the physical environment impacts human systems 4. Understand analytic methodologies specific to geography and apply those in practical analysis. 5. Develop and practice systemic thinking skills and apply those to transdisciplinary analysis of issues involving sustainable living and development At college level, a significant portion of learning occurs outside of the classroom, in your encounter with literature, and through research and writing. You will get more out of this course if you read the assigned material before class—a practice whose results will most likely be reflected in your grades. Lectures are meant to clarify and expand upon our text book. In my experience, there is also a strong correlation between frequency of class attendance and quality of grade. So, if you want to earn an A or a B, I recommend that you come to class regularly and well prepared. Plagiarism: I have a zero-tolerance policy regarding plagiarism. Any project tainted by plagiarism will at best receive a score of “0”. I encourage you to visit our school’s website for a full understanding of the possible further consequences of plagiarism at: http://www.sonoma.edu/uaffairs/policies/cheating_plagiarism.htm Or better, simply turn in only original material Required texts: Robbins, Paul, Hintz, John, and Moore, Sarah A.. 2013. Critical Introductions to Geography : Environment and Society : A Critical Introduction (2nd Edition). Somerset, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons DSS: If you have a disability which may affect your ability to participate in this class, please contact the Disabled Students Services located in Salazar 1049, phone at 664-2677, for confidential assistance and accommodation authorization. Please notify me if I can help to provide any reasonable accommodation. Classroom conduct: We will conduct our classes as a professional community which models contemporary workplaces. Students are expected to: • Conduct themselves in a dignified manner • Be responsible for assigned work • Come to class on time • Come to class prepared and ready to participate • Act respectfully towards other members of the community: o Listen o Contribute • Work at all times to add to the class environment o Do not do work form other classes during our time o Do not engage in side discussions – verbal, written, or electronic • Turn off all electronic communications devices I also pledge to abide by these rules. Furthermore I will do my best to: • Prepare attending students for exams • Be available to students outside of class • Provide timely feedback on exams and project proposals • Make this class relevant to contemporary life ~ Course Schedule ~ Date Assignment Reading Wk1: 1/26 Ecological Footprint Introduction and One Earth 1/28 Middleton Physical environments EF transportation tracking baseline week begins Friday morning Wk2: 2/2 Middleton Phys Environ => Sust development 2/4 EF transportation tracking baseline week ends Thursday night – submit your log by Friday midnight through Moodle Middleton Sustainable development 2/6 Begin transportation CO2 tracking month Saturday morning Wk3: 2/9 Robbins: Commons 2/11 Robbins: Commons => Mkts and commodities Wk4: 2/16 Robbins: Markets and commodities 2/18 Robbins: Political Economy Wk5: 2/23 Robbins: Political Economy => CO2 2/25 Robbins: CO2 Wk6: 3/1 Bus ride reflection due Robbins: Ethics 3/3 Robbins: Ethics => Tuna 3/4 EF transportation tracking month ends Fri. night Worksheet and reflection due by midnight Sunday 3/6 Wk7: 3/8 Robbins: Tuna 3/10 Exam 1 3/14-18 Spring Break Wk8: 3/22 Robbins: Social Construction of nature 3/23 EF food CO2 tracking baseline week begins Wednesday morning 3/24 Robbins: SCN => Wolves Wk9:3/29 EF food CO2 tracking baseline week ends Tuesday night Worksheet and reflection are due Wednesday midnight via Moodle assignment Robbins: Wolves 3/31 Cesar Chavez Day Begin food CO2 tracking month Thursday morning Wk10: 4/5 Robbins: Population 4/7 Robbins: Population => Trees Wk11: 4/12 Robbins: Trees 4/14 Robbins: Hazards Wk12: 4/19 Robbins: Hazards => French fries 4/21 Robbins: French fries 4/23 Reflection on campus as a living lab activity due through Moodle @ midnight Wk13: 4/26 Traditional food production 4/27 EF Food CO2 month ends Wednesday night 4/28 EF Food CO2 worksheet AND reflection due by midnight submit through Moodle Bourne: The Green Revolution (these chapters are available through our Moodle page) Wk14: 5/3 Bourne: The Plight of the Punjab 5/5 Bourne: The Gauntlet – water, climate, arable land Wk15: 5/10 Bourne: Organic Agriculture 5/12 Revisiting the analytic perspectives Tues 5/17 Second Exam 11:00 – 12:50