AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

ASA Resource Materials

For Teaching

Documents distributed by the American Sociological Association are not intended to represent the official position of the American Sociological Association. Instead, they

constitute a medium by which colleagues may communicate with each other to improve the teaching of sociology. The ASA Teaching Resources Center encourages the

production of course syllabi sets and other instructional materials. These resources are published by the American Sociological Association to advance the teaching of sociology

in secondary and higher education.

Copyright 2007

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Table of Contents

Introduction .......................................... ; .............................................................................. i

Undergraduate-Level Syllabi and Instructional Materials .............................................. 1

Planet in Peril,...., Environmental Issues and Society ........................................................... 2

Environmental Sociology""" Selected Topics .................................................................... 21

Seminar in Sustainability & Environmental Sociology .................................................... 34

Environmental Movements in America ............................................................................ 39

Environmental Sociology .................................................................................................. 43

Environmental Sociology .................................................................................................. 47

Environmental Movements ............................................................................................... 52

Environmental Sociology .................................................................................................. 58

Sociology and the Environment ........................................................................................ 65

Environmental Sociology .................................................................................................. 71

The Politics of the Global Environment ........................................................................... 79

Society and Environment .................................................................................................. 88

Environmental Sociology .................................................................................................. 98

Environmental Inequality ................................................................................................ 105

Social Theories of the Environment ............................................................................... 111

Society and Environment: Philosophical, Political, and Practical Perspectives ............. 117

Sociology of the Environment: Political Ecologies and Social Natures ......................... 123

Environmental Sociology ................................................................................................ 133

Environmental Justice ..................................................................................................... 142

Graduate-Level Syllabi and Instructional Materials .................................................... 151

Social Behavior and Natural Resources .......................................................................... 152

Environment and Society ................................................................................................ 160

Civil Society and the Environment ................................................................................. 163

International Issues in Environmental Sociology ........................................................... 166

Environmental Sociology ........................... , ..................................................................... 172

Advanced Topics in Environmental Sociology: ............................................................. 181

Sociology of Natural Resources ...................................................................................... 190

Seminar in Environmental Sociology ............................................................................. 199

Environmental Sociology ................................................................................................ 209

Environmental Sociology: Comparative and Historical Perspectives ............................ 214

Environmental Sociology ................................................................................................ 231

Supplemental Bibliography I .......................................................................................... 241

Supplemental Bibliography II ......................................................................................... 248

Supplemental Bibliography III ....................................................................................... 257

Additional Materials ....................................................................................................... 267

Group Identification Assignment. ................................................................................... 268

Book Review Requirement ............................................................................................. 269

Environmental Sociology Mid-Term .............................................................................. 270

Soioclogy 446/846 FirstResearch Project ....................................................................... 272

Second Research Project ................................................................................................. 273

Third Research Project .................................................................................................... 276

Activities ......................................................................................................................... 278

Films and Videos ............................................................................................................ 280

Contributors .................................................................................................................... 283

Introduction

The environment matters again! Not that it didn't before; however, recent events like Hurricane Katrina, problems like contaminated food and water, trends like rising cancer rates, and debates over global warming and sustainable communities have brought to the fore the relationship between the environment and the social relations in which we attempt to embed it. In organizing this sixth edition of Environmental Sociology: Syllabi and Instructional Material, I was struck by both the sociological imagination and the pedagogical creativity that environmental sociologists are bringing to the classroom to help students understand, and engage in, the environmental conditions and politics that affect their lives.

As I searched these materials for themes, new developments, and emphases in colleagues' courses, a host of things stood out. I have organized this edition to reflect these trends. Some of them have become firmly rooted in the discipline, while others are more emergent but are being explored in equally stimulating ways. With courses offered at more and more institutions, Environmental Sociology can no longer be considered a special topic. In fact, in many undergraduate and graduate programs Environmental Sociology is now an integral component of the core curriculum. Course offerings at the graduate level have also increased, another sign of the maturity and weight of the "environmental" sociological imagination.

The first topic emphasized here is the growing prominence of environmental justice in environmental sociology. Environment justice is taught in virtually all survey courses, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Moreover, some syllabi in this issue are dedicated entirely to environmental justice (see Mix and Zilney).

Second, and closely related to environmental justice, is the theme of politics and the environment. This theme focuses on the institutional and political dimensions (local, national, and international) of the human-environment relationship in an effort to better understand how the policy processes affects environmental conditions (see Agliardo, Mascarenhas, and Sonnenfeld). Among other things, the growing emphasis on environmental policy making will help to engender the skills necessary for our students to actively participate in, and influence, policies, rules and regulations that affect our environment.

Third, critical perspectives regarding the relationship between society and nature continue to grow in importance. Like environmental politics, this theme recognizes that society-nature relations are social, historical, power laden and value ridden (see Sonnenfeld and White). Among other things, this theme helps to teach our students the critical skills necessary to evaluate the diversity of environmental discourses and narratives, in order to help them interpret specific representations of nature and the environment.

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The fourth theme within this collection focuses on social theory and explores social thought in the understanding of society's relationship with the "nonhuman world." In these courses students are exposed to the dominant classical and contemporary theories throughout sociology in an effort to introduce them to the diversity of theoretical perspectives and debates (see Brulle, Haluza-DeLay, Scarce and Zavestoski, and Sonnenfeld). The solid foundation provided by social theory helps to prepare our students to adequately understand and address environmental problems and to bring theoretically informed opinions to debates and discussions regarding issues of social and environmental sustainability.

I am often asked by students "how do I get involved?" Or "how can I make a difference," So I am excited to see that several of our colleagues have included service-learning or participatory research proj ects as an integral component of their classroom teaching. Pedagogy involving activism and service learning provides students with the opportunity to practice or critically explore what they have been exposed to in our classes. Some courses in this theme explore the social origins and impacts of distinct social movements and organizations (Brulle, Gould). These courses often include a research project where students develop, design, implement, and analyze an environmental political action. Other courses have introduced alternative, yet equally stimulating, teaching .and learning strategies. For example Rik Scarce and Stephen Zavestoski designed a coast-to-coast collaborative teaching and learning community between environmental sociology classes at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, and the University of San Francisco. While this collaboration was an experiment, it provides a poignant example of the many potential opportunities available to us to teach our students in innovative and rewarding ways.

In addition to participatory teaching and learning strategies, more and more of us are incorporating films and videos as a part of our learning materials. For this reason I have included a list of films and videos that may be useful in the classroom in the Additional Materials section of this book. I have also included a host of supplementary assignments and exercises that you may find helpful. These teaching methods and tools bring additional perspectives into the classroom and provide students the opportunity to engage in various aspects of active learning.

I would like to thank the contributors for the fine materials that they submitted, and especially acknowledge the assistance I received from Christina Lemire, an undergraduate environmental sociology student at the University of Victoria.

Michael Mascarenhas Science and Technology Studies Department Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Sage Labs 5602, 110 8th Steet Troy, NY 12180-3590 mascam@rpi.edu

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