ENV 201 - Introduction to Environmental Justice

Prerequisites, ENV 101, ENV 102. Why do some communities bear the brunt of environmental problems like pollution and climate change while others do not? This course helps students answer this question via an introduction to the theories, evolutions, and applications of environmental justice scholarship and activism. In doing so, it emphasizes how identities such as race and class often intersect to explain the unequal distribution of environmental harms over space and time. The course also highlights how theories and applications of environmental science contribute to the reproduction of environmental inequality. Students will analyze examples of environmental injustice in four different learning modules, which focus specifically on race, class, gender, and North-South relations. Each module also introduces students to the various methodologies used in environmental justice research, such as the statistical analysis of spatial data and participatory (community-based) research. Letter grade with Pass/No Pass option. (Offered fall semester.) 3 credits