Course Descriptions

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Envstd 121: Introduction to the Environment

This course offers you an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Environmental Studies. We will ground our investigation in core scientific concepts to explore some of the most fascinating environmental processes that make life on earth possible. I hope to instill in you a sense of wonder and appreciation of these processes! In addition, we will examine some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges, what’s causing them, and what we can do to address them. To more fully understand these issues, we will place them in their larger social, political, and economic contexts. To do this, we will complement our scientific understanding of these issues with vital insights from the social sciences, humanities, and policy. The course does indeed foreground environmental challenges and can be a bit heavy because of this. To ensure we’re not left paralyzed by fear and uncertainty, we will balance this with constant examination of what we can do, both individually and collectively, to address these problems. Our ultimate goals will be to better understand how the earth functions and what we can do to build a more sustainable and livable world for our communities, communities around the world, and also our non-human counterparts, from species to ecosystems.

Envstd/Global 220: Introduction to Global Environmental Change 

Large-scale transformations of the earth—especially climate change but also biodiversity loss, deforestation, and aspects of agriculture and urbanization—are among the most difficult problems and challenges of our day. From Hollywood cinema to the nightly news, environmental problems are on the agenda, and the efforts to deal with them continually fall short, resulting in both social and ecological challenges. This course is designed to introduce students to human-environment interactions by exploring both historical and contemporary human-induced transformations of the earth’s system. The objectives are to better understand how and why the global environment is changing; how these changes manifest in different places; and the ways in which individuals and societies adapt to, mitigate or reverse, and otherwise respond to environmental change. Special attention will be given to the politics and power relations embedded in contemporary policy debate. We will investigate the decision to act – and the decision not to act – on the part of individuals, governments, and other organizations. While it is tempting to see global environmental change (GEC) as a uniquely large-scale problem, it is not limited to the global scale. Both the impacts of GEC and responses to it unfold differently in different locations, something we will pay close attention to throughout the course. We will start by reviewing what is meant by ‘global environmental change’ and key features of environmental science. We will then move on to explore different social science and humanities approaches to analyzing GEC and finish with an investigation into the relevant global policy dimensions with an emphasis on equity. While the course can be heavy given our focus on major environmental challenges, we’re also focusing on solutions – what we can do both individually and collectively to address these problems.

Envstd 420/440 / MEM 597: Nature Conservation 

Welcome to our seminar on the human dimensions of nature conservation. Nature – or more technically biodiversity – is important in its own right and necessary for our wellbeing and survival as humans. Despite its importance, biodiversity is declining at alarming rates, with some predictions we are on the cusp of the 6th mass extinction. To understand the major causes of biodiversity loss, we must begin with a recognition that these causes are fundamentally social (and political and economic), rather than merely ecological. The same goes for barriers to effectively addressing biodiversity decline, ranging from protecting intact biodiversity to restoring degraded landscapes and ecosystems. And core to biodiversity decline and protection are questions of ethics. For instance, both biodiversity decline and efforts to address it disproportionately impact marginalized communities. And effectively addressing biodiversity loss requires we draw from multiple knowledge bases, including Indigenous and local communities who have long lived on the land and whose survival has depended on living in reciprocal relation with the natural environment. Taken together, these themes form the foundation of the human dimensions of biodiversity conservation. The purpose of this course is to explore and develop an understanding and appreciation of key policy and social science debates on this topic while providing a basic scientific understanding of the causes and impacts of biodiversity decline. A core focus of the course will be on solutions, particularly how to protect and rebuild nature – and our relationships with nature – in both ecologically and socially sustainable ways.

Envstd 431: Indigenous Peoples and the Environment 

This course examines the multiple intersections between Indigenous communities and the environment and what makes these distinct. While we will privilege the experiences of Indigenous Peoples across North America including here in Boise, we will also draw on global examples to highlight broader trends. We begin by examining the ecological and related human impacts of colonialism and the colonial roots of the Western scientific study of the environment. We will then examine concrete ways in which environmental harm and injustice have disproportionately impacted Indigenous communities and the innovative ways they respond to this harm and environmental challenges more broadly. In this respect, we will also examine how Indigenous thought and innovation challenge, complicate, and enrich Western (scientific) approaches to addressing environmental issues including biodiversity decline, climate change, and water and wildfire management.

Pubadm 597 / HES 597 / Pols 531: Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Governance 

Environmental governance is a field concerned with how decisions impacting the environment and human-environment relations get made and implemented. Understanding who participates, who decides, on what terms, and who is accountable when objectives are not reached are key considerations in evaluations of environmental governance regimes. In addition, core to such decision-making and implementation are the diverse values and perspectives of those involved along with debates on how to understand the roots of environmental challenges as these shape possibilities for response. Against this backdrop, mainstream debates on environmental governance and policy have historically tended to overlook, undervalue, or otherwise misuse the perspectives and experiences of Indigenous Peoples. Reflecting contemporary trends across environmental governance/politics/policy, conservation biology, political ecology, Indigenous studies, and related fields, the course will foreground Indigenous experience, knowledge, and models of governance. We will draw from this to examine a wider range of perspectives on the roots of contemporary environmental challenges, their differential impacts on Indigenous peoples, and the ways in which Indigenous thought and interventions both complement and challenge mainstream approaches to environmental governance. We will consider Indigenous interventions on their own terms as well as both tensions and possibilities surrounding the integration of Indigenous and Western scientific perspectives and practices.  One of our primary goals will be to consider the ways in which Indigenous perspectives and engagement can expand our governance ‘toolbox’ for understanding and responding to complex and consequential socio-environmental challenges.  

Envstd 482/Envsci 482/Engr 497/MEM 597: Zena Creek Ranch Field School [Summer field course] 

Zena Creek Field School is an annual summer course that provides on-site, intensive field learning for undergraduate and graduate students across environmental disciplines. Co-taught by faculty from the School of the Environment and Engineering, students investigate use-inspired questions related to energy, land, and water transitions in rural Idaho. The course focuses on place-based on problem-based learning, individual reflection, and field projects. Zena Creek Ranch is located in rural Idaho near the Frank Church Wilderness Yellow Pine.