Environment and Society

New York University, Department of Environmental STudies                             

How have human societies shaped, and been shaped by, their environments? This foundational class for the Environmental Studies major introduces students to both the history of the environment and environmental thought as well as the enduring debates within the interdisciplinary field of environmental studies. Drawing from multiple disciplines and perspectives, the course focuses on unraveling the multitude of ways that societies, environments, and our scientific and cultural understandings of “nature” have been “co-constituted” – how they have produced and constructed one another. We will examine this dynamic across domains, from politics and economics to science and culture, building on both classic and contemporary texts. Along the way, we will address key debates around the concept of nature, environmental determinism, anthropogenic global change, population and consumption, environmental justice and social movements, Indigenous knowledge, the origin and nature of commodities, extraction and waste, public goods, collective action problems, environmental limits, and the possibilities of alternative metrics for progress. This course will cover a significant amount of demanding material to prepare students for upper-level courses.

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