Rebecca Gould
Social Environment Justice
ENVS 0349From Social Justice to Environmental Justice We will examine environmental justice cases in the context of the social justice movements that have preceded them, paying particular attention to how these earlier movements have influenced the challenges and tactics of environmental justice today. Drawing on the work of Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, and others, we will explore the roles race, class, gender, and religion have played in confronting poverty, racism, and violence. We will then investigate contemporary environmental justice movements, using case studies to explore how these movements are rooted in, as well as distinct from, social justice movements of earlier periods (ENVS 0215 or any 100 or 200 level course in Religion or by permission)
0 reviewsS25Contested Grounds
ENVS 02152 reviewsF24Religion, Ecology and Justice
ENVS 0395Religion, Ecology and Justice In this class we will consider the relationship between religion and ecology in some of the world’s great wisdom traditions, particularly Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism. Our approach will be comparative and attentive to “big ideas” about human-nature relationships. How do religious traditions perpetuate ideas of the natural world that are sometimes positive and protective and sometimes apathetic or destructive? Exploring such topics as stewardship, sacred landscapes, and the interdependence of living beings, we will consider both past and present, including examining how religious identity has fueled and shaped religiously-based environmental justice activism today.
3 reviewsS24Contested Grounds
ENVS 02155 reviewsF23Community Engaged Practicum
ENVS 0401Community-Engaged Environmental Studies Practicum In this course students work in small groups with one of a variety of partners and organizations to complete a semester-long, community-engaged project. Project themes vary by term and typically focus on local and regional environmental issues that have broader application. Projects rely on students’ creativity, interdisciplinary perspectives, skills, and knowledge developed through their previous work. The project is guided by a faculty member and carried out with a high degree of independence by the students. Students will prepare for and direct their project work through readings and discussion, independent research, collaboration with project partners, and consultation with external experts. The course may also include workshops focused on developing key skills (e.g., interviewing, public speaking, video editing). The project culminates in a public presentation of students’ final products, which may various forms such as written reports, policy white papers, podcasts, or outreach materials. (Open to Seniors)
0 reviewsS23The Spirit(s) of Trees
ENVS 1053The Spirit(s) of Trees What, or who, is a tree? In this course, we will probe central questions in the field of “religion and ecology” using human-tree relationships as our interpretive lens. Emerging scientific views of trees as communicators and climate-regulators evoke ancient, non-utilitarian views of trees. In some Hindu contexts, trees are protected as abodes of the gods, or as divinities themselves. In Thailand, climate activists ordain trees as Buddhist monks. Christian and Jewish authors are reinterpreting the biblical “Tree of Life” in terms of ecological awareness and as solace for climate grief. Drawing on the work of Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Christian scholars, our task will be to get to know trees— and thus, diverse eco-spiritual cultures— in a complex, multireligious way. This course counts as a humanities cognate for environmental studies majors.
0 reviewsW23The Spirit(s) of Trees
RELI 1053The Spirit(s) of Trees What, or who, is a tree? In this course, we will probe central questions in the field of “religion and ecology” using human-tree relationships as our interpretive lens. Emerging scientific views of trees as communicators and climate-regulators evoke ancient, non-utilitarian views of trees. In some Hindu contexts, trees are protected as abodes of the gods, or as divinities themselves. In Thailand, climate activists ordain trees as Buddhist monks. Christian and Jewish authors are reinterpreting the biblical “Tree of Life” in terms of ecological awareness and as solace for climate grief. Drawing on the work of Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Christian scholars, our task will be to get to know trees— and thus, diverse eco-spiritual cultures— in a complex, multireligious way. This course counts as a humanities cognate for environmental studies majors.
0 reviewsW23Contested Grounds
ENVS 02151 reviewS22Religion, Ecology and Justice
ENVS 0395Religion, Ecology and Justice In this class we will consider the relationship between religion and ecology in some of the world’s great wisdom traditions, particularly Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism. Our approach will be comparative and attentive to “big ideas” about human-nature relationships. How do religious traditions perpetuate ideas of the natural world that are sometimes positive and protective and sometimes apathetic or destructive? Exploring such topics as stewardship, sacred landscapes, and the interdependence of living beings, we will consider both past and present, including examining how religious identity has fueled and shaped religiously-based environmental justice activism today.
0 reviewsF21Religion, Ecology and Justice
RELI 0395Religion, Ecology and Justice In this class we will consider the relationship between religion and ecology in some of the world’s great wisdom traditions, particularly Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism. Our approach will be comparative and attentive to “big ideas” about human-nature relationships. How do religious traditions perpetuate ideas of the natural world that are sometimes positive and protective and sometimes apathetic or destructive? Exploring such topics as stewardship, sacred landscapes, and the interdependence of living beings, we will consider both past and present, including examining how religious identity has fueled and shaped religiously-based environmental justice activism today.
0 reviewsF21Contested Grounds
ENVS 02151 reviewS21I found this course to be slightly too unstructured in it's form. I am so interested in the course material but the class discussions felt shallow and aimless and about half way through the semester I wasn't motivated in any way to do the readings and engage.
This course is very hard to get into in my experience so I took it as a senior, which is a bit odd but still fun. There was typically a lot of reading in a range of difficulties but skimming it usually sufficient if I was short on time, I only felt I should have read more when we had to write papers (maybe 2 total) and it was clear I didn't really understand something. Otherwise, pretty easy to get by without doing a ton of work but the content is really interesting, from current theories about land back movements to the puritans settling america and how that influences how we view "nature"
This course is very hard to get into in my experience so I took it as a senior, which is a bit odd but still fun. There was typically a lot of reading in a range of difficulties but skimming it usually sufficient if I was short on time, I only felt I should have read more when we had to write papers (maybe 2 total) and it was clear I …Read more
Overall, this class was not difficult. There are two midterm writing assignments that are written over the course of 6 weeks and one final assignment. If you keep up with the work every week, the midterm writing assignments should not take you long at all. Overall, there's lots of reading, but no busy work whatsoever.