The Environment

[Prerequisite: Second-year standing or by permission of the instructor course credit exclusion: ES/ENVS 2000]. [Course Credit Exclusion: ES/ENVS 2100 3.0.]

How do we change the world? How do we construct a just society in creative ways? This Area focuses on facing today’s environmental challenges through politics, art, philosophy, education and media. Sample topics include environmental racism and justice movements; environmental ethics; digital art and the environment; environmental education; human-animal relations; environmental literature; indigenous sovereignty; human and gender rights; technology, science and politics; culture and global media; sustainable development; the political economy of international development; health equity; climate justice; sexuality and gender-based activism.

 

[Prerequisite: Second-year standing or by permission of the instructor.][Course credit exclusion: EU/ENVS 2400 3.0.]
Drawing on the natural and social sciences, this course examines the role of policy and management strategies in addressing environmental, natural resource and conservation challenges, in ways supportive of sustainable development. It provides an overview of the concepts, knowledge and skills that are needed to be effective in environmental policy and management in government, business and not-for-profit sectors.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing and completion of six credits in EU/ENVS, or permission of the instructor.]
This course identifies, examines, and compares ethical perspectives from diverse traditions with a particular focus on the interplay of ethics and epistemology, and metaphysical issues and their relationship to underlying cultural, environmental, and spiritual values. Individual ethics and practical applications in "living a good life" will be explored.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing and completion of six credits in EU/ENVS, or permission of the instructor.] Examines the culture-environment relationship in historical perspective. The focus is on the ways in which social change is triggered by environmental change and vice-versa. Case studies illustrate general patterns of change, such as those associated with the introduction of alien species, new modes of agricultural production.

[Prerequisite: EU/ENVS 2400 6.0 or permission of instructor.]
The course focuses on relationships between socio-economic development, energy use, and the environment in Canada. Energy sources, energy end-use, energy technology, and energy institutions, as well as the social and ecological impacts of energy use, are examined. Energy systems supportive of sustainable development are explored.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing and completion of any environmental studies course, or permission of the instructor.]
This course introduces students to a range of approaches and issues in environmental politics and advocacy. Themes include political dimensions of contemporary environmental problems; main currents in environmental political thought; and relations between governmental and non-governmental organizations in environmental advocacy.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing.]
Examines the intersection of "race"/racism and environmentalism. It begins from the premise that environmental issues are always already racialized. Issues as diverse as toxic facility siting, environmental assessment practices, ecological philosophies, and popular nature representations (re)produce powerful assumptions that turn on racist/ racialized constructs. Discussion may include the history and current practices of environmental justice movements; questions of race and representation in green politics; the significance of environmentalism's silence about race; cross-cultural and anti-racist environmental politics; and postcolonial perspectives on global environmental issues.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing, or permission of the instructor.]
This course will explore various Traditional Aboriginal processes of "coming to know" the environment. Students will be guided through an examination of these Aboriginal relationships, as they existed traditionally, through times of critical change, and into the present. The underlying theme of this course will focus on individual, regional, and national ways of "being and becoming" environmentally responsible moving outwards towards a Global responsibility.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing, or permission of the instructor.]
[This course builds on ENVS 2200 6.0 which is recommended.]
Planning and design of sustainable human environments is explored in this course. Consideration of the ecological, social and economic impacts of past and present and alternative future settlement patterns and processes provides the context for discussion. The focus of study is the GTA, although international examples will be used.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing, or permission of the instructor. Course Credit Exclusion: EU/ENVS 3800N 3.0.]
This course examines urban planning practice in developing countries as a response to the problems in the cities of the Global South. It examines the origins and evolution of urban planning taking into account political, social, economic, and cultural circumstances, by examining case studies from Asia, Africa and Latin America.

This course acquaints students with literature and advocacy that celebrates 'intersections' between women/gender and nature. Attention is given to various approaches, and biological, social, cultural and spiritual perceptions, through course activities involving experience, reflection, creative representation, reading, discussion, and writing.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing and completion of six credits in EU/ENVS, or permission of the instructor.] Examines the interrelationship between globalization and the environment. It analyzes the historical development of the global environmental system and theoretical approaches to understanding the global environment. It considers the main actors, institutions and legal instruments related to global environmental issues. The environmental impacts of, and political responses to, such phenomena as global warming, trade, structural adjustment, transnational corporate activity, foreign aid, environmental security, and biodiversity depletion are studied.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing, or permission of the instructor.]
The formulation of environmental policy is the focus its underlying scope, concepts, legal bases, methodologies. Case studies illustrate the interaction of environmental policy with other policy areas: foreign and trade policy, economic and social policy. A critical review of how policy is created participants, effects, burdens and benefits.

[Prerequisite: EU/ENVS 2400 3.0, or EU/ENVS 2400 6.0, or permission of the instructor.]
Introduction to basic legal concepts: sources of law, legal remedies, common law, administrative law. Planning acts, environmental protection acts and environmental assessment acts. Litigation processes, hearing boards, and their operation. A critical review of environmental legal concepts and their social, economic and environmental effects.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing and completion of six credits in EU/ENVS/instructor permission.] Provides a critical overview of the theory and practice of environmental assessment (EA). Course objectives include gaining familiarity with the fundamentals of EA; exploring substantive and process-oriented issues through case studies; and practising methods and techniques. EA is examined broadly as a management and decision-support tool with applications at the project, planning and policy levels.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing and completion of six credits in EU/ENVS, or permission of the instructor.]
Current theories of resource management, methods, information and decision-making are reviewed critically. Ethical, cultural, social and economic perspectives on resource management are explored through case studies.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing, or permission of the instructor.]
An introduction to key dimensions of business and sustainability including: what is sustainability?; "values-driven" business models and practices; eco-production in key economic sectors (food, manufacturing, energy, building); financing sustainability; indicators of sustainability; green regulation; and green business strategies. Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing, or permission of the instructor.

[Prerequisite: Third- or fourth-year standing and completion of six credits in EU/ENVS, or permission of the instructor.]
The application of economic principles to environmental issues is introduced and critically reviewed. Linkages between economic factors, social processes and natural environments are explored. The use of economic principles in deriving solutions to issues of pollution control, resource depletion, and environmental regulation is explored.

[Prerequisites: AP/SOSC 2340 6.0.]
The seminar course is an optional course in the Environment stream of the Business & Society program. It focuses on various aspects of the practice of fair trade - as a form of regulation, as a form of production and as a social movement.

[Prerequisites: AP/SOSC 2340 6.0.]
The seminar course focuses on Food and Farming, including the analysis of different types of agricultural production and their ability to provide the basis for sustainable food systems.

[Prerequisite: Fourth-year standing or by permission of the instructor.]
[Students with Third-year standing may have access subject to space availability and approval from the Faculty.]
Examines food, land, and culture from a critical interdisciplinary environmental perspective. Students have the opportunity to pursue their own interests related to food politics, planning, sustainable and alternative agriculture, human-animal relationships and ethics, from a local and or global perspective.

[Prerequisite: Fourth-year standing or by permission of the instructor. Students with Third-year standing may have access subject to space availability and approval from the Faculty.] [This course builds on ENVS 1800]
This course will explore the role of literature and literary criticism (including ecocriticism) in interpreting, creating, and transforming environmental discourse and politics. It will take up questions concerning the historical development of environmental and nature writing, and will explore a variety of contemporary genres that call older traditions to account. Through the close reading of a diverse collection of literary texts (poetry, novels, short stories, plays, etc.), we will examine and practice a number of different approaches to defining, reading, and critiquing environmental literature.

[Prerequisite: EU/ENVS 210 0 3.0, or EU/ENVS 2100 6.0, or permission of the instructor.]
Explores the beliefs, theories and practices of naturalists, through readings as well as visits to sites of natural history. It examines the ways in which current approaches to natural history are products of the historical development of the field, and reflect assumptions regarding scientific knowledge formation and practice.

[Prerequisite: EU/ENVS 2100 3.0, or EU/ENVS 2100 6.0, or permission of the instructor.]
An introduction to diverse ways of seeing and understanding nature. A historical perspective on the development of environmental thought leads to an exploration of various perspectives and critiques of the standard scientific and technological approaches to understanding nature, as offered by alternative schools of thought such as humanists, deep ecologists and ecofeminists.

[Prerequisite: Fourth-year standing or by permission of the instructor.]
[Students with Third-year standing may have access subject to space availability and approval from the Faculty.]
This course examines new social movements that have arisen in response to the crisis of industrial culture, economic restructuring, shifting political formations, and ecological disasters. The course focuses on current theories of social movements, contested issues, and case studies of social movements in action and is intended to provide opportunities for students to gain first hand experience with social movement organizations through participatory research projects.

[Prerequisite: Fourth-year standing or by permission of the instructor. Students with Third-year standing may have access subject to space availability and approval from the Faculty.]
Examines the trends, causes and consequences in population growth and movements across the globe. It studies the environmental impacts of rises in population, global refugee and immigration patterns and their socio-environmental consequences, and the influence of new immigrants and 'diasporas' on national identity and culture. Case studies explore existing and alternative family planning policies, the enhancement of women's status through educational, health and employment strategies, and immigration and multicultural policies in developed and developing countries.

[Prerequisite: Fourth-year standing or by permission of the instructor.]
[Students with Third-year standing may have access subject to space availability and approval from the Faculty.]
Indigenous peoples are distinct communities who have experienced the processes of globalization in particular ways. This course reviews the global historical processes of imperialism and colonialism and their legacies of racism, assimilation and marginalization. The course then examines Indigenous peoples' resistance to globalization and engagement with global networks and institutions, in order to protect their cultures and assert their rights.

Presents a "theory" of policy development, covering the roles of various groups such as the public, NGOs, the media and industry and applies the "theory" to the processes of international Conventions and Protocols. These include the Canada/US Boundary Waters Treaty and the Canada/USA Air Quality Accord. Covers some of the mechanisms that use environmental science to establish Convention on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.

[Prerequisite: Fourth-year standing or by permission of the instructor.]
[Students with Third-year standing may have access subject to space availability and approval from the Faculty.]
[This course builds on EU/ENVS 3420 3.0, which is recommended.]
This course examines and evaluates how contemporary advocates employ law to protect the environment, secure equal access to environmental health, and contribute to social justice. This course builds on EU/ENVS 3420 3.0, which is recommended.

[This course builds on EU/ENVS 3510 3.0.] [Prerequisite: TThird- or fourth-year standing and completion of six credits in Environmental Studies or permission of the instructor.]
Provides an introduction to the emerging field of ecological economics. Areas of focus include the appropriate scale of the economy in relation to the environment, the role of discount rates in mediating intergenerational and interspecies equity, environmental valuation, full-cost accounting, environmental risk assessment, and the application of thermodynamic and ecological principles in economic analysis.