Two new courses will be taught Winter 2017: ENVS 128 Sustainable Urban Planning and ENVS 143 Writing for the Birds.
Our newest ESS faculty member, C.J. Gabbe will offer ENVS 128: Sustainable Urban Planning for the first time in Winter 2017. This course uses the lens of sustainability to examine major issues in land use, transportation, housing, economic development, public health, environmental planning and restoration, environmental justice, and public participation. In an age of climate change and rising economic inequality, students in this course will critically evaluate the role of urban planning in solving – or sometimes exacerbating – these kinds of incredible challenges. In doing so, this course will also offer students the opportunity to engage with real world planning issues in the Bay Area and beyond.
In addition, Dr. John Farnsworth will offer a new field-based advanced writing course, called ENVS 143: Writing for the Birds. As a field course, ENVS 143 will combine ornithological field observation with in-class study of literary ornithology, in other words, studying literature about birds. Students are expected to develop skills in three areas: (1) Field Identification of Bird Species; (2) Critical Reading Skills in Literary Ornithology; and (3) Writing about Birds, both descriptively and as advocates. Classes will spend one meeting a week outdoors, engaged in birding. Additionally there will be several opportunities for weekend field trips to engage in bird banding and shorebird identification.
Image: Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG)