(in Polish) Environmental problems in the United States and in Latin American countries

General data

Course ID:	4030-EPUSLA-OG
Erasmus code / ISCED:	(unknown) / (unknown)
Course title:	(unknown)
Name in Polish:	Environmental problems in the United States and in Latin American countries
Organizational unit:	University Centre for Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development
Course groups:	(in Polish) Przedmioty ogółnouniwersyteckie oferowane przez UCBS General university courses General university courses in the social sciences
ECTS credit allocation (and other scores):	(not available) Basic information on ECTS credits allocation principles: the annual hourly workload of the student’s work required to achieve the expected learning outcomes for a given stage is 1500-1800h, corresponding to 60 ECTS; the student’s weekly hourly workload is 45 h; 1 ECTS point corresponds to 25-30 hours of student work needed to achieve the assumed learning outcomes; weekly student workload necessary to achieve the assumed learning outcomes allows to obtain 1.5 ECTS; work required to pass the course, which has been assigned 3 ECTS, constitutes 10% of the semester student load. view allocation of credits
Language:	English
Type of course:	general courses optional courses
Mode:	Remote learning
Short description:	The course provides basic knowledge of environmental problems in the United States and in Latin American countries allowing to understand complexity and diversity of their perception in the historical, spatial and social dimensions. It covers such issues as: determinants of thinking about nature, an outline of American environmental history, the beginnings of the idea of nature protection; environmental conditions and consequences of the economic growth model, challenges related to the sustainable economy model and climate change, environmental issues within social movements' agendas
Full description:	1. Thinking about nature; inventing nature; 2/3. Nature and society in indigenous communities. (General approaches; Cases from the North and from the South) 4/5/6/7 An outline of the Americas' environmental history I. Colonial Encounters; wilderness transformed; nature and the market economy; nature and the urban; conservation, preservation, American national parks - history, distribution, values; contexts: nature protection and tourism; national parks and indigenous peoples, parks and the national imaginary; nature and growth, development, energy, resources - environmental problems of the 20th century - the curse of extractivism) 8. Ecology, environmentalism, American environmental organizations and movements (US); Legal environmental regulations; EPA 9. Sustainability as a new public discourse - theory and practice of sustainability; Critiques of sustainability 10./11 Environmental conflicts in Latin America. Environment within Latin American social movement agenda. 12. Latin American Transformative Initiatives 13/14/15. Climate change and environmental challenges - examples of particularly vulnerable areas, challenges related to their management: (Sustainable cities? large North and South American agglomerations in the context of sustainable development; coastal areas, dry and semi-dry areas, The Amazon, Alaska, Hawaii, etc.)
Bibliography:	Escobar, A., 1992 Imagining a Post-Development Era? Critical Thought, Development and Social Movements, Social Text , No. 31/32, pp. 20-56 Gudynas E., 2018 Extractivisms Tendencies and consequences, in: Eduardo Gudynas In: Reframing Latin American Development.Ronaldo Munck and Raúl Delgado Wise, eds. Routledge Klein E., Morreo C.E. (eds) , 2019 Postdevelopment in Practice. Alternatives, Economies, Ontologies, Routledge Lalander R., 2014 Rights of nature and the indigenous Peoples in Bolivia and Ecuador: a Straitjacket for Progressive development Politics? Revista Iberoamericana de Estudios de Desarrollo / Iberoamerican Journal of Development Studies Volumen/volume 3, número/issue 2 (2014), pp. 148-173. ISSN: 2254-2035 Macnaughten Ph., Urry J., 1998 Contested Natures, Sage Publ., [Alternatywne Przyrody. Nowe myślenie o przyrodzie i społeczeństwie, Wyd. Scholar, 2005] Mayda Ch., 2012 A Regional Geography of the United States and Canada: Toward a Sustainable Future, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Merchant C., American Environmental History: An Introduction Columbia University Press 2007
Learning outcomes:	Knowledge - knowledge of the inter-dependability of the people and their natural environment and the social, economic and political systems that they created understands the concept of sustainability and its implications in the Americas Skills - ability to identify environmentally vulnerable areas of Americas and to describe the features that characterize them as well as the features of the people, who live there and manage them - ability to notice the meaning and to analyze and critically interpret the environmental and spatial conditioning and consequences of social and economic processes undergoing in the Americas - ability to use thematic maps Social competences: - Openness to various phenomena and ideas; recognition of and respect for cultural difference - ability to think spatially about environmental issues framing life and landscape in the Americas. - critical thinking skills concerning issues that affect people and places in the Americas
Assessment methods and assessment criteria:	Active, regular participation and weekly tasks on the platform – 50% Final assignment – 50% Written final assignment (multimedia enhanced short essay)

This course is not currently offered.

Course descriptions are protected by copyright.
Copyright by University of Warsaw.