The links below provide an outline of the material for this lesson. Be sure to carefully read through the entire lesson before returning to Canvas to submit your assignments.
This week we focus on building a foundation of knowledge about how we think about and relate to Nature, and why it matters. The readings and film will demonstrate that our ideas about Nature - what it is, what we want it to be, what our role as humans is in relation to it - have a profound impact on the world around us.
The first item is a reading by an influential geographer and environmental historian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, William Cronon. [1] His research seeks to understand the history of human interactions with the natural world: how we depend on the ecosystems around us to sustain our material lives, how we modify the landscapes in which we live and work, and how our ideas of nature shape our relationships with the world around us.
The second item is a film featuring narration by another prominent thinker on the environment, Michael Pollan [2]. He takes a creative approach to understanding human-environment relations and asks us to reconsider how much control we humans have over the process of crop cultivation and domestication.
Check the calendar in Canvas for specific due dates.
Michael Schwarz and Edward Gray (directors) (2009).The Botany of Desire: A Plant's Eye View of the World [documentary]. USA: Kikim Media.
At the end of this week, you should be able to:
Let's dive in!
William Cronon (1995). Foreword and Introduction: In Search of Nature. Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. pp. 19-56.
We'll begin with the forward and introduction to Cronon's edited volume Uncommon Ground (this reading is located in the Week 3 Module in Canvas). This book brings together thoughts from prominent historians, scientists, and philosophers about, as the book's title states, how to "rethink the human place in nature." The book argues that "nature" is a human idea with a long and contested history, and that we must understand this history very well if we seek to use and live with the environment in a conscious and responsible way. In Cronon's words:
“At a time when threats to the environment have never been greater, it may be tempting to believe that people need to be mounting the barricades rather than asking abstract questions about the human place in nature. Yet without confronting such questions, it will be hard to know which barricades to mount, and harder still to persuade large numbers of people to mount them with us. To protect the nature that is all around us, we must think long and hard about the nature we carry inside our heads" (Cronon 1995: 22).
As you read, consider the following questions:
Flowers. Trees. Plants. We've always thought that we've controlled them. But what if, in fact, they have been shaping us? Using this provocative question as a jumping off point, The Botany of Desire takes viewers on an exploration of our relationship with the plant world – seen from the plants' point of view.
School children often learn about the mutually beneficial relationship between honeybees and flowers. To make their honey, the bees collect the flowers' nectar and in the process spread pollen, which enables the flowers to reproduce. The Botany of Desire proposes that people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. "We don't give nearly enough credit to plants," says Pollan. "They've been working on us – they've been using us – for their own purposes."
The Botany of Desire examines this relationship by telling the stories of four plants that ensured their survival and expanded their habitat by satisfying our most basic yearnings. Connecting fundamental human desires for sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control with the plants that satisfy them – the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato – The Botany of Desire intends to show that we humans don't stand outside the web of nature; we are very much a part of it.
The program begins with Pollan in a California garden and sets off to roam the world – from the potato fields of Idaho and Peru to the apple orchards of New England and Kazakhstan; from a medical marijuana hot house to the lush tulip gardens of the Netherlands.
Click here for further information regarding The Botany of Desire [5].
The Penn State University Libraries provides access to stream the film. To access the film, head to https://libraries.psu.edu [6] and enter "The Botany of Desire" into the search field. Then select the online film option (should be the second item) and follow the links to view the film.
As you watch the film, consider the following questions:
During the semester, you will complete one final essay on a topic of your choosing. The topic should fit into the content we are covering in this course (Social Construction of Nature, Overpopulation and Scarcity, Commodity Chains, Food and Waste Consumption, Environmental Health, Environmental Justice, Resource Extraction, Conservation, or Climate Change). The final essay assignment will be divided into five components worth a total of 410 points toward your final grade.
For the final essay, you are asked to write a 3000-3500 word paper that documents a topic and proposes a resolution to a place-based problem/challenge surrounding human uses of the environment. The goal is for you to address a real-world issue using the skills you have learned and perspectives you have gained in the course. You will propose a topic, write smaller components throughout the semester, receive feedback from your classmates and instructor, and submit a final paper at the end of the course. The goal of submitting pieces of your final paper throughout the course is designed to give you feedback and ultimately help you write a stronger final paper. The paper will be due at the end of the course.
Consider reading the Essay Tips [7] page for a list of things to consider while drafting your essay.
The instructor will remind students of upcoming dates for submitting essay components throughout the course.
Points for the final project will be distributed as follows:
Activity | Points |
---|---|
Topic/Thesis (Week 4) | 50 |
Bibliography (Week 7) | 50 |
Paper Outline (Week 10) | 50 |
Providing Feedback to Classmates
|
60
|
Final Essay Due (Week 12) | 200 |
Begin thinking about your final essay topic and thesis statement (these will be due in Week 4) .
Before Wednesday of week 4, please submit your Final Essay Topic/Thesis Statement. Your assignment should be submitted as a Word document or PDF file. Check the calendar for specific due dates.
NOTE:
If your submission is late, you will NOT be assigned anyone to peer review and you will miss out on the 20 available peer review points. Also, no one will review your work, so please be on time.
Peer Reviews:
After the Tuesday night due date has passed for your initial Topic/Thesis Statement, please return to the Final Essay Component: Topic/Thesis Statement assignment page in the Week 4 module in Canvas and click on the "Peer Review" link to see who you have been assigned to peer review.
This week, you've been asked to think about different ways of defining nature and about how nature (and ideas of nature) influence human use of the environment.
All assignments will be submitted in Canvas, check the calendar in Canvas for specific due dates.
Links
[1] http://williamcronon.net/
[2] http://michaelpollan.com/
[3] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog430/book/export/html/112
[4] http://video.pbs.org/video/1283872815/
[5] http://www.pbs.org/thebotanyofdesire/
[6] https://libraries.psu.edu
[7] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog430/266