I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Environmental Literature

2. Course Prefix & Number:
ENGL 1456

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

4. Course Description:

This survey course explores a wide range of environmentally-focused themes through fiction, non-fiction, poetry, legislative and judicial actions, technical reports, and film. By studying classic and contemporary works, students will gain an appreciation of environmental literature and a heightened awareness of the interconnectedness of humans and their environment. Students will engage in writing activities throughout the course that allow them to discover and apply theoretical and practical lessons in their own writing.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

Reading College Level CLC or Reading College Level

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

Normandale Community College, ENGL 2140 Environmental Literature, 3 credits
Hibbing Community College, ENGL 1180 Environmental Literature, 3 credits
Lake Superior College, ENGL 2160 Environmental Literature, 3 credits

 

 

III. Course Purpose

2. MN Transfer Curriculum (General Education) Courses - This course fulfills the following goal area(s) of the MN Transfer Curriculum:

• Goal 6 – Humanities and Fine Arts
• Goal 10 – People and the Environment

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate written communication skills	Articulate personal views, experiences, and observations in discussion and in writing on a particular environmental issue or work of literature.
Discuss/compare characteristics of diverse cultures and environments	Identify and compare ways in which different cultures perceive, interact with, and respond to their environment.

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Demonstrate awareness of the scope and variety of works in the arts and humanities (MnTC Goal 6);
• Understand those works as expressions of individual and human values within a historical and social context (MnTC Goal 6);
• Respond critically to works in the arts and humanities (MnTC Goal 6);
• Engage in the creative process or interpretive performance (MnTC Goal 6);
• Articulate an informed personal reaction to works in the arts and humanities (MnTC Goal 6);
• Describe the basic institutional arrangements (social, legal, political, economic, religious) that are evolving to deal with environmental and natural resource challenges (MnTC Goal 10); 
• Evaluate critically environmental and natural resource issues in light of understandings about interrelationships, ecosystems, and institutions(MnTC Goal 10);
• Propose and assess alternative solutions to environmental problems(MnTC Goal 10); and
• Articulate and defend the actions they would take on various environmental issues (MnTC Goal 10).

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. Introduction to the class
• Overview of basic literary terms and concepts
• Critical reading strategies
• Online discussion guidelines
2. Conventions of environmental literature
• Relationship between language and environment
• Definitions of wilderness
• Politics of where wilderness can be
• Roles places play in storytelling
• Environment as metaphor
• Common themes
• Transcendentalism
• Manifest destiny
• Pastoral
• Naturalism
• Wilderness/wildness
• Man vs. nature
• Industrialization
• Conservation
• Environmental apocalypse
• Environmentalism
3. Surviving Nature
• Extreme weather
• Extreme temperatures
• Solitude and survival
• Animal attacks
4. Nature as a commodity
• Daily and annual consumption
• Food as a resource
• Eating as a consumer activity
• Foods we eat
• Nature as a resource
• Assigning value to resources
• Overuse of resources
5. Living With/In Nature
• Connection with nature
• Living in “wilderness”
• Wilderness retreat from “civilized” life
• Urban development/nature
• “Working” the land
• Pollution
6. Looking to the Future
• Protecting the environment
• Addressing environmental challenges
• Politics of environmentalism
• Re-thinking our use of natural resources
• Efficiency
• Protecting water systems, forests, natural parks
• Protecting endangered species