NEC Courses

Two key premises animate this course: first, humans are part of nature as each society exists within the natural world, and second, environmental problems are social problems as they concern human relations with the natural world and the politics of resource access, use and control. Gender is a constitutive element of these relationships and a signifier of power. As conceptualizations of nature and of women (or gender roles) mutually constitute and re-enforce one another, we will employ frameworks such as feminist political ecology, ecofeminism, and ecological masculinities to analyze issues at the culture-environment-development intersection. We will explore how masculinities and femininities shape human relationships with nature and distributive equity issues associated with environmental / climate change. The readings and materials in this course are global in nature to allow us to compare similarities and differences in gendered relationships to the environment, activist pursuits, and access to resources.

We confront one of the most pressing issues of our time: How can society transition to more sustainable development (SD)? Specifically: How can diverse social groups work in concert to vision a sustainable future, assess existing development, compare the impacts – economic, social, political, cultural and ecological – of alternative development pathways, and move towards more sustainable development? Our responses to SD challenges/opportunities require a synthesis of social and technical approaches in ways rarely seen: a) a dialogue-enabled multi-stakeholder assessment and planning process at the core; b) integrative information/communication and education technologies; c) multi-issue/multi-sector integration models (e.g. water * health * energy * food etc.); and d) ways to navigate inherent complexity, including the political context and the mitigation of corruption. The goal of the class is: to help students think about, design and consider the deployment of 2nd generation sustainable development projects. Case studies are used extensively for discussions, and simulations provide practice and insight. The course includes a major SDA&P Team Project Practicum based on either a domestic development case study or an international one (previous cases include the Cape Cod Wind Farm, the Three Gorges Dam in China, a mining project slated for Indonesia). Students work in their SDA&P Team to do three things: a) critically analyze how positive and negative impacts have been estimated (on what basis), also considering their spatial distribution; b) articulate the socio-economic, political, cultural and ecological contexts of the proposal, incl. the power dynamics; and c) design an improved socio-technical SDA&P process.

Energy policy is climate policy: we cannot hope to address the climate crisis unless we can understand how our energy systems evolved and function, and plan and enact transitions to profoundly different energy systems. Doing both requires us to look with fresh eyes at nearly every aspect, at every scale, of the geographies we create and inhabit. This seminar will examine the rapidly changing geographies of energy production, distribution, and consumption, with particular attention to their roles in larger patterns of political, economic, and cultural development and change. In particular, we will examine the development and distinctive characteristics of fossil fuel capitalism; the political and economic implications and potential of transitions to renewable energy systems; the geopolitics of energy systems and transitions; the creation and effects of landscapes built around particular energy systems; and the relationships between energy systems and social identities. We will pay particular attention to the question of whether and how transitions towards renewable, low or net-zero carbon energy systems might contribute to movement towards a more just and equitable society – what has sometimes been termed a “just transition.

“Development” is an international mandate for addressing structural inequality between the Global North and South. However, many institutions, private entities, NGOs and governments equate development with capitalist economic growth. The equation of capitalist growth with development has deepened global inequality and helps fuel global environmental crises. With the expansion of consumerism, the globalization of trade and travel and a world-wide dependency on fossil fuels, countries in the Global South not only have to navigate their own colonial legacies within an unequal world system but also the worst effects of climate change and widespread environmental degradation. This course will address the fundamental contradictions between economy and the environment that are at the heart of the world system. It will ask if it is possible to reclaim and refigure “development” to create a new platform for addressing global economic inequality and environmental health simultaneously. In this course we will read introductory texts on development and global environmental issues from geography and the social sciences, with special focus on the interdisciplinary subfields of critical development studies and political ecology.

This course is designed to give an overview of the technical issues confronting the conversion of the world’s fossil fuel economy to one where the major sources of energy are sustainable. The pros and cons of major renewable energy sources (such as solar and wind) will be discussed, along with some of the less universal sources such as tides and geothermal, including, of course, efficiency, the hidden energy resource. No discussion of renewables is complete without a good understanding of the electrical grid, which is central to the implementation of renewable energy. The present grid is designed for a smaller number of large generating stations and relatively constant power generation and loads. The renewable grid will have many smaller energy sources, as small as single solar panels on the top of telephone poles, and also rapidly fluctuating sources, as when winds gust through wind turbines, and clouds cover and uncover solar panels. Through lecture and demonstration we will learn how a nationwide energy network might work in the future. This course is designed for science and non-science majors alike, however math skills including algebra and trigonometry will be expected. Over the past two years a small microgrid consisting of solar panels, a wind turbine, batteries, and LED lights has been built at Clark. A main focus of this course will be on the design and building of the microgrid, and related projects and issues. This will require significant time, outside class, to work on building the microgrid system. We will be building physical systems, such as mounting solar panels and working to connect electrical systems, in order to control and measure the energy flows in our microgrid. We will need computer programs for controlling the system and to analyze data, and we also will need web pages for our own monitoring and in order to display the system to others. There will be a significant hands on component to this class, in addition to regular homework assignments. Each student will be expected to spend about three hours a week during an afternoon, preferably Tuesday or Friday, working on the project. Please consider this time commitment carefully when you sign up for this course.

This seminar examines emerging issues surrounding global climate change and Earth System Science. Climate Change Science is inherently interdisciplinary and processes within this field involve significant interactions between land, atmosphere, ocean, ice, and humans. Specific topics discussed in this seminar include abrupt climate change, biogeochemical cycling, biocomplexity, oscillatory climate phenomena, trace gas exchange, glacier/ice sheet dynamics, sea ice variability, sea level rise, paleoclimate, extreme weather events, and human-induced environmental change. Readings will be focused on the most recent climate literature, including the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports. This seminar not only introduces students to recent, cutting-edge research, but given the sometimes controversial nature of these issues also gives students insight into the process of critically evaluating Climate Change Science studies. Open to doctoral students, but masters students may request permission to enroll.