* Registration deadline: October 10.

In the last 40 years of American history, the environmental movement has shifted, some might say, from being the fringe interest of under-funded, counter-cultural groups to being a major and non-negotiable focus of American domestic and international policy. The United States, with its long history of landscape preservation and its vast economic and scientific resources, plays an immensely significant role in shaping and implementing today’s environmentalism across the globe.

Environmentalism, however, is not a fixed thing but a set of ideas shaped by the historical and political context from which it has emerged. In this course, we will examine the history and context that have leant shape to American environmentalism and consider the factors that are today re-shaping environmentalism again. In particular, we will trace the differences between a wilderness-based and a society-based history of American environmentalism.

We will also consider the effects of contemporary events on the these two strands of environmentalism in the United States. These events will include Hurricane Katrina, the acceptance of the reality of global climate change, and the forces that are today shaping the meaning of “nature” in America.

Throughout the course we will endeavor to move towards a better understanding of what environmentalism is today and what it can hope to be in the future, both for Americans themselves and for their engagement with citizens of other countries.

As with our other online course, From Wilderness Aesthetics to Ethics, this course will be 100% online and discussion based. It will be your chance to collaborate with great minds from around the world who are passionate about this specific topic.

(click here for more details on the discussion format) Our online and institute courses attract a vibrant and intellectually charged group of participants, most of whom are scholars and professionals taking advantage of this opportunity to create an enthusiastic community around these stimulating ideas. We will use a blog-based classroom and email to coordinate and facilitate discussions. Here you find a central blog where you will be given guides to the readings and important points to discuss. Participants will then create their own blogs to post responses and generate discussion with other participants.

Cost for the course instruction and administration is $180 per participant. Participants will be invited to join ongoing dialogs with the Center for Ethics and to participate in person at upcoming Environmental Ethics Institutes and conferences in Missoula, MT. Register here (.pdf). Discussion courses may be canceled if enrollment targets are not met at the Oct. 10 deadline.

Instructor: Christopher Preston, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Fellow of the Center for Ethics, The University of Montana.

Teaching Assistant: Justin Whitaker, Center for Ethics Project Coordinator, Ph.D. candidate at Goldsmiths College, London.

For registration information contact Justin Whitaker at justin.whitaker@mso.umt.edu or 243-5744 OR Register here (.pdf).

October 15 to November 30 Proposed Syllabus

I. THE NATURE OF THE WILD

Where do the terms “nature” and “wild” get their meanings?
What role do religious, cultural, and geographical influences play?
Do these terms have global currency?

II. THE AMERICAN WILD

What is distinctive about the American conception of wild nature?
What are the contrasts with ideas held in Europe, Africa, and Asia?
Does the rest of the world understand American environmentalism?
Should it?

III. SOCIAL ROOTS OF AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTALISM

What types of social concerns have shaped American environmentalism?
Is East coast environmentalism different from West coast?
Does environmental progress require human-centered values?

IV. CONTEMPORARY ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Is environmental justice (EJ) an environmental or a justice concern?
Has hurricane Katrina shifted the national dialogue on EJ?
Is it possible to separate socioeconomic concerns from ecological ones?

V. NATIONAL CHALLENGES

Is the United States finished protecting wilderness?
Does domestic energy policy require concessions from environmentalists?
Is there a real urban/rural divide on environment in America?

VI. INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGES

How does global climate change challenge American environmentalism?
Do emerging technologies threaten the category of wild nature?
What obligations does the United States have in the international arena?