Environmental Movements in America

Overview: This undergraduate course provides an introduction to the key collective actors and institutions that are involved in the creation of U.S. environmental policies. The aim of this course is to provide an understanding of the historical and social processes by which environmental policy is created and changed through a political process among a number of different coalitions. Through the use of a historical and cultural perspective, the course examines the development of the various worldviews, organizations, and practices that define U.S. environmental politics, including environmental advocacy organizations, foundations, and the media. The course provides an overview of the range of U.S. environmental movements, including the perspectives of Conservation and Preservation which emerged prior to 1900, the development of Environmentalism in the 1960's, and the recent emergence of new discursive practices, in the movements of Deep Ecology, Environmental Justice, Ecotheology and Ecofeminism. In addition, the environmental countermovement, in the form of the Wise Use movement is examined.