Environmental Studies 216 - Global Environmental Justice

From struggles for racial justice and Indigenous self-determination, to action for biodiversity conservation, many of the world's most urgent issues are also environmental justice challenges. This course will survey the theoretical questions, concepts, and perspectives on environmental justice at local and global scales. In the first part of the course, we will do a brief historical overview of the environmental justice movement and environmentalism(s), and we will discuss global contemporary issues like e-waste and food justice. In the second part of the course, we will analyze the multiple definitions and meanings that social movements and collectives give to justice. As such, we will engage with decolonial, Indigenous, eco-feminist, queer, and multispecies perspectives. Throughout the semester, students will analyze a case study of environmental (in)justice, which will culminate in a research-grounded sci-fi creative piece that represents a more just future in their chosen case.

Prereq: ENVST-100 or 4 credits in humanities or social science.