Freshman Seminar: Understanding Environmental Activism

Professor Mark Lubell

Email: mnlubell@ucdavis.edu

Webpage: http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/faculty/lubell/

Office Hours: Tuesday, 1-3pm, or by appointment; 2146 Wickson.

Winter 2005

Tuesday 10-11:50am

1137 Plant and Environmental Sciences (PES)

Course Description

This course will examine the history and relevance of environmental activism and the environmental movement in the United States and Europe, with a focus on the behavior of individual citizens and environmental interest groups. Students will conduct a short survey of their peers on the topic of environmental activism, and learn how to analyze the resulting data.

Grading Requirements

50% of the grade will be based on 2-page critiques of the weekly readings, which they will turn in for 5 of the readings. 40% of the grade will be based on a 5-page final report on their analysis of the survey data. 10% of the grade will be based on class participation and attendance. There will be no exams of any type.

Required Book

Dunlap, Riley, and Angela G. Mertig. 1992. American Environmentalism: The US Environmental Movement 1970-1990. New York: Taylor and Francis

Instructor will provide photocopies or Internet copies of other articles.

Week 1 (1/10): Introduction

• Dunlap and Mertig, Chapter 1
• Introduction to survey questions and JMP 5.1
• Speaker from Student Environmental Resource Center

Week 2 (1/17): Measuring Environmental Attitudes

• Reading critique 1 due

• Dunlap, R. E., K. D. Van Liere, et al. (2000). "New Trends in Measuring Environmental Attitudes: Measuring Endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm: A Revised NEP Scale." Journal of Social Issues 56(3): 425-442.

• Brainstorm dependent variables

Week 3 (1/24): Social Bases of Environmental Concern

• Thomas Dietz, Paul C. Stern and Gergory A. Guagnano. 1998. "Social Structural and Social Psychological Bases of Environmental Concern." Environment and Behavior 30(4): 450-472
• Brainstorm independent variables

Week 4(1/31): Environmentalism as Collective Action

• Lubell, Mark. 2002. “Environmental Activism as Collective Action.” Environment and Behavior 34: 431-454.
• Reading Critique 2 due
• Finalize measures of environmental activism and independent variables

Week 5 (2/7): NIMBY

• Riley and Dunlap, Chapter 3
• Distribute survey

Week 6 (2/14): Environmental Justice

• Riley and Dunlap, Chapter 4
• Reading critique 3 due
• Distribute survey

Week 7 (2/21): Radical Environmentalism

• Riley and Dunlap, Chapter 5
• Form teams and enter data

Week 8 (2/28): Environmental Interest Groups

• Lowery, David, and Virginia Gray. 1995. “The Population Ecology of Gucci Gulch, or the Natural Regulation of Interest Group Numbers in the United States.” American Journal of Political Science 39:1-29.
• Reading critique 4 due
• Analyze data: Frequencies and means

Week 9 (3/7): Globalizing Environmentalism

• Riley and Dunlap, Chapter 6
• Analyze data: Correlations and t-tests

Week 10 (3/14): The Death of Environmentalism

• The Death of Environmentalism, by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Norhaus
• Reading critique 5 due
• 5-page final report on survey due; team presentations