Courses Related to Sustainability in History, Literature & Philosophy
Course offerings are subject to change. Please verify information in the Undergraduate Catalog if you see a course that is of interest.
Courses listed on this page may cover historical topics related to sustainability or environmental issues, philosophical and ethical concepts, and perceptions through literature. Some of the courses below explore societal perceptions and interactions with nature through lenses of literature, social movements, and historical events.
Anthropology
ANT 270 – Environmental Justice Movements in the United States
Examines how poor and racialized communities have responded to the incidence, causes, and effects of environmental racism and injustice. Special attention will be given to how critiques offered by these communities challenge the knowledge and procedural forms of justice embedded in environmental policy and democracy in the United States. Case studies will be drawn from readings on African-American, European-Americans, Chicano and Latino Americans, and Native Americans.
English
ENG 238 – Nature and Literature
Looks at the many different ways people have looked at nature and examines the philosophies and values which inform humans’ interactions with their environment. Authors will be drawn from traditional literary figures, American nature writers, environmentalists and especially, authors from Maine. Assignment may include field experience.
History
HTY 480 – Global Environmental History
Environmental history is the study of past interactions between humans and nature, and this course examines environmental historical processes on the global scale by comparing and contrasting on the local, regional, and national scales over time. While it is impossible to cover the environmental history of the whole globe, in-depth explorations of seven major themes, including agriculture and settlement, biological exchanges, and urbanization and industrialization, will thoroughly introduce students to the subfield of global environmental history. Students will also have the opportunity to analyze at length specific environmental historical subject matter and improve their digital literacy through group website projects.
Maine Studies
MES 301 – Rachel Carson, Maine, and the Environment
In this course, students will take a chronological approach to the study of Rachel Carson’s life and work, reading her books in the order in which they were written, with attention to the role of “place,” specifically the Maine coast, in fostering her achievement as a nature writer and in shaping her vision as an environmentalist. Some of the questions the course will pose and attempt to answer are: What role did the Maine coast play in enabling Carson to understand the importance of the conservation of “wild” spaces? In what ways did Carson’s experience of the Maine coast contribute to her knowledge and understanding of the sea (a central theme in her work) in all its physical and metaphorical dimensions? And how did Carson’s establishment of a permanent home on the coast of Maine facilitate her development as a science and nature writer?
Philosophy
PHI 232 – Environmental Ethics
A critical survey of major contemporary discussions of human relationships to nature and the causes of the environmental crisis. Topics will include animal rights, biocentrism, deep ecology, ecofeminism, bio-regionalism, social ecology and sustainability. Special attention will be given to building an ethical vocabulary for interpreting the place of humans in relation to the non-human.
PHI 332 – Environmental Philosophy
A focused study of texts, perspectives and issues concerning the philosophy of nature, environmentalism and climate change from historical, cross-cultural and humanities perspectives.
School of Forest Resources
SFR 220 – Environment and Society
Introduces the concepts and principles necessary to understand the connections between human behavior and environmental conditions. The course includes a review of the conservation and environmental movements in the United States, tracing changing American values towards forests and other natural resources over time. Students learn how to critically analyze the social, economic, and environmental aspects of various case studies concerning society-environment connections by evaluating diverse information sources.