HIST 323 - History of Sustainability

Units: 4 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-C, Sustainability
Seminar discussing the historical roots of global contemporary issues in environmental politics, health and sustainability. Focus on the human relationship to the natural world and how diverse cultures have lived within their environments.

Strongly Recommended Preparation: Upper division status (greater than 60 earned semester units) and completion of lower division Area C requirements.
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas A1, A2, A3 and B4 with grade C- (CR) or better.
Possible Instructional Methods: Entirely On-ground, or Entirely Online, or Hybrid.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UD-C - Upper Division Arts or Humanities, Overlay - Sustainability
Course Typically Offered: Variable Intermittently

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Understand the human relationship to the natural world as a historically evolving one and use a humanist approach to more deeply explain environmental issues;
Analyze the evolution of environmental thought and policy through the use of historical evidence;
Identify culture and historical context as integral pieces of humans’ relationship to the environment;
apply knowledge of environmental history to understand the notion of sustainability across time on local and global levels.

UD-C. Upper-division Arts or Humanities Learning Outcomes

demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply the principles, methodologies, value systems, and thought processes employed in the arts and humanities;
analyze cultural production as an expression of, or reflection upon, what it means to be human; and
demonstrate how the perspectives of the arts and humanities are used by informed, engaged, and reflective citizens to benefit local and global communities.

Sustainability Overlay Learning Outcomes

identify the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability, either in general or in relation to a specific problem;
analyze interactions between human activities and natural systems;
describe key threats to environmental sustainability; and
explain how individual and societal choices affect prospects for sustainability at the local, regional, and/or global levels.