HIST 388 - US and California Environmental History

Units: 3 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-C; Sustainability
Investigation of historical relationships between human health and the environment, contact and commerce among diverse peoples over time, environmental consequences of industrialization and urbanization, and the history of modern environmental movements and sustainability, using California as a case study.

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: On-ground, or Hybrid, or Online-Asynchronous, or Online-Synchronous.
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: Fall & Spring

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

Investigate the relationships between humans and the natural world over time, the United States and California as a focus;
Examine how humans have defined sustainability in the past;
Analyze contact and commerce among diverse people in California from earliest settlement to the present;
Describe the consequences of industrialization and urbanization upon the environment;
Examine the history of environmental movements in California;
Consider how humans can create sustainable relationships with nature and with one another.

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;
explain how individual and societal choices affect prospects for sustainability at the local, regional, and/or global levels.