HIST 388 - US and California Environmental History

Units: 3 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-3; Sustainability; US-3
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.

Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UD-3 - Upper Division Arts or Humanities, Overlay - Sustainability; US-3
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas 1A, 1B, 1C and GE-2 with grade C- (CR) or better (GE Areas A1, A2, A3 and B4 for students on the 2024-25 or earlier catalogs).
Strongly Recommended Preparation: Upper division status (greater than 60 earned semester units) and completion of lower division Area 3 requirements (lower division Area C requirements for students on the 2024-25 or earlier catalogs).
Possible Instructional Methods: On-ground, or Hybrid, or Online-Asynchronous, or Online-Synchronous.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Course Typically Offered: Fall & Spring

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

Student (Course) Learning Outcomes (Ensure Proposal & Syllabi match. Adjust either to what is correct)*
Investigate the relationships between humans and the natural world over time, with 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;
Assess how Californians organized at both local and state levels have used the California constitution’s provisions to reshape their natural and built environments in partnership with the federal government;
Consider how humans can create sustainable relationships with nature and with one another.

GE-UD-3. Upper-division Arts or Humanities Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply principles, methodologies, values 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.
Demonstrate how the perspectives of the arts or humanities are used by informed, engaged, and reflective citizens to benefit local and global communities.

US-3. California Government Learning Outcomes

Describe the role of California’s Constitution in state and local government;
Explain the place of California’s Constitution in the evolution of federal-state relations;
Describe the political processes that enable cooperation and conflict resolution between state and/or local governments and the federal government.

Sustainability Overlay Learning Outcomes

Discuss multiple dimensions of sustainability, including the scientific, social, cultural, and/or economic.
Analyze interactions between human activities and natural systems.
Describe strategies taken by individuals, communities, organizations, or governments for mitigating and/or adapting to key threats to environmental sustainability.