ENV4605 Global Environmental Activism
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
“It has never been more important to protect the environment, and it has never been more deadly. The battle for the environment is emerging as a new battleground for human rights.” (Global Witness).
This course examines environmental activism around the world. The impact of anthropogenic activity on the environment has raised serious global concern and triggered several efforts to tackle the problem from the global to local level. Individuals and groups are using various tools to create awareness and help curb the growing environmental menace from different sources. Activists – especially local and indigenous ones – often face danger, including persecution by powerful actors like states and multilateral corporations, and the murder rate of environmental activists continues to rise globally. Environmental activism has thus become increasingly perilous. Nonetheless, advocacy for environmental responsibility remains vibrant around the world. This course uses various cases in different regions of the world to help understand the global environmental movement These cases include Shell in Nigeria’s Niger Delta; Tahoe Resources in the Guatemalan town of Mataquescuintla; and Coca-Cola in India. The course will use these cases to examine: 1) the theoretical basis of environmental activism; 2) motivations of and challenges for activism; 3) the nature and composition of actors – activists, perpetrators and collaborators, policy communities, and governments; 4) nature and scope of issues and activism in the various regions of the world; and 5) relationships between environmental degradation, advocacy for its protection, and climate change.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)