Courses
CLAS 180H - Env & Nat in Classical World. 3 Credits.
An interdisciplinary survey of Greek and Roman attitudes towards the environment. The course examines the intellectual and literary history of Classical environmental thought through literature as well as geography, anthropology, archaeology, art history. Topics covered include cosmogony, deforestation, evolution, famine, pre-industrial peasant economy, and human interaction with the landscape through engineering and agriculture. Offered Intermittently.Gen Ed Attributes: Historical Studies, Writing Course-Intermediate
COMX 347 - Rhetoric, Nature, and Environmentalism. 3 Credits.
Offered every other year. Prereq., WRIT 101 or equivalent, and one intermediate writing course. Survey of rhetorical texts that shape public understanding of nature and environmental issues. Analysis of a range of historical and contemporary environmental texts using theoretical concepts from the rhetorical tradition.
Gen Ed Attributes: Writing Course-Advanced
COMX 349 - Communication, Consumption, and Climate. 3 Credits.
Offered every other year. Analyzes consumption as a communication practice, investigates discourses that promote consumption, and illuminates environmental impacts on consumption.
ENST 201 - Environmental Info Resources. 3 Credits.
Offered autumn and spring. Prereq., WRIT 101 (or higher) or equivalent. Students learn how to find, evaluate and use existing information to increase understanding of environmental issues and resolve controversies. Students will research a subject using a variety of sources (refereed literature, government sources, internet sources, interviews); evaluate sources critically; write a literature review and give an oral presentation on their topic. Focus is on critical thinking and dealing with the information explosion.
ENST 230H - Nature and Society. 3 Credits.
Offered autumn. Offered on Mountain Campus. Explores the relationship between ideas about nature and the development of political and social ideas, institutions, and practices, primarily in western (Euro-American) society. Complements ethics offerings in philosophy aimed at environmental studies majors.
Gen Ed Attributes: Historical Studies
ENST 310 - Environment Montana: A to Z. 3 Credits.
Offered spring. The environment of Montana has changed dramatically since its founding 150 years ago. The purpose of this course is to provide an introduction to the land, people and places of Montana as viewed through the lens of environmental change. It will explore environmental change in relation to the actions of human beings. It will also explore how federal policies intersect with Montana environmental stories. Through a combination of lectures, readings, focused in-class discussions, and a research project students will learn the environmental stories of Montana.
ENST 320E - Earth Ethics. 3 Credits.
Offered intermittently. Prereq., ENST 230H or PHL 112E or consent of instructor. We often think of environmental issues primarily as issues of science and politics: what does science tell us about problems facing the environment, and how can politics help us respond? But environmental issues are simultaneously ethical issues with several moral dimensions: because each issue raises questions of how we should respond, exploring the moral dimensions of environmental issues can help us to discern better or worse responses, and to understand why we choose to respond as we do. In this course we will develop broad familiarity with different approaches within the field of environmental ethics in order to use a case study approach to examine a range of contemporary environmental issues. Students will have the opportunity to develop their own responses within a moral framework. By the end of the course students will have learned how to examine the moral dimensions of a range of environmental issues and how to ground their own perspectives within an ethical framework.
Gen Ed Attributes: Ethical & Human Values Course
ENST 335L - The Environmental Vision. 3 Credits.
Offered autumn. Prereq., WRIT 101 or equivalent, and one intermediate writing course. Provides background, overview, interpretations, and understanding of key concepts, themes, approaches, and forms in American nature and environmental nonfiction as well as that literature?s response to and influence on environmental events, figures, and movements.
Gen Ed Attributes: Lit & Artistic Studies (L), Writing Course-Advanced
ENST 367 - Environmental Politics & Policies. 3 Credits.
Offered autumn. Prereq., WRIT 101 or equivalent, and one intermediate writing course. Foundation in public lands history, bedrock environmental laws, policy processes and institutions. Research and analysis of current environmental and natural resource policy issues. Focus is domestic illustrated by case studies.
Gen Ed Attributes: Writing Course-Advanced
ENST 373A - Nature Works. 3 Credits.
Offered spring. Writing workshop for the creation, critique, and revision of essays about the environment to include natural history, personal narrative, science interpretation, advocacy/editorial, place-based essay, and others. Examination of concepts, forms, and approaches to writing about environmental concerns, awareness and sensitivity. Reading and responding to published work, primarily from the perspective of technique and approach.
Gen Ed Attributes: Expressive Arts Course (A)
ENST 382 - Environmental Law. 3 Credits.
Offered spring. Prereq., WRIT 101 or equivalent, and one intermediate writing course. Introduction to the history, law and theory of environmental regulation in the United States using public and private land regulation mechanisms as case studies. Basic principles of constitutional and administrative law relevant to environmental regulation, substantive public and private land use law and the history of environmental problems and their regulation.
Gen Ed Attributes: Writing Course-Advanced
ENST 420 - US Environmental Movement. 3 Credits.
Offered Intermittently. Study of the environmental movement as a social movement. Examination of different approaches to environmental protection and restoration in view of the movement’s historical roots and contemporary debates.
ENST 430 - Culture & Agriculture. 3 Credits.
Offered intermittently. Surveys treatment of farmers and farming in the humanities. Course covers specific agricultural crops and their effect on social and environmental history, artistic commentary on agricultural life and farmer philosophy. Themes range from agriculturally influenced historical events to Wendell Berry's poetry to Albert Borgmann's philosophy.
ENST 487 - Globalization, Justice & Environment. 3 Credits.
Offered autumn. Prereq., WRIT 101 or equivalent, and one intermediate writing course. Study of current trends in economic globalization and its effects on efforts to work for social justice and environmental sustainability, particularly in the Global South. Examination of different models and theories of globalization, analysis of ethical issues raised, and assessment of alternatives proposed.
Gen Ed Attributes: Writing Course-Advanced
ENST 489S - Environmental Justice Issues & Solutions. 3 Credits.
Offered autumn. Examination of evidence, causes and consequences of social inequality in the distribution of environmental risks and in access to natural resources and environmental amenities. Community, government and industry responses and service approaches for addressing environmental inequities.
Gen Ed Attributes: Social Sciences Course (S)
GRMN 340L - Nature and the Environment in German Literature and Film. 3 Credits.
An examination of the historical role of nature and the environment in the German literary and cinematic traditions. Course begins with the Roman Germanic periods and covers literary and cinematic works in cultural and historical context up until the present day. Attention given to the role of environmentalism in Central European culture today in light of themes of nature and the environment in German literature and film historically.
Gen Ed Attributes: Lit & Artistic Studies (L)
HSTR 364 - Environmental History. 3 Credits.
(AM) A history of the human-nature interaction in the United States.
LING 375X: Linguistic Ecology & Language Endangerment. 3 Credits. Upper Division Writing
LING 484/584 North American Indigenous Languages & Linguistics
LIT 202L - The Environmental Imagination. 3 Credits.
Offered once a year. Prereq., WRIT 101 (or higher) or equivalent. Course is designed to introduce students to the many discourses of nature. In this course we will approach natural history as a complex literary genre grounded in personal experience of the more-than-human world (in David Abram’s now ubiquitous phrase). While the study of natural history writing has historically focused on authors like Gilbert White, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and John Burroughs (as prominent practitioners of the personal narrative essay that explores the natural world), a more thorough understanding of the genre requires consideration of the role race, class, and gender play in shaping discourses of nature. Further, consideration of non-Anglo-American traditions (including, for example, a range of Native American and Asian ?literary? practices) expands our understanding of those traditions as it allows us to see the Anglo-American tradition in useful perspective.
Gen Ed Attributes: Lit & Artistic Studies (L), Writing Course-Intermediate
LIT 373 - Lit & Environment. 3 Credits.
Offered autumn. Prereq., 6 credits of lower-division LIT or consent of instructor. Study of major texts and issues in American nature writing.
LIT 402 - Literature in Place. 3 Credits.
Prereq., LIT 300 and 6 credits of LIT courses numbered 300 or higher or consent of instructor. This course gives students a set of advanced learning opportunities to engage with Anglophone texts on the general theme of nature and culture, applying an ecocritical lens to extended literary analysis. Drawing from various periods and from various trans-Atlantic national literatures, the course is designed to focus on the emerging critique of nature and culture that questions foundational structures of epistemology and economy, animate and inanimate, civilization and wilderness.
LIT 422 - Ecocritical Theory & Practice. 3 Credits.
This course surveys the developing field of ecocriticism, introducing students to the major issues and methodologies entailed in the study of literature and the environment.
MCLG 391 Nature and the Environment: Global Perspectives. 3 Credits.
This course offers a comparative examination of the role of nature and the environment in different cultural traditions with a focus on three in particular: Japanese, German, and Russian. You will learn about such topics as national geographies and natural resources, folk beliefs and traditions related to nature and the environment, persisting relevant cultural values, effects of industrialization, along with contemporary issues that will connect our attention to the current day. All readings, discussions, and writing assignments will be in English. In the section on Japanese culture, we will explore the significance of major diseases caused by pollution, the stylistic development of Japanese fine art reflected on nature, and connections of nature to Japan’s national identity. In the case of German, we will examine nature in myths of cultural origin, connections between nature and love, the historical role of the forest and mountains in German culture, aspects of enthusiasm and skepticism toward technology, and how each of these relates to Central Europe as a global leader in Green culture and politics today. In the Russian context, we will look at how Russia’s pagan connections to the land have continued and evolved and will also explore how the vast and diverse geography of Russia has affected the country’s national identity. While the course focuses on these three cultures, we will also connect to global contemporary issues and highlight how topics in national context relate to each local and international issues and problems today.
NASX 231X - Indig World View Perspectives. 3 Credits.
Offered Spring. Same as ANTY 231X. Examination of Indigenous belief systems, with regard to world views, religious ceremonies, cultural ways and the impact that Anglo-European culture has had upon these systems. Focus on Indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States
Gen Ed Attributes: Cultural Intl Diversity (X)
NASX 303E - Ecological Perspectives in Native American Traditions. 3 Credits.
An examination of Native American environmental ethics and tribal and historical and contemporary use of physical environmental resources.
Gen Ed Attributes: Ethical and Human Values Course (E)
NASX 351 - Traditional Eco Knowledge. 3 Credits.
Offered summer. This course is one unit of the four unit (12 credit) summer semester program: Wild Rockies Summer Semester. Description: This course will explore the traditional ecological perspectives of the Salish, Kootenai, Blackfeet and Tlingit people, as well as how these perspectives relate to Western concepts of ecology. Through field-based activities, lectures by tribal elders, and personal exploration, students will come to a heightened understanding of the still vital cultural perspectives and practices of modern American Indians, particularly in the Rockies of Montana and Canada.
NASX 352 - Montana Indians/Land. 3 Credits.
Offered autumn. This course is one unit of the four unit (12 credit) fall semester program: Montana Afoot & Afloat: Human/Land Relations. This course gives students a greater understanding of Indian people’s traditional relationships with the land in Montana, and an understanding of how and why those relationships may have changed. Extensive time will be spent on the Fort Belknap, Northern Cheyenne and Crow Reservations where the class will meet with tribal elders and learning will have an emphasis on environmental and tribal/land relationships.
NRSM 349E - Climate Change Ethics/Policy. 3 Credits.
Offered autumn. This course focuses on the ethical dimensions of climate change policy. It will cover the following major topics: (1) climate change, personal and collective responsibilities, (2) ethics, climate change and scientific uncertainty, (3) distributive justice and international climate change negotiations, (4) intergenerational justice and climate change policy.
Gen Ed Attributes: Ethical & Human Values Course
PHL 112E - Intro Ethics and Environment. 3.000 Credits.
Offered intermittently. An introductory-level ethics course with a special interest in the natural environment. The course will (a) introduce students to the three classical traditions in ethics - virtue, Kantianism, and utilitarianism, (b) ground these theories in questions about the moral status of non-humans and our moral duties to non-humans, (c) include an applied section that covers animal welfare, biotechnology, and other current topics.
Gen Ed Attributes: Ethical & Human Values Course
PHL 323 - Ethics of Climate Change. 3 Credits.
This course examines some of the fundamental issues raised by global climate change and considers how environmental ethics might help to address these issues. Students will become acquainted with the essential elements of climate change science and be provided with an introduction to contemporary approaches to environmental ethics that have developed out of the primary ethical traditions of western thought: deontological (Kantian) ethics, utilitarian ethics, and virtue ethics. In addition, the course examines alternative understandings of the appropriate relationship between humans and the natural world including: ?Deep Ecology? and Native American perspectives.
PHL 422 - Environmental Philosophy. 3 Credits.
Offered once every two years. Prereq., upper-division standing and PHL 110E or PHL 112E or PHL 114E or PHL 210E, or consent of instr. Critical exploration of selected philosophical and literary texts pertinent to the ethics of human relationships with the natural environment.
PHL 423 Science and the Environment
This course aims to equip environmentalists, or those with environmentalist leanings with some useful knowledge about how science works, its relation to values, modeling in science, and then foundational issues in ecology and climate science. Some of the topics covered will be: the appropriate role of values in science, values in relation to policy advice for scientists, conceptions of public trust and how to foster it, whether nature can be thought to be in balance, the complexity-stability debate, the role and nature of models in ecology, the existence and robustness of ecological communities and ecosystems, what “biodiversity”, “invasive species”, or other central notions in ecology mean and why we should care about them, definitions of climate, data sets and models, detection of climate change, attribution of change, modelling climate change, confirming climate models, limits of climate projections, uncertainty, model ensembles, varieties of uncertainty, and strategies for choosing when facing uncertainty with respect to climate decision making.
PHL 427 Environmental Aesthetics
A Topics in Aesthetics course, focused on Environmental Aesthetics.
PHL 472 Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) has long been celebrated as a writer who helped to establish a distinctively American literature. In the process, however, his significance as a philosopher has often been overlooked. In this course we will read a number of Thoreau’s writings, including selections from The Journal, essays about civil disobedience, Thoreau’s advocacy for the abolition of slavery, and the value he attached to walking, before turning to a close reading of his masterpiece Walden. Our goal will be to try to recover the sense in which Thoreau is, first and foremost, a philosopher who seeks to equip his readers with the tools for a better life.