Environmental Studies Course Descriptions

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Course Descriptions

EVST 101 Introduction to Environmental Studies (staff)

EVST 104 Global Environmental Change (staff) (same as EBIO 104)

Staff. An introduction to the physical and biological processes that regulate the function of the Earth system. The composition, formation, and stabilization of the Earth’s atmosphere and ecosystem will be examined, emphasizing biological processes and ecosystem ecology. With an understanding of the historical rates and mechanisms of natural global change, the means by which human activities alter Earth system function at local to global scales will be explored, along with the consequences of and solutions to human-induced global change.

EVST 112 Historical Geology (R. Parsley) ( EENS 112)

Prof. Parsley, Staff. Corequisite: EENS 114. The physical evolution of the Earth over the past 4.6 billion years. Particular attention is paid to North America’s geological history. The course also covers the evolution of life through geological time.

EVST 114 Historical Geology lab (staff) (EENS 114)

Staff. Corequisite: EENS 112. An introduction to the study and use of fossils as recorders of geologic time. The lab also employs geologic maps and cross-sections to unravel geologic histories of various regions.

EVST 189 Service Learning

EVST 201 Disease Ecology and Public Health (M. Lichtveld) (SPHU 201)

The course introduces students to the strategies employed by public health professionals to maintain and enhance the health of the population. Humans will be considered as part of the ecologic systems that influence the patterns and mechanisms of health and disease. Students will come to understand the basic concepts and language of public health science and practice. The course will review the distribution of public health problems and identify important biologic, social and environmental determinants of disease. Examples of interventions designed to solve public health problems will be drawn for both national and international experience.

EVST 202 Evolution in Human Health and Disease (D. Heins) (EBIO 201)

Prof. Heins. An introduction to the study of infectious and noninfectious human diseases from an evolutionary perspective.

EVST 203 Natural Disasters (S. Nelson) (EENS 204)

Prof. Nelson. An examination of the causes and effects of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, subsidence, coastal erosion, flooding, severe weather (including hurricanes), and meteorite impacts. Also includes a discussion of options available to mitigate disasters.

EVST 205 Global Change Biology (J. Chambers) (EBIO 205)

Prof. Chambers. This course explores the biological basis of environmental issues and the changes occurring at a global scale, divided approximately into halves. The first half will provide a strong foundation in the interactions among biological and physical systems. The second half will be devoted to specific issues including global climate change, atmospheric pollution, community stability, habitat fragmentation, and loss of biodiversity. Changes that have occurred over geological time will be compared with changes in the modern industrial era.

EVST 206 Introductory Geography (staff) (EENS 206)

Prof. Flowers. An introduction to the basic facts concerning the physical environment: landforms, climates, vegetation and soils, followed by a comprehensive survey of the relationship between the physical environment and human activity in the major geographic regions of the world. The geography of Louisiana is considered in relation to the region. Recommended to students working toward Louisiana certification in elementary education.

EVST 207 Weather and Climate (G. Flowers) (EENS 207)

Prof. Flowers. An introduction to the Earth’s atmosphere with particular emphasis on weather and climate. Topics covered include: heating and cooling of the atmosphere; atmospheric circulation and wind; air masses and cyclonic storms; tropical weather and hurricanes; and global climates and climatic change.

EVST 208 Conservation of Biological Diversity (T. Sherry) (EBIO 204)

Prof. Sherry. Corequisite or Optional: EBIO 289 (1) Service Learning for a minimum of 40 hours. A consideration of biological diversity and its persistence, threats, human value, conservation efforts, and biological bases. Specific topics include extinction, global change, population viability, habitat loss and degradation, ecosystem management, restoration, agricultural ecosystems, economic and legal considerations, and the human population.

EVST 222 Energy Markets and Institutions (E. Smith) (FINE-422-21)

EVST 250 Environmental Chemistry (G. McPherson) (CHEM 250)

Prerequisite: 107, 108 or 241. An overview of the many aspects of environmental chemistry. Topics include: aquatic chemistry, including water pollution and water treatment; atmospheric chemistry, air pollution and major threats to the global atmosphere; geochemistry and soil chemistry; nature, sources, and environmental chemistry of hazardous wastes; and toxicology chemistry.

EVST 260 Environmental Sociology (staff) (SOCI 260)

This course examines political and economic aspects of global and local environmental problems. Topics include how societies and the environment interact, why some environmental risks have gained most attention, how support for environmental concerns can be measured, responses by environmental social movements, and visions of sustainable societies in the First and Third Worlds.

EVST 261 Natural Resource Conservation: Theory and Practice (H. Bart) (EBIO 260)

Prof. Bart. Corequisite: EBIO 289 Service Learning. This course examines the theory and practice of natural resource preservation in the United States, and the agencies and organizations involved in this endeavor.

EVST 289 Service Learning (staff)

EVST 303 Literature and the Environment (staff)

EVST 304 Survey of Environmental Health Sciences (A. Abdelghani) (SPHU 304)

Major environmental health problems, including water quality, wastewater, occupational health, trace elements in the environment, municipal and hazardous waste, food protection, vector control, and air quality are discussed.

EVST 305 Environmental Performance (B. Hayley)

Environmental performance is an interdisciplinary course that may in any semester combine theatre, dance and other performing arts as these concern environmental issues. Students will study environmental topics and then use composition and improvisation techniques to create a performance project based on the environmental issues studies. All students must be interested in collaborating and be willing to move. Dance experience is not necessary. Course may involve community partners and/or public service.

EVST 310 Urban Geography (R. Campanella) (URST 310)

EVST 314 Primate Ecology and Behavior (K. Jack) (ANTH 314)

An introduction to the social and physical diversity of the Order Primates, emphasizing the biology, ecology, and behavior of living nonhuman primates. Social structure will be explored from an evolutionary perspective, and the ecological and social constraints on behavioral flexibility will be examined. Examples will cover both field and laboratory investigations of nonhuman primates.

EVST 317 Environmental Archaeology (G. McCall) (ANTH 317/717)

EVST 318 Plants and Human Affairs (S. Darwin) (EBIO 318)

Prof. Darwin. Prerequisite: none. Since ancient times, people have relied on plants for food, clothing, shelter, medicines, and more. This course investigates some of the ways in which plants support and shape human life. Topics include: early ideas about plants and the origin of plant lore; plant domestication and the rise of agriculture; plant products in commercial economies; cultural uses of plants; plants and the future of civilization.

EVST 330 Natural Landscapes and Built Form (M. Thomas) (LNSP 330)

EVST 333 Environment and Natural Resources (J. Pearcy) (ECON 333)

Staff. Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 103. An introduction to the economic theory of how and why people make decisions that have consequences for the natural environment and the availability of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources. Analysis will include valuation of pollution damages and controls, the use of environmental valuations to determine optimal rates of extraction and utilization of natural resources. The course will apply analytical results to current environmental and natural resources issues.

EVST 334 Humanity's Place in Nature (staff) (PHIL 334)

This course will compare the predominant Western conception of humanity's place in nature with alternative conceptions, including those held by non-Western thinkers.

EVST 351 Environmental Communication (J. Mackin) (COMM 351)

Prof. Mackin. The purpose of this course is to provide an understanding and analysis of communication processes used in defining environmental issues and shaping environmental policies. Topics include defining nature and environment; diverse audiences and environmental messages; developing strategies for risk communication; creating effective environmental campaigns. Case studies of successful and unsuccessful environmental communication will be examined.

EVST 355/655 Archaeology of Cultural Landscapes C. Rodning (ANTH 355/655)

Landscapes are an outcome of natural processes and cultural activity. Like archaeological sites, landscapes are palimpsests of the many forces of change that create them. Archaeologists of course do study ancient monuments and settlements, but they are also interested in the relationships between sites, patterns of movement between and through them, and the ways that past societies understood the landscapes in which they lived. This course explores the archaeology of landscapes, the effects of humans on ancient environments, and the social, and even sacred meanings of architecture, monuments and places in the past.

EVST 356 Environmental Archaeology (G. McCall) (ANTH 356)

EVST 357 Mississippi River in History (staff) (CSHS 357)

EVST 360 Forestry and Public Policy (staff) (EBIO 360)

Staff. Prerequisites: EBIO 101 or approval of instructor. This course introduces the practice of forestry and forest management techniques common in the U.S. South, examines forestry’s positive and negative environmental impacts, and presents the Federal, State, and local laws and policies that affect the management of forests in the United States. Students will be expected to integrate what they know about biology with what they learn about forestry and public policy.

EVST 367 Sustainable Cultures and Communities (A. Koritz)

EVST 370 Environmental Anthropology (staff) (ANTH 370)

Critically reviews case studies of ecosystemic and energetic relations between human populations, cultures, and the environment in diverse ethnographic settings of the world, such as Amazonia, the Great Basin, New Guinea and Southeast Asia . Examines the historical emergence of ecological paradigms in anthropology. Compares the modern contributions of cultural ecology, evolutionary ecology, ethnoecology, and historical ecology. Evaluates potential contributions of ecological anthropology to general ecology.

EVST 371 Historical Ecology of Amazonia (W. Balée) (ANTH 371 and EBIO 371)

Prof. Balée. Interactions between local peoples and Amazonian landscapes from prehistory to the present. Amazonian landscapes as an analytic unit will be examined from the interdisciplinary perspective of historical ecology. Changes and development of forests and savannas since the arrival of human beings. Historical, ecological, cultural forces involved in biological and edaphic diversity in modern forests. Long-term effects of prehistoric and historic human occupations and manipulation of landscapes. Implications for conservation and development.

EVST 372 Infrastructure of Sustainable Urban Environments (G. Piringer) ( EENS 370)

EVST 388 Writing Practicum (staff)

EVST 389 Service Learning (staff)

EVST 391 Special Topics in Distribution and Conservation of Living Things (staff)

EVST 392 Special Topics in Landscapes and Seascapes Through Time (staff)

EVST 393 Special Topics in Problems, Potentialities of Built Environments(staff)

EVST 395 Special Topics in Environmental Thought, Practice, and Policy (staff)

EVST 396 Special Topics in Civic Engagement and Local Environments (staff)

EVST 397 Environmental Analysis Lab (J. Piringer) (EENS 397)

Staff or Visiting Professors. Fall 2007 – Prof. Piringer. Environmental Analysis. Introduction to basic analytical techniques commonly used in environmental science, with a focus on aqueous and sediment matrixes. Includes determination of solids, alkalinity and hardness, adsorption isotherms, oxygen content, conductivity, as well as spectrometric and chromatographic techniques and sediment analysis.

EVST 404 General Ecology (T. Sherry) (EBIO 404)

Prof. Sherry. Corequisite: EBIO 414 (required only for EE Biology majors and minors). A survey of the patterns and mechanisms of interaction among all organisms and their environments, including examples of human impacts on the biosphere. Lectures plus two field trips. EBIO 414 is an optional laboratory for non EE Biology majors.

EVST 411 Tropical Ecology (J. Chambers) (EBIO 411)

Prof. Chambers. Prerequisite: EBIO 404 or approval of instructor. Advanced course focusing on terrestrial ecology covering all tropical ecosystems with an emphasis on forests. Ecological topics will be addressed at population, community, and ecosystem levels with an organismal treatment of plants, insects, birds, reptiles, fish, mammals, microbes (fungi and bacteria), and other model organisms.

EVST 419 Wetlands Ecology (EBIO 419)

Prof. Blum. This course will introduce students to the occurrence, morphology, hydrology, soils, ecology and regulation of wetlands.

EVST 421 Seminar in Historical Ecology (W. Balée) (ANTH 421)

EVST 423 Environmental Politics (staff) (POLA 423)

Staff. An overview of the issues, institutions, processes, and actors that determine political responses to environmental problems in the United States. The course includes discussions of current controversies in environmental politics.

EVST 427 Population Ecology (T. Sherry) (EBIO 427)

Prof. Sherry. Prerequisite: EBIO 404 or approval of instructor. Principles of population dynamics in space and time, population regulation, and population interactions as determined from an integrated study of plants and animals, followed by exploration of the applicability of these principles to an understanding of the contemporary growth and control of the human population.

EVST 456, 457 Internship Studies (staff)

EVST 462 Global Environmental Politics (staff) (POLI 462)

*EVST 465 Senior Colloquium in Environmental Studies* (W. Balée)

EVST 488 Writing Practicum

EVST 489 Service Learning (staff)

EVST 491 Independent Studies (staff)

EVST 499-500 Honors Thesis (staff)

EVST 607 Restoration Ecology (staff) (EBIO 607)

Staff. Prerequisite: EBIO 404 or approval of instructor. Discussion will focus on applying knowledge from ecology toward understanding how damaged ecosystems differ from relatively undisturbed systems, evaluating ecosystem health and designing plans to restore system integrity.

EVST 621 Environmental Law and Urban Culture (N. Heyman) (APFC 621)

EVST 626 Paleoclimatology (staff) (EENS 626)

Staff. Prerequisite: approval of the instructor. Understanding past climate variation is necessary to fully comprehend present and model future climates. The focus will be on climate change during the late Quaternary Period, with special emphasis on climate reconstruction methods.

EVST 640 Sustainability and Tectonics (J. Klingman) (ATCS 640)

EVST 641 Implementing an Ecocentric Architecture (C. Coker) (ATCS 641)

EVST 651 Environmental Ethics (same as PHIL 652) (staff)

An examination of ethical issues regarding treatment of nonhuman beings. Major topics include moral extentionism, as well as critiques of attempts to extend human-centered moral doctrines to nonhuman beings.

EVST 652 Studio and Built Form in Environmental Conservation (E. Cizek) (PRST 652)

*Required course.