Twilight in the Wilderness

Joseph Vincent Siry, Ph.D., U.C. Santa Barbara.

Office: Beale Bldg. –Park Ave. side– room D.

Phone: 407.646.2648

Office Hours: M–1:50-3:30, W–2:00-4:00, Th–3:30-4:30.

Goals of the Course

Wilderness is among the most definitive and compelling of subjects in our nation’s history. For those of you seeking a real challenge this may be a most rewarding inquiry into the origins of our national wildlife heritage and the legacy of nature protection in America for our future. Working together in this course we will explore several tiers of this subject, focusing specifically on questions that ideas about our geography, diverse wildlife, and urgent need for conservation raise concerning the character of our people, the tensions among facts, opinions, and illusions, the moral cognizance required to act on the urgency of preserving wild places, and the bequest we ought to leave to subsequent generations.

We will also analyze a sample of the arguments presented by some of the country’s most stimulating authors, including Roderick Nash, Terry Tempest Williams, Lynn Margulis, Wallace Stegner, Rachel Carson, Garrett Hardin, Aldo Leopold, Annie Dillard, and Bill McKibben.

Students should arrive in class having read the assignments for that meeting and ready to discuss our texts and ask questions the assigned readings raise for you.

More practically, participants will have opportunities to hone their skills in reading analytically, in verbally conveying their views about ecological restoration in a supportive setting, and in expressing your ideas in writing as you learn throughout the term. Especially in our class, I would hope, now and again, you will experience the delight and enjoyments of being moved by the profound power of ideas and articulate prose to lift your spirits, amend your behavior, nourish your more curious sensibilities, and even move you to sensibly act as a means to improve both yourself and our world.

Texts

books Terry Tempest Williams, An Unspoken Hunger

Bill McKibben, The End of Nature

Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind

Course Requirements:

Regular, punctual attendance with alert & active participation in class discussion and activities.
Preparation for and participation in the class by bringing the texts and /or assigned questions answered to the group for analysis on our meeting days; or by verbally sharing the free-writing we do in classes with other participants.

Three, – three to five page, – exploratory narrative essays – on an assigned topic a week before they are due based on the assigned readings.

One, – six to nine pages. – Final paper with footnotes, bibliography, tables and pertinent photographical or artistic representations with the appropriate citation of its source and a phrase explaining their purpose.

Goals | Texts | Requirements | Grades | Policies | Scehdule | Final

Grades: all assignments are graded with careful attention to each of these criteria: {CLIFS}

1. C clarity, coherence, spelling, grammar & logical consistency

2. L length & development of your arguments, ideas, or presentations

3. I information from the class texts, library research, or interviews

4. F frequency of examples from the lectures, journal, notes & readings

5. S subjects developed as argued in a thesis; introduction, summaries, & conclusion.

My policies:

The names and phone numbers of two other students in the class:

1. __________________________ 2. __________________________

I am here to encourage you to excel in learning new concepts and practicing your writing and speaking abilities in an effort to create meaningful discourse. My purpose is to feed your inquiring intellect with significant ideas in a coherent and challenging manner. I anticipate you will ask questions and actively work together to overcome the challenges the course material may pose for you in achieving an excellent level of performance based on an improved understanding of the readings. I recommend you to discuss ideas, passages, and assignments during my office hours.

Active learning

Keep in mind that participation in this course involves not only alertness and contributing your ideas to the class, but also listening respectfully without interrupting other speakers who are presenting their views on the assigned readings. Paying attention to others and to me is a sign of respect that I seek to reward in all my classes. The use of electronic media for other than class purposes is forbidden and is treated as an absence if you are texting, surfing, e-mailing or digitally inattentive to our discussion during class meetings.

Late papers

Submit all assigned work at the beginning of the class on the day the assigned work is due. Late papers cannot receive the same credit as those received on time in fairness to the punctual students. This is also because we discuss the importance of what you have said in the class the day the essays are due. Always back-up your work as you write, start at least a week before, and always keep a printed copy of the material you turn into me.

Paper format

The look of a college paper is always a professional document with an accurate date and page numbers indicating when the work was completed. I ask you to place a cover page with your name, phone number, essay title and an abstract of two to three sentences covering the substance of your essay for purposes of privacy because I make extensive comments on your work. Spelling and grammar errors are unacceptable. All papers are to be typed double spaced in either Arial or times new roman font and should have one inch margins and 22-23 lines to the page as a minimum.

Academic honesty and plagiarism

Cheating or copying without proper citation amounts to plagiarism and is the most serious academic offense of novices and professionals alike. By the use of words or ideas that are not your own and are either insufficiently acknowledged or not acknowledged at all you commit the offense. The consequences are that you can fail the assignment, or even the class, since every offense is a violation of the College’s honor code. As such, I report such violations to the Deans office.

Formal papers.

These essays should be have a title based on your contents, with its principle author’s full name and phone number, date completed, and with page numbers on the upper right hand corner. The essay should follow the style and content of papers in the Rollins Undergraduate Research Journal and it should be double spaced, 12pt font (either Times/Times Roman or Arial) and at least 5 pages long, excluding the Literature Cited page and any notes, figures, photos, or graphs you may use (see –ask Pete Ives in TJs, for Instructions to Authors). Endnotes or footnotes are preferred rather than parenthesis with author, date, and pages. The final review paper for the term must be handed in no later than 17 April 2009. Of course you are very welcome to hand it in earlier and you are also encouraged to discuss ideas with me and submit a draft for my review & comments before final submission on the due date. I anticipate that the best parts of your papers will be presented in class.

Schedule

Month and days

January

14 Introduction: “The habitat Problem: What is “waldsterben”?

21 What is your favorite wild area or creature? Verbal presentation.

26 Nash and Williams -- What is wilderness; strictly speaking? Nash, pp. vii-43.

28 Eroticism, Boundaries & “Appetites” Williams, pp. 79-96.

February

2 Romanticism and Transcendentalism Nash, pp. 44-107.

4 Making Sense of preserving wild areas Nash, pp. 108-140.

9 Muir and the battle to save the wild canyon Nash, pp. 141-199.

11 Nash and Stegner compared and contrasted –Essay draft due.

16 Biological realities as a limitation -- species Nash, pp. 200-237.

18 Essay due –How wild are you? oral presentation of the readings and your essay.

23 A philosophy of protection--oral presentation. Nash, pp. 238-271.

25 2 views Nash Alaska & Pollan: a dialectic Nash. pp. 272-315, Pollan, pp. 104-127.

March

2 Mid-term --compare Nash w/ Leopold’s views—short essays

4 Field Trip to Chelonian Institute, Oviedo, or Environmental Ed. Center, Seminole, Fla.

7-15 Spring Break

16 Nash and Mckibben – the Nash article on the future of wilderness

18 Challenges of economics & technology, McKibben. pp. 3-46, Williams, pp. 132-140.

23 The End of Nature? Adaptability & Myths McKibben. pp. 47-91, Nash 342-378.

25 Envisioning an Ecological Community McKibben, pp.95-138.

30 Ecological costs of enterprise Williams, pp. 97-131.

April

1 The criticism of Bureaucratic wilderness Williams, pp. 133-145.

6 Climate change (contrasting views) McKibben, pp. 63. Siry “Feeling the Heat”

8 Field Trip to Chelonian Institute Basic Factors: Nash, Williams, & McKibben.

13 Essay due on the value of wilderness due to climate change based on the readings.

15 The Habit of Truth: Endocrine disruption inquiry Siry on climate, Steingraber pp. 5-11.

20 Symposium on air pollution and redefining wilderness to preserve for the future.

22 Workshop: Environmental Ed. Center, Seminole, Fla. Observing loss of wildlife ranges.

27 Verbally summarize the value of the wild legacy we all share. End of term for M-W classes

May 5^th, 2 to 4:00 PM, Oral presentation of essay on:

What sorts of actions are needed to protect what is left of our natural areas so as to avert further loss of biological diversity and wildlife ranges?

Final exam you must attend or risk failing the course.

Changes in the Schedule

If alterations of this published schedule must occur I will announce them in class; a revised syllabus will explain extensive changes should that become necessary. If you are absent, telephone one of your classmates to ascertain that day’s announced changes, if any.

Goals | Texts | Requirements | Grades | Policies | Scehdule | Final