Environmental Justice and Equity: Case Study New Orleans ENVA M294-J01 SYLLABUS
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Environmental Justice and Equity: Case Study New Orleans ENVA M294-J01 SYLLABUS Professors: Phil Bucolo, Ph.D.; [email protected]; Monroe Hall 463 Marianne Cufone, J.D.; [email protected]; Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic and Center for Social Justice (540 Broadway), Rm. 304 Aimée K. Thomas, Ph.D.; [email protected]; Monroe Hall 560 Office Hours: by appointment via Email Class meetings January 4 - 15, 2021: MTWR Student’s Daily Class Preparation 8:00 - 10:00 a.m. MTWR Virtual Synchronous Class via Zoom 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. MTWR In-person experiential learning field trips 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. Course Description: This course provides an overview of the challenges in environmental justice and equity in Greater New Orleans area communities, particularly those identifying as BIPOC and/or low-income, low-access to resources. Students will learn critical thinking and advocacy, integrating doctrine, theory, and skills. This course combines field trips, lectures, discussions, readings, videos, and reflections. Through a review of case studies, media coverage, science, and academic pieces, we will explore issues including systemic socio-economic and racial discrimination, ongoing environmental injustices, inequality in access to basic resources like air, water, land, and food, and other current events and issues. Experiential learning field trips: This course includes a significant experiential component; there will be in-person, hands-on activities (with proper COVID precautions and social distancing). Students will learn and practice skills relative to becoming well-versed in the environmental injustices that are systemic in our culture. First-hand experiences in New Orleans will serve as the case study, but all issues will be transferable across the state, country, and world, thus adhering to the “Think globally, act locally” mantra. Afternoon classes (depending on availability) may include: • Volunteer/tour Second Harvest Food Bank, to learn about their emergency food distribution, and assist in packing meals 1 • Watch a movie on “Cancer Alley” and how environmental pollution can lead to health risks and illness. • Visit Sankofa site in 9th Ward and learn about environmental rehabilitation • Meet members of the Growing Local Collaborative to learn about food security and work to make systemic changes in our local food system. A work day at the farm! • Participate in a community cleanup (nurdle spill along the MS River) • Speak with the Lowlander group and members of the First People’s Conservation Council to discuss climate change and loss of cultural assets/access to resources, Isle de Jean Charles connection to marsh habitat Covid-19 related accommodations: This is a Hyflex synchronous course with mornings dedicated to lectures/readings/recordings and afternoons dedicated to in-person experiential learning field trips to locations around the Greater New Orleans region. In the event that a lecture has to be missed, a recording of the lecture will be available on Canvas. All lectures must be attended either live or soon thereafter to experience the course content completely. Course Objectives: 1. To use New Orleans as a case study to see how communities face significant challenges, particularly with equity and resilience involving food, health, and our environment. 2. To discuss and explain aspects of science (natural physical phenomena that created our region), social implications (systemic racism), and law/policy (past and future) that help us understand these equity and resilience issues. 3. To provide an awareness and appreciation of ethnic and racial differences and inequalities in Nola communities. 4. To provide hands-on experiential learning opportunities that foster an open dialogue on equity and resilience in environmental issues. 5. To give back to our community through service-learning activities. Textbook: No textbook will be required. There will be daily reading assignments in the form of articles, videos, and web links, all posted on Canvas. Expectations of workload: This course is 3-credit hours. According to the Loyola University credit hour policy, you are supposed to spend at least 6300 minutes (that is 105 hours including 35 hours of classwork and 70 hours of out-of-class work) for the whole semester regardless of how many weeks it is offered. Therefore, in addition to synchronous class time, you can expect to do asynchronous class time as part of your daily pre/post class preparation as well as time on the weekend dedicated to the material. 2 Grading Distribution: This is subject to change as plans are finalized, but will be close to this. Daily Journal 20% Discussion Board Participation 20% Attendance/Class Participation 20% Final Presentation 20% Critical Reflection 20% Grading Scale: 93-100 = A; 90-92 = A- 87-89 = B+; 83-86 = B; 80-82 = B- 77-79 = C+; 73-76 = C; 70-72 = C- 67-69 = D+; 60-66 = D < 60 = F Daily journal: Students are expected to keep a journal daily. Each journal entry should include 1) an outline of the daily readings with added thoughts and insights gleaned during class discussions, 2) a summary of the field experience with added details upon completion, and 3) a reflection making connections with content studied and experiences. These should be thoughtfully written and meticulous so that you can optimize the experience. Journals are due on Canvas every night by 10 pm. You may submit as a .doc, .pdf, or .jpg. Professors may randomly review to ensure students are taking notes, writing ideas, making contacts, etc. Discussion Board Participation: There will be a discussion board with a prompt relevant to several lecture topics posted. Thoughtful participation will be subjectively graded by the professors. Attendance/Class Participation: You are expected to attend every class, to be prepared by reading the assigned material prior to class, arrive on time, and remain active throughout class. Attendance will be recorded each class. You will be called upon during class to answer questions pertaining to the current topic and to share experiences. Students are encouraged to participate actively in class discussions and to raise questions about the material or point of view presented in the readings or lectures. Everyone—professors and students alike—will benefit from an energetic and informed exchange of ideas. In addition, starting on January 5th, each class will have 3 student reading leaders (assigned alphabetically). Student reading leaders should be prepared to present the “take home” message from readings, and ask questions or drive home main topics discussed in and by the class. 3 Final Presentation: Part of your final grade will be based on a professional in-class presentation (6-8 minutes) on a topic of your choosing relative to this course. Presentations should include a PowerPoint presentation that introduces the topic to the class in an interesting and informative manner, explains the issue relative to environmental justice/equity and science, and explains any recommendations on how to resolve the issue based on what you learned in the course. Use of visual aids (charts, graphs, photos), are strongly encouraged in your presentation, to tell your story. Critical reflection: Discerning Minds: Experience. Reflect. Transform: Critical thinking is “a systematic way to form and shape one’s thinking. It is thought that is disciplined, comprehensive, based on intellectual standards and, as a result, is well reasoned” (Richard Paul from the Foundation for Critical Thinking). Once you have completed the experiential learning course, you will write a critical reflection about the experience. This should include a critical examination of what you think you know by evaluating the evidence that you have and the conclusions you have drawn from it. Specific prompts will be provided during the second week of the course. Preliminary Class Schedule (any changes will be conveyed as soon as possible) Week 1: January 4th - Introduction to Environmental Justice and Equity What does justice mean? Equity? How does science factor in? Topics we will cover in this course. Overview of course and syllabus. Expectations and grading. Experiential learning opportunities. Individual presentations. Q and A. Withgott Jay & Laposata Mathew, Environment: The science behind the stories 6th ed. 2019. excerpts on Ecosystem Services, Environmental justice, Sustainability, Biodiversity. Pgs 116, 137- 9, 153 - 4, 274 - 6. {link to canvas page pdf} Ehlrich Paul R. The loss of diversity causes and consequences. In Wilson, EO (ed) Biodiversity. 1988. Harvard University Press. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK219310/ Amanpour & Co., Robert Bullard: How Environmental Racism Shapes the U.S., PBS, Mar. 3, 2020, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/robert-bullard-how- environmental-racism-shapes-the-us/. Julian Agyeman, Robert D. Bullard & Bob Evans, Exploring the Nexus: Bringing Together Sustainability, Environmental Justice and Equity, 6 Space and Polity 77 (2002) (uploaded to Canvas) 4 Deeohn Ferris, Environmental Justice: Moving Equity from Margins to Mainstream, Nonprofit Quarterly, Aug. 15, 2019, https://nonprofitquarterly.org/environmental-justice-moving-equity- from-margins-to-mainstream/. Afternoon: Sankofa Lower Ninth Ward https://sankofanola.org/sankofa-nature-trail-and- wetland-park/ Meet at 1p.m. at 6401 Florida Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70117 if you are driving/carpooling or at the corner of Calhoun and Loyola Avenue (between Miller and Monroe Halls) at 12:15p.m. to ride in the Loyola University New Orleans van. Reading and prep for next day’s class – figure out your individual topic for presentation. Post topic to Discussion Board 1a for review and approval! January 5th – Pollution: air and land (“Cancer Alley” and Agriculture Street Landfill) Industrial pollution; chemical and other industrial manufacturing plants; communities of color; LULU (Locally Unpopular Land Use); NIMBY (Not In My Backyard). Withgott Jay, & Laposata Mathew, Environment: the science behind the stories 6th ed. 2019. Chemistry and Physiological Responses to Air Pollution. pgs 453-5,7 482 - 3. {link to canvas page pdf} Withgott Jay, & Laposata Mathew, Environment: the science behind the stories 6th ed.