UNCG – Fall Semester -- 2005
GEO 606 - Environmental Planning
General Information
Course Overview and Student Learning Outcomes
GEO 606 will provide students with an understanding of seminal planning and policy issues that must be addressed by today's professional environmental planners.
After completing GEO 606, students will:
1.
Be able to explain why there is a "paradox"
in environmental planning, and what that paradox
is;
2.
Understand and be able analyze how ideas concerning our impact on the natural
environment
have developed and changed over time;
3. Understand why there is a need for environmental regulation;
4. Be able to describe how environmental policy has evolved;
5.
Understand the regulatory environment and political and institutional settings
of environmental
planning;
6. Be able to describe alternative ways to control pollution; and
7. Have
the ability to analyze and describe environmental policy as it relates to
controlling air and water
pollution, managing energy resources, land management, management of solid,
toxic, and hazardous
waste, and international environmental issues.
Textbook, Supplementary Resources, and Assignments
Required Textbook: "The Environmental Policy Paradox" (Zachary A. Smith, 4th Ed.)
Supplementary (Required) Texts: (1) "Cradle to
Cradle"; McDonough and Braungart (2002;
North Point Press); available from Amazon.com; (2) "The Green
Revolution";
In addition to the reading assignments in
your textbooks (Smith, McDonough and Braungart, and Hill and Wang),
you will also be required to read
material (typically journal articles and/or book chapters) related to
the upcoming topics and discussions. This material will be made available to
you in hard-copy or electronic form. Students are expected to do the reading before class and come to
class prepared to critically discuss what they have read.
Grading
Exams: You will be required to take a mid-term and a final exam in GEO 606. Each exam will count for 25% of your grade (mid-term + final = 50%).
Semester Paper: Each student in GEO 606 is required to write a semester paper. The paper is expected to be of substantial length (10-15 pages) and address a current topic in the area of environmental planning. You should follow APA guidelines for style, double-space the paper, use either Arial, Courier, or Times New Roman fonts, and use a font size no larger than 12. The due date for the paper is listed in the schedule of topics. The semester paper will count for 20% of your grade in the course.
The remaining 30% of your grade will
come from class participation and weekly assignments (e.g., written critiques
or summaries of articles and book chapters; and answers to questions).
Miscellaneous Information
Any student in this class who has a documented disability that prevents the fullest expression of abilities should contact me personally as soon as possible so that we can discuss class requirements and accommodations.
Absolutely no late work will be accepted -- under any circumstances -- don't even ask!
You are expected to be present for every class meeting -- no exceptions! Student's with more than one unexcused absence may be summarily dropped from the class. An excused absence is an absence resulting from a documented medical situation or personal emergency. If your job requires you to be absent from more than one class, you should drop this course.