Environmental Courses

2138 F/G Microeconomic Policy

This course deals with contemporary microeconomic policy issues of the Canadian economy. Topics may include industrial and environmental regulation, trade policy, public finance and labour markets.

English 2262F/G - Water and Civilization: Literature, Ecology, Activism

This course examines non-fictional accounts of the relationship between water (its management and mythology) and the development of diverse civilizations. This course alternates between historical examples from around the world and a specific focus on the Great Lakes Basin, including a group project for improving the ecology of the Thames.

1100 Fundamentals of Geography

A systematic descriptive introduction to the diverse elements of landscape including geomorphic, climatic and biotic elements, human settlement and land-use patterns; cartographic approaches to the analysis of selected processes of landscape change; an introduction to the synthesis of elements and processes in spatial systems models

4705E Environmental History

History 4705E is a senior seminar course that studies themes in North American environmental history, employing scholarship drawn primarily from Canada and the United States. The course examines changing relationships between humans and other aspects of the natural world from colonial times to the present. Specific topics include the study of environmental history as a scholarly discipline; the impact of European colonization on aboriginal cultures and landscapes; regional variations in the use and development of natural resources; changing attitudes toward the wilderness; the conservation and environmental movements; government policies and environmental regulation; the role of science (especially ecology) and its impact on popular thought and public policy; and aspects of human health and environmental justice.

2242F/G PHILOSOPHY OF THE EARTH

This course considers contemporary environmental thought and how we understand the relation between humanity and the Earth. Topics include climate change and justice, place and knowing, eco-affectivity and spirituality, and integral ecology. This course explores this question through world philosophical traditions including East Asian Buddhist, Indigenous, and Western philosophy. See the class in action in the Community Garden.

2230F/G ECOLOGY, SPRITUALITY, AND JUSTICE

This course examines the relationship between spiritual practices and the environment through lenses of social justice. Students will explore how spirituality and spiritual practices offer ways to reframe our relationship to our natural world at a time of intensifying climate and economic crises.

1025 F/G Introduction to social justice and peace

An interdisciplinary introduction to theories and strategies for pursuing social justice and peace. The course confronts the ethical implications of the structure and ideology of globalization under capitalism, the military industrial complex, war, corporate power, inequality, poverty, labour conflict, Indigenous rights, gender issues, diversity, and environmental degradation, among other issues.

2230F/G ECOLOGY, SPRITUALITY, AND JUSTICE

This course examines the relationship between spiritual practices and the environment through lenses of social justice. Students will explore how spirituality and spiritual practices offer ways to reframe our relationship to our natural world at a time of intensifying climate and economic crises.

3362F/G ECOFEMINISM

This course investigates the intersections of gender and ecology through an ecofeminist lens. It analyzes the historical and contemporary oppressions of women and nature in systems of patriarchy and maps links between the current climate crisis and gender. Social, economic, development and Indigenous perspectives are also examined.

3383F/G ECOLOGICAL JUSTICE

This course critically examines ecological ideas. Students will study ecological philosophies, concepts, major environmental challenges, impacts of human experiments on the environment, as well as creative ways to develop environmentally just society where all life systems can flourish.

2220 A/B Sociology of the Environment I

This course examines environmental issues and concerns from a sociological perspective. Topics include environmental values, attitudes and behaviour; environmental movements; the political economy of the environment and environmental risk and risk assessment. Debates surrounding such concepts as sustainable development will also be emphasized.