I teach courses on human-environment geography, ocean conservation, and suite of other environmental topics. My courses range from intimate graduate seminars to large 200+ student lectures. I aspire to cultivate a safe yet challenging environment where my students and I walk out of each interaction with old questions and answered and new ones to ponder.
NTRES 2201: Society and Natural Resources
Bill McKibben has argued that there is no “nature” if we define nature as separate from human activity. The reach of humans is everywhere: deep in the woods, in the high arctic, in preserved wilderness areas, “we can still hear the chainsaw.” Every action we humans take or do not take affects the world around us. Therefore, environmental issues cannot be comprehended, let alone ‘solved,’ without understanding the human factors involved.
This means:
The course works "outward” from the individual actor (i.e., the domains of psychology and microeconomics) to social dynamics that affect the individual (e.g., social psychology, collective behavior) to the larger social trends that affect the environment (e.g., globalization, inequality). The course material progresses from theoretical to applied and the exploration and solutions of these topics becomes increasingly complex. This interdisciplinary approach is complex and challenging. But so are environmental problems.
Bill McKibben has argued that there is no “nature” if we define nature as separate from human activity. The reach of humans is everywhere: deep in the woods, in the high arctic, in preserved wilderness areas, “we can still hear the chainsaw.” Every action we humans take or do not take affects the world around us. Therefore, environmental issues cannot be comprehended, let alone ‘solved,’ without understanding the human factors involved.
This means:
- We cannot study “the environment” as separate from social processes: we live in—and continually recreate-- a social-ecological system.
- Social processes occur at multiple levels and multiple scales, from local to global.
- All knowledge, and all solutions, are partial. No single approach holds the key to understanding the relationship between people and nature.
- Our policies reflect how we conceive of the role of people and their interaction with the environment: do we coerce? Provide incentives? Educate and appeal to conscience?
The course works "outward” from the individual actor (i.e., the domains of psychology and microeconomics) to social dynamics that affect the individual (e.g., social psychology, collective behavior) to the larger social trends that affect the environment (e.g., globalization, inequality). The course material progresses from theoretical to applied and the exploration and solutions of these topics becomes increasingly complex. This interdisciplinary approach is complex and challenging. But so are environmental problems.
NTRES 3700/5700: Ocean People - Human Dimensions of Ocean Conservation
Oceans cover roughly 70% of the Earth's surface. This makes This course examines the complex relationships between human societies and marine environments through the lens of conservation science and environmental justice. Students will analyze how cultural values, social structures, and governance systems shape ocean conservation outcomes, with particular focus on equity, climate change adaptation, and sustainable resource management.
The course integrates natural and social science perspectives to address contemporary ocean conservation challenges, including marine protected area design, fisheries management, climate change impacts, and environmental justice issues. Through readings from scientific literature and humanities sources, students will develop skills in interdisciplinary analysis and science communication.
Oceans cover roughly 70% of the Earth's surface. This makes This course examines the complex relationships between human societies and marine environments through the lens of conservation science and environmental justice. Students will analyze how cultural values, social structures, and governance systems shape ocean conservation outcomes, with particular focus on equity, climate change adaptation, and sustainable resource management.
The course integrates natural and social science perspectives to address contemporary ocean conservation challenges, including marine protected area design, fisheries management, climate change impacts, and environmental justice issues. Through readings from scientific literature and humanities sources, students will develop skills in interdisciplinary analysis and science communication.
NTRES 6940: Geographic Thought and the Environment
Everything happens somewhere. Geography asks, “What is somewhere?” In the environmental sciences, “somewhere” is typically thought of as a stage where ecological processes unfold. But how do our concepts of space, place, and scale dictate what we see, what we measure, and what we manage? This seminar invites students to step beyond this stage and explore geography as a dynamic field of critical inquiry. We will go beyond the “where” to interrogate the “how” and “why” of environmental phenomena, transforming our research sites from static coordinates into vibrant human-environmental landscapes.
This course provides a critical survey of geographic thought and serves as a space for "theoretical translation." We will trace the evolution of the field, then pivot to problematize these foundations through contemporary lenses such as decoloniality, political ecology, and more-than-human geographies.
Everything happens somewhere. Geography asks, “What is somewhere?” In the environmental sciences, “somewhere” is typically thought of as a stage where ecological processes unfold. But how do our concepts of space, place, and scale dictate what we see, what we measure, and what we manage? This seminar invites students to step beyond this stage and explore geography as a dynamic field of critical inquiry. We will go beyond the “where” to interrogate the “how” and “why” of environmental phenomena, transforming our research sites from static coordinates into vibrant human-environmental landscapes.
This course provides a critical survey of geographic thought and serves as a space for "theoretical translation." We will trace the evolution of the field, then pivot to problematize these foundations through contemporary lenses such as decoloniality, political ecology, and more-than-human geographies.
| geographic_thought_syllabus_draft.docx |