Spring '22 Energy-Related Courses at Dartmouth

The Irving Institute has compiled a list of classes for students interested in energy-related courses. As you choose your courses for this spring, keep an eye out for the following classes that will give you a broad range of energy knowledge. Courses with an asterisk (*) can be used toward the Environmental Studies: Sustainable Energy Track minor. (Please consult with the Environmental Studies Department for more information.) 
 

ANTH 50.48 Energy Justice
Sarah Kelly
Climate change and environmental degradation necessitate shifting energy systems away from fossil fuels. What issues of culture, power, and inequity are part of this energy "transition"? How can we make sure that it is socially just? These questions are the main focus of the course. This course includes an Energy Justice Clinic, supported by Dartmouth's Irving Institute for Energy and Society, in which students will engage in community-driven service learning.

COLT 70.05 Environmental Imagination*
Damiano Benvegnù 
What can the Arts and Humanities teach us about our relationship with the environment? In this class, students will be introduced to the relatively new field of ecologically oriented literary and cultural studies. We will critically engage with various cultural constructions of environmental concepts and practices in a range of artworks exemplifying different discourses of nature (e.g. mythological, philosophical, scientific) and media (e.g. literature, cinema, land art, music, etc.). We will thus explore how an artwork can convey narratives of environmental resistance and ecological liberation as well as embody the historical continuity between human communities and specific territories. In addition, consideration will be given to the emergence of a number of distinct approaches within the Environmental Humanities, such as critical ecofeminism, biosemiotics, environmental justice, critical animal studies, new materialism, and posthumanism. 

COCO 38 / ENVS 21 / EARS 21 Transforming the Energy System
Meredith Kelly and Elizabeth Wilson
Are you interested in learning about how our energy systems are transitioning in response to climate change? Do you wonder how we make energy for transportation, homes, businesses, and industry and how we will adapt to a changing climate? This course will help you understand (1) The physical basis of climate change and the tools we have to deal with it; (2) Our energy systems and how to shift from oil to electrification in the buildings and transportation sectors; and (3) Understanding how energy is produced and used in New England. 

ENVS 15 Environmental Issues of the Earth's Cold Regions
Ross Virginia
This course examines the major physical, ecological and human systems of high latitudes, including the circumpolar northern Arctic regions and the continent of Antarctica. Using an interdisciplinary perspective the course explores the science of polar environmental change and applies this information to understand the connections of the polar regions to global processes and international issues (climate change, biodiversity, indigenous rights).
 
ENGS 44 Sustainable Design with Karolina Kawiaka
An interdisciplinary introduction to the principles of design for sustainability, with emphasis on the built environment. Through lectures, readings, discussions, and a major design project, students will learn to design buildings and other infrastructure with low to no impact on the environment. Emphasis is on creative thinking, strategies for managing the complexity of the product life-cycle of the infrastructure, and the thorough integration of human and economic aspects in the design. Homework and project activities provide practice in relevant engineering analyses. 

GOVT 40.23 / MES 4.01 Energy and Society in the Middle East and North Africa
Diederick J. Vandewalle and Chad Elias
This course focuses on the economic, political, social and cultural consequences of rapid development in the hydrocarbon states of the Middle East and North Africa: states whose development is highly dependent on access to the global economy for income from oil. The course aims to provide students with an understanding—from both a Social Science and a Humanities perspective—of how hydrocarbon-led development has dramatically changed the economic, political, and cultural life of what were previously tribal societies.

PHIL 9.02 Environmental Ethics
James Binkoski
This course provides a general introduction to ethical problems concerning the environment. The course will cover some standard positions in the field, including biocentrism (the thesis that all living organisms have intrinsic moral worth) and ecocentrism (the thesis that entire natural systems have intrinsic moral worth). Topics considered may include:  the ethics of food; the ethics of climate change; the moral status of non-human animals; population, consumption, and sustainability; GMOs and organic food; our duties to other persons, including future persons; and the difficulty of formulating comprehensive climate policy.

ENVS 18 Indigenous Environmental Studies
Nicholas Reo
In this course, we examine Indigenous worldviews, environmental values and everyday life through the lens of environmental issues facing Indigenous nations and communities. Our geographic focus is on North America and the Pacific, with limited examples from other places and peoples globally. Through course materials, discussions, and assignments, students gain exposure to varied Indigenous perspectives and Indigenous knowledges expressed and enacted by scholars, Elders, community people, political leaders, and activists. Key concepts in Indigenous environmental studies will be discussed including Indigenous rights and responsibilities, Indigenous environmental stewardship, energy and development, land-language linkages, tribal sovereignty and self-determination, empowerment and resurgence. 

ENVS 50 Environmental Problem Analysis and Policy Formulation
Theresa Ong
Students working together in groups will formulate and justify policy measures that they think would be appropriate to deal with a local environmental problem. The purposes of this coordinating course are to (1) give students an opportunity to see how the disciplinary knowledge acquired in their various courses and departmental major programs can be integrated in a synthetic manner; (2) provide a forum for an in-depth evaluation of a significant environmental policy problem; and (3) give students the experience of working as a project team toward the solution of a real-world problem. Considerable field work may be involved, and the final examination will consist of a public presentation and defense of student-generated policy recommendations.  Open only to seniors or to other classes with permission of the instructor. Satisfies the Culminating Experience requirement.

ENVS 55 Ecological Economics
Richard Howarth
This course examines the links between economic and ecological systems with an emphasis on the interplay between values and institutions in environmental problem-solving. Concepts pertaining to welfare economics, common pool resources, ecosystem valuation, and environmental ethics are developed and applied to problems such as fisheries and forest management, biodiversity conservation, and global environmental change. The course emphasizes the relationship between economic growth, ecosystem services, and human flourishing in the definition and pursuit of sustainable development.

ENGS 19.01 Future of Energy Systems
Steven Peterson
Energy production, distribution, and use is central to human activity. In many quarters, there is growing appreciation for the nexus among energy, climate change, the environment, and economic development. This course will focus on futures of energy as they impact, and are impacted by, these drivers.   The course uses model-based approaches to develop global-scale energy scenarios and to explore the potential evolution of current and potential energy options in both localized and global settings.