Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Welcome back to the 2009-2010 school year! There are lots of new faces joining us this year in the UEL. Be sure to stop in and say hello—and check out the flourishing community garden while you’re here!
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CES News
- Welcome, new faculty
- CES Fall Brown Bag Discussion Panel, September 11
- Fall Courses in Environmental Studies
- Community Garden Events
On Campus
- Brown Environmental Fellows Program
Internships & Opportunities
- EPA STAR Fellowship for graduate students
- Student Internships Available with the Encyclopedia of Earth
- EBC/YPE Young Environmental Professionals Boston Harbor Cruise
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CES News_________________________
We welcome new faculty to CES!
Kathyrn DeMaster: Kathryn DeMaster received her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Kathryn's research and teaching primarily explore local and sustainable agro-food systems, organic farming, global agriculture issues, European Union agri-environmental policies, environmental sociology and political ecology. Kathryn DeMaster will be joining the CES faculty as Visiting Assistant Professor in July, 2009. She will be teaching ENVS0110; Humans, Nature, and the Environment: Addressing Environmental Change in the 21st Century.
Kathryn Tanner: Visiting Assistant Professor, Dr. Kathryn (Katie) Tanner will be teaching a graduate level seminar in the Fall 2009 semester, entitled ENVS 2700A; Gender and Environment. Katie is a CES alum (class of 2000), who worked with Caroline Karp on topics of international environmental policy (focusing on Madagascar) as an undergraduate. Since graduation, Katie has worked as a Fulbright Fellow (Madagascar 2000/1) and Tanzania Program Coordinator for the GSC project of Earth Island Institute (2001/2).
Susan Wason: Susan Wason is an Adjunct Instructor in Environmental Studies and will be teaching ENVS 1710, Environmental Health and Policy in Fall, 2009. Susan is a ScD candidate in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard School of Public Health in the Exposure, Epidemiology and Risk program, graduating in November, 2009. Susan’s thesis research involves exposure and dose modeling of organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides for children living in urban, low-income housing, with a focus on factors (e.g. genetic, behavioral) that characterize risk variability. Her background spans the disciplines of toxicology and risk assessment, with particular interest in developing toxicological and risk assessment methods as well as modeling methods for the emerging area of cumulative risk assessment.
Leila Sievanen: An environmental anthropologist whose research interests broadly include the topics of biodiversity conservation and international development, Leila is a postdoctoral research associate with Prof. Heather Leslie. She is leading an interdisciplinary project entitled Exploring Ecosystem-Based Management in Context. For more details, see http://www.brown.edu/Departments/EEB/leslie/ebm or contact Leila at Leila_Sievanen@brown.edu
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CES Fall 2009 Seminar Series Kickoff
Friday, September 11 at noon
UEL Classroom, room 106
Climate Policy: What are the Prospects on the Countdown to Copenhagen.
Bring your lunch, come and join the panelists:
Timmons Roberts, Director, Center for Environmental Studies, Brown
Diana Liverman, Director, Oxford University Environmental Change Institute and University of Arizona
Nathan Hultman, University of Maryland
John Cole, Oxford University Environmental Change Institute
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Check out fall courses in Environmental Studies!
ENVS 0110: Humans, Nature, and the Environment: Addressing Environmental Change in the 21st Century. MWF 10-10:50
Greetings Brown students! I’m delighted to be instructing ENVS 0110 this fall semester, an introductory course in environmental studies that offers a wide-ranging overview of contemporary environmental change. We’ll explore together the key drivers of that change and delve into topics ranging from global warming to global agriculture, water crises to deforestation, pesticide use to e-waste, and worldwide growth of human population growth and consumption, to name just a few. We will examine these issues from several different disciplinary lenses, providing an introduction to key natural scientific concepts and delving deeper into the socio-cultural and political drivers of environmental transitions. In addition to the classroom analysis and synthesis, you will have the opportunity to put what you learn into practice by becoming involved in a service learning project of your choosing, or to investigate more thoroughly an issue that interests you especially. I hope you’ll consider joining the class community and will contribute your own ideas to the course. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like more details or have questions about ENVS 0110.
Instructor: Kathryn De Master
ENVS 0510: Problems in International Environmental Policy. Fall 09 MWF 11-11:50
What has been accomplished since the Earth Summit of 1992 to address international and global environmental problems? Has the Millennium Development Program accomplished its goal of alleviating poverty, improving food security and protecting the environment? What roles do state and non-state actors play in addressing international and global environmental problems? In what ways do development assistance and free trade affect the environment and does the environment present national security issues? Should the United States accede to the Kyoto Protocol, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea or the Basel Convention?
The course examines key international environmental problems and alternative theoretical frameworks as a way to understand emerging principles of international environmental law and U.S. positions on major international environmental agreements. We consider the changing roles of state and non-state actors in international environmental governance and examine how globalization, liberalized trade, and traditional views of state sovereignty interact to affect environmental quality, key ecosystem services and human health. In addition, we will negotiate several issues regarding the use of the world ocean to mitigate climate change from the perspective of different state actors in parallel with the Copenhagen Climate Conference of the Parties.
Prerequisites: ENVS 0110 or ENVS0490 or an equivalent course is strongly recommended as a prerequisite to provide appropriate background in environmental issues.
Instructor: Caroline Karp
ENVS 0135: Environmental Economics and Policy. TTh 10:30-11:50
As the U.S. Congress debates cap-and-trade legislation and the international community confronts shared challenges, environmental economics will play a critical role in the policy debate. In Environmental Economics and Policy (ENVS 1350) , we will use economic theory and some empirics to better understand the causes and consequences of -- and policy solutions for -- climate change and other environmental problems, ranging from air and water pollution to deforestation. This course will focus on industrialized countries, while the second course in the sequence (ENVS 1355) will focus on developing countries. Given the course material, some familiarity with economics is important; however, if you are interested and do not have the pre-requisites, feel free to email me about it (ssn@brown.edu). Best wishes for an enjoyable year.
Instructor: Sriniketh Nagavarapu
ENVS 0455: Coastal Ecology and Conservation. NOTE: This course is full for Fall 2009. For more details on related future offerings, please contact Prof. Leslie at Heather_Leslie@brown.edu. Note that Prof. Leslie's office is now at UEL 205.
ENVS1400: Sustainable Design in the Built Environment. W 3-5:20
This course provides students with an in-depth understanding of sustainability, as it relates to planning, engineering, architecture, landscape architecture and green buildings. Students conduct economic and environmental analyses to examine planning, design and building problems and opportunities holistically. Interdisciplinary teams work on applied design projects. Prerequisites: ENVS 0410, or equivalent by permission of instructor.
Instructor: Kurt Teichert
ENVS 1700A: Cultural Competence and Ethics. M 3-5:20
I invite you to enroll in Cultural Competence and Ethics, ENVS 1700A for environmental studies research that you may conduct nationally or internationally. Many new environmental studies research projects are being conducted with community-based or collaborative approaches. Many CES students also have had to apply for Institutional Review Board approvals for their research projects. Informed consent requirements do now affect environmental researchers, particularly for personal interviews and focus groups. Culturally-diverse groups constitute many of the communities where students may carry out environmental interventions. Cultural appropriateness and cultural sensitivity approaches are critical to effective environmental interventions. In this course, we review community-based theory, ethical theories, and cultural competence theories for their application to environmental studies. In many new case studies, we review new collaborative and qualitative research methods to prepare students for conducting research with culturally-diverse and geographic community/neighborhood groups. The Brown University CES is one of the very few environmental studies programs in the US that offers this training to students.
Instructor: Dianne Quigley
ENVS 1710: Environmental Health and Policy. TTh 9-10:20
I welcome you to join me this Fall in ENVS 1710, Environmental Health and Policy, a course that will provide you the fundamentals of environmental health scientific methods and their application to policy and regulation. You will learn the basic tools of the environmental health sciences, including toxicology, epidemiology, exposure and risk assessment; the framework of major environmental health regulation in the US; and the scientific basis for regulatory process and decisions. Traditional environmental health concerns (air and water pollution, waste management) will be discussed, as well as more recent problems, including urban health, climate change, and novel toxicants and health issues. Case studies will be used throughout the course to examine important historical events and to critically evaluate policies’ abilities to protect public health and the environment, including an assessment of health inequities and disparities. We will use each lecture to not only come away with important environmental health tools, but also will use the case studies to expand our critical thinking about environmental health issues and policy. My own background spans the disciplines of toxicology and risk assessment, and I am particularly interested in developing toxicological and risk assessment methods as well as modeling methods for the emerging area of cumulative risk assessment. Current research includes an evaluation of pesticide exposure for children living in urban, low-income housing, with a focus on factors (e.g. genetic, behavioral) that influence risk variability. I look forward to meeting you and would welcome your presence in the course! Please contact me with any questions.
Instructor: Susan Wason, Adjunct Professor
ENVS 2700A: Gender & Environment. TTh 1-2:20
I invite you to join my Gender & Environment class this Fall semester, meeting on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. It's been nearly ten years since I was a student in this department and I have spent that time researching, writing, and teaching (at Cambridge and Sarah Lawrence) on issues of Environment, Development and Gender in East Africa and South Asia. I warmly invite you to join the first class on September 9th when I will be giving an introduction to the course and handing out the syllabus. Over the semester, we will explore the historical roots of gender roles in environmental policy-making and protection, using both 'Northern' and 'Southern' scholarship. Case studies will be global in nature, but primarily focus on regions and localities in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to the analysis of multi-national institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and the IMF, we will look at community-based organizations and local resistance movements in order to fully deconstruct the current status of 'conservation and livelihoods' from a gender perspective. It promises to be an exciting and provocative class--so come along and check it out!
Instructor: Katie Tanner, Visiting Assistant Professor
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Community Garden Events
All events will be held in the UEL.
Community Garden Potlucks
Wednesday, September 23, October 21, November 18, December 18
6:30pm to 8pm
Bring your favorite food and beverages and join us to celebrate the garden and share garden knowledge and stories!
Canning with Ellie
Wednesday, September 9, 6:30-7:30
Canning helps keep those delicious foods around into the winter! Some canning jars and supplies provided, but please bring any additional supplies you have, and any food you would like to can.
Extending Your Season: Growing Food Crops in the Fall with Ellie
Wednesday, October 7, 6:30-7:30
Here at the garden, we try to keep out plots productive into December. Join us as we share strategies and best crops to extend your growing season.
Cooking with Culinary and Medicinal Herbs with Heidi
Wednesday, November 4, 6:30-7:30
We’ve got lots of common herbs here in the garden that can add flavor and variety to common dishes. In this workshop, we will make some recipes with fresh herbs from the garden. Yum!
Putting Your Beds to Bed for the Winter with Heidi
Wednesday, December 2, 6:30-7:30
Ah, winter. A time for things to rest and renew. Let’s meet and we’ll go over what you need to do to prepare your beds and garden for winter.
On Campus_____________________
Brown Environmental Fellows Program
The Brown Environmental Fellows Program will be recruiting students later in the fall. This program will enable students to conduct cutting-edge research and connect their work to pressing environmental policy and management concerns. Environmental Studies juniors are strongly encouraged to apply, but the program is open to all juniors across campus. Successful candidates will be matched with faculty and environmental practitioner mentors in Winter 2010, conduct independent research in Summer 2010, and participate in the Environmental Change senior seminar in Fall 2010, to be taught by Prof. Heather Leslie. For more information, please contact Heather_Leslie@brown.edu.
Internships & Opportunities_______
EPA STAR Fellowship for graduate students
Fall 2009 EPA Science To Achieve Results (STAR) Fellowships For
Graduate Environmental Study
http://epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2009/2009_star_gradfellow.html
Open Date: 08/19/2009 - Close Date: 10/22/2009
Summary: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its
Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is offering Graduate
Fellowships for master's and doctoral level students in environmental
fields of study. The deadline is October 22, 2009 at 4:00 PM for
receipt of paper applications, and October 22, 2009 at 11:59:59 PM ET
for submittal of electronic applications to Grants.gov. Subject to
availability of funding, the Agency plans to award approximately 120
new fellowships by June 30, 2010. Master's level students may receive
support for a maximum of two years. Doctoral students may be supported
for a maximum of three years, usable over a period of four years.
The fellowship program provides up to $37,000 per year of support per
fellowship.
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Student Internships Available with the Encyclopedia of Earth
Applications Now Being Accepted for Fall 2009
The award-winning Encyclopedia of Earth (EoE – www.eoearth.org) is a free, fully searchable online encyclopedia about the Earth, its ecosystems and their relationship to society. The EoE seeks student interns to assist with posting articles and performing other tasks as needed. Internships are not paid. However, interns gain valuable education and experience, receive recognition on the EoE, and may receive course credit. Interns will work on their own at their home institutions, but will have regular contact with EoE authors, editors and staff based in Boston, Washington, D.C. and other locations.
Eligibility: Intern candidates must be enrolled as an upper level undergraduate or graduate student majoring in an environmental science subject or otherwise demonstrating a strong interest and knowledge of environmental issues. Each candidate must have a faculty sponsor complete a recommendation form (found at www.eoearth.org/article/EoE_for_Educators) that evaluates the candidate’s academic achievement and career potential and attests to his or her reliability and ability to work independently.
Internship position description: EoE Student Interns will add content to the EoE’s wiki-based platform by posting articles provided by Content Partners or Content Sources and and/or creating content based on templates (such as articles on various species using sources provided). Depending on an individual’s background, skill level and interest, he or she may develop original content in accordance with the guidelines of the Student Science Communication Project. (www.eoearth.org/article/Student_Science_Communication_Project) Training in using the wiki platform will be provided. Internships will be offered during the academic year, in most cases September through May.
Interns may be asked to work with EoE Editorial Board members and staff on special projects. All interns will participate upon request in conference calls with EoE Editorial Board members and authors on timely topics of interest. To receive course credit, interns will need to make arrangements in accordance with their home institution’s internship policies.
Criteria and selection: Internship candidates must have completed course work and/or work experience in an environmental field; must have a demonstrated ability to work independently and meet deadlines; must be willing and able to work 8 to 10 hours per week during the course of the internship. Student interns must have regular and reliable internet access.
Candidates can apply by emailing a completed EoE Fall 2009 Internship Application Form found at: http://www.eoearth.org/article/EoE_for_Educators
Interns will be selected by the EoE Editorial Board. Rolling deadlines for Fall 2009 internships are August 31, September 15 and September 30.
Faculty sponsor: Faculty sponsors will submit a recommendation for the intern candidate using the form provided at www.eoearth.org/article/EoE_for_Educators. EoE will work with the appropriate department to provide an intern with course credit. The faculty sponsor may be asked to serve as the on-campus contact or sponsor, as required, to meet the institution’s internship requirements.
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Environmental Business Council/YPE Young Environmental Professionals Boston Harbor Cruise
Thursday, September 10, 2009
6:00 PM - 8:00PM
Please plan for traffic and arrive no later than 5:45 pm
Charles Riverboat Company
200 Seaport Blvd
East Pier- Adjacent to Fish Pier
Boston, MA 02210
Please join EBC YEPs and YPE's network of young professionals and friends for a late summer tour of the Boston Harbor. This annual event is a great opportunity to network with peers and develop valuable business relationships with a diverse community of environmental professionals. Registration will include a drink ticket and light appetizers.
Registration Fees: $35
No-shows will be charged and cancellations must be received 2 business days prior to the event.
Registration will begin at 5:30 pm. Please arrive no later than 5:45 pm.
REGISTER NOW!
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Please send questions, comments and stories to:
CES Newsletter Editor, Kelly Nichols
Thanks!