Course

Course Summary
Credit Type:
Course
ACE ID:
SAYA-0004
Organization's ID:
ENVS203
Organization:
Saylor Academy
Location:
Classroom-based
Length:
93 hours
Dates Offered:
Credit Recommendation & Competencies
Level Credits (SH) Subject
Lower-Division Baccalaureate 3 Environmental Studies or Philosophy
Description

Objective:

The course objective is to introduce students to the concept of environmental ethics - a philosophy that extends the ethical concepts traditionally applied to human behavior to address the entire natural world. This course outlines the history of environmental ethic and environmental justice, and explores how our views about the natural world have changed over time. The course concludes with a look at the major environmental laws that support the environmental movement and how ethics and morals help to shape environmental regulations.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Define environmental ethics and describe the key concepts on which it is based
  • List the main environmental ethics approaches and viewpoints
  • Identify important pioneers in the environmental ethics movement
  • Discuss environmental justice and explain why certain social groups are at greater risk of experiencing the effects of environmental injustice
  • Relate concepts in environmental ethics to various religious teachings and beliefs throughout the world
  • Explain how moral attitudes towards the natural world have changed over time
  • Identify key events in the history of the environmental ethics movement
  • Identify and evaluate the major environmental laws passed throughout the world, in particular those implemented in the United States and the European Union

General Topics:

  • Ethics versus morals
  • Foundations of ethics in Western society
  • Approaches to ethics, metaethics, and normative ethics
  • Anthropocentrism, biocentrism, ecocentrism, deep ecology, and Gaia hypothesis
  • Utilitarian conservation
  • Biocentric preservation
  • Religious views about the environment (Ancient Greek, Indigenous, Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh)
  • History of the modern environmental movement
  • 1970s-era environmental movement and Earth Day
  • Early pioneers and agencies (John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, Aldo Leopold, and Rachel Carson
  • Sierra Club
  • Reclamation Act (1902)
  • National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and the EPA)
  • Environmental justice
  • Environmental prejudice and injustice
  • Environmental rights, human rights, and environmental rights litigation
  • Timeline of environmental laws
  • National Environmental Policy Act (1969), Clean Air Act (1970), Clean Water Act (1972), and Endangered Species Act (1973)
  • Environmental laws of the European Union
Instruction & Assessment

Instructional Strategies:

  • Audio Visual Materials
  • Case Studies
  • Computer Based Training
  • Discussion
  • Lectures

Methods of Assessment:

  • Examinations
  • Quizzes

Minimum Passing Score:

70%
Supplemental Materials