ANTH 410A | ENVIR 410A | ESRM 405A

GROWING STUFF
Ecology, Economy, and Politics of Resource-Extraction Ecosystems

Spring Quarter 2017
Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30-11:20, Denny 212
Field trips all day Fridays April 14, May 12, and May 26

Home Page
Requirements
Course Schedule
Discussion Board
Email the Class

READINGS
Introduction
Forest General
Forest Local
Forest Post-Trip
Aquaculture Ecology
Aquaculture Politics
Aquaculture Local
Dairy General
Dairy Local
Dairy Post-Trip

FIELD TRIPS
Forest Products
Aquaculture
Dairy

ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS Forest Products
Shellfish
Dairy

Schedule for Week 10: Dairy Post-Mortem and Class Wrapup

Tuesday, May 30: Dairy trip reflections

Our first thing will be our slide show. Please email your best pictures to Annie and Emily, who are compiling the slide show by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, May 29.

Dairy Reflections
By midnight on Monday, May 30, please post 300-500 words on what you learned from the dairy trip. You may wish to touch on some or all of the following questions:
  • What surprised you about the dairy trip?
  • Having seen how dairies operate in different ways, what does that teach you about environmental philosophies, animal husbandry philosophies, or business philosophies applied to resource production and extraction?
  • How much of a part should milk products play in our food system?
  • What are the implications, economic and ecological, of the gradual shift from dairies to field crops in Whatcom County?
In class, we will
  • Look at a slide show
  • Discuss a series of points that emerge from the field trip posts
  • Take any questions on the essay assignments, if necessary
  • Thursday, June 1: Class wrap-up

    Your final post, due before midnight on Wednesday, June 1, can be as long or as short as you like, but it should reflect on more general issues, including perhaps some of the following:
    • How do the three units of the class fit together?
    • What general principles have you been able to extract, formulate, modify, or refine from the materials in this class?
    • What are the advantages and disadvantages of an approach based on reading, writing, and field trips?
    In class, we will return to the issues of sustainability, resilience, scale and tradeoffs with which we began the class.