Courses taught by Jennie C. Stephens
Environmental Science and Policy
International Development, Community, and Environment
Clark University
EN 101 Sustainability Science: Environment, Society, and Technology (undergraduate only)
Sustainability science, an emerging field focused on the dynamic interactions between nature and society, is defined by the urgent problems it addresses rather than the disciplines it employs. Urgency for the societal need to promote a sustainability transition is increasing as risks associated with climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, and other types of environmental degradation are increasingly threatening human well-being and disrupting the earth’s systems. Despite this urgency, the complexity and varying scales of the interconnected human-environment systems are preventing society from implementing social change to effectively confront these problems and transition toward sustainability. This transdisciplinary science course examines this complexity by focusing on scientific and societal linkages among environmental science, technological development, and attempts to reduce environmental impacts. Among the interconnected problems to be examined are: (1) climate change, energy, and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, (2) agriculture, food production, land-use decisions, and human alteration of the nitrogen cycle, and (3) growing disruptions in the hydrologic cycle resulting in increasingly daunting challenges of water resource management. This is a required course for all Environmental Science majors and minors.
Offered every year / Spring Semester
EN 103 The Sustainable University (undergraduate only)
Institutions of higher learning, through both their curriculum and their management and operations, have a unique institutional capacity to educate and demonstrate environmental responsibility in their communities. This course will explore the environmental challenges facing society by focusing in on the college campus and the evolving movement of campus sustainability. Students will contribute to ongoing projects at Clark, including developing and maintaining a campus greenhouse gas inventory, while also engaging in new efforts to promote sustainable practices and sustainable education at Clark and in the surrounding Worcester community. Topic areas to be investigated include climate change and energy (energy conservation and renewable energy), recycling, composting, green buildings, environmentally friendly purchasing policies, and more. This seminar is open to both beginning and advanced students and will involve both individual and group projects.
Offered every year / Fall Semester
IDCE 30205/EN 207 Climate Change, Energy, and Development
(graduate-level course, advanced undergraduates with permission only)
Human burning of fossil fuels for electricity generation, transportation, and heating is changing the earth’s climate by changing the composition of the atmosphere. As demand for energy increases in both developing and developed countries and the risks associated with climate change are becoming more evident, the challenges of confronting climate change are mounting and a societal sense of urgency is growing. This course explores the evolving science of climate change, the uneven distribution of climate change impacts throughout the world, the challenges of integrating science into effective policy, technologies and policies for climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation, and the associated conflicts between developed and developing countries. In addition to a global focus, national, regional and local aspects of climate change, energy, and development will be explored.
Offered every year (offered next spring 2009)
IDCE 30226/EN 266: Energy and Social Change Research Seminar
(graduate-level course, advanced undergraduates with permission only)
This research seminar is designed to support independent student research examining challenges, opportunities and approaches for facilitating a social and technological transition toward climate change mitigation. The course content will vary with the interests of the participants, but the course is designed for students interested in developing their own research projects on either social or technical dimensions of energy generation and use, including: renewable energy technology, electricity production and distribution, energy efficiency and conservation, new consumption patterns, new policy alternatives and technological innovation. The course will encourage students to focus on the most recent literature; current technological advances; grass roots and policy initiatives; case studies and small scale experiments with new technologies, products and services; social movements; and new and emerging policies and institutions on the scales ranging from local to regional, national and international.
Offered every year (alternating between Professor Stephens and Professor Brown)