Courses@Boalt
NOTE: Course offerings change. Classes offered this semester may not be offered in future semesters.272.2 sec. 1 - Environmental Justice (Fall 2013)
Instructor: Michelle Wilde Anderson (view instructor's teaching evaluations | profile)
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Units: 3
Meeting Time: TuTh 2:10-3:25
Meeting Location: 141
Course Start: August 23, 2013
Course Control Number (Non-1Ls): 49663
This course will commence with an introduction to environmental justice as a social movement, including its central substantive concerns (the needs of humans in the built environment rather than the need to protect the environment from humans) and its methods (community-based political organizing rather than professionalized judicial or legislative action). The bulk of the course will then pursue a broader conception of environmental justice today by using social science research, theory, and case studies to investigate three civil rights themes in environmental safety and natural resources. First, we'll cover land safety: toxic exposure and public health disparities stemming from the disproportionate siting of locally-unwanted land uses in neighborhoods of color. Second, the course will consider the use of and access to natural resources and basic services, including clean water, wastewater disposal, and open space. Our third and final theme will be vulnerability to natural disaster: the disproportionate exposure to flooding, mudslides, and other natural harms in high poverty communities due to, inter alia, infrastructure investment, land costs, and housing segregation. Each unit will cover the nature and scope of the problem, major theoretical ideas, and strategies for reform. In addition, each unit will feature a legal reform effort (including community organizing, litigation, and legislative approaches), from a specific place. At least one case study will focus on Native American tribal land.
In the fall 2013, Berkeley Law is also offering a "lab class" called the Environmental Justice Practice Project (also taught by Professor Anderson) that will support and enhance the course Environmental Justice. Environmental Justice is a mandatory course for students wishing to enroll in the EJPP; however, the EJPP is not mandatory for students taking Environmental Justice.
Exam Notes: P
Course Category: Environmental Law
This course is cross-listed in the following categories:
Social Justice and Public Interest
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