Fall 2009
HON 320.V01
If You Do Not See It, You Cannot Fix It
TR 1:40

Mary Ann Drake, Ph. D.
Phone: Office (301-5616) Home (477-4399) e-mail drake_ma@mercer.edu
Home Page: http://faculty.mercer.edu/drake_ma/
Office Hours:
                Policies and Grades          Calendar of Events          Link to Blackboard          

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

                    "It is a crisis in the way we perceive reality and relate to our world."
                                                                                            Patriarch Bartholomew (Holy Ground)

Honors’ students have repeatedly told me they like to come together to discuss, argue, and wonder in ways different from their regular classes. Thus, we will combine a two-prong approach: ridiculous fun and serious environmental change, including reducing human suffering and enhancing human health. The fun part focuses on observation. Without observation and awareness, there is no action or change.

My involvement in the upcoming October 29-31 conference: Our Stewardship of the Earth: Ethical, Religious, and Scientific Responses in a Changing World, means your involvement. Additionally, as individuals or in groups you are to develop a project of your own. We will see what you observe, what speaks to you, what you can be passionate about, and what action will spring from that passion.

TEXTS:  

The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth by E. O. Wilson, ISBN: 978-0-393-33048-9
Geraldine Brooks, People of the Book This is now out in paperback and I do not have the ISBN number.
Mark Maslin, Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction,   ISBN:0-19-284097-5
Pdf files on Blackboard
Internet sites,
The Conference
A digital camera

PREREQUISITES: Enrollment in the Honors' Program

UPON SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THIS COURSE STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO:

Recognize their own honest and accurate observations
Articulate basic issues of sustainability
Participate in an environmental project
Experience putting on a large conference
Develop a project on sustainability
Use multi-media techniques to demonstrate their discoveries and learning.

CLASS REQUIREMENTS:

Discovery Journals: (Shamelessly copied from Dr. Deneen Senasi)

For your Discovery Journal, you will need a journal with heavy-weight paper (like an artist’s sketch book available in craft or office supply stores). You will also need a glue stick to attach various items to the journals’ pages, especially if you prefer typing to more old-fashioned  means of inscription. I encourage you to decorate your Discovery Journal in any way you like. since such creative embellishments, in addition to providing creative outlets, will  literally map out your intellectual and emotional journey through the
course. In this and other ways, the time you spend on your Discovery Journal will help to cement what I hope will be your own emerging awareness of yourself and your place in the environment.

In practical terms, the assignment calls for you to insert questions from our texts, web sites, activities, photo assignments, etc. to the journal and then share them in our class discussion. Remember to cite, to help you revisit thoughts later. I will announce dates on which I will collect and evaluate your Discovery Journals. The final grade for the Discovery Journal will be an average of these evaluations. You MUST bring your Journal to class daily; you need your questions for our discussion, We may want to look at pictures or revisit an issue from  an earlier time.

Everyone must help! Find the tasks you do well and do them. 

Refer to Policies and Grading  for specifics.  I expect you all to do A work. If I see you slipping, I will have a private conference with you.

We will develop the calendar, teams, and tasks as part of the course. 

I or someone will provide regular updates via Facebook, Mercer email or Blackboard to keep everyone informed.  

 

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!