Teaching Environmental Sociology at the Dawn of the Third Millennium

• In Event: 125 - Section on Teaching and Learning in Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 03. Teaching in a Changing Environment

Abstract

We seek to introduce major strands of thought and research in environmental sociology, and to provide students with a set of ideas that will be useful as they think about environmental issues in the future, whether they be local, global, or something in between. Our approach is interdisciplinary in substance, drawn primarily from sociology, political science, geography, biology and environmental studies. However, the theoretical perspective used to frame the empirical data is distinctly sociological.
We focus on environmental problems associated with industrial society, and particularly in the post World War II era. With increases in the size and concentration of populations, economies of scale, advanced technological capabilities, elaborate divisions of labor and widely skewed access to resources and wealth, there also have arisen large ecological imbalances which, in turn, have manifested in myriad ways. These include air and water pollution, deforestation, global climate change, and rises in environment-based diseases in plant, animal and human life.
This leads us to one of the wicked problems of modernity itself: we have the ability now, and perhaps even the propensity, to create problems beyond our ability to address them in sustainable ways.
In spite of this frustrating predicament, we also examine possible approaches to solutions stemming from major institutions and local communities, as well as individual lifestyle changes that can bring us closer in line with the natural environment. Because we examine such a diverse set of institutions, the interdisciplinary nature of environmental problems and solutions takes center stage.

Authors

• Thomas J. Burns, University of Oklahoma

• Beth Schaefer Caniglia, Regis University