Meets the following requirements: HS   

Rural areas and small towns are facing many challenges at the outset of the 21st Century. Local traditional employment opportunities are vanishing as corporations become more efficient and/or seek to move operations to low-wage developing countries. Natural resource bases are increasingly over-exploited, while mechanization leaves fewer jobs in the forests, farms, and fisheries. Meanwhile, changing communication and transportation technologies permit increasing numbers of new residents to live in rural areas and small towns, bringing needed income but threatening traditional values and gradually altering community social structure; the exponential growth of tourism only exacerbates this issue. At the same time, "new agrarianists," grass-roots community organizers, nonprofit organizations, and small businesses are seeking and finding innovative ways to protect their local economies and natural resource bases; they are challenging old assumptions and partnering in new ways to preserve local culture and a sense of place. This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the ideas, theories, and practices of two interrelated themes: the issues and challenges facing rural areas and small and medium sized communities (and to a significant extent, urban inner cities), and the concepts and practices of local sustainability. We will become familiar with and use models of community sustainability in order to assess the interrelated nature of environmental, economic, socio-cultural change and their impacts on residents. We will assess forces such as technological change, globalization, and consumerism. We will see how emerging trends such as community activism (e.g. local currencies), farms and "the new agrarianism," and new forms of organization such as community corporations and hybrid nonprofits, can be used to foster sustainable communities. Readings will be from a wide variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary sources; there will be several guest speakers and field trips; evaluation will be via reading questions, classroom and field trip participation, and an applied final project and presentation.

Level:  Introductory/Intermediate. *HS*. Lab fee: $20