The global demand for food and fiber will continue to increase well into the next century. How will this food and fiber be produced? Will production be at the cost of soil loss, water contamination, pesticide poisoning, and increasing rural poverty? In this course, we examine the fundamental principles and practices of conventional and sustainable agriculture with a primary focus on crops. By examining farm case studies and current research on conventional and alternative agriculture we develop a set of economic, social, and ecological criteria for a critique of current agricultural practices in the United States and that will serve as the foundation for the development and analysis of new farming systems. Evaluations are based on two exams, class presentations, participation in a conference on potato production, and a final paper. Level: Intermediate. Prerequisites: Signature of the instructor or one of the following: Biology I, Plant Biology, Ecology, or Economics. Class limit: 13. Lab fee: $25. *ES*

Suzanne R. Morse

This is the first half of a 20-week, two-term introductory course in biology, providing an overview of the discipline and prerequisite for many intermediate and advanced biology courses. The course provides an integrative view of the attributes of plants and animals, including cell biology, physiology, reproduction, genetics and evolution, growth and differentiation, anatomy, behavior, and environmental interactions. Weekly laboratory sessions or field trips augment material covered in lecture and discussion. Attendance at three lectures and one lab each week is required; course evaluation is based on quality of class participation, exams, problem sets, preparation of a lab notebook, and a written term paper. Level: Introductory. Prerequisites: College-level algebra (by course, assessment,) or Signature of instructors, chemistry helpful. Offered every other year. Lab fee: $25. *ES*

Helen Hess
Suzanne R. Morse
Stephen Ressel
Sean Todd

This class offers a good foundation of knowledge for a gardener to begin the process of organic gardening, as well as an understanding of what defines organic gardening. The information presented focuses on soil fertility and stewardship, the ecology of garden plants, soil and insects, and practical management of the above. The garden is presented as a system of dynamic interactions. Emphasis is given to vegetable crops and soil fertility. Laboratories include soil analysis, tree pruning, seedling establishment, weed and insect identification, garden design, covercropping, composting, and reclamation of comfrey infested area. Evaluations are based on participation in class and lab, written class work, exam, and final individual garden design. Level: Introductory. Pre-requisite: Signature of Instructor. Class limit: 20. Lab fee: $25. *ES*

Suzanne R. Morse

Billions of years ago, ancient water molecules traversed a Goldilocks-like walk through our slowly condensing solar system, looking for a home. Mercury and Venus were much too hot. Mars and the outer planets were much too cold. Earth seemed 'just right.' With conditions capable of sustaining all of water's phases, Earth became the 'water planet.' The solid surface of the earth became sculpted by water. The composition and temperature of the earth's atmosphere became largely determined by its water. All life (that we know) came to be based upon water. It is within the water of its cells that the machinery of life grinds away and it is into water that life disposes of what it finds un-useful. Many life-forms live their entire existence bathed in water as we are bathed in air, and even we who live surrounded by air require more water every day than any other foodstuff. As such, it is appropriate to look at how our water is doing these days. Students will be evaluated on their participation in class discussion of the readings, problem sets, and participation in field studies of focused on monitoring and modeling the conditions of local waters. Level: Intermediate. Lab fee: $50. *ES*

Don Cass

This course is designed to introduce students to the basic concepts of chemistry in the context of food. After a brief introduction to biochemistry (why we eat), the course will work through different foods, roughly in the order that humans are thought to have exploited them. Topics will include their history, cultural significance & how their molecular structure can explain how different methods of preparation affect their nutritional and aesthetic characteristics. Each class will be based around kitchen experiments that illustrate chemical concepts. Evaluation will be based on a midterm take-home problem set and each student’s compilation of a cook-book of recipes for 15 different food types, each of which includes a discussion of how the recipe reflects the chemical principles discussed in the class. Main text: McGee’s On Food & Cooking Level: Introductory. Class limit: 15. Lab fee: $50. *ES*

Don Cass

The aim of the course is to use wheat, oats and rye as a lens to explore how a wide range of factors including history, changing land use patterns, crop development, human nutrition, food processing, sensory evaluation, and socio-economic factors shape how grains are grown, harvested and ultimately transformed into our daily bread. This field-based course seeks to provide students with deep insights into the past and current production of grains in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. Extensive readings will complement the summer fieldwork at farms, mills, bakeries and research sites in Europe, and will provide students with the agronomic background necessary for a historical view of grain production and the possibility of localized grain within the current global economy. Students will lead discussions, interview farmers, write short synthetic essays, and undertake a research project designed together with the class. By the end of the course students should be able to: Evaluate the importance of wheat and other temperate grains to the feeding of human populations in past, present and future contexts; Review current and traditional methods of evaluation of food quality and grain processing (bread production in particular) and relate these to modern nutritional problems; Describe the growth cycle of wheat in general terms and relate the production cycle to current issues of sustainability including greenhouse gas emissions, carbon sequestration, energy requirements, and soil conservation; and Compare and contrast the socio-economic importance of wheat to Maine, Germany and the UK. Level: Intermediate. Prerequisites: Formal application, Signature of the instructor, Introductory German highly desirable, any of the following courses: Theory and Practice of Organic Gardening, Chemistry of Cooking, The Contemporary Culture of Maine Organic Farmers, Agroecology. *ES*

Suzanne R. Morse

This course will cover the politics and policy of regional and global environmental issues, including many of the major environmental treaties that have been negotiated to date (Montreal Protocol, Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity). Students will gain both practical and theoretical understandings of how treaties are negotiated and implemented, through case studies of the climate change convention and the Cartagena protocol on biosafety. We will draw on both mainstream and critical theories of international relations when analyzing these negotiations. Students will become familiar with the range of political stances on different treaties of various nations and blocs, and the political, economic, cultural, and scientific reasons for diverging and converging views. We will pay special attention to the growing role played by non-governmental organizations in global environmental politics. We will conclude the course with discussions of some current controversial areas in international environmental politics. Level: Intermediate. Class limit: 15. Lab Fee $10.00 *HS*

Doreen Stabinsky

How does organic farming fit into American culture? Who are the people who do it? How did they learn what they need to know? Are they different in any significant way from other Americans? If so, on what is that difference based? What role does culture play in the ecosystems of organic farms? In this course we explore the relationship between culture and ecosystem through field experience. Though the culture of the USA has many shared elements, it also contains distinctive elements, some of which are based on the subsistence activities of sub-cultural groups. We hypothesize that particular subsistence activities and the other ecosystem elements in which those activities take place may make specific demands on the sub-culture in the realm of values, ideology, social organization, kinship and marriage, language, technology, and so on. While most Americans don*t earn their livings from natural resources, there is a growing concern with health of natural systems. And those who do make their livings from natural resouces may possess knowledge and perspectives about nature which are neither understood nor appreciated by the general populace. The assumption is made that many students have not been exposed to the sub-culture of organic farmers, and so these must be contacted in person, a relationship established, questions asked, answers recorded. This entails preparation for field-work - understanding of the basic concepts of culture, enculturation, ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, and some elements of interviewing. Further, many of the ideas, both philosophical and practical, which may seem commonplace to many organic growers will be new to us, and so will be explored in the reading and class discussions. Field trips are organized to meet people with whom the instructor has already established a rapport.. Each interview entails a full class session of preparation which is followed on alternate class days by a field trip.

Elmer Beal

In this course students will gain practical experience and skills to prepare them to work in advocacy positions for environmental and/or social justice organizations. Through project-based work, we will pay attention to developing such skills as: interacting with the media; interpreting technical information and report writing; lobbying and other political work; grant-writing and other types of fundraising; and non-profit administration and management, including strategic planning, program development, board management, and non-profit legal issues. Student interest will determine the exact topics covered over the term. To begin, we will survey models of organizational structure, from small grassroots, single-issue groups, to large, international, multi-issue organizations. We will also survey various modes of operation, critically analyzing different strategies, tactics, and types of activist/advocacy campaigns, including: non-violent direct action, student organizing campaigns, consumer boycotts, legislative campaigns, and voter initiatives. Local professionals will join us throughout the course to provide expert input on various topics, and to inform students about the types of jobs available in environmental advocacy and the range of skills needed for each. There will be a large emphasis placed on hands-on work on student-defined projects. Students will be evaluated based on class participation as well as completion of course projects. Level: Introductory. Lab fee: $30. *HS* Class limit 15.

Doreen Stabinsky

Joseph Schumpeter in 1942 used the phrase "creative destruction" to describe the process by which capitalism creates vibrant economic growth and new technologies and modes of production, but in doing so destroys organizations and relationships linked to older technologies and modes of production, often with adverse effects on individuals and communities. Many observers feel that Schumpeter's description is even more appropriate today, as information technologies and the long arm of multinational capitalism create vast new potential for economic growth and improvement in living standards, while rapidly altering social and environmental relationships, marginalizing those communities unable or unwilling to adapt, and exacerbating existing inequalities. This course gives the student currency in the dynamic issues surrounding 21st Century capitalist economies (including "advanced," developing, and robber/crony capitalisms) using an institutionalist approach; as such, the course focuses more on using a variety of approaches to understanding economic phenomena, and less on imparting the standard body of neoclassical theory (although the latter will be used where appropriate). Fundamental capitalistic structures and processes are examined and contrasted with traditional and command economies. Major attention is given to the role of multinational corporations in the global economy. Other topics include technology, stock markets and investing, money and central banks such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, business cycles, unemployment and inflation, trade and currency issues, consumerism and the nature of work, and whatever other topics students collectively wish to explore. Student evaluation is via multiple diagnostic tools, possibly including quizzes, reading questions, a current event portfolio, written book reviews or issue analysis, and oral exams. Level: Introductory. Lab fee:$20. *HS*

Davis F. Taylor

This course explores the rich history of Guatemala through the lens of two vital products, corn and coffee.  The crops provide insight into the global and local dimensions of both historical and contemporary reality there.  The course will cover the history of Guatemala from pre-contact native society through the myriad changes wrought by colonialism, decolonization, the rise of the modern nation state, and the transformations associated with the rise of coffee as a major export crop.  Corn and coffee provide a convenient vantage point from which to examine the social, economic, and cultural dynamics of native society on the one hand and the globally- connected production of coffee on the other.  The course moves from a broad macro perspective on each crop to an intensive exploration of how both are produced in Guatemala.  In this way, class participants will be able to look at how global historical trends in consumption have played themselves out in local communities.  The class will simultaneously be able to look at the processes at work in pueblos throughout Guatemala that root the corn economy into rich cultural and social dynamics that are at the core of communal life.  Using these two crops as a starting point, the class will allow students to develop a holistic and synthetic understanding how Guatemalans live their everyday lives embedded in intensely local realities even as they experience much larger national and international processes.  The course emphasizes attention to the broad global dimensions of corn and coffee's production as well as the fine-grained study of Guatemala's socio-cultural life in historical and anthropological perspective. Through discussions of the books, this seminar-style course seeks to provide students with deep insights into the history of Guatemala while maintaining a sense of the global and regional context.  Intensive readings will provide students with a snapshot of trends in both history and ethnography while broader synthetic analyses of both corn and coffee will embody more popular approaches to the topic.  Students will lead discussions of the readings, write short synthetic essays, and undertake a research project for the class.

Level: Advanced.   Prerequisites: Signature of the instructor, Any of the following courses: Native Empires to Nation States; Articulated Identities; American Worlds.  Class Limit 12. Lab fee $30. *HS* *HY*

Todd Little-Siebold

Apparently grave environmental and resource challenges, growing human population, astoundingly disparate global consumption levels, uncertain prospects for technological change, and a host of other issues increasingly give rise to questions regarding "sustainability." Yet despite its evident centrality to the future of humanity (not to mention non-human species), the meaning, application, and achievement of "sustainability" seems elusive. This course explores definitions, dimensions, movements toward, and prospects for achieving sustainability. We will start by examining the many, often conflicting, paradigms, conceptions, and definitions of sustainability, along with supporting concepts such as entropy, carrying capacity, natural capital, precautionary principles and ecological footprint. We will then review the status of interrelated physical, environmental, demographic, social, economic, and psychological dimensions of sustainability, including, energy, agriculture, fisheries, forests, fresh water, biodiversity, climate change, human population, industry, economic growth and globalization, consumption, and justice/equity. The latter half of the course will focus on responses to sustainability issues at the international, national, and local levels, including international cooperation, conservation, addressing consumption, emerging technologies (renewable energies, dematerialization, bioremediation, etc.), closed-loop design ("waste equals food"), localization (of food systems, economies, etc.), "green" business, and other responses identified by students. Locally-available site visits and/or guest speakers will be utilized as much as possible. The course will place an emphasis on critical thinking (evidence, clarity, accuracy, precision, assumptions, relevance, point of view, depth, logic, and fallacy). Evaluation will be based on classroom participation, responses to reading questions, and an individual final project to be presented to the class. HS. Level: I

Davis F. Taylor

This course will cover the process of new venture creation for students interested in creating businesses or non-profits with substantial social and environmental benefit. It is designed for student teams who have an idea and want to go through the formal process of examining and launching the enterprise. Topics covered in this course will include: opportunity recognition, market research, creating a business plan, producing financial projections and venture financing. As part of the course, all students will submit their ideas to the Social Innovation Competition. In addition, students will make a formal business plan presentation. Level: Intermediate/Advanced. Signature of instructor. Class limit: 12.

Jay Friedlander

Economic growth in the developing world has lifted millions out of poverty at the same time that misguided attempts at widespread application of generic economic development theories has impoverished millions. As a result of this tragedy, new approaches and methodologies to economic development are emerging, and represent some of the most important, dynamic, and controversial theories in all of economics. This course examines these new perspectives on economic development. We will briefly contextualize the new by reviewing "old" economic development, then move on to theories that emphasize very place-based, country-specific approaches to how economies develop; this will involve examining the specific roles of capital accumulation, capital flows (including foreign exchange, portfolio capital, foreign direct investment, and microfinance), human capital, governance, institutions (especially property rights, legal systems, and corruption), geography and natural resource endowments, industrial policy (e.g. free trade versus dirigiste policies), and spillovers, clustering, and entrepreneurship. The course will involve a rigorous mix of economic modeling, careful application of empirical data (including both historical analysis and cross-sectional studies; students with no exposure to econometrics will receive a brief introduction) and country studies. Evaluation will be based on classroom participation, responses to reading questions, short essays, and a final project consisting of an economic development country study of the student's choice that demonstrates application of theoretical concepts to the real world. Level: Intermediate/ Advanced; Prerequisites: One economics course, signature of signature. *HS*

Davis F. Taylor

The internet continues to revolutionize our society and economy, creating new opportunities for people around the globe. In both for-profit and non-profit sectors, the internet has leveled the playing field, allowing small organizations to reach previously inaccessible markets. Viral marketing, geo-targeting, adwords are a few of them many strategies that these organizations are using to build awareness of their cause or products and services. The course will engage in an emarketing project to promote a new book "our daily tread" that benefits Safe Passage. Safe Passage is a Maine based non-profit which provides education for children who scavenge garbage dumps to provide income to their families. We will seek to boost book awareness and sales. Level: Advanced. Pre-requisites: A business course. Lab fee: $50. Class limit: 20. *HS*

Jay Friedlander

This course will examine food systems and efforts to make them more sustainable by increasing their health, environmental and social impacts. Students will be introduced to different approaches to food system reform including voluntary corporate social responsibility; rights-based approaches; boycotts and other resistance strategies; and building alternatives such as food coops, farmers? markets and community-supported agriculture (CSAs). They will also study several different methodologies for understanding the full impacts of food systems (life-cycle analysis, ecological and social footprinting, contextual analysis, social return on investment, indicator reports). Students will work in teams to investigate a reform strategy that especially interests them, applying an analytical frame and critiquing its usefulness. The course will include at least one Saturday field trip to visit sites that are implementing food system reforms.

Level: Intermediate. Class limit 20. Lab fee $20. *HS*

Molly Anderson