Are you interested in learning about the legacy of community industrial environmental hazards? Are you interested in learning about how the government addresses the concerns related to impacts on human health and the environment? This class will focus on addressing these questions and related questions that you may have about regulated environmental activities in your community.
During this winter ‘24 offering, we will study community industrial environmental hazards. Here hazards refer to situations where there is a potential source of harm or adverse health effects on both community residents and the local ecology. During this class, we will apply an interdisciplinary approach integrating the fields of sociology, public health, environmental history, and environmental policy to investigate land-based environmental hazards in local communities. Student work will include reflective writing on assigned readings, seminar discussions, and the completion of a final project. For the final project, students will apply the knowledge, skills, and abilities developed during this quarter to document and analyze EPA-regulated facilities in a community. By studying this site students will gain a deeper understanding of how industrial hazards are regulated by governmental agencies and the implications such hazards have for public health and environmental quality in local communities. This information will be used to make a policy recommendation for how to improve upon the current situation in a manner that promotes environmental quality, public health, and environmental justice.
Registration
This course is for students accepted into the Tacoma program