This class investigates the religious, ethical and social meanings of environmental justice. It fulfills the Religion, Theology & Culture -2 requirement or the Diversity requirement in the new undergraduate core curriculum. Engineering students can count this toward both core curriculum requirements, but all other students must select which requirement they will fulfill. The course can partially fulfill one the following pathway requirements: Law & Social Justice; Politics & Religion; Public Policy, Race, Place & Social Inequalities; Values in Science & Technology; and Sustainability.
The Catholic Church began in earnest to address our environmental problems in 1990 with Pope John Paul II’s World Day of Peace message. Catholic environmental concern builds upon the Catholic vision for society and its relationship with creation. Another set of conceptual resources can be found in the Catholic imagination, the Catholic worldview that perceives creation and humanity to be enchanted with God’s presence and activity, and filled with God’s grace by the celebration of sacraments. This is a vision of all creation charged with the potential of grace, and therefore being religiously and morally significant. Concurrently, the term “environmental justice” was created by citizen activists who recognized the disproportionate burden of pollution imposed upon poor communities of color. The EJ movement arose to redress the broader social paradigm which imposes resource degradation and pollution on these politically marginalized communities.
This course will use California’s Great Central Valley as a geographic case study, including the on-going environmental justice initiative by the Catholic Diocese of Stockton. This region is the most fertile piece of land on earth, yielding an unparalleled abundance of food, but it is undergoing profound environmental change. Projections indicate its population will double in the next thirty years. More people mean more homes, more cars, more highways, but also more paved-over farmland, more air pollution, and more competition for limited resources such as water. The Central Valley is now the most ethnically diverse, fastest growing, poorest and most polluted region of California. We will use source materials about this region for our class case studies.
As a result of this class, students will be able to address the following RTC-2 learning objectives:
- Analyze complex and diverse religious phenomena. The complex phenomena are the religious responses to environmental crises. This is complex because a range of different approaches have developed within Christianity generally and within Catholicism specifically.
- Integrate and compare several different disciplinary approaches to a coherent set of religious phenomena. The different disciplinary approaches are Catholic social teaching, theology of Catholic sacramental imagination, and the social movement literature (drawing from sociology and political science). Thus, this course integrates and compares theology, social ethics, and social movement disciplines. The coherent religious phenomena are Catholic social engagement with environmental justice issues.
- Clarify and express beliefs in light of their critical inquiry into the religious dimensions of human existence. The initial reflection, alternative autobiography, and final take home reflection essays prompt students to articulate their own beliefs about nature, but also about a world of injustice and privilege.
As a result of this class, students will be able to address the following diversity learning objectives:
- Describe examples of diverse human experiences, identities, and cultures in the United States. Student work will describe one or two communities that are profoundly different than Santa Clara.
- Identify and discuss paradigms that lead to inequity and injustice. The portfolio requires students to describe a situation of injustice, but also to analyze the off-site institutions of power that foster and perpetuate injustice.
- Examine diversity as constituted through intersections of social categories such as race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, age, language, citizenship, religion, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, and so on. Social movement activists created the concept of environmental justice to address structural patterns of injustice across social groups. This class will explore the role of difference in all these categories, and ask students to reflect on the differences between their own privileges (such as they are) and those of the communities we study.
- Analyze differences in power and privilege related to race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, age, language, citizenship, religion, class, sexual orientation, or physical ability. Assignments ask students to consider how their life’s journey might have been different if their social circumstances had been different, and to imagine what they might do were they in the social circumstances of others. The purpose of these assignments is to cultivate empathy, and to ask students to rehearse for the possibility of life-long engagement with justice issues.
Student Assessment and Grading
This class investigates the religious, ethical and social meanings of environmental justice. It will fulfill the Religion, Theology & Culture -2 requirement and the Diversity requirement in the new undergraduate core curriculum. Most assignments have been designed to simultaneously address both sets of learning objectives, as the following table indicates. Below the table, find a basic explanation of assignments – more information on the Camino Webpage!
| Week due | %
age | Assignment name | RTC
LOs | Diversity LOs |
| 2c | 5 | Quiz on course keywords and concepts | 1 | 1 |
| 4a | 10 | Portfolio I: community profile | 2 | 1,3 |
| 5b | 10 | Portfolio II: using a Catholic social teaching principle | 2 | 2 |
| 6b | 10 | Portfolio III: fictional alternative autobiography | 3 | 4 |
| 7b | 10 | Portfolio IV: imagining environmental justice | 2 | 1,4 |
| 8b | 10 | Portfolio V: Catholic oped on environmental justice | 2 | 1,2,3 |
| 10b | 5 | Imovie script (drawn from oped) | 1,2 | 1,2,3 |
| 10b | 20 | Imovie about EJ in the Catholic imagination | 1,2 | 3 |
| finals | 15 | Final take home reflective essay | 3 | 3,4 |
| 5 | Class participation (which depends upon attendance) |
Student performance
The evaluation of student performance will be based on the following assignments.
- Quiz on foundational course keywords and concepts. This will require you to define keywords and concepts, drawing from the specified course readings and the instructions on the Camino webpage.
- Create a portfolio, using case study materials about a community affected by environmental injustice in the Central Valley, such as those described by the Invisible-5 (https://www.invisible5.org/). Note that this community MUST be in the Central Valley, but cannot be one of those profiled by the Invisible-5. This portfolio is a five part assignment. You are welcome to look up more information about this community on the world wide web, especially the links provided by your instructor. Beware that there is a lot of contested information about environmental justice on the web, and some of it is biased. You will be given instructions for reporting your assessment of the reliability and validity of the information that you obtain from sources beyond this syllabus.
- Part I. Write up a short community profile of a place in the Central Valley; explain how it suffers from “environmental injustice”; and describe how social institutions outside that community exercise power that results in a situation of injustice. Be sure you use LexisNexus! Three pages.
- Part II. Write a second short essay that explains how you or someone could use a Catholic social teaching principle for moral reasoning to critique the specific instance of environmental injustice, as well as the patterns of thought and behavior (paradigms) that give rise to inequity and injustice in the community profiled above. Two pages.
- Part III. Write a short fictional alternative autobiography that describes how your life might have unfolded had you been born into one of the case study communities in the Central Valley. You might think of this as conducting a comparison of several snapshots, from your imaginary and actual life. Use this essay to explore and interpret a similarity and difference between your own story and that of a marginalized Central Valley community. Three pages.
- Part IV. Write a short fictional narrative that conveys how you imagine environmental justice might be promoted, informed by a Catholic imagination, if you were a member of such a Central Valley community. This should demonstrate and apply the analysis begun in parts I and II to answer the following: how might you work with others to use the conceptual resources from the Catholic imagination to foster environmental justice? This extends the consideration of your imaginary life, had your life circumstances been different. This essay should help your audience capture the flavor of how the Catholic imagination is performed, per Greeley and Groome. Two pages.
- Part V. Write an opinion – editorial essay about the meaning of environmental justice in the Central Valley that draws on principles from the Catholic social justice tradition to appeal to a Catholic audience. An oped is a particular kind of succinct, persuasive essay. You should explain what environmental in/justice means, define a specific EJ issue as a moral problem, and argue for one element of a solution. Imagine this were to be published in a Catholic newspaper or on a Catholic webpage. You will have an opportunity to submit a revised version. 750 words
- Create an imovie that conveys a dimension of the Catholic imagination to foster environmental justice in the Central Valley. Use one of the three perspectives: the elements (earth, air, fire or water), the sacraments, virtue, or Catholic social teaching principle. This will draw from the portfolio, but should use visual resources (rather than merely describing sacramentality, show your audience what it looks like!). You will adapt the oped and turn it in an imovie script . This should have the flavor of a poetic essay, using your imagination to present moral possibilities, a better future for the people and place of this region. Due week 10b.
- A take home, integrative final essay. This essay should answer the following question: “how could you best use the conceptual resources from the Catholic imagination to foster environmental justice, in the Central Valley or elsewhere, through your own vocation?” Be sure to address the issue of your privileged position, however you understand this at this time. Due by email during finals week; 4 pages.
Required course texts
- Cole, Luke W. and Foster, Sheila R., 2001. From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement. NYU Press, New York.
- Koenig-Bricker, Woodeene, 2009. Ten Commandments for the Environment: Pope Benedict XVI Speaks For Creation and Justice. Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame.
- A very large course reader from Copycraft, which you must bring EVERY DAY
Course schedule TESP 64 Fall 2011. Bulleted readings are from Copycraft reader
1a. Introduction. Cesar Chavez as an example of EJ in the CI 1b. September 21. What is EJ in the CI? Warner, K.D. 2010. Justice, Education & the Catholic Imagination. Santa Clara Magazine.
- Warner, K. D., OFM, Clause, L. and Maurano, S., 2007. Poverty and Environmental Justice in California’s Great Central Valley. In: M. Mutzner and A. Aula (Editors), World Poverty: Franciscan Reflections. Geneva, Franciscans International.
1b. The Catholic imagination Cole & Foster: preface, introduction
- Groome. 2002. What Makes Us Catholic. 3-Taking A Sacramental View. HarperOne. Introduction: pages 1-20.
2a. Where did EJ come from? Cole & Foster: 1 Koenig-Bricker: pages 1-25.
2b. What is sacramental about imagination? Koenig-Bricker: pages 28-39
- Greeley, A., 2000. The Catholic Imagination. University of California Press. Chapter 1
2c. Quiz; Invisible-5 https://www.invisible5.org/
3a. What happens in the Other California?
- Haslam, G. 1993. The Other California: The Great Central Valley In Life And Letters. University of California Press. Pages 13-28.
- Hanson, V.D. 2010. Two Californias. National Review. Pages 1-4.
3b. The common good in the Catholic imagination Cole & Foster: 4 Koenig-Bricker: pages 52-62.
3c. Why justice?
- Groome. 2002. What Makes Us Catholic. 7-Working for Justice For All. HarperOne. Pages 211-233.
4a. Why should Catholics care about the environment?
- Pope John Paul II, 1990. The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility (The World Day of Peace Message)
4b. What is religious environmentalism?
- Miller-Travis, V., 2000. Social Transformation through Environmental Justice. In: D. Hessel and R.R. Reuther (Editors), Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well- being of Earth and Humans. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
4c. What is a sacramental worldview?
- National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Renewing the Earth: An Invitation to Reflection and Action on Environment in Light of Catholic Social Teaching. Washington DC: USCC, 1992.
5a. What is environmental racism? Cole & Foster: 3
5b. Why is water an EJ issue?
- Gibler, John. 2010. The Billionaire Couple Who Took Over California’s Water Supply. Earth Island Journal.
- Gibler, J., 2005. Not a drop to drink. Terrain, winter: 18-22.
5c. Reading:
- Skylstad, W.S., 2003. Waters of Life. America. November 24. 13-15.
- The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common Good. An International Pastoral Letter by the Catholic Bishops of the Watershed Region. 2001.Washington Catholic Conference, Seattle.
6a. Why is the delta important?
- Dealing with the Delta: Envisioning Futures, Finding Solutions. 2007. Research Brief, Public Policy Institute of California, Issue #114. 8 pp.
6b. How do Catholic communities imagine EJ? Koenig-Bricker pages 102-112.
- Burton-Christie, D., 2003. The Spirit of Place: The Columbia River Watershed Letter and the Meaning of Community. Horizons: The Journal of the College Theology Society, 30(1): 7-24.
6c. Agency: how humans promote justice Cole & Foster, 7
- Warner, K.D., OFM, 2008. The Greening of American Catholicism: Identity, Conversion and Continuity. Religion and American Culture, 18(1): 113-142.
7a. Why do people use pesticides?
- Martin, P.L. and Taylor, J.E., 2000. For California farmworkers, future holds little prospect for change. California Agriculture, 54(1): 19-26.
7b. Why is pesticide drift an EJ issue?
- Harrison, J., 2004. Invisible People, Invisible Places: Connecting Air Pollution and Pesticide Drift in California. In: M. Dupuis (Editor), Smoke and Mirrors: The Politics and Culture of Air Pollution. NYU Press, New York.
7c. How can we exercise our moral imagination? 8a. November 7. WE MEET IMOVIE LAB!
8b. Can science be used to foster justice? Koenig-Bricker, pages 66-74 and 90-98
8c. Why is St Francis the patron saint of environmental education?
- Warner, Keith Douglass, OFM. 2011. “Retrieving St. Francis: Tradition and Innovation for Our Ecological Vocation.” In Green Discipleship, edited by Tobias Winright. Winona, Minnesota: Anselm Academic. 114-128.
9a. Catholic climate justice
- Pope Benedict XVI. 2010. If You Want To Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation
9b. What is environmental virtue? Koenig-Bricker, pages 126-132
9c. Putting Catholic social teaching to work through the St. Francis Pledge
10a. Reading: Koenig-Bricker, pages 136-140
10b. Imovie Sessions
10c. Take home final due by email.
This syllabus pertains to when the course was offered in 2011