Ecofriendly Activism
Ecofriendly Activism provides students with the wherewithal to calculate and decrease their individual carbon footprints and develop a nuanced understanding of the climate debate.
I developed this course in response to student enthusiasm for the content of Ecotourism & Sustainable Development in Costa Rica, an experiential course I instruct.
Drs. Augusto Macalalag, Prash Naidu, Lauren Howard, and Manny Curotto oversaw the development of the course and worked with me to refine my ideas.
Eco-friendly Activism.docxThe following experiences and sources were used in the development of the course:
January 2010 San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
Worked with Bring It Promotions, LLC to assist in the construction and promotion of “Casa Llanta” (Tire House), an off-grid sustainable Earthship located in a subsistence farming community 5km outside of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. Assisted with solar panel cooker demonstrations for women of the community. Developed two websites for the owners of Casa Llanta featuring/promoting the property, the Earthship Pitaya Festival, and El Carrizal, the surrounding community.
October 2016 - Present Montgomery County
Freelance correspondent for Montgomery News Media Group. Interview elected local leaders, social justice advocates/leaders, Environmental Advisory Council members, Ready for 100* campaign leaders and activists. Analyze and chronicle environmental initiatives as requested, including Montgomery County’s Ready for 100 meetings, achievements, municipal commitments (e.g. wastewater management, stormwater mitigation, recycling, transitioning of vehicular fleets from fossil fuel-powered to electric-powered). Attend municipal meetings, special events. Interviewees include Bill Sabey, Montgomery County’s Ready for 100 campaign organizer; Jodie Van Horn, Sierra Club, founder and director of the Ready for 100 campaign; renewable energy associates; Montgomery County Planning Commission representatives.
*Ready for 100 is a Sierra Club-instantiated national campaign which encourages and assists municipalities in transitioning from fossil fuel dependency to renewable energy sources.
March 2019 Temple University
Attended Temple University’s “Integrating STEM in Everyday Life” Workshop. Attended three sustainability lectures; interfaced with STEM educators; brainstormed classroom teaching techniques as they related to sustainability education.
January 2019 -Present Arcadia University
Instruct Preview: Ecotourism and Sustainable Development in Costa Rica. Course includes analyses of ecotourism, past and current environmental problems and corresponding solutions, economic, social, and environmental impacts of sustainable initiatives.
February 2019 - March 2020 Abington Township
Worked with Abington Township Environmental Advisory Council leaders to develop a mutually beneficial partnership. Named an Honorary Member.
COURSE-SPECIFIC RESEARCH
Books:
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring
Hawken, Paul. Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
Ferguson, Cody. This is Our Land: Grassroots Environmentalism in the Late Twentieth Century
Bullard, Robert D. Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots
Schreuder, Yda. The Corporate Greenhouse: Climate Change Policy in a Globalizing World
Gallagher, Nora & Myers, Lisa. Tools for Grassroots Activists: Best Practices for Success in the Environmental Movement
Kolbert, Elizabeth. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
Lomborg, Bjorn. Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming
Pooley, Eric. The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth
Bevington, Douglas. The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear
Nordhaus, William. The Climate Casino: Risk, Uncertainty, and Economics for a Warming World
William Mosely, David Lanegran, & Kavita Pandit. The Introductory Reader in Human Geography: Contemporary Debates and Classic Writings
Kolbert, Elizabeth. Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change
MacEachern, Diane. Save Our Planet: 750 Everyday Ways You Can Help Clean Up the Earth
de Blij, Harm. The Power of Place: Geography, Destiny, and Globalization’s Rough Landscape
Powers, William. Dispatches from the Sweet Life: One Family, Five Acres, and a Community’s Quest to Reinvent the World
Loewen, James. Lies My History Teacher Told Me (pp. 281-300)
Meyer, Stephen. Rationally Right: An Explanation of the Conservative Paradigm
Domhoff, G. William. Who Rules America?: Power, Politics, & Social Change
Chang, Ha-Joon. 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism
Stiglitz, Joseph. Globalization and Its Discontents
Carey, Alex. Taking the Risk out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty
Bryson, Bill. The Best American Travel Writing 2000
Robert Hall & Marc Lieberman. Macroeconomics: Principles & Applications
Menzel, Peter. Material World: A Global Family Portrait
Zinn, Howard. The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy
Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States
Wiist, William. The Bottom Line or Public Health: Tactics Corporations Use to Influence Health and Health Policy, and What We Can Do to Counter Them
Singer, Peter. The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress
Articles:
The Transition Movement, Esther Alloun and Samuel Alexander
Transition Towns: An Evolutionary Perspective, Don Hall
Fashion Forward, Claire Marie Porter (Grid Magazine)
True Blue: United Blue Saves Our Waterways, Jenny Willden (Sensi Philadelphia Magazine)
The Climate Justice Movement, Richard Widick
Climate Justice: A New Social Movement for Atmospheric Rights, Jethro Pettit
How Gender Stereotypes Affect Pro-Environment Behavior, Tom Jacobs
How We Care for the Environment May Have Social Consequences, Science Daily
Fossil Fuel: Divestment, 350.org
Rockefellers to sell oil assets as part of $50B global warming fight, CBC News
At last, divestment is hitting the fossil fuel industry where it hurts, Bill McKibben
The American environmental movement: surviving through diversity, Stacy Silveira
21st century American environmental ideologies: a re-evalution, John Hultgren
The only reason you want to go to heaven is that you have been driven out of your mind, Alice Walker
Beyond green consumerism: uncovering the motivations of green citizenship, Meaghan Guckian et al.
The elusive green consumer, Katherine White et al.
What is social ecology? Murray Bookchin
Four stages of social movements, Jonathan Christiansen
The umweltmulti arrives: Greenpeace and grassroots environmentalism in West Germany, Frank Zelko
Claiming the grounds for reform: agrarian and environmental movements in Indonesia, Nancy Peluso et al.
America’s radioactive secret, Justin Nobel
The rise of the environmental justice campaign, Dorceta Taylor
I am not afraid to be radical, Leanne Batasamosake Simpson
The ecology of feminism, Ynestra King
When environmentalism meets xenophobia, Gaby Del Valle
Western science and traditional knowledge, Fulvio Mazzocchi
Science, traditional knowledge and sustainable development, Thomas Rosswall
How the environmental movement has changed, Emma Foehringer Merchant
Environmentalism was once a social-justice movement, Jedediah Britton-Purdy
History’s largest mining operation is about the begin, Wil Hylton
The pesticide industry’s playbook for poisoning the earth, Lee Fang
Are multi-family LEED-certified buildings biased? Erin Hopkins
Constructing and mobilizing the consumer, David Evans et al.
Non-governmental organizations, UNESCO
Is LEED tough enough for the climate change era? Brian Barth
LEED-certified buildings are often less energy-efficient than uncertified ones, Capital Flows
EU Parliament bans single-use plastic in overwhelming vote
The real saboteurs, Andrew Wasley
The evolution of environmental movements, Karin Otsuka
History of the environmental movement, Britannica
What is Extinction Rebellion and what does it want? BBC News
The politics of community: togetherness, transition, and post-politics, Gerald Aiken
Can a new group of young environmentalists reinvigorate greens’ grassroots spirit? Earth Island Journal
Environmental radicalism: the extremes and the earth, Mark Engler
Blogging and environmental advocacy, Melissa Merry
Occupy the Sierra Club, Michael Brune
Dakota Access Pipeline activists face 110 years in prison, Alleen Brown
The Keystone Test, The Nation
The Coalfield Uprising, Jeff Biggers
Why we strike again, Greta Thunberg
The 3.5% rule: how a small minority can change the world, David Robson
Greta is right: study shows individual lifestyle change boosts systemic climate action, Jeff McMahon
U.S. public views on climate and energy, Cary Funk
What is sustainable living? Conserve Energy Future
In this Italian city you get rewarded with beer and ice cream for not driving your car, Johnny Wood
The 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions, Matthew Taylor
The capitalist way to make Americans stop eating meat, Derek Thompson
Plant-based meat not good for your health, John Mackey
Are plant-based burgers good for you? Lisa Drayer
Lobbying group takes out full-page ads to prove Beyond Meat’s veggie burger is unhealth—but it’s not, Bryan Clark
A scrappy solution to the fashion industry’s giant waste problem, Justine Calma
Companies that embrace sustainable investing see their sales—and stocks—rise, Leslie Norton
How fossil fuel money made climate change denial the word of God, Brendan O’Connor
The left needs to change the way it thinks about protest, Dan Jervis-Bardy
Consumption, wastefulness and simplicity in ultra-orthodox communities, Tanhum Yoreh
Broadcasting green: grassroots environmentalism on Muslim women’s radio, Daniel DeHanas
Judaism beyond slogans, Jeffrey Salkin
Dig beneath the world’s far-right governments—you’ll find fossil fuels, Basav Sen
The climate crisis and the failure of economics, Jared Bernstein
Cap and trade is supposed to solve climate change, but oil and gas company emissions are up, Lisa Song
The political history of cap and trade, Richard Conniff
Corporations will never solve climate change, Naomi Schendler
So you think we’re reducing fossil fuel use? Think again, James Conca
Can business save the world from climate change? Bianca Nogrady
The reason fossil fuel companies are finally reckoning with climate change, Justin Worlland
Summits, strikes and climate change, Elizabeth Kolbert
How the world’s dirtiest industries have learned to pollute our politics, George Monbiot
Report details how ExxonMobil and fossil fuel firms sowed seeds of doubt, LA Times
Meet the money behind the climate denial movement, Colin Schultz
How the fossil fuel industry got the media to think climate change was debatable, Amy Westervelt
Exxon knew about climate change almost 40 years ago, Shannon Hall
A critical look at the “Moral Case for Fossil Fuels”, Jody Freeman
Fossil Fuels: the dirty facts, Melissa Denchak
Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in scientific literature, John Cook et al.
Challenges from state-federal interactions in US climate change policy, Lawrence Goulder and Robert Stavins
Governors kick off 2019 with bold calls for climate action in these 5 states, Mark Hand
Five surprising facts about energy poverty, Marianne Levell
How climate change affects people living in poverty, Mercy Sheridan
Billions face food, water shortages over next 30 years, Stephen Leahy
New study pinpoints the places most at risk on a warming planet, Miyo McGinn
It’s not just Australia: Indonesia is facing its own climate disaster, Rachel Ramirez
How poor countries are being hit the hardest, Alex Gray
The refugees the world barely pays attention to, Tim McDonnell
Trump’s EPA concludes environmental racism is real, Vann Newkirk
The environmental justice movement is rooted in black history, 350.org
Black women are leading the way in environmental justice, Samantha Willis
Black bodies, green spaces, Tiya Miles
Why #blacklivesmatter should transform the climate debate, Naomi Klein
Only justice can stop a curse, Margaret Bailey
Green lap, brown embrace, blue body: The ecospirituality of Alice Walker
Out of Africa and into an ice age, Carto et al.
How to write about a vanishing world, Elizabeth Kolbert
Climate change and the new era of extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert
Climate change, global warming, and global inequity in developed and developing countries, A S Wijaya
Developing countries need urgent support adapt to climate change, IMF
How climate change unfairly burdens poorer countries, Justin Worland
Climate change will hit poor countries hardest, John Vidal
Climate change is driving debt for developing countries, UNFCCC
Climate change and the global economy: regional effects, Keith Wade
Climate Change, Center for Global Development
How rising sea levels erase culture, Nick Galvin
Strategies for sustainability: citizens and responsible environmental behavior, Stewart Barr
Communicating climate knowledge, Hildegaard Diemberger et al.
The arctic cryosphere in the 21st century, Roger Barry
Rethinking global environmental governance to deal with climate change: the multiple logics of global collective action, Daniel Etsy
Climate change and the victim slot: from oil to innocence, David Hughes
Recognitions and responsibilities, Ben Orlove et al.
Adaptive transitions: the long-term perspective on humans in changing coastal settings, Craig Colten
The postulate of human ecology, Ernst-Nikolaus Satvanyi
Our Globally Changing Climate, Climate Science Special Report
Physical Drivers of Climate Change, Climate Science Special Report
Detection and Attribution of Climate Change, Climate Science Special Report
The Human Role in Future Climate, Climate Science Special Report
Alternative proteins, Charles Godrey
Here’s how much plastic trash is littering the earth, Laura Parker
The U.N. climate negotiations are over, and they were a disaster, Rebecca Leber
U.S. military could collapse in 20 years due to climate change, Nafeez Ahmed
The world’s most polluted cities, NY Times
U.S. sees largest reduction of protected lands in history under Trump, Peter Wade
Supreme Court will consider letting groundwater pollution escape regulation, Ledyard King and Richard Wolf
In 45 years, we have killed 60% of Earth’s wildlife, Andrea Pinto
Rising seas will era more cities by 2050, new research shows, Denise Lu and Christopher Flavelle
Microplastics discovered in extreme concentrations I the North Atlantic, Arwa Damon and Brice Laine
The paradox of global warming and colder winters, Milicent Cranor
At what point should you start really freaking out about climate change? Bill McKibben
World’s largest prize honoring grassroots environmentalists, Jenny Park
The Anthropocene Review: its significance, implications and the rationale for a new transdisciplinary journal, Frank Oldfield et al.
Can climate affect earthquakes? Alan Buis
We broke down what climate change will do, region by region, Grist Staff
Evidence for man-made global warming hits ‘gold standard’: scientists, Alister Doyle
Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emission, EPA
New frontiers in sucking: why is the Trump campaign selling plastic straws? Amanda Marcotte
Don’t count on capitalism to defeat climate change, Ted Morgan
IMF says global subsidies to fossil fuels amount to $1.9 trillion a year, David Roberts
Six climate investing myths debunked, Morgan Stanley
Major automakers strike climate deal with California, Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis
Evaluating the performance of past climate model projections, Hausfather Zeke et al.
Wolf reintroduction changes ecosystem in Yellowstone, Brodie Farquhar
Why eating less meat is the best thing you can do for the planet in 2019, Oliver Milman
EU beats U.S., adopts its own green new deal, Dave Keating
How (and why) to stay optimistic when it feels like the environment is falling apart, Dominic McAfee et al.
Why gene editing is the next food revolution, Eric Niler
The tiny Swiss company that thinks it can help stop climate change, Jon Gertner
130 banks worth $47 trillion adopt new UN-backed climate policies to shift their loan books away from fossil fuels, Matthew Green
The Global Climate Context, NRDC
The species the world lost this decade, Brian Resnick
Fourth National Climate Assessment: Chapter 1
International Climate Impacts, US EPA
Why you don’t need fossil fuel to fight poverty, National Geographic
China and India lead the way in greening, NASA
Ocean cleanup device successfully collects plastic for first time, Daniel Boffey