IDS 1208 THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMAGINATION
The utopian tradition in the social sciences has often served as the basis not only for critique but also for the explicit and unconscious yearnings of the human community. In this course we will examine the key texts and voices in that tradition with a view towards their contribution to an environmental imagination-a sensibility that insists on the intrinsic value of the eco-system. The relationship between the environmental imagination and the articulation of various public policy proposals has been at times useful and at other times a hindrance or simply a co-optation of the deeper impluses and goals of the environmental movement. In this course the emphasis will be on the relationship between these two aspects of environmental praxis. We will also examine several critical debates within the area of environmental politics. Issues concerning: the needs of advanced industrial societies and those of the environment, environmental ethics, environmental activism, environmental protection and environmental regulation will be surveyed. The importance of environmental movements (how they are formed) and whose interests are served by them will be examined in great detail. Grass roots organizations, to determine the variety of resources open to those interested in environmental politics. Theories of environmental politics will be studied to provide a background and context for the on going debates regarding "rights" and the "environment." Power relations between advanced industrialized nations and developing nations will be examined in order to identify areas of commonality as well as those that are contested.