ENS 476 Agroecology: Sustainable Agriculture
Agriculture has enabled humans to overcome predicaments of famine and starvation. But it has also contributed to pressing problems of climate change. Today many species, including humans, are at a critical juncture in their existence, as a result of unsustainable practices. This course examines how agroecology can be a potential solution to current and future adverse climatic effects, while feeding people, building fertile soils, and preserving ecosystem health. It offers a socioecological, and political arena for students to engage in collegial, animated, and learned discourses. The purpose of the class is for students to develop an informed critique of agricultural production. This course is designed to make students of environmental studies, food studies and other natural resources disciplines familiar with the major types of sustainable farming practices used by people in both developed and developing countries. It also considers the major critiques of the limits and potential romanticism of agroecology. The lectures emphasize the basic components and concepts of cognate subjects of agroecological and human-environment relations. Lab and field trips provide hands-on practice to gain experience in agronomic concepts such as how plants respond to nutrients, light, water and temperature.