Santa Barbara, Thomas Fire (2018)
ENGLISH 23
(A.K.A. CLIMATE CRISIS 101)
The Climate Crisis, Part I
What It Is and What Each of Us Can Do About It
Syllabus
(Jump to Weekly Schedule, Assignments, Assessments, FAQs)
Is this the official website for English 23?
No, this is an archived site intended to benefit the public. If you are a UCSB student currently enrolled in English 23, please note that this IS NOT the official UCSB website for Eng 23. Instead, please use the Canvas website for the course.
I just stumbled on this page. What’s this all about?
This website contains a university course on the climate crisis. It is a complete course and completely open to the public. Although the only way to receive university credit is to take the course at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), all of the course material is available, free of cost, from this page.
Is this website for students or teachers?
It is for both!
If you want to learn about the climate crisis, or learn more about it, this website is for you. It doesn’t matter if you are currently enrolled as a student (at UCSB or elsewhere) or just someone who wants to learn more about the issue.
If you teach high school or university students (or anyone, for that matter) about the climate crisis, this website is for you, as it offers an example of how one instructor took up the challenge of teaching this important issue. Feel free to borrow from my approach.
Why are Eng 23 & Eng 24 also called Climate Crisis 101?
Although the URL and YouTube channel associated with this material are called “ClimateCrisis101,” the UCSB courses that this is all based upon have the designation “English 23 and English 24.” Sorry for any confusion, as this is hardly an ideal situation. But, alas, this is how UCSB designates its courses. Nonetheless, Eng 23 and Eng 24 are 101 (i.e. introductory) courses on the climate crisis. Why not stick with the names “English 23 & 24” throughout? The simple fact is that they are hardly descriptive names. Actually, they are not even a little descriptive… So, in order to make these courses immediately recognizable to an online audience as introductions to the climate crisis, they are also known as “ClimateCrisis101.”
The course lecturer is Professor Ken Hiltner, who wrote and recorded all this material. Whenever something is written in the first person (i.e. “I believe that…”), it is Ken’s voice that you are hearing. In addition to the University of California, Santa Barbara, Ken has taught at Harvard, where he received his Ph.D., and at Princeton, where he served for a year as the Currie C. and Thomas A. Barron Visiting Professor in the Environment and Humanities at Princeton University’s Environmental Institute (PEI). Ken was the founding Director of both UCSB’s Literature and the Environment Center and the Environmental Humanities Initiative. Currently, he is the faculty Co-chair of the Chancellor’s Sustainability Committee, Chair of UCSB’s Sustainable Transportation Committee, and Director of the T. A. Barron Environmental Leadership Program.
He/His/Him; always “Ken,” never “Professor Hiltner.”
Course overview and approach
In one sense, the climate crisis is being caused by a rise in atmospheric CO2 and other so-called greenhouse gases. Science can address this cause.
However, approached in another way altogether, this crisis is being caused by a range of troubling human activities that require the release of these gases, such as our obsessions in wealthy countries with endless consumer goods, cars, certain food, lavish houses, fast fashion, air travel, and a broad range of additional lifestyle choices. The natural sciences may be able to tell us how these activities are changing our climate, but not why we are engaging in them. That’s a job for the environmental humanities and social sciences.
In this course, we will see anthropogenic (i.e. human-caused) climate change for what it is and address it as such: a human problem brought about by human actions. Thus, we will be taking a long hard look – from the perspective of the environmental humanities – at these actions and how they are culturally constructed. In other words, we will be exploring why we do what we do, even when these actions are disastrous for our planet and our species (along with most other species on the planet).
While this largely academic question is interesting in its own right, the course is also meant to be deeply personal insofar as we will each be looking at our own actions and how they impact the planet and climate – as well as our own happiness and well-being, which have been in decline for many decades now as the result of these actions. Moreover, we will not just be considering our individual actions, but also forms of collective climate activism. Becoming engaged and active, whether simply by voting or by becoming a committed climate activist, is of paramount importance if we are to mitigate this crisis.
In this course, we will not generally be focusing on technologically-based solutions, but rather on human-based ones. In other words, instead of looking to technology for solutions to the problem of the climate crisis, we need to look at its cause directly: human action. While human action caused the climate crisis, the good news is that human action can go a long way toward solving it.
In short, this course is in many respects less about climate change than it is about human change.
Why take a human-based approach?
As noted above, the climate crisis can be seen as a human problem brought about by human actions. In addition to seeing the problem in this way, the solutions to this crisis that have the greatest potential impact also – perhaps surprisingly – center on human behavior (i.e. cultural norms) rather than just technological innovation.
According to Project Drawdown (see “Table of Solutions,” Scenario #1), which is the most comprehensive plan ever put forth to reverse global warming, the #1 thing that we can do to roll back global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions does not involve wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles, or any sort of similar technologies.
Instead, what is required is a cultural change regarding food: we need to waste far less of it and to switch to largely plant-rich diets. Doing so will result in a staggering reduction of 167 gigatons of CO2 or equivalent gases.
In comparison to this reduction, globally shifting from fossil fuels to electricity generated by photovoltaic (solar) panels will roll back less than half this amount of emissions. The adoption of electric cars? Less than five percent. We should, of course, work on exploring a variety of technologies to help reduce our emissions, but it is important to keep their relative impact in perspective.
Worldwide, agriculture is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, yet between 1/3 and 1/2 of all the food that we produce on this planet is wasted. Regarding the switch to a largely plant-rich diet, the same amount of greenhouse gasses is released in producing one pound of beef as is released in producing thirty pounds of lentils, also a great source of protein.
With respect to animal products, those coming from cows are overwhelmingly the largest problem. If cows were their own country, they would rank as the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet, right behind China and the US.
I know, changing how we eat doesn’t sound nearly as sexy as a sleek and shiny electric car, but it would nonetheless be twenty times better for the planet.
On a similar note, the #2 thing (according to Project Drawdown) that we can do to roll back GHG emissions is also a cultural issue that is a far cry from technology.
We need to educate more girls and women (which dramatically curbs population growth, as the more education a person with a uterus has, the fewer children they are likely to have) and promote family planning (globally, there are roughly 85 million unintended pregnancies every year).
This is not to say that we should place responsibility for this particular issue with girls and women. To the contrary, the responsibility lies with the institutions that restrict a woman’s access to education and control of her own body. And too, it is obviously the case that contraception is a male responsibility as well.
Why is population so important? Sixty years ago, the global population was about 3 billion. Currently, it is 8 billion. By 2050 it will be approaching 10 billion. The simple fact is that this many people are profoundly taxing the resources of our planet. Hence, reducing the population of our species is one of the main things that we can do to mitigate the climate crisis.
However, population is a complicated issue. As we shall see, when people in wealthy countries like the US. call for low and middle-income countries to reduce their population, this can sometimes be simply racist. The profound irony here is the poorest half of the world’s population have had a minimal impact on CO2 rise, yet will suffer the consequences of the climate crisis the most.
For the most part, these individuals, who are in low and middle-income countries, will suffer because of the actions of wealthy countries like the US. Astonishingly, the U.S. alone has produced five times more greenhouse gas emissions than the poorest 3 billion people on the planet. Please reread the last sentence and pause on it for a moment. This is a justice problem, a climate justice problem.
Taken together, these two cultural changes regarding food and population can take us nearly a quarter of the way to where we need to go to get GHG emissions under control. Note that very little is needed by way of technology here, as the necessary changes can be made right now by both individuals and a range of groups and institutions.
This is not to say that these changes will be easy. Indeed, it is arguably far easier to change cars (such as by making them electric) than to change people’s actions, as issues like family planning are controversial across the planet, including the U.S., where Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Nonetheless, we need to seriously roll up our sleeves and address the climate crisis as a human problem in need of human solutions.
Incidentally, many of these may well be win-win solutions, as giving people with a uterus equal access to education, as well as control of their own bodies, are worthwhile goals in their own right – at least as far as I am concerned.
Similarly, reducing the global herd of 70 billion animals that we keep for food is obviously great from the perspective of animal rights. Hence, the changes that we need to make to address the climate crisis may not only be better for the planet, but for human (and a range of) beings in a host of ways.
Although I have great respect for the sciences, science- and technology-based solutions to cultural problems like the climate crisis are rarely sufficient in themselves. The simple fact is that they often fail to attend to the root cause of problems of this sort.
This course will focus on these root causes.
One of the things that I find interesting about this human-based approach is that it returns (to echo a 1960s phrase) “power to the people.” In other words, you do not need to be a specialist in climate science or lithium battery technology to make a dent in the climate crisis. Instead, anyone can make a meaningful, indeed crucial impact on the climate crisis, either through personal action, collective activism, political action, or – ideally – though a synergy of all three.
Course format (this is not an online course at UCSB!)
This is a free online course for anyone wishing to take it worldwide. However, UCSB students must attend this course in Campbell Hall.
Details on course format for UCSB students:
1) All students enrolled in Eng 23 are required to attend the lectures on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-10:45am in Campbell Hall (where attendance, which will be part of the course grade, will be taken via iClicker).
2) Please note I am not in a position to be able to offer any exceptions to this in-person policy, as this is a campus-wide mandate.
3) The only exceptions that can be made to attending the lectures in Campbell Hall are for medical reasons approved by UCSB’s DSP office. Please note that I have no connection to (or influence over) the DSP office.
How do medical exceptions work?According to UCSB’s Executive Vice Chancellor (EVC), medical exceptions must be DSP-approved: “[s]tudents with documented medical situations, such as serious immuno-comprised conditions that preclude their participation in classroom instruction, may be approved for a remote learning accommodation. These accommodations are approved and administered by the Disabled Students Program (DSP)…”
Contact the DSP office regarding such accommodations, as they are the office that needs to approve it.
4) If you miss class for a brief temporary period for a documented medical reason, including a positive COVID test or required isolation or quarantine, please contact your TA.
Does this course have discussion sections?
No, it does not. Even though you will be assigned a TA, there are no discussion sections in this course.
All course content will be delivered through the lectures, the readings, and the course films. Weekly course discussions will primarily take place through the comments on the readings and films, as well as by way of questions to our speakers.
TAs
Your TA is your primary contact person for Eng 23.
If your last name begins with A-L, your TA is Samantha Mislinski (scmislinski@ucsb.edu).
If your last name begins with M-Z, your TA is Maria Job (mariajob@ucsb.edu).
Please direct all questions to your TA, not Ken, as they handle all issues regarding attendance, comments, exams, and grading.
However, whenever possible, please post any questions that you may have to the Canvas Q&A forum – which can be accessed at the top of the course Canvas landing page – rather than emailing them to your TA. See the below FAQs for more on the Canvas Q&A.
The Lead TA, who handles the technical aspects of Eng 22, is Aisha Anwar (aishaanwar@umail.ucsb.edu).
Please direct questions to the Lead TA regarding
1) iClicker issues,
2) Canvas, where the online gradebook resides,
3) Gauchocast, from which some of the documentaries stream,
4) DSP accommodations on the exams,
5) all additional technical questions.
Climate Anxiety
We now, sadly, live in an era where many of us are stricken with climate anxiety. If you have been paying attention to the changing climate of our planet, you may well be anxious. In recent years, climate anxiety has become a recognizable issue for both psychologists and sociologists. In his article on “The psychology of climate anxiety,“ Joseph Dodds notes the following:
“The Handbook of Climate Psychology defines climate anxiety as a ‘heightened emotional, mental or somatic distress in response to dangerous changes in the climate system’, but suggests that ‘paying heed to what is happening…is a healthier response than turning away in denial or disavowal’. Climate anxiety can lead to symptoms such as panic attacks, loss of appetite, irritability, weakness and sleeplessness…Climate anxiety is being felt much more powerfully among the young, by first responders to climate-related natural disasters and climate scientists and activists, who are exposed to information about the threat more than most and therefore may need psychological support.”
Perhaps the simplest, yet highly effective, thing that you can do to address climate anxiety is to do something to address the climate crisis. This can take the form of 1) personal action, like diet changes, 2) collective activism, for example, bye joining a group like Sunrise Movement or UCSB’s Environmental Affairs Board, 3) through political action, first and foremost, by voting, 4) or, ideally, all three of these. Doing something, anything, to address the climate crisis can help make us feel less helpless and hence less anxious.
If you would like to jump right into getting involved with climate and environmental activities on campus, UCSB’s Sustainability Office maintains a list of environmental groups on campus.
Unfortunately, this course presents some pretty depressing material, which can lead to feelings of greater climate anxiety. On the flipside, this course also presents a range of actions that you can take to help alleviate this anxiety. Nonetheless, if you are feeling especially anxious, UCSB’s “Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) is committed to providing timely, culturally appropriate, and effective mental health services to our diverse UCSB student body.”
Is Eng 23 related to Eng 22 and Eng 24?
Yes. English 23 is part of a sequence of three courses that I teach every year at UCSB: Eng 22 in the Fall, Eng 23 in the Winter, and Eng 24 in the Spring.
Although complementary, none of these courses is a prerequisite for the other.
Descriptions and links for Eng 22, 23, & 24English 22 (Introduction to the Environmental Humanities, formerly Intro to Literature & the Environment) explores how we got into our environmental predicament by considering nearly 5000 years of Western literature, thinking, and culture that helped bring us here.
English 23 (The Climate Crisis, Part I) introduces the climate crisis and explores what each of us can do about it. Hence, it is designed to invite personal reflection, as it explores ways that we can all help mitigate the climate crisis.
English 24 (The Climate Crisis, Part II), which is our course, is, as noted above, designed to introduce students to a variety of perspectives on the climate crisis, as a range of scholars and activists will speak to the class about their work on the crisis.
Does Eng 23 count toward the T. A. Barron Certificate in Environmental Leadership?
Yes, people who have taken English 22, 23, and 24 automatically receive the T. A. Barron Certificate in Environmental Leadership for having taken all three courses. The Certificates are given out every Spring.
All that you need to do is email me (Ken) with proof that you have taken these three courses. Because Eng 22, 23, and 24 can be difficult to get into (they often have waitlists of nearly 200 people), if you have taken two of the courses and are having trouble getting into the third, just email me, as I will give you admission preference.
This Certificate is made possible by author T. A. Barron, who generously donated $500,000 to UCSB in order to create the T. A. Barron Environmental Leadership Program. The Barron Certificate is something that you can list on your résumé (and on LinkedIn and anywhere else that you’d like).
Why are you teaching Eng 22, Eng 23 & Eng 24?
We are often asked about what we do (i.e. asked what do we do for a living or what it is that we are majoring in school), rather than why we do what we do – which, as far as I’m concerned, is a much more interesting question.
Why am I teaching these three courses every year?
It is simple enough: in order to foster greater awareness of the climate crisis and draw attention to what needs to be done to mitigate it.
A more complete explanationEng 23 began as a new decade opened, as the first day of the first time that the course was taught was January 6, 2020.
This decade, 2020-30, has been called the “decisive decade,” as the nations of planet earth need to cut their carbon emissions in half by 2030 in order to have a chance of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. If we are able to achieve these reductions by 2030 and 2050, we will be able to keep global temperature from rising above 1.5–2 °C of pre-industrial levels – which is necessary to avert a true global climate catastrophe.
I think of myself as a scholar-activist, which means that, in addition to spending my days reading and writing (i.e. being a scholar), I also work at bringing about societal change. Specifically, in my case, as I am a scholar of the environmental humanities, I work at bringing about cultural change with respect to the climate crisis. Hence, I am really a mash-up of scholar and climate activist.
By teaching as many students as possible about this unfolding crisis and what we can do about it, my hope is that I just might make a difference in the world – even if it’s only a small difference.
Why is it so important for me to try to make a difference?
I have a young daughter, who was born in the teens. The world that I will be leaving her is in the midst of a climate crisis that might just turn into a full-blown catastrophe. For her sake, I need to do what little I can to keep that from happening.
That’s why I’m teaching these courses.
My goal is to continue teaching this suite of courses to as many students as I can throughout the “decisive decade.” As noted above, these courses will generally be taught every year: Eng 22 in the Fall, Eng 23 in the Winter, and Eng 24 in the Spring.
Navigating this website
In the lower right of this page, note the faint box with a small chevron in it. Click the chevron at any point and the page will quickly scroll up to the top. At the top of every weekly page is a “Back to Syllabus” link that returns you to this page.
Navigating this site on a mobile deviceIf you are viewing this website on a smartphone and the text seems small, please hold your phone horizontally (i.e. in landscape mode). If you are reading on a tablet, do just the opposite: hold the device vertically (portrait mode).
Reading on a smartphone turned sideways may initially feel a little odd (especially if you, like most people, are used to holding your phone in portrait mode), but this webpage was designed so that doing so replicates the width and line length, and hence in some ways the general feel, of a print book.
Since this long webpage is filled with just text, scrolling through it like a book should make for a more pleasant experience. Note that some mobile browsers will display this page better than others. Safari works well on iOS, Chrome on Android.
Is UCSB located on ancestral land?
Yes. It is important to note that UCSB is located on unceded Indigenous Chumash ancestral lands and waters. In other words, the Chumash people, who were the first human inhabitants of this region of what has now become California, never legally signed away the land and waters on which UCSB was built. (UCSB is situated on a 1,000-acre promontory that juts out into the Pacific Ocean.)
Week 1) The injustice of it all
Week 2) The climate crisis as a local, burning issue
Week 3) Denying the undeniable
Week 4) Front only the essential facts of life
Week 5) Making waste (of the planet)
Week 6) Drawing down the climate crisis
Week 7) The Green New Deal
Week 8) Communicating climate change, through words & actions
Week 9) Can the climate crisis make us happy?
Week 10) The Climate Crisis: What It Was & What We Did About It
Readings
Each week there is an assigned reading of one or more texts. Since these are all available free online, there is no Course Reader (and hence no need for you to purchase one for this course). Links to the readings can be accessed via the above “Weekly Schedule.”
After doing the weekly reading, please go to Canvas to make a comment on it.
Note that, in addition to making a comment on the readings, there will be questions on the readings on the midterm and final exams.
Lectures
Generally, each of the ten weeks of the quarter you will attend two lectures from 9:30-10:45am (PST), one is on Tuesday; one is on Thursday. Lectures start promptly at 9:30am. As two of the 20 class sessions this quarter will be taken up by the midterm and final exams, there are a total of 18 lecture periods.
You must attend these lectures in Campbell Hall to receive course credit. See below for details on the attendance policy.
A day or two after the lectures have been delivered, they will be uploaded to both YouTube and GauchoCast. The YouTube recordings of the lectures can be streamed directly from this website. They can be accessed via the above “Weekly Schedule.” Hence, even if you cannot attend class, you can watch the lecture in its entirety at a time of your choosing (though you will not receive attendance credit). You can return to the prerecorded lectures at any time. For example, doing so maybe useful in preparing for the exams.
In addition to the lectures during the class period, every week you will generally also watch one or more video lectures on your own. They can be accessed via the above “Weekly Schedule.”
Why do you need to watch these additional lectures? There are no discussion sections in Eng 23. Generally speaking, a typical discussion section meets once a week for just under an hour (50 minutes). Since we do not have these sections, it is necessary for you to have additional instruction in order for this to count as a four-credit course. Simply put, the additional weekly lecture videos take the place of discussion sections. Note that there will be questions on these additional lectures on the exams.
Course Films
Each of the ten weeks of the quarter you will watch one or more films (i.e. documentaries). Film details can be accessed via the above “Weekly Schedule.” These films either stream from Canvas (GauchoCast) or are available free online.
After watching the weekly film, please go to Canvas to make a comment on it.
Note that, in addition to making a comment on the film, there will be questions on the readings on the midterm and final exams.
1) Attendance is worth 20% of the course grade. Attendance will not be recorded on the first, introductory day of class. Everyone receives attendance credit for the midterm and final exams.
Attendance will be taken via iClicker Student, through an app on your phone. Please note that the iClicker system is designed to create a geofence around lecture halls. This is so that students using the app somewhere outside of the lecture hall (let’s say at home, for example) WILL NOT receive attendance credit.
Attendance will be taken, at random intervals, during each lecture via iClicker. You must respond to at least two thirds of the iClicker questions to receive full credit for attendance.
Please check your Canvas attendance a day or two after every lecture. If there is a problem, contact your TA immediately. Sometimes, students will come to us at the end of the term saying that they attended every class even though Canvas reports that they missed quite a few classes. Since we go with the Canvas data, these students obviously have a problem. In order to keep this from happening, contact your TA immediately after checking Canvas for each lecture if you have an issue. That way, we can nip any problems in the bud.
2) Comments are worth 20% of the total course grade.
During the term, you will be making a total of ten Canvas comments on the course readings, which will constitute 10% of the course grade.
Similarly, you will be making a total of ten Canvas comments on the course documentaries, which will also constitute 10% of the course grade
You will therefore be making a total of twenty Canvas comments: two per week for the ten-week term, starting in week #1. Therefore, each comment counts for 1% of the course grade.
You have seven days to make the weekly comments. Each week, you must comment by 11:59pm (PST) the Sunday of that week to receive credit for the comment. (The exact dates can be found on Canvas forums where you will be making your comment.)
Twelve of your Canvas comments (i.e. 6 of the first 10 and 6 of the second 10) should be made to a comment made by another student. Since comments are made to the Canvas forum, you are able to see what your classmates have written. Reading through them can be a thought-provoking experience, as it can give you the opportunity to see the sorts of reactions others have had. (This might also help you assess your own work, as you can see how much time and thought that your classmates are giving to the assignment.) As you no doubt know, online discussions are not only possible, but are often particularly thoughtful, as we have the benefit of time in making our replies well considered.
3) Midterm and Final exams
The midterm will be in Campbell Hall during our regular class period, 9:30-10:45am, on Thursday, February 8. Please save this date! The midterm will cover the first five weeks of the course – i.e. the first 10 lectures (as well as the short lectures that you watch on your own time), the first 5 reading, and the first 5 film assignments.
The final exam will be in Campbell Hall during our regular class period, 9:30-10:45am, on Thursday, March 14. Please save this date! Thus, the final exam will not be during exam week.
The final exam will not be cumulative; rather, it will just cover the last five weeks of the course (i.e. the various lectures assigned during Weeks #6-10 and the last 5 reading and film assignments).
Common details of both the midterm and final exams:
1) Each exam is worth 30% of the course grade (i.e. 60% total for the two exams).
2) Each exam has 60 multiple choice questions. Therefore, each exam question is worth 1/2 % of the total course grade.
3) The exam questions are all multiple-choice and you will generally be selecting from five possibilities.
4) Since they are taking place during the regular class period, each exam will be 75 minutes long (unless you have a pre-arranged DSP accommodation, in which case you will be taking the exam in a separate room with a proctor).
5) Exams will be paper-based. Bubble sheets will be provided. Please bring a number two pencil.
6) Exams will NOT be open-book.
7) In order to discourage academic dishonesty, there will be four separate versions of the exams, with each version having the exam questions in a different order. Hence, the person sitting next to you will be working on a different exam.
8) In addition to questions on the readings and lectures, the exams will also include questions on the course films.
9) Talking to your neighbor is not allowed during the exams.
10) No devices may be open during the exams.
Academic dishonesty (answer sharing) on exams
All cases of suspected academic dishonesty will be reported to UCSB’s Office of Student Conduct.
During exams, instructors (Ken and the TAs) will be looking for people who appear to be sharing answers. If they see an apparent case, they will attempt to get a second instructor to confirm. The exams for these individuals will be set aside to be analyzed to see if a significant number of questions that both students answered incorrectly had the same incorrect answer out of the five possible choices, which is statistically highly improbable if they were not sharing answers.
Consequences of academic dishonesty for Engl 23:
If, in addition to one or more instructors witnessing the apparent answer sharing, the analysis of the exams reveals that a significant number of questions that were answered incorrectly had the same incorrect answer out of the five possible choices, the two (or more) students involved will fail Engl 23.
In addition, the Office of Student Conduct may impose its own sanctions. Here is the list from their website:
Individuals found responsible for violating University policies or regulations may receive the following sanctions:
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- Warning
Written notice to the student that continued or repeated violations of specified policies or regulations may be cause for further disciplinary action.
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- Disciplinary Probation
A status imposed for a specified period of time during which a student must demonstrate conduct that conforms to University standards of conduct. Conditions restricting the student’s privileges or eligibility for activities may be imposed. Misconduct during the probationary period or violation of any conditions of the probation may result in further disciplinary action, normally in the form of suspension or dismissal.
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- Loss of Privileges and Exclusion from Activities
Specific exclusions or loss of privileges will be at the Dean’s discretion and will be for a specified academic term or terms.
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- Suspension
Termination of student status for a specified term or terms.
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- Dismissal
Termination of student status for an indefinite period. Students who are dismissed may not return to the UC System without the express permission of the respective Chancellor.
What do I do if I have further questions? (Course Q&A)
Whenever possible, please post any questions that you may have on Canvas to the course Q&A, rather than emailing them to Ken or your TA.
Because we have such a large class (860 people!), the answer to your question may benefit a number of your classmates, not just you.
For example, let’s say that Ken noted something in one of the lectures that seemed to somewhat contradict the reading. As the response to your question may help clarify a real ambiguity, everyone in the class could potentially benefit by reading it. Moreover, if you are unclear about a technical detail, such as how to upload your documentary comments to Canvas, the clarification could help everyone.
Although Ken and the course TAs will be monitoring the Q&A throughout the day for questions, feel free to answer any questions that you can, as you may be able to really help someone.
For example, let’s say that at 11pm someone posts that they are confused about where to find the course films. It is unlikely that Ken and the TAs will read this till the next morning. However, if you happen to see this post at 11:30pm, you could explain where GauchoCast is on Canvas and how it works. In so doing, you could help someone out who was hoping to watch the film that night. It is also sometimes the case that people are looking for material that can be found on the course website or Canvas. In which case, all that you need to do is point them in the right direction.
Because a number of important points will likely be raised throughout the quarter in the Q&A, please regularly read through it, as this will become a useful knowledge bank. If you have a question and would like a quick answer, it might just be in the Q&A.
Even though this is technically a Q&A, feel free to post comments in addition to questions to this forum. If, for example, you felt that a reading was particularly helpful (or particularly confusing), we would like to hear about it. As our goal is to keep improving this class every year, feedback like this can help us do just that.
Seriously, we are interested in hearing what you have to say!
How do I enroll in the Honors Section?
Email Ken with your reasons for wanting to join the Honors Section by midnight on January 10, 2024. Starting the first week of class, the honors section will be in-person on Thursdays from 11:00-11:50 in ILP 3207 .
Is it possible to get extra credit in this class?
Unfortunately, no. The class is just too large (860 students!) for the two course TAs to keep track of extra credit.
Where is the course material located?
While we will be using Canvas for the course Q&A and to disseminate information, like the Gauchocast films, the course content is primarily located on my personal website, which is housed on English Department servers (and from which you are currently reading). Note that anyone can access this material, regardless of whether they are in the class or enrolled at UCSB.
Why do it this way?
Knowledge, as far as I am concerned, should be as free and accessible as possible to everyone. This is especially the case when it relates to urgent issues of concern to us all, such as our current climate and environmental crisis.
Hence, as anyone can view the course content, feel free to share it with friends and family members who may be interested.
What if I have a personal question that I do not want to post to the course Q&A?
Your TA is your primary contact person. If you have a question that you would prefer not to post to the course Q&A – for example, if it is of a personal nature – please email your TA, not me (Ken), as they coordinate the day-to-day workings of the course. Contact info for your TA is listed above.
Are some of these the same documentaries that we watch in English 23?
In fact, they are. In both Eng 22 and Eng 23 everyone watches documentaries on a variety of topics. These are based on a list of my favorite documentaries, which I require everyone in English 22 and English 23 to watch and comment upon. Does this mean that you will be watching the same films all over again in English 23 if you already had Eng 22?
No, as I have an alternate list of films for you to watch. In other words, if you have already had Eng 22, by the end of this course (Eng 23) you will have watched a range of additional documentaries. In the process, your understanding of a variety of issues will hopefully deepen.
Let’s take food systems as an example. The primary documentary on this topic is Wasted! The Story Of Food Waste, which takes up the issue of food waste, both in the US and globally. If you have not already seen it in English 22 or elsewhere, you should watch this film. However, if you have already watched Wasted!, the alternate documentary is Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, which explores the environmental and climate implications of a plant-based diet. Since Cowspiracy addresses the other half of the food systems problem with respect to the climate crisis, having watched it and Wasted! together would give you a particularly good handle on the topic. Interestingly, with respect to these two films, everyone switching to plant-based diets would not make as big a dent in the climate crisis as eliminating food waste would.
If you find some of the alternate films intriguing, feel free to watch them along with the primary ones.
What role do the online comments serve, pedagogically?
One of the goals of this class, even though it is very large, is to encourage meaningful discussion among students. Hence, more than half of the time you will be responding directly to a classmate on YouTube.
What about inappropriate comments?
The kind of anonymous comments that people make to online forums like Reddit are often very different from what they would say when sitting around a table in a classroom, face-to-face with their peers and knowing that there is an instructor at the end of the table. My hope is that the comments that people make in our Canvas forums will be as courteous and thoughtful as the spoken comments that they would make in class (perhaps even more so, as you will have time to think before making a comment that you would come to regret).
Because of a culture of anonymity, the Internet can sometimes be an unpleasant and nasty place. Please be not only thoughtful with your comments, but respectful as well, offering only the kind of constructive comments that you yourself would like to receive.
If you encounter comment containing hate speech, otherwise threatening language, or anything at all that concerns you, please email Ken or your TA immediately.
Couldn’t I skip watching the documentaries and doing the readings and get someone (or an AI like GPT-3) to do the comments for me?
Perhaps, but this would be a recipe for disaster, as you will be tested on all of the readings and documentaries on the midterm and final exams.
After every exam, some people inevitably contact their TAs because they are disappointment with their grades. When they systematically go through questions that they got wrong with their TAs, they find that a surprising number of them are on the readings and films. Suggesting that they may well have not read or watched carefully – or at all. When reviewing Gauchocast Analytics (which allows me to see viewing habits for individual students), I discovered – not surprisingly – that there is a direct correlation between people who do not watch the documentaries in their entirety and people who do poorly on exam questions related to the films.
Reading a plot summary in lieu of watching a documentary is a recipe for disaster, as you will be questioned on specifics not covered in such summaries.
Even though the exam questions on the readings and documentaries can be specific, many people do well on the exams in Eng 23, Indeed, dozens of people will likely get an A+ for the class. Clearly, these people carefully did the readings and attentively watched the films. They likely took notes – perhaps extensive notes – even while watching the films.
So, since you are required to watch the videos and do the readings anyway, why not share your opinions? It is perfectly fine if you disagree with the reading, film, instructor, or your classmates.
Note that instructors can use a web crawler to look for repeated comments and phrases, as well as other inconsistencies, including stylistic, in comments. Similarly, as AIs (even advanced ones like GPT-3, which use cutting-edge transformer architecture) are generally only capable of delivering largely vague observations – and you should always include specifics with your comments – these are also easy to detect.
Having someone else (or an AI) do your work is a form of academic dishonestly and will be immediately reported to UCSB’s Office of Judicial Affairs.
Asking me to write a letter of recommendation.
Every year, a number of students in my large lectures (Eng 22, 23, and 24) ask me to write letters of recommendation on their behalf. Unfortunately, I regretfully must decline, as I am not in a position to write a strong letter for students in these courses.
More on why I decline to write rec letters for Eng 22, 23, & 24In order to write a strong recommendation letter, it is necessary to know a student well. Even before uploading a rec letter, many portals will require the writer to complete a brief survey ranking factors like a student’s creativity, their problem-solving ability, leadership potential, task management skills, and so forth. Because Eng 22, 23, and 24 are so large, I unfortunately never get to know students well enough to be able to evaluate these things.
With respect to the letter itself, as I am an English professor, there is the expectation that I will focus on a student’s writing and a range of issues related to it (like creativity, research and organizational abilities, and so forth). The problem is that students in Eng 22, 23, and 24 (including the honors sections) do not produce any significant writing for me to evaluate. True, there are the online comments, but these are quite different from an extensive term paper or senior thesis, as they do not require, for example, any significant research.
Having spent three years as the Director of a graduate program, I have read many hundreds of recommendation letters. Without exception, the strongest letters are personal and detailed. For example, the letters reference specific projects, such as term papers, sometimes quoting directly from them.
In order to get a strong rec letter, the key is to develop a solid relationship with an instructor. Ideally, by taking two or more small courses where you work with them directly (rather than working with a TA), which will allow them to reference a range of material that you have produced, as well as your strengths.
How long should a comment be and what form should they take?
Your YouTube comment on the weekly readings and documentaries should be as long as necessary to make your point(s). A paragraph or two is generally sufficient.The purpose of this assignment is to expose you to a range of thought-provoking material that can make a real difference in your life. Consequently, your comment should contain your thoughts and feelings on the material. It is perfectly fine to express an emotional response.
Here are three comments on the film The True Cost from a previous class. They should give you some idea of the comments that people make.
Sample #1:
I thought I knew a fair amount about clothing factory workers and outsourcing when I began watching this film, but honestly I was blindsided. I had never really thought about where clothes go when people throw them away, and I’m ashamed that I did not realize the drastic impact on the environment the fashion industry has. My initial reaction was more on the emotional side as we were told stories and shown images of the hardships faced in the factories of Bangladesh. I was furious at the clothing companies for not trying harder to make sure the people they employed had a decent wage and safe conditions. I was mad at the factory owners for ignoring complaints and letting their desire for business overpower the welfare of the people. Mostly, I my heart ached for all of the people that had no other option but to work in such a place. As the movie progressed, however, I began to think more intellectually. I tried to think of ways that we could change or create laws to help those workers, ways to fix and maybe even change our economic system, and ways to make people care.
The film’s audience is definitely casual viewers because they are trying to get everyday people to start caring about other people and the environment that they could be unaware of. I think the film did a great job of communicating their message by highlighting personal stories to target people’s emotions, explaining the environmental impacts, and describing how our economy and consumerism plays an important role in the overall system. The film made me somewhat pessimistic because there are too many people in the world that simply do not care about these issues enough for the problems to be improved upon. I agree with Safia Minney, the founder and CEO of People Tree, when she said that change is coming, but we don’t know if it’ll be in time. For most of the people in the world to wake up and realize change needs to happen now, I think the situation will first need to get worse before it can get better. I would rate this movie 5/5 stars and definitely recommend it to friends and family because I think they did a fantastic job illustrating what needs to be fixed and how, and everyone needs to be educated on these things that happen around the world.
Sample #2:
I felt that the documentary proved to be extremely effective in conveying its message regarding the monstrous effects of the clothing industry on not only the environment, but the welfare of impoverished laborers and the material-centered American psyche as well. Through the inclusion of several perspectives, including that of the underpaid factory workers in Bangladesh, India, and Cambodia, individuals working to change the the inhumane and wasteful nature of the industry, and those who refuse to see the countless negative impacts on human life, the film is able to argue its message without excluding conflicting perspectives. The most impactful way the film conveys its message to the audience is the way in which it captured the aw and painful emotions of the countless workers harmed by working in textile factories. As the majority of the film’s audience is likely American viewers with Netflix subscriptions, in allowing victims and laborers who work to produce cheap product share the the suffering and sacrifices they’ve endured, the consumers who perpetuate the system that is “fast fashion” see the direct effect on the environment and human life. In turn, a person who was once a casual viewer may now become inspired to be more aware of their spending habits. While I feel that their may be more viewers who are already concerned about the issue, as many casual viewers may not feel compelled to watch a documentary about the impacts of the clothing industry, I feel hopeful that the casual viewers who do watch it will feel the effects and become more aware of the issue.
I feel that the true power of this film lies in the emotional response it evokes from the viewer. In following the stories of a few individuals in Bangladesh, India, and Cambodia, I felt as though I could connect to some of laborers, not through experience, but rather in the sense that I was able to see their struggles through their own perspective, and realize that there are so many more real people just like them who work in inhumane conditions, without being paid enough to support their family. The film truly challenged me to be far more cautious in how much I spend on clothing, as I will now be thinking about the stories and individuals in the documentary. Along with this, I also found some information in the film to be quite surprising, such as the fact that only 10% of donated clothing is actually bought. I was completely unaware that the clothing that isn’t bought after being donated is sent in bulk to countries like Haiti, causing their textile and clothing production industry to plummet. Though the film didn’t spend a great deal of time on this issue, it really stuck with me as I always felt I was contributing to society in a positive way by donating clothing, yet I now feel conflicted as to whether the positive outweighs the negative
I can say with confidence that this film has impacted my attitude towards buying clothing. While I have a tendency to want to buy new clothing every few months as the seasons change, I will now truly think about whether or not I need to, and if so, I’ll be more cautious in regards to where I buy from. However, at the same time this film has instilled a small amount of fear in my mind as well. During the film, one interviewee made the point that while the economy and the fashion industry is perpetually expanding, the earth and it’s resources are not limitless. As we become more wasteful each year with extremely finite resources, I feel that one small thing I can do is recommend this film to friends and family with the hope that it will impact them as well. I rate this film four out of five stars as the message that it is conveying to viewers is one that is often overlooked, when in reality it is so important that it deserves to gain recognition and momentum.
Sample #3:
I thought that the film was effective at communicating its subject. The movie achieves this, by showing the audience various first-hand perspectives of people who work for and within the fast fashion industry as well as expert opinions on the globalized system. Through the perspectives of workers in developing countries India, we can see the deterioration of those societies’ physical health (birth defects, disease, cancer), local environments, and mental health (farmer suicides). The problems were around the world, from developing countries to US soil. The film begins from the casual view of branding and fast fashion but quickly goes deeper into the problems directly linked to the industry. The alternating imagery of model shoots and luxury to poverty and environmental destruction emphasizes the contrast between what consumers see and the reality of the situation.
I think that the film’s audience is targeted toward casual viewers, since the documentary not only broadly highlights the macro issues of fast fashion and monopolizing and outsourcing of production, but delves into the lives of the people of developing countries who have to directly deal with the effects of capitalism. Having not known much about fast fashion and it’s negative effects before seeing this movie, I feel like it was very informative and brought up surprising things I never knew before.
At first, I thought that the film would be boring, but I actually found myself interested while watching it. My response was primarily intellectual at first, as I wondered how the production of my clothes is significant at all, but the tragic images from the Rana Plaza disaster and protests in Cambodia made me emotional. The film made me empathize with the victims of the collapse and riot brutality. I was also saddened by the Indian farmers spraying pesticide on their crops with no face masks or protection whatsoever. It made me think about all of the labels I usually do not give much thought into on my clothes, such as “Made in Vietnam,” China, India, Honduras, etc. The shirts may have been produced at incalculable externalities, even the blood of workers, human beings, in those countries.
I learned a lot about the fast fashion industry and how privileged consumers like me, take even our clothes for granted. I learned that this industry is second to the oil industry in emissions. I feel a bit more guilty about UNIQLO being my favorite place to shop for clothing now. The film changed my attitudes about which clothes to buy. I should be buying clothes for long-term use and spend more of my money on fashion brands that are more ethical and open about their production methods. After watching it, I feel pessimistic, because if such large industries have so much power and influence on human health and the well-being of our planet, there needs to be drastic institutional change, since capitalism is such a big part of modern society. I disagreed with Richard Wolff, as he was criticizing capitalism, but I do accept the fact that it essentially prioritizes profit over humanity.
If I were to rate the film, I would give it 4 stars out of 5. It is likely that I would recommend it to a friend, especially if they are into fashion like I am, or care about issues of environmental, social, or even political nature. It is very much worth at least knowing about the fashion industry and its influence on today’s world.
Sample Midterm Questions
1) What does Thoreau mean in Chapter 1 of Walden when he says, “We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate”?
A) Texas and Maine are ahead of all the other states in technological advancement
B) The magnetic telegraph is a very important invention
C) Progress/technological advancement made just for its own sake may turn out to be pointless
D) We should not construct the magnetic telegraph to quickly, or mistakes might be made in its design
E) Maine and Texas may have nothing interesting or important to say to each other
2) Today, CO2 in the atmosphere is roughly
A) 42 parts per million
B) 420 parts per million
C) 4,200 parts per million
D) 42,000 parts per million
E) 420,000 parts per million
3) According to Ken’s real-time lecture, what is “confirmation bias”?
A) The act of deliberately sabotaging scientific experiments to prevent the discovery of certain facts/evidence
B) The act of denying all scientific facts no matter how much evidence supports them
C) The belief that scientists are aligned with the government and seek to manipulate the population of the world
D) The argument that only scientifically supported facts should count during critical debates
E) The act of only acknowledging opinions and facts that align with one’s prior beliefs
4) Please answer one of these two questions depending on the film that you watched.
Option #1: if you watched the primary film, Before the Flood, answer this question:
When Leonardo DiCaprio visits Indonesia, what is the reason for the rampant deforestation there?
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- A) To clear land to plant trees to produce palm oil
- B) To clear land to raise soybeans for cattle
- C) To clear land for pasture for cattle
- D) To clear land for housing developments
- E) To clear land to raise corn for cattle
Option #2: if you watched the alternate film, An Inconvenient Sequel, answer this:
Al Gore notes that, in addition to personally giving talks about the climate crisis, he also…?
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- A) Created the “Gore Challenge” for most innovative scientific work on the climate crisis
- B) Created the “Gore Challenge” for K-12 students
- C) Created a program to teach other people the skills needed to communicate the climate crisis
- D) Created the “Gore Challenge” for climate documentaries
- E) None of these