China's Environment: Power, Pollution and Hope

This course focuses on key environmental issues transforming Chinese landscapes and society. It introduces students to China’s geography and identifies contemporary environmental problems (including air, water and soil pollution, biodiversity loss, etc.) as well as their proposed solutions. Considering China’s recent history of rapid economic growth and stark socio-economic inequalities, a central objective of the course is to develop tools to effectively locate environmental issues within a broader political, social and economic context — a skill transposable to other geographical and environmental contexts. We will draw on scholarship from geography, anthropology, political science, and environmental science.