PSCI 3801
Environmental Politics
Environmental issues in contemporary political argument. Topics include: environmental movements and green parties, environmental ethics and animal rights, economic approaches to environmental management, the politics of sustainable development, and the international politics of the environment.
Topics
- contemporary political argument
Course catalogue
2026
Readings
- Canadian Ecopolitical History (Chapter 4 in Canadian Ecopolitics) Supplemental Reading: Andrée, Peter. 2011. ‘Civil society and the politics of GMO failures in Canada: A Neo-
- Rowe, J. K. (2016). Micropolitics and Collective Liberation: Mind/Body Practice and Left Social Movements. New Political Science, 38(2), 206–225. (available on course website)
- McMindfulness: how capitalism hijacked the Buddhist teaching of mindfulness. (Mary Hynes interviews Ronald Purser). 2019. CBC Radio (also available in audio from CBC’s Tapestry)
- operating outside of Canada? Presentation 5: Is economic growth compatible with environmental sustainability? Required Listening: Ecopolitics Podcast season 3, episode 3 (Confronting capitalism’s excesses: Between
- industry? Required Listening: Ecopolitics Podcast season 1, episodes 13 (Maple Leaf Foods) and 14 (Corporate Social Responsibility) Required Reading: People, Products and Planning (Chapter 5 in Canadian Ecopolitics)
Undated
Readings
- William Cronon, “A Place for Stories: Nature, History, and Narrative,” Journal of American History (March, 1992):1347-76
- James Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998): 1-52.
- Rosemary Ommer, “One Hundred Years of Fisheries Crises in Newfoundland,” Acadiensis 23:2 (Spring 1994): 5-20.
- Andrea Olive, The Canadian Environment in Political Context, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016): 77-98.
- Rex Weyler, Greenpeace: An Insider’s Account (London: Rodale, 2004): 55-90.
Prerequisites & course information
Prerequisite(s): third-year standing. Lectures three hours a week.