Earth Activism

Note from Instructor 2/17/21. This syllabus is still under construction, but much of the early content and major assignments are available. If you find there are materials or content that you feel you need that are not accessible to you in this moment, please let me know.

I will provide a short orienting video here before the course starts.

Course Description:

What does it mean to act on behalf of and with the earth? What or who is the earth? How are we in solidarity with the earth, our local ecosystems, and the earth’s inhabitants, human and other-than-human? How do our religious beliefs, theology, and spiritual practices nourish or confine our relationship with what we call earth? How do we understand biodiversity and reckon with grief over species, climate, land and the cultural losses that result from earth’s destruction? How do we turn concern and grief into just action and just transition to a new way of being and living in community?  In this course, we will consider these questions. We take into account our socially located individual and community identities, as well as examples from local to global eco-justice organizations and movements, to guide our study.

Course Objectives:

• To develop mutuality with the earth as a valid relational source of knowledge for the matter of activism for, on and with the earth
• To consider the economic, cultural, and emotional roots and consequences of the devastation of the earth on the entire earth community
• To excavate our religious/ethical thought structures in the service of transforming our relationship with the earth and all of its inhabitants
• To grasp the nature of biodiversity and biocultural diversity
• To learn about, analyze and reflect upon different modes of activism and advocacy in the context of real ecosystems
• To challenge ourselves to deeper relationships with human and other-than-human beings by acting for ecological justice

• Mourning Nature: Hope at The Heart of Ecological Loss & Grief. Ashlee Cunsolo & Karen Landman, eds. McGill Queens University Press, 2017. This book is available as an e-book through Primo at the University of Denver’s library.
• Seed Sovereignty, Food Security: Women in the Vanguard of the Fight Against GMOs and Corporate Agriculture. Vandana Shiva, ed. North Atlantic Books: 2016.

There will be many other texts and listening/viewing materials provided as links and files.

1) General Participation: 

1. Invest in the course by establishing a regular and respectful online presence;
2. Genuinely try to learn the concepts, principles, and material by reading and listening; collaborate in the spirit of learning critically and enthusiastically;
3. Participate in online discussions. Respect other students' preparation by being prepared, having read and watched the assigned materials carefully and thoughtfully;
4. Participate in Zoom meetings/synchronous check-ins;
5. Turn in all assignments in a timely fashion;
6. Communicate with the instructor when you anticipate being unable to participate in discussions, Zoom meetings, or turning in assignments in a timely manner.

2)  Discussion Forums:

This same information is posted under the link “Online Discussions.”

Every week, you must post your own original response to the discussion questions by Wednesday night at Midnight MST.

This course relies heavily on online discussions. This is where much of the collective aspect of the course “takes place.” Here we share ideas, ask questions, and deepen our understanding of course concepts. Every week, I will post numerous questions related to the weekly topics. By no means are you expected to answer all of questions I post. Respond to the ones that make you want to answer. What I really want you to do is to respond critically and personally to the course materials and one another. My expectation is that you will participate in all discussion threads as often and as well as you are able.

Every week, you must post your own original response to the discussion questions by Wednesday night at midnight MST. I encourage you to post your original responses earlier than that. Even if you are not ready to post your own original answers to the questions early in the week, I nonetheless encourage you to log in to the course website early on, read your classmates' posts that have posted early, and respond to them. Ideally, participation in online discussions should be completed within the week assigned. Each week, the discussions will start on Monday and last through Sunday night. This allows us all to focus on the same issues at the same time. Being present in an online format requires you to make your presence known. 

3) Weekly Earth (and others) Observations/Relations are a part of your Discussion posts. See here for how the Discussion post is framed Week One. I am asking you to report some of your observations and relationships with the earth and their inhabitants/relations as an ongoing commitment/action in your own earth activism, every week in the discussion post. This does not have to be some major report or of a particular quality or intensity or observation or relating. Something daily, "natural," routine, is fine.

4) Synchronous Check-Ins

There are three of these scheduled.

5) Completing Initial and Final Learning Agreements

See link on Self-Grading and Evaluation/Grading

6) Three Essays (Equinox Essay: BEGIN, May Day Essay: ACT, Solstice Summation: IMAGINE).

These are three personal and critical reflections on yourself and your practices related to the course materials. See separate guidelines for these essays.

 

As we all understand by now, Iliff assigns these times to us. I realize some of you may not be able to make these times, but do your best. You are responsbile for grading your own particpation. Please add your name below to the days you plan to attend. 

Please add your name below to the meeting slots you plan to attend by clicking "Edit" in the upper right-hand corner of the page, typing your name below the meeting day/time, and then don't forget to SAVE by clicking at the bottom of the page.

I will send you a Zoom link to each check-in through an announcement prior to the gathering.

FIRST Synchronous Check-In Tuesday, March 30 4:00-5:15PM MST

In the first Zoom meeting, we will introduce ourselves, including some of the ways you introduced yourselves to the instructor in your Equinox Essay. What is your relationship with the earth where you live and where you are from? What kind of relationship would you like to/did you initiate or deepen with the earth and your acting/activism with the earth community? In addition we will discuss your initial sense of the materials from the first weeks of the quarter. 

Add your Name and SAVE:
Julie Todd

 

SECOND Synchronous Check-In Tuesday, April 20 4:00-5:15PM MST

Add your Name and SAVE:
Julie Todd

 

THIRD Synchronous Check-In Tuesday May 11 4:00-5:15PM MST

Add your Name and SAVE:
Julie Todd

 

 

Especially if you have not taken a course with me before, please watch the following video to help you to understand my rationale for student self-evaluation and grading. (9:06). This is an older video that may make a few contextual course references that may not seem relevant, but the descriptive content stands. If you have taken a course before with me before, then you know what to do and why I do it this way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2Poh2T1DkU (Links to an external site.)

LEARNING AGREEMENT: I will provide written feedback on assignments, but all students will evaluate their own work in the course and assign themselves a grade. The learning agreement is an informal learning contract, a narrative description of your intentions for fulfilling all of the course requirements as they are delineated in the syllabus (see the course requirements page, and the actual written assignment links, for more detailed information on many of these items):

By reading the syllabus and course assignments, you should be able to reflect upon what you will do. Describe how you will evaluate what you have done in each of these areas by the end of the course.

I also encourage you to include in your learning contract personal challenge goals around being a student (time management, more insightful participation in online discussions) and reflecting upon what it means to be a person committed to earth activism and active relationship with the earth community, however you define that.

This document will essentially serve as a learning agreement between you and me, and with yourself. This learning contract can be as long or as short as you wish in order to communicate your intentions. You may not be completely sure of what you will do for all of your essays, but you can indicate where you are leaning. At the end of this narrative, please tell me what grade you intend to achieve.

By the last day of the quarter, and making reference to this first learning agreement, evaluate in writing how you think did in achieving your stated objectives and goals throughout the quarter, and whether or not you achieved the grade you anticipated. At the end of this reflection, you must give yourself a final grade.

As the instructor, I am responsible for assigning final grades. In almost all cases, I will assign the grade you give yourself. However, if you wildly overrate or underrate your work, we will enter into negotiations about the final grade.

Every week, you must post your own original response to the discussion questions by Wednesday night at Midnight MST.

This course relies heavily on online discussions. This is where much of the collective aspect of the course “takes place.” Here we share ideas, ask questions, and deepen our understanding of course concepts. Every week, I will post numerous questions related to the weekly topics. By no means are you expected to answer all of questions I post. Respond to the ones that make you want to answer. What I really want you to do is to respond critically and personally to the course materials and one another. My expectation is that you will participate in all discussion threads as often and as well as you are able.

Every week, you must post your own original response to the discussion questions by Wednesday night at midnight MST. I encourage you to post your original responses earlier than that. Even if you are not ready to post your own original answers to the questions early in the week, I nonetheless encourage you to log in to the course website early on, read your classmates' posts that have posted early, and respond to them. Ideally, participation in online discussions should be completed within the week assigned. Each week, the discussions will start on Monday and last through Sunday night. This allows us all to focus on the same issues at the same time. Being present in an online format requires you to make your presence known. 

• Each class week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday. I expect that you will communicate with me when you anticipate being unable to participate in discussions, Zoom Meetings, or turning in assignments in a timely manner..
• If either you missed something or need a refresher, any new or updated information on the class can be found in the Announcements section. Otherwise, all of the information on how to navigate the course is provided on the home page of the course, which includes links to all content in the syllabus. The end of the home page syllabus is a chronological list of items that are due. Except for the Zoom meetings, all of your assignments from weekly course materials, to Discussions, to more extensive writing assignments, should show up as due dates in your To-Do list for the course.
• Turn your notifications on.

Communications Policy: I will log on to the classroom most days. The discussion forum is generally the best place to ask most questions. If there is a question about class requirements or other questions that do not fit into a weekly discussion, I encourage you to use the internal Canvas communication system. If you need to contact me on an individual basis, please email me directly and I will try to reply within 24 hours. If you would like to arrange to communicate by Skype, Google, Zoom, or phone, please email me directly to set up an appointment.

If you need technical support for anything related to your laptop or device, how CANVAS works, how to do live video conferencing, you should contact the IT helpdesk at helpdesk@iliff.edu.

Degree Learning Goals: Please take some time to look over the Professional Degree Learning Goals (Links to an external site.) (MDiv, MASC, MAPSC) and the Academic Degree Learning Goals (Links to an external site.) (MTS, MA).

Incompletes:  If incompletes are allowed in this course, see the Master's Student Handbook (Links to an external site.) for Policies and Procedures.

Pass/Fail:  Masters students wishing to take the class pass/fail should discuss this with the instructor by the second class session.

Academic Integrity and Community Covenant:  All students are expected to abide by Iliff’s statement on Academic Integrity, as published in the Masters Student Handbook (Links to an external site.), or the Joint PhD Statement on Academic Honesty, as published in the Joint PhD Student Handbook (Links to an external site.), as appropriate.  All participants in this class are expected to be familiar with Iliff’s Community Covenant (Links to an external site.).

Core Values: As a community, Iliff strives to live by this set of Core Values (Links to an external site.).

Accommodations:  Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146. 

Writing Lab:  Grammar and organization are important for all written assignments.  Additional help is available from the Iliff Writing Lab (Links to an external site.), which is available for students of any level who need help beginning an assignment, organizing thoughts, or reviewing a final draft. 

Inclusive Language:  It is expected that all course participants will use inclusive language in speaking and writing, and will use terms that do not create barriers to classroom community. 

Julie Todd, Ph.D.

E-mail: jtodd@iliff.edu

John Wesley Iliff Senior Lecturer in Justice and Peace Studies

Dr. Julie Todd is a scholar-activist living in Lawrence, Massachusetts. She received her Ph.D. in 2012 from University of Denver-Iliff School of Theology Joint Program in Religious and Theological Studies. As John Wesley Iliff Senior Lecturer in Justice & Peace Studies, she teaches all of her courses in online and hybrid formats, and primarily teaches courses in the area of justice and peace. Her scholarship focuses on social change theory and praxis, violence and (non)violence, and matters of privilege, oppression and solidarity across axes of difference.

She is a published essayist and poet on matters of justice-seeking and the spiritual life. She is the author of three books:  a rewrite of her dissertation titled Struggling with (Non)violence, a book of her own personal writings called 50: thorns & blossoms, and Nothing About Us Without Us: LGBTQ Liberation & the United Methodist Church. All of these publications are available for purchase on her website (Links to an external site.). 

She is also a trained herbalist and aromatherapist, working with other creatives & healers in Lawrence, MA on collective healing projects. She is the owner of her own business called JustJulie (Links to an external site.).