ENVIRON M164
Environmental Politics and Governance
Description: (Same as Urban Planning M160.) Lecture, three hours. Environmental planning is more than simply finding problems and fixing them. Each policy must be negotiated and implemented within multiple, complex systems of governance. Institutions and politics matter deeply. Overview of how environmental governance works in practice and how it might be improved. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2020 - I took this class online over summer during A session. The class was broken down in the following manner during my term: 20%- Attendance/Short Summaries: You had the option of 1-watching the recorded lectures and writing a short summary about the material, or 2- tuning in to the live lectures. Very easy points. Lectures in general were very fast-paced. Garrison uses slides, which help outline his expanded talking points. 30%- Short Response Papers: There were two 3-page papers, so 15% of the grade each. They were each about a current environmental issue of your choice that related to course concepts. I found it helpful to talk to Garrison about the topics chosen. I also made sure to pick topics that had strong connections to particular legal/policy issues, as it is a governance/politics class. There were three student examples provided. Garrison would also send your papers back to you with commentary after grading, which was super helpful! 40%- Final Policy Memo: This was maximum 6 pages. You could pick a topic/issue of your choice, as well as an administrative body that it is addressed to. It required a decent amount of background research to complete. This was the first policy memo that I ever had to write, but Garrison provided an outline of what he expected, as well as a number of resources for additional assistance. There were also three student examples from previous terms to look at. 10%- Final Presentation: Ranged from 3-5 minutes and covered the issue discussed in the policy memo. It required a powerpoint or some kind of visual aid. This was submitted as a video, so it was pre-recorded. I did mine on zoom, and did multiple takes to get the one I finally submitted. You could choose to have the pre-recorded video presented on the last day of class or not. Textbook: This class had a required text and a reader. I found the textbook extremely easy to read and understand, despite the somewhat-dense material. The two short-response papers required you to cite the class texts, so they were mandatory to have, despite no quizzes/tests on the material. Overall, I feel like the readings complimented the class well and deepened my understanding of the historical context, but took quite a bit of time in comparison to their utility. Professor: Garrison is not an easy grader but not terribly hard either. I feel that he really appreciates in-depth research, so I think it's worth it to spend a bit more time really understanding the legal/environmental contexts of issues when writing about them. Garrison would also provide commentary on your papers and send them back to you, which was super nice. Outside of his grading, I found Garrison to be very approachable and helpful. You could ask questions in class, and he was always receptive to them. You can tell he's very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter. He was also very accommodating during office hours/making time to meet with students. Overall: This was an organized class that was honestly quite enjoyable and engaging, but not the easiest on campus. I never felt terribly stressed in this course, and also felt like I learned something every lecture that was worth my time. I would highly recommend this course if you are remotely interested in the history of the American political system regarding environmental issues.
Summer 2020 - I took this class online over summer during A session. The class was broken down in the following manner during my term: 20%- Attendance/Short Summaries: You had the option of 1-watching the recorded lectures and writing a short summary about the material, or 2- tuning in to the live lectures. Very easy points. Lectures in general were very fast-paced. Garrison uses slides, which help outline his expanded talking points. 30%- Short Response Papers: There were two 3-page papers, so 15% of the grade each. They were each about a current environmental issue of your choice that related to course concepts. I found it helpful to talk to Garrison about the topics chosen. I also made sure to pick topics that had strong connections to particular legal/policy issues, as it is a governance/politics class. There were three student examples provided. Garrison would also send your papers back to you with commentary after grading, which was super helpful! 40%- Final Policy Memo: This was maximum 6 pages. You could pick a topic/issue of your choice, as well as an administrative body that it is addressed to. It required a decent amount of background research to complete. This was the first policy memo that I ever had to write, but Garrison provided an outline of what he expected, as well as a number of resources for additional assistance. There were also three student examples from previous terms to look at. 10%- Final Presentation: Ranged from 3-5 minutes and covered the issue discussed in the policy memo. It required a powerpoint or some kind of visual aid. This was submitted as a video, so it was pre-recorded. I did mine on zoom, and did multiple takes to get the one I finally submitted. You could choose to have the pre-recorded video presented on the last day of class or not. Textbook: This class had a required text and a reader. I found the textbook extremely easy to read and understand, despite the somewhat-dense material. The two short-response papers required you to cite the class texts, so they were mandatory to have, despite no quizzes/tests on the material. Overall, I feel like the readings complimented the class well and deepened my understanding of the historical context, but took quite a bit of time in comparison to their utility. Professor: Garrison is not an easy grader but not terribly hard either. I feel that he really appreciates in-depth research, so I think it's worth it to spend a bit more time really understanding the legal/environmental contexts of issues when writing about them. Garrison would also provide commentary on your papers and send them back to you, which was super nice. Outside of his grading, I found Garrison to be very approachable and helpful. You could ask questions in class, and he was always receptive to them. You can tell he's very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter. He was also very accommodating during office hours/making time to meet with students. Overall: This was an organized class that was honestly quite enjoyable and engaging, but not the easiest on campus. I never felt terribly stressed in this course, and also felt like I learned something every lecture that was worth my time. I would highly recommend this course if you are remotely interested in the history of the American political system regarding environmental issues.
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Most Helpful Review
Course Taken: Environmental M164 - Environmental Politics and Governance Pincetl was a pretty good professor, although the class gets very tiring since it meets for 3 hrs, once a week. People got bored in lecture a lot, but I found her notes very well-organized, structured, and eloquent. She doesn't post much online, only some readings. So, if you want notes, you have to go to class and take them yourself. The class was composed of: 2 quizzes, 1 paper, and 1 take-home final. The quizzes were easy, if you did the readings. It's open notes, open book during the quizzes. The paper was graded very leniently. We just had to go to an environmental agency hearing and write a reflection on that. The take-home final was way harder than anything she gave, but it was a fair take-home final. It was long compared to the rest of the stuff we did in class, but pretty typical compared to other upper division classes. I learned quite a bit in class, and it was surprisingly interesting.
Course Taken: Environmental M164 - Environmental Politics and Governance Pincetl was a pretty good professor, although the class gets very tiring since it meets for 3 hrs, once a week. People got bored in lecture a lot, but I found her notes very well-organized, structured, and eloquent. She doesn't post much online, only some readings. So, if you want notes, you have to go to class and take them yourself. The class was composed of: 2 quizzes, 1 paper, and 1 take-home final. The quizzes were easy, if you did the readings. It's open notes, open book during the quizzes. The paper was graded very leniently. We just had to go to an environmental agency hearing and write a reflection on that. The take-home final was way harder than anything she gave, but it was a fair take-home final. It was long compared to the rest of the stuff we did in class, but pretty typical compared to other upper division classes. I learned quite a bit in class, and it was surprisingly interesting.
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