GEOG 147
Environmental Politics and Policy
Description: Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 5. Covers some of major recent debates within fields of environmental studies and environmental geography. Definition of key terms and exploration of history and evolution of environmental policymaking, with focus mainly on U.S. Focus on current hot topics in field including Anthropocene, clean energy transitions, and Green New Deal. Students delve deeper into topic of interest by working with group to put together final presentation. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - I took Social Geog in winter 2023 but it was labelled as GEOG 140, so I think they changed the class number. Goodwin-White was such an amazing and very sweet professor-- and she is extremely knowledgeable about the topics. I thought the class would be less about injustice and inequality, but that is the main focus of the course. The textbook is absolutely necessary to perform well on the tests, though it was boring at times. Her tests are like 5 multiple choice and then a few long and short essay questions. She allows a cheat sheet so I literally wrote in MINUSCULE print and nearly broke my hand the night before exams. Her essay questions are often specific and require you to write about specific instances or examples, so the cheat sheet is a life-saver. We also have to write a short review about research articles, create our own research proposal In the social geog field, and also read articles she provides (that are on the exams). The class focuses extensively on the US and the UK for some reason -- sometimes too Canada and AUS/NZ. A manageable and sometimes interesting upper div -- made much better by Goodwin-White's charm.
Winter 2023 - I took Social Geog in winter 2023 but it was labelled as GEOG 140, so I think they changed the class number. Goodwin-White was such an amazing and very sweet professor-- and she is extremely knowledgeable about the topics. I thought the class would be less about injustice and inequality, but that is the main focus of the course. The textbook is absolutely necessary to perform well on the tests, though it was boring at times. Her tests are like 5 multiple choice and then a few long and short essay questions. She allows a cheat sheet so I literally wrote in MINUSCULE print and nearly broke my hand the night before exams. Her essay questions are often specific and require you to write about specific instances or examples, so the cheat sheet is a life-saver. We also have to write a short review about research articles, create our own research proposal In the social geog field, and also read articles she provides (that are on the exams). The class focuses extensively on the US and the UK for some reason -- sometimes too Canada and AUS/NZ. A manageable and sometimes interesting upper div -- made much better by Goodwin-White's charm.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - Yall do not take a class with this professor. I actually took GEOG 146 (originally with Juan Herrera), however, Illes took over the class a couple of days before the start of the quarter. She completely changed the content of the class and made lectures asynchronous. I've taken another class with this professor--so have a few of my friends--and she usually makes her classes asynchronous (out of laziness). Her workload is a lot and offers no help or sympathy. On the first day of class, she made it known that this class would be challenging as most students taking this course were seniors. She is not helpful if you have questions over email and gets offended that you even had questions to ask. During pivotal moments through the quarter (the attack on the Palestinian encampment), she made it known that the midterm scores that week were unexpectedly low but she didn't care. Her tests are weirdly hard and challenging as she takes small details in each lecture to put in the exams. During week 7, she randomly let us know that we'd have a final even though she mentioned on the first day of class that there would most likely not be one. This class was originally meant to be fun and interesting but because she hates joy, she wanted to ruin it for everyone.
Spring 2024 - Yall do not take a class with this professor. I actually took GEOG 146 (originally with Juan Herrera), however, Illes took over the class a couple of days before the start of the quarter. She completely changed the content of the class and made lectures asynchronous. I've taken another class with this professor--so have a few of my friends--and she usually makes her classes asynchronous (out of laziness). Her workload is a lot and offers no help or sympathy. On the first day of class, she made it known that this class would be challenging as most students taking this course were seniors. She is not helpful if you have questions over email and gets offended that you even had questions to ask. During pivotal moments through the quarter (the attack on the Palestinian encampment), she made it known that the midterm scores that week were unexpectedly low but she didn't care. Her tests are weirdly hard and challenging as she takes small details in each lecture to put in the exams. During week 7, she randomly let us know that we'd have a final even though she mentioned on the first day of class that there would most likely not be one. This class was originally meant to be fun and interesting but because she hates joy, she wanted to ruin it for everyone.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - this class suffered greatly from a lack of cohesion. if your course isn’t going to be assigning weekly work, you need to be excessively clear about what you’re trying to teach. this professor was the opposite. while goodwin-white appears to care about student outcomes, she chooses to simply bombard students with questions - “where, why, how, who, for what reason” - without ever providing an answer for these things. while i understand that she wants students to think critically about these topics, often it feels like she’s just spouting nonsense to fill lecture time. the textbook was alright, but she focused heavily on outside academic articles, which often had little defining connection between them. we spent far too much time going over little things and far to little time going over big things, which sucks because social geography is a big topic. this class could be great if given a unifying theme and better lectures. the exams and assignments were fair, but overall i’ll be leaving this class less interested in the topic than before.
Winter 2023 - this class suffered greatly from a lack of cohesion. if your course isn’t going to be assigning weekly work, you need to be excessively clear about what you’re trying to teach. this professor was the opposite. while goodwin-white appears to care about student outcomes, she chooses to simply bombard students with questions - “where, why, how, who, for what reason” - without ever providing an answer for these things. while i understand that she wants students to think critically about these topics, often it feels like she’s just spouting nonsense to fill lecture time. the textbook was alright, but she focused heavily on outside academic articles, which often had little defining connection between them. we spent far too much time going over little things and far to little time going over big things, which sucks because social geography is a big topic. this class could be great if given a unifying theme and better lectures. the exams and assignments were fair, but overall i’ll be leaving this class less interested in the topic than before.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - Professor Kay is the best! She is an extremely kind, caring, and intelligent professor, and this class was engaging and a well-designed introduction to the intersection of policy, politics, geography, and the environment. This class fundamentally changed my career ambitions for the better. There is an open-ended group project at the end of the quarter, and 5 or 6 written/recorded responses to prompts due at the end of some weeks, based on the readings (which are really really good!). The workload is very manageable, and the material is super interesting. I highly recommend this course as a an upper-div geography elective or to students who need more upper-div credits in general.
Spring 2024 - Professor Kay is the best! She is an extremely kind, caring, and intelligent professor, and this class was engaging and a well-designed introduction to the intersection of policy, politics, geography, and the environment. This class fundamentally changed my career ambitions for the better. There is an open-ended group project at the end of the quarter, and 5 or 6 written/recorded responses to prompts due at the end of some weeks, based on the readings (which are really really good!). The workload is very manageable, and the material is super interesting. I highly recommend this course as a an upper-div geography elective or to students who need more upper-div credits in general.
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