ACADEMIC COURSES AT MONMOUTH COLLEGE
INTG 203: FOOD
A study of food as a key to unlocking cultures and a lens for comparing different societies. This course will show how human nutrition has been produced, marketed, and consumed as a series of cultural, political, and economic products.
INTG 204: THE ENVIRONMENT
A study of global environmental issues such as human population growth, resource consumption, and environmental alterations. Through the context of environmental problems students will develop an understanding of the planet’s interconnectedness.
HON 210: CORN
The agricultural revolution that marked the transition of some humans from huntergatherer
to agricultural lifestyles is one of the most profound in the history of our species. This course will explore relationships between humans and plants by using corn as a model system. Topics will include: the history of grasses; New World cornbased cultures; prairie ecology; conventional and organic farming; genetic engineering; bioethics; and ecological economics. Labs will include field trips to local museums, farms, and facilities involved in corn and meat production.
HON 210: GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
The Earth System includes the interactions between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, and lithosphere. Additionally, these interactions occur across a spectrum of time scales, from days to millennia. As humans continue to alter the Earth, we will need an understanding of how the Earth’s physical, chemical, and biological systems interact. What were the driving factors responsible for past climate change, and what role will they play in our future? How do we predict the effects of human actions on the Earth System? In this course, we will take an interdisciplinary view of the changes to the Earth to understand past, present and future climate changes and their environmental consequences.
HON 210: THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
Rivers are not merely moving bodies of water: They build, nurture, and destroy environments, and, by extension, cultures and civilizations. Metaphorical and literal journeys along, and crossings of rivers figure prominently in stories of many cultures. Mythology, poetry, literature, art, religion, philosophy, and the sciences would all be much poorer without the inspiration provided by rivers. The course will begin with a description of the geophysical forces that formed the Mississippi River and how these in turn have affected its use by humans in the pre-Columbian, colonial, and modern eras. The River has also inspired many explorers, writers, artists, and musicians whose works we will examine. It connects the Midwest to other parts of the country and world via intentional commerce and transport of goods and ideas. It also connects through less intentional side effects of fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide application. Flood control and navigational improvement efforts have led to many alterations of the river’s flow with consequences for species diversity and ecosystem stability. A broad array of readings and field trips to local museums and the river itself will be part
PHIL 310: ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
(Cross-listed as RELG 310) An examination of ecological problems caused by human activities and possible solutions, starting with a rethinking of the relationship between human beings and nature. From different perspectives the course will investigate various interrelated issues ranging from ethical to metaphysical, including: Do we have an obligation to natural objects? If there should be an environmental ethic, what kind of ethic should it be? Students will have opportunities to develop and express their own views on these issues. This course is intended primarily for students in their sophomore, junior, and senior years.
INTG 317: FOOD FOR THOUGHT
One of the central metaphors for food in our culture is “fuel”, however, it may also be “communion” in the broadest sense. This course will explore some essential issues of food including its spiritual dimensions, health implications, family farming and agribusiness, fast food, slow food, and local food, animal and human rights, and genetically modified organisms. To quote Wendell Berry: “How we eat determines to a considerable extent how the world is used.” As we live in a largely agricultural area, we will start locally and gradually extend to more global perspectives.
INTG 402: GREEN INITIATIVES
This course will focus on defining and proposing a solution to a specific, local campus or community environmental problem. The end product of the course will be a concrete, detailed proposal for action submitted to appropriate authorities that is based on research and discussion with all stakeholders. The majority of our work will be collaborative and intensive; every member of the course will be expected to produce and contribute significantly to the final product which will ultimately be a catalyst of for measurable progress in solving an environmental problem.
INTG 414: LAND, FOOD, AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
This course locates citizenship among human relationships to land, food, and agriculture. According to what agricultural standards do we appropriately describe our society as failing or flourishing? What might it mean to imagine ourselves as stewards of the land, for posterity’s sake? These questions invite comparison of modern industrial and “sustainable” (organic) agricultural practices, and consideration of the relationship between cultural values and methods of food production.
