Leadership 333
Leaders in Environmental Activism
Syllabus
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OBJECTIVES: In this class, we will learn enough environmental science to allow us to discuss environmental problems intelligently. We will learn enough about leadership as a scholarly discipline to allow us to look for styles of leadership in environmental groups. We will focus especially on the role of the individual in making environmental decisions. We will examine environmental activist groups to see if their agenda and leadership are effective given that group's environmental focus and goals. Finally, we will look at the roles of science and technology in creating and solving environmental problems.
PHILOSOPHY: This course scrutinizes the intersection of several disciplines:
I. Environmental Science. Human beings, unlike many other organisms, can modify the environment to suit their own needs. Unfortunately, these modifications may impede the proper function of those ecosystems, and, in the process of modifying an ecosystem, there are often corollary effects that may even surpass the primary effect and which may be detrimental not just to other organisms in the ecosystem but to humans themselves. For instance, building a house for protection from the elements in itself will cause only a token displacement of a few organisms. However, the act of building a city, with its vast demands for forest products, energy, food, and the transportation infrastructure needed to supply these commodities, can cause ecosystem damage on a regional scale. Multiply these cities to house the world population of humans and the global ecosystem is at risk. Other species may degrade their habitats and make them unsuitable; they then move on. No other species has ever had the capability to degrade ecosystems on a planetary scale, and no other species has the awareness to do this consciously. We can see, study, and predict the consequences of our actions.
II. Leadership. Aggregations of humans form naturally, as humans are a social species that gathers to divide labor and provide for the survival of all. In order for these groups to function, there must be leadership of some sort. This may be as simple as a group of four seeing the need to transport fallen game back to the settlement and each picking it up by a leg; or as complex as modern nation-states reaching global trade consensus. At each level of society, the decision to do or not to do something will have environmental repercussions. Sometimes these repercussions are anticipated and the relative trade-offs can be taken into account; sometimes decisions are made without knowledge or consideration of the ultimate environmental effects. Quite often, environmental effects of a decision will not appear immediately, and the weight of environmental factors in the decision making depends on the vision and time-scale of the decision-makers, i.e. the leaders. Leadership theory often makes a distinction between transactional leaders - those who lead by rewarding and punishing their followers in order to get the followers to do as the leaders wish, and transformational leaders - those who lead by infusing the followers with a shared common vision. If this distinction is valid, we might expect environmentally conscious leaders to be of the latter type. Is this true? Is it true, as many (well, at least Dave Foreman) would charge, that large environmental groups today are in fact led by transactional leaders without vision (Foreman, of course, would not use those terms; his are earthier, no pun intended). And what about the followers in all this? In a society largely governed by subtle economic rules, don't we vote for environmental damage with our pocketbooks? Have we become a nation of schizophrenics driving our gas-guzzlers to the voting booths to vote for an "environmental president"? Is environmental activism a class-restricted phenomenon?
III. Science, Technology, and Society. From fire to nuclear power, tools (technology) have allowed humans to alter their environment. Science allows us to discover the laws of nature by which the world operates and exploit these laws to our own ends by creating technology. Technological tools increase the ability of scientists to examine the world and make new discoveries. Society fosters science and technology by allowing its practitioners the time and resources needed to make advancements. Each advancement, in turn, allows society to spend less time and effort on the basic needs (food, shelter) and more on science and technology (and the arts); and with more resources, science and technology proceed even faster. All of the hillsides around Marietta were bare of trees 100 years ago, and thousands of people and animals populated the hillsides to provide the food for the relatively small town. Of course, much of the food produced went to the animals used to plow the fields and bring the food to market. With the coming of the internal combustion engine, the working animals could be replaced, and the farmers whose grain and forage fed them could move into town and work in the factories or go to college. At each stage, the conveniences brought on by technology have been accepted (often with some initial resistance) by society, and society is constantly demanding more convenience from science and technology. Is this an example of a positive feedback loop, which escalates out of control, in this case with disastrous environmental impacts? Or, view it another way. The hillsides around Marietta were once bare of trees in order to feed the population and their animals. Technology has allowed fewer farmers to feed more people with less land. Hasn't technology allowed the forests to regrow? Can't science and technology be the saviors of the environment?
IV. A word on disciplines. Being at an intersection is not easy - there is much to look out for. This class will be demanding in that way. Of all the sciences, environmental science is the hardest, because it is so complex. Of all the social sciences, leadership is among the hardest because it is so complex. It is no accident that both of these 'disciplines' have come into being relatively recently; they are hard and humans are natural procrastinators. Like first-year students putting off a paper, the human species has put off study of these crucial topics for too long.
If this class is to work, we will all have to bring our best to it. Leadership students will have to help others unacquainted with the field to grasp its concepts; likewise, science students can help others understand how ecosystems work. Students in other areas will also be in a position to make unique contributions at various times. With luck and hard work, we will all break out of our disciplinary ruts to some extent this semester.
About your instructor
First, I view myself more as a facilitator than an instructor. The knowledge I have could be passed on to you in a few lectures. The questions we will grapple with are far vaster. I will give a few lectures, but this is your class. You will teach yourselves and each other.
Since I teach ecology, and have in fact been trained as a community ecologist, I feel comfortable discussing environmental problems. A community ecologist is sort of a natural systems analyst, so I am also comfortable with other complicated systems, such as political or economic systems.
Leadership is another issue. I can honestly say I began to study leadership in my early teens in the Boy Scouts. Our troop had an exceptional scoutmaster and we took leadership seriously enough that any reasonably introspective person could see how we were learning and practicing leadership. In college, I was active (unofficially) in residence hall and student governance. I also formed and led a student club. In graduate school, I was a volunteer coordinator at a church with over 6,000 members; I was responsible for getting several hundred of them together every weekend to carry out the various ministries associated with 5 weekend services. I learned much about the practice of leadership from these experiences.
Since coming to Marietta College, I have had the opportunity to read, participate in workshops, and attend conferences on leadership. Like many of you, I came to Marietta with a view of leadership largely influenced by the somewhat inaccurate picture of leadership as portrayed by John Wayne and others in our media. Of course, we all know that leadership is not "done" exclusively by charismatic white men, but the images stick. From what I have read, the emerging consensus - the paradigm - of leadership on our campus is close to the prevailing paradigm in the academic leadership community. Still, I won't completely renounce my roots. As a student of history, particularly military history, I frequently find an anti-military bias among academicians, and I think leadership studies have all too often set up military leadership as a straw man to be torn down by "modern theories". This simplistic view of military leadership misses its heart. The old cavalry motto "the horse, the saddle, the man" was a reminder that every trooper's first duty was to his mount, then to his equipment, then to himself; and an officer (leader) was responsible for seeing that each of his men (sorry about the sexism, but that was then) carried out these tasks and was in good shape before attending to his own needs. Is this servant leadership or what? And this was in the "bad old days" at that.
I put in this digression to make a point - there is no one single view of leadership that can encompass so vast a topic. This class is a chance to expand and revise your view. Scramble about for a better picture from a different vantage point. Examine the theoretical ground you stand on. Be sure it is firm. Remember that a mountain can have several peaks, equally lofty and solid, each with its own magnificent view. It's worth the effort to explore each of them, and never hesitate to let others know about the view from your lookout.
A final note. I won't pretend that the presentation of environmental issues in this class will be balanced. I am going to throw a lot of pretty wild ideas at you and leave it to you to decide among them.
About the Students
The students in this class are a special breed. They have chosen this course because it sounded interesting, and because they have an interest in environmental issues. They have many points of view, ranging from rabid pro-business, chainsaw-owning tree cutters to pro-environment, spike-wielding tree-huggers. The respect any point of view based on fact, and realize that a person is more than their opinion on one or two issues. They work hard, reading all assignments and doing their share of group work.
Tentative Schedule
Week Day Date Topic
1 T Aug. 22 Introduction
1 Th Aug. 24 Discussion - Group-Building
2 T Aug. 29 Project Planning
2 Th Aug. 31 Population Growth
3 T Sept. 5 Discussion - Ethics of The Monkey-Wrench Gang
3 Th Sept. 7 Biogeochemical cycles - Water Cycle, Mineral Cycles
4 T Sept. 12 Photosynthesis/Respiration
4 Th Sept. 14 Invited Speaker
5 T Sept. 19 Trophic Levels
5 Th Sept. 21 Discussion - What Price Anarchy? Hayduke Lives
6 T Sept. 26 Pollutants/Biomagnification
6 Th Sept. 28 Invited Speaker
7 T Oct. 3 Global Warming/Ozone Destruction
7 Th Oct. 5 Test
8 T Oct. 10 Fall Break
8 Th Oct. 12 Discussion - The nature of compromise: Encounters with
the Archdruid
9 T Oct. 17 Leadership: Star Trek Leadership
9 Th Oct. 19 Invited Speaker
10 T Oct. 24 Leadership 1 - Favorite Models
10 Th Oct. 26 Leadership 2 - Favorite Models
STS Papers Due!!!
11 T Oct. 31 Invited Speaker - Steve Schwartz
11 Th Nov. 2 Discussion - Where is the Center? Confessions of an
Eco-warrior.
12 T Nov. 7 Group 1
12 Th Nov. 9 Group 2
13 T Nov. 14 Group 3
13 Th Nov. 16 Group 4
14 T Nov. 21 Thanksgiving
14 Th Nov. 23 Thanksgiving
15 T Nov. 28 Discussion - Ideas From Another Culture The Burning
Season
Project Papers Due! - Service-Learning Papers Due!
15 Th Nov. 30 Group 5
16 T Dec. 5 Group 6
16 Th Dec. 7 Discussion - Summary
Policies
Instructor: Dr. Dave McShaffrey Office: Bartlett 306
Phone: 376-4743
Texts:
1. The Monkeywrench Gang and
2. Hayduke Lives by Edward Abbey.
3. Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee
4. Confessions of an Eco-warrior by Dave Foreman
5. The Burning Season by Andrew Revkin
You may want to purchase the text for Biology 101 as a
source of background information.
Attendance: You are expected to attend all class meetings. Absences will likely affect your grade, either directly or indirectly.
Note on late assignments: Assignments are normally due at the beginning of class on the date indicated. As a courtesy, I will extend the deadline to 5:30 p.m. of the same day if and only if you attend all of your classes that day. I will not tolerate skipping class to finish an assignment. A late penalty will be assessed to all late papers; such penalty will range from 5 to 100% of the grade, at my discretion. If unforeseen circumstances (death in the family, illness, etc.) will cause you to miss a deadline, you must inform me in advance, and provide me at that time with paper or electronic copies of the work done to date. The electronic age has provided new and creative excuses for not finishing assignments; I note that these gremlins strike only on the night before an assignment is due, and they are not justification for failure to complete an assignment which should have been essentially completed at least 2 weeks earlier. If such gremlins do strike, I will allow a 24 hour period to correct them without penalty, if and only if you submit, on time, a recent copy of the essentially completed work. It is your responsibility to maintain multiple backups of all critical work.
As a further inducement to keep things on track, I reserve the right to request, on 24 hours notice, copies of any assignments in progress at any point during the semester. Failure to submit evidence of reasonable progress may result in a late penalty being assessed.
Grading:
Scale:
Presentation - 10% 90-100= A
Paper - 40% 80-89 = B
Exam - 20% 70-79 = C
STS Paper - 20% 60-69 = D
Participation - 10% 00-60 = F
Exams: One exam on environmental issues; make-up by prior arrangement or legitimate excuse such as your own death or illness.
Project: The class will be divided into 6 teams of 3-4 students. Each team will choose an environmental group or leader for study. The team will develop information on the environmental problem, mission, leadership, leadership styles, goals, members, scope, finances, methods, etc. This information will be presented in a formal presentation before the class.
Paper: Each team will write a 15-20 page paper summarizing what they learned about the group or individual they studied. The paper will have the following 4 sections:
1. History (biography) of the group (leader) including the group's (leader's) mission.
2. Technical discussion of the environmental issue(s) addressed
3. Options for dealing with the problem and appropriateness of the response used by the group or individual.
4. Discussion of the types of leadership employed and their appropriateness and effectiveness.
The paper will be appropriately researched, with supporting citations as needed. A literature cited section must be attached; appendices are optional. Each student must write a section of the paper; the author of each section must be clearly identified.
These papers will be due November 28. See the note above regarding late assignments. Some groups will not have given their presentations at that date; their papers will still be due on November 28.
STS Paper: Each individual will write a referenced 10-15 page paper on the impact of science and technology on an environmental issue of their choice. These papers will be due October 26.
Option: Service learning. As a substitute for the paper, each individual may work at least 16 hours with an environmental group, agency, or corporation. The student will then write a 5-10 page paper examining their experience. The due date for students choosing this option is November 28. The group may be the same one under study for the project; more than one student may work for the same group or agency.