Welcome to Class and the Environment  First Year Seminar, Fall 2010. This is the first course of this nature at Middlebury.  I’m teaching it because I’m interested in investigating how issues pertaining to capitalism, the environment and class intersect.  I have no agenda, other than inquiry; that is, my only goal is to collaborate with you in developing the relevant questions that get at this complex intersection.

It is true, however, that if you’re an African American, it’s more likely that you’ll live next to a sanitation dump, a power station and have to deal with problems of poor air and water; it is more likely that you’ll also suffer from health problems — asthma, for instance.  Therefore it is not surprising or even illogical to surmise that placing poor and helpless people that may lack wealth and therefore political power next to environmentally dangerous is systematic.  For instance, one of the largest and most compelling wind turbine projects is proposed for the ocean off the coast of Cape Cod.  This project has met resistance in courts, lead by the Kennedys and the Duponts.  The primary argument the Kennedys and the Duponts have put forth is that the turbines will ruin the natural beauty of the view.  There is something, then, to how we develop our infrastructure and class.

The course could have been longer, of course; however, I tried to select material that is theoretical and contemporary. It’s a difficult subject because it’s evolving faster than we can think about it.  Nevertheless, I’ve tried to provide you with enough materials to ensure you get a wide sense of the ideas and tensions that exist when we speak about class and the environment.

Given the nature of the material, its ongoing change, I’ve made the call to have you write one piece, that you will revise weekly, but that gives you ample creative room to tell your story and simultaneously engage the materials in the course.

This section of the course, the Blog, is just that, a blog.  This page is open to each of you.  What I expect, as part of my assessment of you, is that you use this space to place ideas, materials, anything at all you consider or run into after class; it is a place to continue talking about ideas we’ve raised in class, and it’s a place for you to give us resources you find in materials that haven’t been included in the course.  For instance, in A Glimpse of the Future, columnist Bob Herbert, of the New York Times, tells us that, “President Obama made an appearance in Florida last week that should have gotten more attention. At a time when many Americans are apprehensive about the state of the economy and uncertain about the nation’s long-term prospects, Mr. Obama delivered an upbeat speech that offered a glimpse of a broader overall vision and a practical way forward on the crucial issues of energy and jobs.” Unfortunately, this positive vision received little to no coverage; there was no excitement, leaving Herbert — and his readers — wondering where the American public may be in terms of new development along green lines.

Notice that I provide a resource, a quote, properly cited on the web or for web use, and a statement.  I’ll end it with a question: what, indeed, do you think is going on with the American public? Apathy? The issues to complex?  Is the public overwhelmed by wars, the economy and simply survival to consider such future-looking and complex ideas?

This is the use of this section.  Hopefully, then, others in the class would discuss this one idea and see where it takes us.

Please feel free to add your “welcome”!