SPRING 2009 SYLLABI

ENVIRONMENTAL CAREERS. ENVMT 1. # 23727 1.O UNIT
Spring ‘09 SYLLABUS
Environmental Center, Self Reliant House
INSTRUCTOR: ROBIN FREEMAN 510-434-3840, robinf5713@aol.com

Recommended texts (not required): The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers. Island Press; and What Color is Your Parachute?, 10 Speed Press

Course Requirements:
Environmental Careers is a required core course for Environmental Studies majors. It may be taken for 1) a letter grade (required of majors or for transfer grade point average), 2) for Credit (no grade, gives transfer elective units), or
3) No Credit (does not affect transcript). For those taking a letter grade, you will participate in grading yourself.

1) Course attendance, 2) a minimum of 4 hours volunteer work for any environment related organization or firm, 3) an Informational Interview or Research Report on an environmental career are required for a letter grade. There will be brief evaluations of the interview and volunteer/intern projects (see due dates). An Environmental Career Portfolio will be developed during the course.

Your volunteer work can be for the Environmental Program at Merritt or at a location of your choosing which willing to have you for a short period of time.
Some organizations would rather have you for at least a full day. Of course, you are welcome to put in more than four hours. You should choose work that is interesting to you and fits into your career development. There will be listings available in class or on line, the Ecology Center on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley and numerous government agencies.

Learning Outcomes: You will be able to research and survey environmental job or entrepreneurial opportunities, prioritize your choices and make and execute a plan to work in that career pathway.

SCHEDULE:
Jan 26, 6:30-9:30 pm - Introduction to the course, Class Introduction Interviews
Feb 2, 6:30-9:30 pm - Preference Profiles, Environ. Careers Slide presentation
Feb 8 - Sunday, 10am – 4pm Bring bag lunch, 5 Year Plan, Strategy A and B,
Resume, History of Work,. To accommodate religious services, you may attend the afternoon only.
Break time for Interviews and Mini-internship
March 2, 6:30-9:30pm Reports on interviews/internships due, discussion/task,
March 9, 6:30-9:30pm Reports continued, discussion, evaluation.



Introduction to Green Building and Ecological Design
SYLLABUS
Spring 2009 ENVMT 20 # 25427 3.0 units
Bruce Douglas P.E, lbdpe@sbcglobal.net Robin Freeman M.A. 510.434.3840 robinf5713@aol.com,, Leslie Geathers, BArch. nativearch@sbcglobal.net
Please subscribe to the course email list: GreenBuildingDesign-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to receive announcements, and see related materials. Also, some information will be posted on Robin Freeman’s Classes at www.ecomerritt.org under links. See Environmental Jobs at the same site.

Texts:
Introduction to Green Building, Freeman, Geathers, Douglas et al. $15 CD $2
Sustainable Architecture White Papers, Brown et al. approx. $17 Builder’s Booksource

January 15 through February 19: Thursdays, 7-9:20 pm
5 Sat/Sun, 9:00am-noon, 12:30-5:30pm (1/17,24,25,31;2/1)
Optional Lab ENVMT 50 Thur. 5pm – 7pm #23734 1.0 unit and TBA

1. Thursday, Jan 15: (Freeman, Geathers, Douglas) Program, Course Introduction. Class introductions, What does Green mean to you? Ecosystem function. Assignment: Systems Input-output map. Read Chapters 1,2 in Intro. To Green Building

2. Saturday, Jan 17: 9am (Freeman, Geathers) Dress for walking. Bring food for a community lunch. Greenhouse construction & mtls list. Ecosystem and Watersheds walk; Biomimcry at the Environmental Center, Working Groups;. Sustainable Architecture Overview. Visit Shorebird Nature Center
Assignment: Home Site Analysis; Read Intro. To Green Building Chapters 3,4; Read Sections. 1&2 in White Papers and write a brief paragraph or 2 about how what you read affects you personally; your own thoughts; you don’t need to describe the content.

3. Thursday, Jan 22: (Freeman) , Imagination, Design, and Thriving Human Communities; Discuss input/output/systems.
Assignment: Input/Output/Systems due. Read Intro. To Green Building Chapters 7 and 9

4. Saturday, Jan 24: (Geathers, Freeman) Bring Community Lunch Design Determinants and Architectural Program for Environmental Center Self Reliant House. Greenhouse Construction Details. Hand out project –Design Basics, Review Home Site Analysis. Assignment: Home Site Analysis Due. White Papers: Paragraph due and read Sections 3 and 4 and write your response; due Jan. 31 – Intro. To Green Building Chapters 5,6,8,10

5.Sunday, Jan 25: (Douglas) Bring Community Lunch Solar site mapping, building monitoring, Energy, Energy Conservation ,Passive Solar, Resources use.
.
6.Thursday, Jan 29 : (Freeman) Green Building Materials; Availability, Design and Choice, Natural Building, Regenerative Design, Universal Design, Permaculture Design, Ecological Design – in class design exercise
Assignment: Final Project group work

7. Saturday, Jan 31: (Douglas) Bring Community Lunch Building Monitoring, Water capture, conservation, re-use systems. Greenhouse roof water systems installation. Guest/field TBA (Rana Creek/Eco-House)
Assignment: See Sunday below – water filtration systems

8. Sunday, Feb 1: (Geathers, Freeman) Bring Community Lunch Greenhouse roof water systems installation. Review Bubble Diagrams, Site project assessment and programming . Guest/field TBA (Rana Creek/Eco-House)
Assignment: White Papers Paragraphs due and read Sections 5 and 6; think of how concepts relate to the final project. Research roof water and greywater filtration systems for final project specifications – cost, availability, type, reviews

9. Thursday, Feb 5: (Geathers) Design project review and graphics in class
Assignment: Final Project group work. Guest TBA (Rana Creek)

10. Thursday, Feb 12: (Freeman) LEED, Building Performance Checklists, Permits. Group project work.
Assignment: Final Project group work

11. Thursday, Feb 19: (Douglas,Freeman, Geathers) Presentations and Pot-luck Presentations Due

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Course Requirements for a letter grade (Non-credit also available on line): You will grade yourself based on completion of the assignments, reading, attendance, participation and final presentation. This course is required for the Green Building and Energy Management major.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: You will be able to use architectural, construction and green building terms to approach and analyze design and construction projects and to put them into personal, site, local, regional and global context.


100% recycled paper


ENVMT 50 SPECIAL PROJECTS IN ECOLOGICAL DESIGN, INSTALLATION AND MAINTANENCE
# 23733 & 34; 0.5 to 3.0 Variable Units
SPRING 2009 SYLLABUS
Robin Freeman; robinf5712@aol.com; msg 510-434-3840 Environmental Center SRH cell 510-213-3569

January 26, Monday 1:30 First general class meeting. Students select projects; tour the Environ. Center if new to program. Special project schedules to be arranged. (18 hours per unit – ie 0.5 unit = 9 hrs). Discuss relationship to ENVMT 501. 7 Mondays at this time through April 6 unless re-scheduled to fit projects; some of which are noted below.

January – Feb. 19, Thursdays 5:00 – 7:00 pm Green Building Lab. This replaces ENVMT 20L for majors this semester and can continue beyond the concurrent ENVMT 20 course. Students may also schedule additional hours.

March 24 – May 5, Tuesdays 12:30 pm – 3:30pm – Baywood Learning Center students join us 1pm – 2:30 only (Baywood is up long drive with Cedar trees and Community Church sign off Campus Drive just uphill from Munk School) Trail design, installation and maintenance with Baywood K-8 students. Provides lab for Ranger Naturalist Outdoor Education and Environmental Restoration majors as well as field elective for other majors.

April 24 Friday 8am – 6pm Sustainable Peralta Conference; including preparation time as arranged (see above)

Fundraising Workshop(s) – To be scheduled

Environmental Center SRH workdays – Landscape restoration, Urban Farming, Green Building, Materials and data organization - To be scheduled

The Land and The People Student Green Club – To be scheduled

Student Designed Projects - This is always an important part of this course. Use our faculty and resources to support your selection and design of a project of your choice.

Learning Outcome: You will be able to select, plan, and execute green related projects utilizing available resources.

Requirements: Written Agreement describing your project and either written evaluation report or oral presentation.



URBAN ECOLOGY SYLLABUS
SPRING 2009
ENVMT 10 #24957 2 units
D R A F T 1

TEAM: Robin Freeman MA, David Ralston PhD
Contact: Robin Freeman, 510-434-3840, robinf5713@aol.com – cell for field 510.915-1452; David Ralston, Dralston@oaklandnet.com

9 Tuesdays 6:30 – 8:30pm; 4 Saturdays 10am – 2:45pm (locations TBA)
TEXT: Select readings from list to review; Oakland Task Force Memo & Addenda

1.January 20 – Freeman and Ralston
• Introduction to ENVMT program and welcome
• Introductions
o Name
o How did you find out about the class
o Do you have any environmental or planning experience?
• Discussion
o What does Urban Ecology mean to you
o What do you hope to learn in the class; i.e. what should be covered?
o What do you hope will happen during the Obama Administration?
o Ecology history
• Overview of course & Assignments
• Assignments
o Reading: Search books from the list – due 2/27
o Make a preliminary list of which Urban Ecology issues interest you most & why; due 2/27
o Attend a public decision making meeting and evaluate; reports begin 2/17

2.January 27 – Freeman
5,000 years of the City in the Ecosystem; Sustainability Ecology, and Human Behavior-Culture
Discussion:
Assignment Due: List of interests; Book search- reading TBA
Obama/Dellums Oakland Task Force Memo & Addenda reader; write a brief paragraph or 2 how any or all of it would affect you – due 2/17

3. February 3 – Ralston
Ecological Concepts And Their Application To The City; Mapping Layers Of Data and Ecologies
Discussion
Assignment Due: Reading report; Write second draft of Urban Ecology issue actions/interests/goals

4.February 7 (Saturday) Freeman: 10 am Meet at the Environmental Center–
Watershed hike on Lion Creek . Dress for walking and bring lunch and water. Sacred places: Temescal Creek at Bay Street, Emeryville
5. February 10 Ralston
Mapping Narratives Of Place – A River Runs Through It - Water
Discussion
Assignment: Draft Plan topics,
Readings: Report and new assignment

6. February 17 – Freeman, Ralston
Urban Ecological Topography – Introduction to Mapping layers of place – East Bay Focus; class participates in giving hope a plan in the "Green Corridor" , green jobs and Healthy Cities, neighborhood centers on creek greenways
• Environmental Justice, Agriculture, Solid Waste. Energy in transport & Green Building as pollution and green/conservation as employment opportunity , ,
Assignments: Reading of Oakland Task Force completed – Paragraph due
Public meeting reports begin; choose final topic/work group/action plan

7. February 21 (Saturday) – Freeman, Ralston; Field meeting location TBA
Green Corridor: Food, Air, Shelter, Culture (Gill Tract, Strawberry Canyon, Albany Village, Richmond shoreline, other…)
Possible Guest

8. February 24 -
Urban Ecological Topography – Mapping continued /Work groups
Assignment: Book report, Project lousy first draft contents due
Action Planning Begins
Public Meeting Reports continue

9. February 28 (Saturday) - Field meeting location TBA
Green Corridor: Food , Air, Shelter, Culture (Gill Tract, Strawberry Canyon, Albany Village, Richmond shoreline, other…)
Possible Guest
Project work groups

10. March 3 –
Debrief and discussion on field visits, project work groups working session
-In-class mock up of mapping of Green Corridor visits
Assignment: Public meeting report/Project work

11. March 7 (Saturday) – Field meeting location TBA
Green Corridor: Food , Air, Shelter, Culture (Gill Tract, Strawberry Canyon, Albany Village, Richmond shoreline, other…)
Possible Guest
Mapping in class lab/ project work

12. March 10 - From Understanding to Assessments to Application. Urban Ecological Goals for Planning/Policy Mapping, vision and Giving Hope a Practical Plan
Working Session

13. March 17 – Pot Luck Group Presentations of urban ecological plan for our area, and Evaluations,

Extra Credit and Community Service:
You are encouraged to continue work on any project you learn about during the course, Help with the East Bay Green Corridor and/or Green Jobs. Help organize a Sustainable Site Ecological Design Development Projection for Merritt “Surplus Land” parking lot B. Work with any creek or watershed organization, community garden or food security project.

Course Requirements & Learning Outcomes:
Urban Ecology may be taken for a letter grade or Credit/No Credit. It is required and must be taken for a letter grade for a Certificate or Degree. For Credit, 75% attendance and participation is required. For a letter grade, minimum 75% attendance, class participation, assignments, and a Final Project are required. You will evaluate yourself (and the course) as a major part of assigning your grade. Outcome: You will be able to identify and describe urban sustainability issues and opportunities, prepare a draft plan to address one, and take the first steps to implement and evaluate it.

Final Project:
This is either a written report or a hands-on activity, or both. Choose a project or site from the course and propose how you will either work directly on that area, or how you will research or analyze some aspect of one of the study sites from the point of view of an “Infrastructure or Mapping Project”. These are due the last meeting of the class. Detailed instructions will be developed by the class as Action Planning.

Suggested Readings:
1. Merritt College Watershed Center, CD
2. The Country in the City, Walker
3. Oakland, a Sustainable City, Durst
4. Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities
5. anything by Louis Mumford
6. Illich, Ivan. H20 and the Waters of Forgetfulness
7. Hawkins, Paul. The Ecology of Commerce, and other works
8. Brechin, Gray. Imperial San Francisco
9. Taylor, Shelley. The Tending Instinct
10. Urban Habitat publications including Race, Poverty, and the Environment, Pacific Institute Project report (both these organizations are in Oakland)
11. Beatley, Manning. The Ecology of Place: Planning for Environment, Economy, and Community.
12. Raynar Banham, Architecture of the four ecologies
13. George Perkins Marsh, 1847, Man and Nature
14. Ernest Callenbach, Ecotopia
15. From Chicago to LA: making Sense of Urban Theory, ed Dear 2002 (see chapter by Lura Pulido, “Urban Nature and the Nature of Urbanism”
16. Mike Davis, Ecology of Fear
17. Reading past histories of Oakland
18. Topophilia, Yi-Fu Tuan
19. Aesthetic Appreciation and Surface Phenomena, Tuan
20. Ann Buttimer, Dynamics of the Lifeworld
21. Brower, Progress As If Survival Mattered




ENVMT 501 SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS IN THE COMMUNITY
# 23735 & 36; 0 Units
SPRING 2009 SYLLABUS
Robin Freeman; robinf5712@aol.com; msg 510-434-3840 Environmental Center SRH cell 510-213-3569

Friday, January 17 12 - 5 First general class meeting. Students select projects; tour the Environ. Center if new to program. Special project schedules to be arranged to fit projects; some of which are noted below. Discuss relationship to ENVMT 50.

1. Community Service hours for ENVMT 1, ENVMT 10, ENVMT 20, ENVMT 50, ENVMT 210 A and B

2. Trail design, installation and maintenance on campus and Lion Creek. Provides community service for Ranger Naturalist Outdoor Education and Environmental Restoration Watershed Management majors as well as field elective for other majors.

3. Sustainable Peralta Conference; including preparation time.

4. Fundraising

5. Environmental Center SRH– Landscape restoration, Urban Farming, Green Building, Materials and data organization

6. The Land and The People Student Green Club

7. Student Designed Projects - Use our faculty and resources to support your selection and design of a community project of your choice.

Learning Outcome: You will be able to select, plan, and execute green community service projects utilizing available resources.

Requirements: This is a non-graded, 0 unit, no cost Community Service course. It is required for Community Service hours for ENVMT 1, ENVMT 10, ENVMT 20, ENVMT 50, ENVMT 210 A and B