This course focuses on an overview of concepts drawn from economics, business and environmental studies as they relate to linkages among market-based economies, the environment, natural resources, and human health and wellbeing.

Policy advocacy is the process of negotiating, mediating, and creating dialogue between grassroots and influential actors on public policy issues. One strategy of policy advocacy is the social movement. Social movements are organized efforts of large groups of people or organizations intended to create social change and influence policymakers, powerful industries, and institutions. In this course, students will gain an understanding of the powerful impacts of social movements and the intersection of scientific issues, public policy, corporate influence, and grassroots community efforts within the context of the oil and gas industry, particularly as they relate to the Rocky Mountain West. This course is supported by the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project.

This course will examine questions around education, policy, justice, and action in the context of environmentalism. Using a critical theory approach, we will unpack historical and contemporary environmental movements, critiquing and reimagining the traditional separation between “Mainstream Environmentalism” and Environmental Justice. 1 unit.