Each class works together on a collective project that addresses an issue of environmental concern in our own community. The Elon Community Garden was established by Dr. Rebecca Todd Peter's Environmental Ethics Class in the fall of 2006 to foster education, spirituality, service, community discussion and sustainability.”  

Here is a link to the garden webpage to also include on the site:

http://elongarden.googlepages.com/

COURSE PURPOSE & OBJECTIVES:

This course begins with the assumption that there is an environmental crisis. We will not spend a great deal of time trying to “prove” this in any systematic way. Rather, our time will be spent exploring two areas – the theoretical frameworks through which people approach the world and the environment and the concrete physical examples of how this crisis manifests itself in our world. These two elements – theory and praxis – will provide the methodological framework for examining environmental ethics.

Theory is important because we must understand the ideas behind the problems and the ideas that enable solutions. Praxis is important because theory in and of itself does not alter the destruction of the earth. We will be examining a variety of different worldviews and ideas about how to approach and understand the natural world. We will use these as windows into understanding how human relationship with the earth impacts human treatment of the natural world. This will serve as the foundation for developing critical skills for “doing ethics” in relation to the environmental crisis.

The structure of this course can best be described as “non-traditional.” We will be meeting frequently at the lodge for class and you will be required to make connections between the issues and ideas we are studying in class and your own life, both personally and collectively. You will be required to do both personal reflection and critical analysis of assigned readings.

By the end of this course students
should be able to:

• identify your own worldview and relationship with the natural world
• exhibit a critical understanding of the environmental crisis
• demonstrate familiarity with a variety of religious and philosophical approaches to the environment
• analyze a particular environmental problem and offer several responses