Outdoor Studies Courses

Semester specific course descriptions

100. Outdoor Studies Core Course.
This course is a multidisciplinary introduction to the study of how humans conceive, interact with and are influenced by the natural world as individuals and as members of a cultural community. We will study this intersection of nature and culture through focused readings in natural history, philosophy, history and literature, as well as films and popular media, and through critical as well as creative writing assignments. To link experiences in the outdoors with  academic inquiry, students will be required to participate in a variety of outdoor activities that can be analyzed through critical reflection.

101. Modern Outdoor Recreation Ethics.
By means of study, experience and reflection, this half-unit lecture and required lab course attempts to foster a personal environmental ethic as well as knowledge about environmentally sensitive recreation in the outdoors. Course content will focus on historical and present-day philosophies and practices of outdoor pursuits including backcountry travel, canoeing, climbing, first aid and expedition planning. The course requires five overnight field trips to practice the material covered in the classroom.

201. Natural History of the Adirondacks.
Offered as part of the Adirondack Semester. This field-oriented course emphasizes the natural history, ecology, geology, geography and climate of the Adirondacks. Primary emphasis is on the taxonomy, life histories, local adaptations and uses of Adirondack flora and fauna. Basic ecological concepts such as succession, competition, energy flow, food webs and nutrient cycles are studied by means of field trips and field studies. Study may also be made of stars, seasons and the movement of principal parts of the solar system as they apply to the Adirondacks. Students will learn how to record observational data as well as how to conduct an experiment.

202. Creative Expressions of Nature.
Offered as part of the Adirondack Semester. This course looks at our interaction with the natural world through an individual and artistic eye. We will consider the purpose of art in general through a look at the genre of nature writing, nature journaling, papermaking, sketching, poetry and artistic representation. This course will allow students to try their hand at various modes of artistic expression and mine their own experiences in the outdoors for raw material, to explore the intersection of self and the natural world, that internal landscape where the “eye” and the “I” meet. Through a series of focused reading and creative writing assignments, sketching exercises, creative workshops and a gallery visit, students will be encouraged to slow down, observe and reflect on the personal relationship they have with the natural world.

203. Land Use Change in the Adirondacks.
Using the Adirondacks as a case study, this course examines current activities in land planning and the importance of historical context. Study of Adirondack history begins with sixteenth-century verbal and visual information from early European explorers and Native Americans. Considerable emphasis is then placed on use of the Adirondacks for industrial and recreational purposes during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The course highlights formation of the State Forest Preserve and the Adirondack Park, and regulations governing private land use. Study of the present utilizes political theory such as internal colonization and core-periphery. Concepts in land planning are defined, including notions of sustainability, footprint analysis and various approaches for policy-making. To understand application of such ideas, the course employs local examples through discussion and field trips. Assigned reading is from a basic text in planning and several writings specifically on the Adirondacks.

304. Philosophy of the Environment.
Offered as part of the Adirondack Semester. Our current environmental problems are due primarily to the total volume of human consumption. This course focuses on the problem of high consumption in developed countries and possible solutions for it. Is this high consumption necessary for our happiness, or could we be just as happy while doing less damage to the natural world? If we could, as many environmentalists argue, why do so few of us live as though we truly believe that? Is it possible to consume less, either as individuals or as a society? What kinds of changes are feasible in society to reduce our damage to the natural world? The course offers a theory of happiness intended to make it possible to answer these questions. Also offered as Environmental Studies 310 and Philosophy 310.