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This course will reach a large and diverse number of students on the Clemson University campus, with initial offerings directed at graduate and undergraduate students of community development and resource-management.  The program chairs of Policy Studies (PO ST) and Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management (PRTM) have tentatively agreed to offer the course in the next year, and the Chairman from Environmental Science and Policy (ENSP), Dr. Alan Elzerman, has indicated that he would support this course with the department’s program curriculum committee.  The suggested Departments and levels for this course are:  PRTM 4XX / 6XX, ENSP 4XX / 6XX, PO ST 6XX.

Course Description:   The 1990s marked a period of significant economic growth, and American society’s indulgence is obvious.  We applaud as the Gross National Product skyrockets.  We openly profess our faith in the Gods of Technology as we witness miracles and strange works. Forgotten or repressed are thoughts of the fuel shortages of the 1970s, as we “let the good times roll” from behind the wheel of Lincoln Navigators and Ford Expeditions.  These trends are deeply rooted in American culture, and they are alarming.  According to Arnold Toynbee, a civilization showing “true growth” will emphasize development of a sense of community, the strengthening its democratic processes, the development of a capacity for compassion, and the development of its culture.  This compels us to reinforce principles other than the GNP model for living, where more is understood as inherently better.  Sustainability necessitates contemplation of one’s role in the greater complex of life, an understanding of the relationship between humankind and other life, and the development of environmental and civic responsibility.  The content of this course is designed to provide students with a basis for addressing this dilemma found in cosmologies of nature and philosophy, leisure theory, environmental philosophy and science, and models of democracy and civil society.

Approach to the Course:   This course involves a weaving of diverse concepts, and consists of five primary sections.

I. The Nature of “Nature:”  We will spend considerable time exploring our understanding and experience of “nature” by examining cosmologies of nature.  This section will address classical, late renaissance / Gothic, and modern explanations of nature, along with associated social and cultural philosophies and paradigms.

II. Leisure:  The Social Good:  The manner in which we consume leisure and spend time will be examined.  Topics will include social movements emphasizing increased discretionary time, American reactions to these movements, the influence of technology on social change, amusement and entertainment, and the relationship between classical leisure as the “contemplative life” and civic responsibility. 

III. Issues in Environmental Science:  This section will focus on principles of ecology and tradeoffs between simple and cultural carrying capacity.  Topics will include anthropogenic changes to ecosystems, population dynamics, and issues of resource competition within a “commons.”

IV. Prosperity:   The origins and expressions of the “American Dream,” and the implications of this cornerstone of American culture, will be examined in this section.  Emphases will be placed on both historical and anticipated future contexts as they relate to American patterns of consumption.  Optimization strategies, precautionary principles, and mini-max models will be discussed.

V. Civil Society:   The final section of the course will introduce a broad discussion of American social and political culture, emphasizing the essential role of civic engagement in determining acceptable and sustainable balances between social, economic and environmental concerns.  Topics will include rights and responsibilities within a democracy, the value of civil society, historical and modern expressions of civil society, and the relationship between the social functions of contemplative leisure, civic responsibility, and environmental sustainability. 

Section 1 Readings

Cosmologies:

Classicism: http://www.aquinasonline.com/Topics/substacc.html
    http://www.aquinasonline.com/Topics/change.html
    http://www.aquinasonline.com/Topics/4causes.html
Late Renaissance / Gothic: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/newton-princ.html
Modern:   http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/KVC/over.htm
Romanticism:  A Secret Garden, A Far Off Place
Transcendentalism: Walden’s “Walking”--
    http://www2.cybernex.net/~rlenat/walking1.html
    http://www2.cybernex.net/~rlenat/walking2.html
    http://www2.cybernex.net/~rlenat/walking3.html
                         Emerson’s “Nature”-- http://www.jjnet.com/emerson/nature1.htm
                         Muir’s “American Forests”-- http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer
    -new2?id=MuiAmer.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/
    english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1

Hobbes-- http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Philosophy/Hobbes.htm
Locke- http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Philosophy/Locke.htm#Intro

Vonnegut, Kurt  Player Piano
Postman, Neil  Technopoly
Postman, Neil  Amusing Ourselves to Death
Film   XXXXXXX

PUTTING THE BITE ON PLANET EARTH:  Rapid Human Population Growth is Devouring Global Natural Resources http://www.dieoff.org/page120.htm
IMPACT OF POPULATION GROWTH ON FOOD SUPPLIES AND ENVIRONMENT http://www.dieoff.org/page57.htm
WORLD SCIENTISTS' WARNING TO HUMANITY http://www.dieoff.org/page8.htm
The Tragedy of the Commons http://www.dieoff.org/page95.htm
Population Politics http://www.dieoff.org/page58.htm
Cultural Carrying Capacity http://www.dieoff.org/page46.htm
Revisiting Carrying Capacity http://www.dieoff.org/page110.htm

The GDP Myth:  Why “Growth” Isn’t Always a Good Thing  http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/1999/9903.rowe.growth.html
Does Economic Growth Improve Human Morale? http://www.newdream.org/newsletter/myers.html
Conspicuous Consumption http://www.runet.edu/~lridener/courses/CONSPIC.HTML
Precautionary Principle http://www.dieoff.org/page31.htm
All-Consuming Passion:  Waking Up From the American Dream http://www.ecofuture.org/ecofuture/pk/pkar9506.html
American Attitudes about Materialism, Consumption and the Environment http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/consume/mer_5.html

The Activity of the Body Politic http://douglass.speech.nwu.edu/tocq_a97.html
The Sovereignty of the People http://douglass.speech.nwu.edu/tocq_a95.html
General Tendency of the Laws http://douglass.speech.nwu.edu/tocq_a96.html
Authority as Nurse of Freedom and the Common Good http://www.strom.clemson.edu/becker/prtm320/authority_common_good.html
Bowling Alone http://www.strom.clemson.edu/becker/prtm320/bowling_alone.html
American Burbs and Values (handout)
CIVIL SOCIETY: THEMES AND HISTORY--The Value of Civil Society http://www.puaf.umd.edu/civicrenewal/finalreport/value_of_civil_society.html
It’s Healing Time on Earthhttp://www.schumachersociety.org/frameset_publication.html

Thomas D. Potts
Strom Thurmond Institute
Clemson University

Syllabus and course is no longer available.

A final report by:

Dr. Lynne Rhodes

Assistant Professor

USC - Aiken

(803) 641-3571

Email:  lynner@aiken.sc.edu

 English 469:  Rhetoric of Science was taught in Fall 2000 at USC-Aiken.  The English Department at USCA has committed to offering English 469 every other Fall semester (even years).  The course description reads:  "An exploration of writing in the sciences with an overview of current rhetorical theory applicable to the sciences and a contemporary critique of scientific writing."   The targeted student audience for this course/module included students in humanities and the sciences.  As Leoplold (1949) noted, education has created groups who seem barely aware of the existence of each other.  This fusion of rhetorical study and science/environmental issues drew students from diverse majors:  several were interdisciplinary, with concentrations in English/communications, and some were from major fields such as biology, geology, meteorology and education.

As part of the course an environmental module was developed so as to be appropriate for use by other professors who wish to examine the rhetoric of science and the rhetoric of the environment.  The course/module should appeal to an interdisciplinary audience, and appropriate materials will be posted to the Starfish website.

The material covered in the course included an introduction to rhetorical discourse analysis, and applications of discourse analysis to landmark essays on the rhetoric of science.  The primary text for the course - in total - was a collection of case study essays entitled Landmark Essays on Rhetoric of Science (1997) published by Hermagoras Press.  A supplemental text for the module - in particular - is a similar collection of case study essays, also part of the Landmark Essays series, on Rhetoric and the Environment (1998).  The assignments that were particularly relevant to this course and module were assignment 3 (a rhetorical analysis with an environmental slant) and assignment 4 (a service learning project).  They collectivily worked as "theory" and "application" so that the students gained a rhetorical foundation for their own environmental projects.

Following are the assignments:

Assignment #1:  A summary essay (about 2 - 4 pages) comparing two views about rhetoric in science based on exploration of recent history and examination of first "landmark" essays (10% of final grade)

Assignment #2:  A series of short analytic exercises that explore the components of the research report; about 6 exercises to accompany several reading assignments over a four week period;  these can be completed collaboratively (30% of final grade).

Assignment #3:  A documented argumentative essay which will examine a particular rhetorical conflict between scientists or between the scientific community and the public.  Suitable topics will be drawn from readings from course texts (30% of final grade).

Assignment #4:  A "hands-on" service - learning project (which may be done collaboratively or individually) which will allow students to work with actual scientists and the public forum.  This will culminate in a rhetorical analysis (a report of about 4 pages) analyzing the rhetorical elements of language used during the project (20% of final grade).

Assignment #5:  A final take-home exam that reviews the major concepts of the course (10% of final grade).

Mary Taylor Haque, Professor, Department of Horticulture; Registered Landscape Architect 
             Campus Phone:   864-656-4958   Fax:  864-656-4960  Email:  mhaque@clemson.edu

Lolly Tai, Professor, Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture 
             Campus Phone:  864-656-3884    Fax:  864-656-7519  Email: tlolly@clemson.edu 

We communicated solutions regarding landscape design for energy efficiency through four media: web page development, poster displays, a printed book, and distance delivery (teleconference presentation scheduled for March 29, 2001).  Our target population included university students, faculty, and operations personnel and all the people of South Carolina who are involved in the residential sector of economic development, planning, building, and renovation. 

PUBLISHED BOOK
We printed 4,000 copies of a book entitled Landscape Design for Energy Efficiency.  It is aimed to educate college students in horticulture, planning, landscape architecture, and urban forestry and will serve a wide audience throughout the State. Landscape Design for Energy Efficiency contains information on the way energy is used in homes as well as strategic tree planting considerations and ways to incorporate these concepts for energy conservation.  The book promotes the use of native, non-invasive vegetation in landscape design.   With South Carolina’s astronomical growth rate, communities need to grow with a responsible stewardship approach and our future professionals (college students) need to learn how to achieve this goal.

We were awarded an external contract from the South Carolina Energy Office (SCEO) for $19,500 to help cover the development, layout, and printing cost of the book.  They are promoting the book and are distributing 1,200 free copies upon request.  We have also provided them with 1,200 copies of Xeriscape: Landscape Water conservation in the Southeast by John Kelly, Mary Haque, Deborah Shuping and Jeff Zahner, which is also being promoted and distributed free of charge.  An important facet of SCEO’s mission is to help residential users minimize utility bills while maintaining comfortable living conditions.  SCEO concentrates its efforts on educating residential builders, inspectors, and homeowners about building practices and behavioral changes that will lead to greater energy efficiency.  Traditionally, SCEO has focused on energy efficiency within the building envelope, but is now recognizing that landscaping can play an important role in reducing energy use.  In fact, the US Department of Energy estimates that a well-planned landscape design can help save residential energy users up to 50 percent on their energy bills in the summer.

The book has been integrated into the Clemson University curriculum in three different departments and is required reading in Professor Haque’s, Tai’s, and Ham’s classes.  We used service-learning pedagogy to involve students and faculty in writing and illustrating the book.  As a land-grant institution, Clemson University has a responsibility to develop and share information that will promote lasting change not only on our campus, but throughout the state of South Carolina.  Our partner on this grant, SCEO, is helping Clemson University market this information to South Carolinians through a variety of methods.  Residential consumers have access to the EnergyWise articles, which are distributed bi-weekly in 24 different newspapers in the State with a combined readership of 276,000.  They can also access this information by visiting SCEO’s Home Page  (www.state.sc.us/energy/residential/landscape.htm ), which attracts about 60,000 hits per year.  SCEO exhibits energy efficiency information in Home Shows, which are generally attended by about 60,000 people.  Public agencies and schools are learning about the guide through SCEO’s Energy Connection newsletter, which is mailed quarterly to approximately 2,000 people.  Thus, the impact of this project will contribute to lasting change at both the university level and statewide in the spirit of the land grant initiative.  All project partners including Clemson University, Sustainable Universities Initiative, South Carolina Forestry Commission, and SCEO are listed inside the cover of the guide and on the web page .

PUBLISHED ABSTRACT:
Holcombe, Veronda and Mary T. Haque. “Educating the Public about the Design and Implementation of Sustainable Landscapes for Low-income Communities.” Abstract. HortScience Vol. 35, Number 3, p. 510.  June 2000.

WEB PAGE DEVELOPMENT

To make this information immediately accessible for faculty, students, university administrators, and operations and to residential consumers, we packaged the information in a modular form, and SCEO has uploaded it onto their web site.  This modular guide is available in PDF format at the following address:

www.state.sc.us/energy/residential/landscape.htm

DISTANCE DELIVERY (TELECONFERENCING):
Sustainability will be the theme that will bring together students and faculty from Clemson University and Greenville Technical College.  Classes including Horticulture 308- Landscape Design, Horticulture 208- Landscape Appreciation, Landscape Architecture 551 and/or 451-Landscape Design Studio, Landscape Architecture 490 – Directed Studies in Landscape Architecture; Architecture Engineering Technology 221 and 231-architectural computer graphics and Construction Engineering Technology 254-construction senior project will participate in design, research, and/or teleconferencing.  Information about landscape design for energy efficiency will be shared with our partner institutions and the public through the web page and through the book.  SC Alliance 20/20 has provided $5,000 as partial funding for teleconferencing, which is now scheduled to cover landscape design for energy efficiency on March 29, 2001. 

PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS AND STUDENT AWARD:
Student advisee Veronda Holcombe won 1st Place in the Collegiate Branch Oral Competition for her paper entitled “Educating the Public about the Design and Implementation of Sustainable Landscapes for Low-income Communities” presented at the American Society for Horticultural Science 97th International Conference.  Orlando, Fla., July 24, 2000.

We developed a poster about the project and are finishing another power point presentation, which is scheduled to be presented at the SUI conference "Shaping the Ecology of a City" on March 26, 2001.  The poster will be presented by students and others at events such as earth day, arbor day, service-learning collaborative meetings, etc.