ENST499Q

This is a special travel-study course on ecological design in the American southwest desert. The course will meet once per week during Spring Semester until Spring Break when a field trip will take place to Arizona. During the field trip students will visit a variety of sites and learn first-hand about issues of ecological design. These sites will include Biosphere 2 and Arcosanti, where the student group will be lodging during the trip. The course will include lectures and readings on ecological design covered before and during the field trip. Students also will be expected to carry out directed research as part of the course. The subject matter of the course will span a time frame from pre-Hispanic, native American cultures, highlighted by visits to archeological sites, through to visions what ecological design might become in the future (Arcosanti and Biosphere 2). Matching humans to the with available and appropriate technologies will be the main theme of the course.