GEOG 130
Food and Environment
Description: (Formerly numbered 132.) Lecture, three hours. Designed for juniors/seniors. Thematic orientation to food systems and their role in environmental and cultural transformations. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2026 - This is my 2nd class with Dr. Bell, and it's the same as all his other classes. Basically, if you're a good writer, this class is so easy. First off, the workload is low: two quizzes in week 5 and week 10, a research topic proposal, and a final research paper. Attendance is not mandatory. The two quizzes are take-home on BruinLearn with 20 true/false questions based on the readings. You are given 40 minutes to do it within a 1-hour window (in this case, the quiz opened at 5pm and closed at 6pm), so definitely make sure you are available when it opens. The research topic proposal is 2 pages while the final research paper is 4-5 pages, so very manageable. You have the opportunity to research anything as long as it's related to food. It was really fun writing the paper since I got to pick a topic I liked! However, I will say the TA was strict on grading (although I heard Dr. Bell makes the TA grade very strictly, so it's not the TA's fault). I found the TA's feedback to be valuable, and the TA held multiple office hours to help with papers (although I did not go and was fine). Fortunately, since the TA was the same TA from the 1st class I took with Dr. Bell, I knew what to expect and ended up getting A's on both the proposal and final paper. The grading scheme of this class is amazing. 96-100% is an A+, 95-85 is an A, 84-80 is an A-, 79-76 is a B+, and so on. I ended with an A+. For me, this class was an easy A since I knew what to expect. If this is the first time taking a class with Dr. Bell, you definitely need to put in a good amount of effort for the papers. Thanks to the forgiving grading scheme, I wouldn't worry.
Spring 2026 - This is my 2nd class with Dr. Bell, and it's the same as all his other classes. Basically, if you're a good writer, this class is so easy. First off, the workload is low: two quizzes in week 5 and week 10, a research topic proposal, and a final research paper. Attendance is not mandatory. The two quizzes are take-home on BruinLearn with 20 true/false questions based on the readings. You are given 40 minutes to do it within a 1-hour window (in this case, the quiz opened at 5pm and closed at 6pm), so definitely make sure you are available when it opens. The research topic proposal is 2 pages while the final research paper is 4-5 pages, so very manageable. You have the opportunity to research anything as long as it's related to food. It was really fun writing the paper since I got to pick a topic I liked! However, I will say the TA was strict on grading (although I heard Dr. Bell makes the TA grade very strictly, so it's not the TA's fault). I found the TA's feedback to be valuable, and the TA held multiple office hours to help with papers (although I did not go and was fine). Fortunately, since the TA was the same TA from the 1st class I took with Dr. Bell, I knew what to expect and ended up getting A's on both the proposal and final paper. The grading scheme of this class is amazing. 96-100% is an A+, 95-85 is an A, 84-80 is an A-, 79-76 is a B+, and so on. I ended with an A+. For me, this class was an easy A since I knew what to expect. If this is the first time taking a class with Dr. Bell, you definitely need to put in a good amount of effort for the papers. Thanks to the forgiving grading scheme, I wouldn't worry.
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Thrower is great! He will teach you alot in a very short period of time, but you will retain the information. His lectures are really interesting and educational and you can tell he's passionate about what he's teaching. True, he expects alot of his students, but I really learned the material. If I had some easy professor who taught down to the class, I doubt I would have learned very much.
Professor Thrower is great! He will teach you alot in a very short period of time, but you will retain the information. His lectures are really interesting and educational and you can tell he's passionate about what he's teaching. True, he expects alot of his students, but I really learned the material. If I had some easy professor who taught down to the class, I doubt I would have learned very much.
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