GEOG 147
Environmental Politics and Policy
Description: Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 5. Covers some of major recent debates within fields of environmental studies and environmental geography. Definition of key terms and exploration of history and evolution of environmental policymaking, with focus mainly on U.S. Focus on current hot topics in field including Anthropocene, clean energy transitions, and Green New Deal. Students delve deeper into topic of interest by working with group to put together final presentation. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
AD
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - I took Social Geog in winter 2023 but it was labelled as GEOG 140, so I think they changed the class number. Goodwin-White was such an amazing and very sweet professor-- and she is extremely knowledgeable about the topics. I thought the class would be less about injustice and inequality, but that is the main focus of the course. The textbook is absolutely necessary to perform well on the tests, though it was boring at times. Her tests are like 5 multiple choice and then a few long and short essay questions. She allows a cheat sheet so I literally wrote in MINUSCULE print and nearly broke my hand the night before exams. Her essay questions are often specific and require you to write about specific instances or examples, so the cheat sheet is a life-saver. We also have to write a short review about research articles, create our own research proposal In the social geog field, and also read articles she provides (that are on the exams). The class focuses extensively on the US and the UK for some reason -- sometimes too Canada and AUS/NZ. A manageable and sometimes interesting upper div -- made much better by Goodwin-White's charm.
Winter 2023 - I took Social Geog in winter 2023 but it was labelled as GEOG 140, so I think they changed the class number. Goodwin-White was such an amazing and very sweet professor-- and she is extremely knowledgeable about the topics. I thought the class would be less about injustice and inequality, but that is the main focus of the course. The textbook is absolutely necessary to perform well on the tests, though it was boring at times. Her tests are like 5 multiple choice and then a few long and short essay questions. She allows a cheat sheet so I literally wrote in MINUSCULE print and nearly broke my hand the night before exams. Her essay questions are often specific and require you to write about specific instances or examples, so the cheat sheet is a life-saver. We also have to write a short review about research articles, create our own research proposal In the social geog field, and also read articles she provides (that are on the exams). The class focuses extensively on the US and the UK for some reason -- sometimes too Canada and AUS/NZ. A manageable and sometimes interesting upper div -- made much better by Goodwin-White's charm.
Most Helpful Review
Professor Illes is my favorite professor at UCLA. She is very knowledgable, and more than willing to help you. Ive taken 5 of her classes and they never disappoint. Her readings are not a waste of time, her teaching style is entertaining, and her tests are fair. There are never any trick questions or anything like that. Advice: Go to office hours! Not only is she hilarious, but she's great at reteaching for you if you don't quite understand the material. HIGHLY RECOMMEND
Professor Illes is my favorite professor at UCLA. She is very knowledgable, and more than willing to help you. Ive taken 5 of her classes and they never disappoint. Her readings are not a waste of time, her teaching style is entertaining, and her tests are fair. There are never any trick questions or anything like that. Advice: Go to office hours! Not only is she hilarious, but she's great at reteaching for you if you don't quite understand the material. HIGHLY RECOMMEND
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - this class suffered greatly from a lack of cohesion. if your course isn’t going to be assigning weekly work, you need to be excessively clear about what you’re trying to teach. this professor was the opposite. while goodwin-white appears to care about student outcomes, she chooses to simply bombard students with questions - “where, why, how, who, for what reason” - without ever providing an answer for these things. while i understand that she wants students to think critically about these topics, often it feels like she’s just spouting nonsense to fill lecture time. the textbook was alright, but she focused heavily on outside academic articles, which often had little defining connection between them. we spent far too much time going over little things and far to little time going over big things, which sucks because social geography is a big topic. this class could be great if given a unifying theme and better lectures. the exams and assignments were fair, but overall i’ll be leaving this class less interested in the topic than before.
Winter 2023 - this class suffered greatly from a lack of cohesion. if your course isn’t going to be assigning weekly work, you need to be excessively clear about what you’re trying to teach. this professor was the opposite. while goodwin-white appears to care about student outcomes, she chooses to simply bombard students with questions - “where, why, how, who, for what reason” - without ever providing an answer for these things. while i understand that she wants students to think critically about these topics, often it feels like she’s just spouting nonsense to fill lecture time. the textbook was alright, but she focused heavily on outside academic articles, which often had little defining connection between them. we spent far too much time going over little things and far to little time going over big things, which sucks because social geography is a big topic. this class could be great if given a unifying theme and better lectures. the exams and assignments were fair, but overall i’ll be leaving this class less interested in the topic than before.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2023 - Professor Kay is one of the sweetest professors in the geography department. It was an enjoyable experience to have her as my professor. The topics and readings were interesting; we explored many facets of environmental policies. However, the first few weeks were very theoretical, which may be challenging to understand. After the shifts to explore deeper issues, I immensely enjoyed the readings and the class. There were six reading reflections, weekly reading quizzes, lecture attendance, and a final group project with a presentation. During my quarter, the reading reflections varied by week in either video recordings or writings. The project took a lot of time and workload, but you will get to explore the topics of interest, and they suggested you present in a more creative way instead of doing a simple slide presentation, which may require more time and effort. Nevertheless, I personally think this is a good elective for a geography major, and getting to know Professor Kay is worthwhile.
Spring 2023 - Professor Kay is one of the sweetest professors in the geography department. It was an enjoyable experience to have her as my professor. The topics and readings were interesting; we explored many facets of environmental policies. However, the first few weeks were very theoretical, which may be challenging to understand. After the shifts to explore deeper issues, I immensely enjoyed the readings and the class. There were six reading reflections, weekly reading quizzes, lecture attendance, and a final group project with a presentation. During my quarter, the reading reflections varied by week in either video recordings or writings. The project took a lot of time and workload, but you will get to explore the topics of interest, and they suggested you present in a more creative way instead of doing a simple slide presentation, which may require more time and effort. Nevertheless, I personally think this is a good elective for a geography major, and getting to know Professor Kay is worthwhile.