LAR-783P The Ecology of the Commons
3 Credits
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LAR-783P-01
Monday
9:30 am â 12:20 pm
Higgins Hall South, 008
This course examines the ecology of the commons today and through history. The term commons refers to a local landscape that is jointly managed by the people who inhabit, share and preserve it. When it works well, a commons is the model of integral ecology: providing resources sustainably, while prospering the landscape and enlivening those who dwell in it. Students will examine the commons, rural and urban, as ecological, social and economic spaces that include forests, fields, fishing, water, streets, growing and pasturing. By examining a current, select commons across time or imagining a new one and its future, each student will learn about the character, legal framework and long-term management of the landscape from an ecological perspective. On the commons, we do not so much save the land as the land saves us.