Academics

With Denver’s position at the edge of the Rockies and the Great Plains, students in the Environmental Awareness program have an opportunity to experience the best of both worlds!

There are natural field laboratories and playgrounds which make it the perfect site for the Environmental Awareness Living and Learning Community program. The resources of a major metropolitan area, noted for its thriving environmental business, research, and non profit communities, will be at students' fingertips.

The academic component of the Environmental Awareness Living and Learning Community is driven by experiential opportunities and relevant readings. Students will have a chance to experience Denver's environmental network first hand through field excursions, guest speakers, tours of local facilities, and classroom activities/discussions.

Environmental Awareness Living and Learning Community students enroll in one 2-credit seminar each quarter of the first year.

Student feedback is very important to the program staff. The 2-credit seminar course is often being adapted to meet the needs and experiences of its students.

FALL

Environmental Adaptation Past and Present (EALC 2001)

This course will introduce you to Denver and the Front Range and provide an overview of some local and regional environmental issues. The components of the course may include:

• A “Toxic Tour” through Denver where students visit certain areas of the city and see how economics factor into the equation in terms of environmental justice.

•A tour of Denver's organic Delany Community Farm where students learn about what it means to be a Community Supported Agriculture farm and help close it down for the season.

Students hop on the light rail system to downtown Denver to discuss the city's development through an environmental lens

A water quality testing adventure at Confluence Park the location where the South Platte River and the Cherry Creek meet

• Reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma in which the author discovers the natural history of four meals

WINTER

Impacts of Development on the Environment (EALC 2002)

This course will take a detailed look at the human/environment interaction, with emphasis on the explosive growth along the Front Range. Special topics and field trips for this course may include:

A trip to Bluff Lake Nature Center, near the site of the old Stapleton Airport, to see how groups are preserving open space in the midst of industrial development.

• Toxic waste sites in residential neighborhoods and brown fields. The issue of environmental justice will be of special concern in this segment.

• Land development impacts to meet both housing and recreational needs. Opportunities will be presented to look at the rapid growth in Douglas County and the ensuing water issues and the development of ski resorts and tourism issues

• A trip to the Patagonia retail store in down town Denver to discover how some businesses are the cutting edge of development

Reading Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang, putting a different eco-view on the individual's role in development

SPRING

Energy Revolution (EALC 2003)

This course examines the current ways we obtain and use energy, new technologies and how renewable energy research connects to Colorado.

Field excursions and activities may include:

• A local Toyota dealership for an investigation on Hybrid technology and a closer look at a Toyota Prius

• A tour of a local coal-fire power plant run by Xcel energy, the local supplier of most of the University of Denver's energy

• A hands on biodiesel workshop, where students examine how biodiesel is produced, what it is really composed of and it's renewable qualities

Readings will be used to supplement student backgrounds.