Welcome to our blog...

This isn't really a blog, but rather a course list created by the GSPP Environmental Policy Group (EPG) where students can list and comment upon environmental classes that are offered at UC Berkeley.

Classes are listed by department as follows (in no particular order):

Sept 2. GSPP (Public Policy)
Sept 1. ESPM (Environmental Science, Mgmt, & Policy)
Aug 31. ERG (Energy and Resources Group)
Aug 30. CEE (Civil & Environmental Engineering)
Aug 29. ARE (Agriculture & Resource Economics)
Aug 28. ECON (Economics, including Environmental Economics)
Aug 27. LAW (Boalt Hall)
Aug 26. PH (Public Health)
Aug 25. CRP (City and Regional Planning)

NOTE: We indicate whether classes are offered in fall or spring, and the professor teaching it, but this information does change, and not all classes are offered every year. Please check the Berkeley schedule (link is on the right) for the most up to date information.

Please comment on these courses, if you've taken them! Use at least your first name with all comments, please. If there is a class that is missing from the list, or if you have a question or comment about this blog, please leave a comment on this entry.

PP290-7 Water Policy in the West (Fall)

Hanemann and Paul Kibel

Water Policy in the West provides a survey of the history, science, economics, politics, legal framework, stakeholders and current pressing debates regarding the allocation of western freshwater resources. Although much of the seminar focuses on California water policy issues, other regional western water issues are also addressed, including interstate and international management of the Colorado River Basin.

(New course, starting fall of 2005)

PP290-3 Special Topics: Environmental Policy (Spring)

Vogel

PP290-8 Environmental Policy & Int'l Trade (Spring)

Paul Kibel

This seminar explores the policy relationship between international efforts to improve protection of natural resources and the provisions of international trade regimes such as the GATT, WTO and NAFTA. Topics covered include trade in ocean fisheries, trade in genetically-modified agricultural products, national subsidies, World Bank investments, and NAFTA's investor protection provisions. The seminar is taught by Visiting Lecturer Paul Kibel, author of the book 'The Earth on Trial: Environmental Law on the International Stage'.

ESPM 259 - Transnational Environmental Politics & Movements (Fall)

O'Neill

Contemporary issues in international environmental politics; impacts of globalization on the environment; comparative transnational environmental movements. Study of current and historical texts. Case studies drawn from around the world with a focus on methods and research techniques.

ERG 100 - Energy and Society (Fall)

Kammen, Farrel

Energy sources, uses, and impacts: an introduction to the technology, politics, economics, and environmental effects of energy in contemporary society. Energy and well-being; energy in international perspective, origins, and character of energy crisis.

ERG 102 - Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems (Spring)

Harte

Transport and fate of environmental pollutants, impact of human activities on climate, acid precipitation and other interventions in biogeochemical cycles, environmental consequences of nuclear war.

ERG 205 - Quantitative Methods for Ecological & Env Modeling (Spring)

This course will review the background mathematical and statistical tools necessary for students interested in pursuing ecological and environmental modeling. Topics include linear algebra; difference equation, ordinary differential equation, and partial differential equation models; stochastic processes; parameter estimation; and a number of statistical techniques. This course will be recommended as a prerequisite for advanced modeling courses in Integrative Biology, Energy and Resources Group, and Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.

Also listed as ESPM 205 and IB 205.

ERG 275 - Water and Development (Fall)

Isha Ray

This class is an interdisciplinary graduate seminar for students of water policy in developing countries. It is not a seminar on theories and practices of development through the "lens" of water. Rather, it is a seminar motivated by the fact that over 1 billion people in developing countries have no access to safe drinking water, 3 billion don't have sanitation facilities and many millions of small farmers do not have reliable water supplies to ensure a healthy crop. Readings and discussions will cover: the problems of water access and use in developing countries; the potential for technological, social, and economic solutions to these problems; the role of institutions in access to water and sanitation; and the pitfalls of and assumptions behind some of today's popular "solutions."

ERG 170/270 Environmental Classics (Fall)

Ray, Kammen

What is the history and evolution of environmental thinking and writing? How have certain "environmental classics" shaped the way in which we think about nature, society, and development? This course will use a selection of 20th century books/papers that have a had major impact on academic and wider public thinking about the environment/development to probe these issues – selections will include works that have influenced environmental politics and policy in the US as well as in developing countries. Some will be classic works from the natural and the social sciences, as well as commentaries relating to core works. Through the classics and their critiques, reviews and commentaries the class will explore the evolution of environmental thought.

CEE 211A - Environmental Physical-Chemical Processes (Fall)

Nelson

Prerequisites: 111 or equivalent and course work in aquatic chemistry, or consent of instructor.

Fundamental concepts of physical-chemical processes that affect water quality in natural and engineered environmental systems. Focus is on developing a qualitative understanding of mechanisms as well as quantitative tools to describe, predict, and control the behavior of physical-chemical processes. Topics include reactor hydraulics and reaction kinetics, gas transfer, adsorption, particle characteristics, flocculation, gravitational separations, filtration, membranes, and disinfection.

CEE 107 - Climate Change Mitigation (Spring)

Nazaroff

Assessment of technological options for responding to the threat of climate change. Overview of climate-change science: sources, sinks, and atmospheric dynamics of greenhouse gases. Current systems for energy supply and use. Renewable energy resources, transport, storage, and transformation technologies. Technological opportunities for improving end-use energy efficiency. Recovery, sequestration, and disposal of greenhouse gases from fossil-fuel combustion. Societal context for implementing engineered responses.

CEE 111 - Environmental Engineering (F, Sp)

Alvarez-Cohen, Nazaroff

Quantitative overview of the properties of environmental contaminants and the transport and transformation processes that govern their concentrations in air and water. Fundamental topics include environmental chemical equilibria and kinetics, reactor models, and elementary transport phenomena. Selected applications to issues in water quality engineering, air quality engineering, and hazardous waste management.

CEE 206 - Planning & Mgmt of Environmental & Water Systems (Spring)

Dracup

Description: Course addresses the fundamental and practical issues of environmental and water planning and management. Quantitative overview of the engineering, economic, and policy aspects of water and environmental systems will be presented. Topics in water and environmental planning and management include benefit cost analysis, contingency evaluation, inflation, pricing, marketing, transfers, uncertainty and decision analysis, and system analysis and their applications.

CEE 208 - Global River Basins in Conflict: Science, Society (Spring)

Dracup

Analysis of river basins whose waters cross or are located on the boundaries between two or more states or countries. Emphasis on large basins that cross international boundaries. Case studies of extensively developed basins. Exploration of scientific, environmental, economic, and policy problems associated with such developments. Consideration of emerging river basin developments.

ARE 241 - Agricultural Policy (Fall)

full title is "Economics of Production, Technology, & Risk with Application in Agriculture"

David Zilberman

http://are.berkeley.edu/%7Ezilber/ARE241/fall2005/index.html

This course covers alternative models of production, resource and environmental risk management; family production function; adoption and diffusion; innovation and intellectual property rights; agricultural and environmental policies and their impact on production and the environment; water resources; pest control; biotechnology; and optimal control over space and time.

ARE 262 - Non-Market Valuation (Spring)

Hanemann

The economic concept of value; historical evolution of market and non-market valuation; revealed preference methods: single site demand, multi-site demand, corner solution models, and valuation of quality changes; averting behavior; the hedonic method; contingent valuation; other stated preference methods: ranking, choice, conjoint analysis; the value of life and safety; sampling and questionnaire design for valuation surveys.
City and Regional Planning

ARE 202 - Issues & Concepts in Agricultural Econ (Spring)

Perloff

History, institutions, and policies affecting agriculture markets and environmental quality. Producer behavior over time

ARE 261 - Environmental and Resource Economics (Fall)

Fisher

Theory of renewable and nonrenewable natural resource use, with applications to forests, fisheries, energy, and climate change. Resources, growth, and sustainability. Economic theory of environmental policy. Externality; the Coasian critique; tax incidence and anomalies; indirect taxes; the double dividend; environmental standards; environmental regulation; impact of uncertainty on taxes and standards; mechanism design; monitoring, penalties, and regulatory strategy; emissions markets.

ECON 162 - Economics of Water Resources (Spring)

Hanemann

Urban demand for water; water supply and economic growth; water utility economics; irrigation demand; large water projects; economic impacts of surface water law and institutions; economics of salinity and drainage; economics of groundwater management.

ECON 175/275 - Economic Demography (Spring)

Lee

A general introduction to economic demography, addressing the following kinds of questions: What are the economic consequences of immigration to the U.S.? Will industrial nations be able to afford the health and pension costs of the aging populations? How has the size of the baby boom affected its economic well being? Why has fertility been high in Third World countries? In industrial countries, why is marriage postponed, divorce high, fertility so low, and extramarital fertility rising? What are the economic and environmental consequences of rapid population growth?
Also listed as Demography C175

LAW 270 - Agriculture and Environment (Spring)

Barclay Rogers

Agriculture and the Environment is a seminar course exploring the interplay between agricultural practices and environmental impacts and examining the social and economic costs of current agricultural policies. The course will begin with an analysis of the historical and political narrative that influences agricultural policy decisions. This narrative will be juxtaposed against today’s reality of large, often heavily polluting, mega-farms that are largely immune from environmental regulation. The course will draw upon economic theory to consider the costs of these policies and will explore the politics leading up to their development.

The course will analyze special exceptions for agriculture in the environmental context, focusing on right-to-farm statutes that provide agricultural operations with immunity from nuisance lawsuits and statutory exemptions that shield them from federal environmental laws. The scope of these special protections will be explored in depth.

LAW 271 - Environmental Law and Policy (Fall)

Holly Doremus

This introductory course is designed to explore fundamental legal and policy issues in environmental law. By focusing on environmental torts and a limited number of federal statutes--principally the Clean Air Act; the Clean Water Act; the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act; the National Environmental Policy Act; and the Endangered Species Act--the course exposes students to the principal approaches to environmental law (litigation, command and control regulation, market incentives, and providing information), as well as to the challenges of setting environmental policy goals and choosing policy targets.

LAW 272.1 - Water Resources Law (Fall)

Antonio Rossmann

The course emphasizes western water law with special attention to California. We deal at length with public rights in water, the public trust, area of origin claims, federal and Indian reserved rights, interstate controversies, environmental assessment, and the limitations of the takings clause on reallocations of water use. Water pollution and water quality are addressed only peripherally. The course thesis asserts that water is a distinctive species of property, a community resource that can never be fully privatized and that must be used in the public interest. We explore this remarkable idea.

LAW 271.4 - Environmental Law Practicum (Fall)

Clement Shute

In this course, students will work in teams of two to three with government agencies or non-profit organizations to prepare one or more research memoranda under the supervision of counsel for the particular agency or non-profit organization and under the direction of the Lecturer. The research will involve subjects of importance involving complex questions of law and policy. Students will meet one or more times with counsel for the agency or organization for which they are doing the research and may be asked to present the results of their work to a Board or Commission of that agency or organization. All of the students will meet at the beginning of the semester for two consecutive weeks to receive assignments and instruction in preparing memoranda for consumption by clients. Thereafter, each student team will meet with the Lecturer periodically for review of the work in preparation. At the end of the semester, all of the students will meet for two consecutive weeks to present the results of their work to the class and the Lecturer. Grades will be based on the research memoranda produced.

LAW 271.71 - International Environmental Law (Spring)

Neil A.F. Popovic

This course is a seminar on the role of law in the management of international environmental problems. The course will begin with a brief introduction to public international law as it relates to the environment and a discussion of what “international environmental law” means in contemporary society. Participants in the course will study a range of environmental issues, legal sources, and institutions. The course will include consideration of international environmental treaties, the role of the International Court of Justice in identifying and establishing international environmental law, international regulation of private conduct that affects the environment, trade and the environment, international financial institutions, human rights and the environment, and the relationship between domestic and international law.
Students will examine procedural concerns, such as access to information, environmental impact assessment, and public participation, as well as substantive concerns, such as the regulation of human conduct and the protection of particular environmental resources. Grades will be based on discussion and two short papers. Prior or concurrent enrollment in International Law is recommended.

CRP 257 - The Process of Environmental Planning (Spring)

Duane

A review of the techniques used in environmental planning, and evaluation of alternative means of implementation in varying environmental and political circumstances. The class will examine and critique a number of well-known environmental planning programs and plans. Lectures and discussion will address recurrent planning problems, such as the limitations of available data, legal and political constraints on plans, conflicts among specialists.

Cross-listed with Landscape Architecture C237

CRP 205 - Intro to Planning & Environmental Law (Spring)

Etzel

An introduction to the American legal process and legal framework within which public policy and planning problems are addressed. The course stresses legal methodology, the basics of legal research, and the common-law decisional method. Statutory analysis, administrative law, and constitutional interpretation are also covered. Case topics focus on the law of planning, property rights, land use regulation, and access to housing.

CRP 251 - Environmental Planning and Regulation (Fall)

Duane

This course will examine emerging trends in environmental planning and policy and the basic regulatory framework for environmental planning encountered in the U.S. We will also relate the institutional and policy framework of California and the United States to other nations and emerging international institutions. The emphasis of the course will be on regulating "residuals" as they affect three media: air, water, and land.
Also listed as Landscape Architecture C231.