DES 312, ENVS 312, and LS 312: Climate Change Issues and Activism
Start Date: July 9, 2025 (At SNFC July 13-18)
Instructor: Saskia van Kampen and Logan Hennessy
Fee:
Term: R3 Summer 2025
Course Description
This course unites diverse areas of study through multidisciplinary learning that bridges gaps between science, design, and activism. Students will learn about environmental issues and will create a way of confronting an issue through creative practice. The goal is to support the development of student relationships with their world and to locate themselves as individuals in terms of their values when faced with difficult situations such as the climate crisis. Students will be taught about the climate crisis and environmental issues specific to California. They will be introduced to activism and change makers, and they will develop a climate campaign to either inform, or to encourage action in others that is based on what they have learned and the research they conduct.
This class will run during the R3 Semester starting on July 9 until August 8. Classes will be on Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 –11:45. Classes will take place on the SFSU campus — we will be visiting the Sierra Nevada Field Campus from July 13–18.
Instructor Bio
Logan Hennesey
My research focuses on climate justice through the lens of indigenous people’s movements to engage extractive industries and climate change in tropical forest systems. Specifically my fieldwork in Ecuador and Guyana has centered around oil development and small-scale gold mining, and their impacts on indigenous communities. I employ interdisciplinary frameworks that draw on both ecological and social data to understand the connections between environmental histories and shifts in livelihood practices. This research relies on close partnerships with indigenous communities and organizations, along with Bay Area environmental organizations.
Instructor Bio
Saskia van Kampen
My research focuses on how people use creative practices to organize and build sustainable communities. This also involves the investigation of creative practices used as forms of protest and activism. This work is done with community and creative leaders in Toronto, Canada. I am also a contemporary artist and designer exploring how hand skills and digital skills can work together to create provocative visual narratives.
Course Schedule
The class will run through the R3 Semester (July 8–August 9). Classes will be held in person at the SFSU campus TBD. Students will be required to be at the SNFC for the week noted here.
Course Supplies List
Lodging and Camping Supplies
Camping gear if you are staying on campus:
- tent and sleeping pad (unless you are staying in our tent with a cot provided)
- warm sleeping bag
- pillow, toiletries, and towel
- flashlight and lantern
- alarm clock
Field gear for everyone:
- day pack
- sunscreen
- insect repellant
- water bottles
- plastic containers for packed lunches
- sense of humor
You might also want to bring:
- camera
- binoculars
- hand lens
- camp chair
Clothing:
The weather in the Sierra Nevada can vary greatly, even in a single day. Be prepared for chilly temperatures at night, even below freezing early in the summer. Rain is a possibility any time, whether forecast or not. Variable weather clothing that can be layered is best: long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, warm sweater and jacket, t-shirt and shorts or skirt, sturdy shoes or hiking boots, sun hat, rain gear, and a warm hat or gloves for cold weather and/or night activities. And, if you come later in the season, bring your swimsuit for afternoon dips in the lakes!