School Name
Christopher Newport University
Engagement Description
PHIL 376: Environmental Ethics introduces students to historical and theoretical perspectives on the ethical treatment of nature, the environment, and their intersections with the human community. As a community-engaged learning course, students will work closely with the Newport News Green Foundation (NNGF). The NNGF is a local non-profit that works with the city to revitalize derelict properties and transform them into active green spaces that serve the community and environment. The NNGF currently has about 30 properties but is understaffed. While some of the properties have been highly activated, many of them are still under-engaged. Through community-based research, our Environmental Ethics course will help support this mission. Specifically, students will be placed in research teams of 3-5 students and each student team will be assigned a property. After introducing the students to the NNGF mission and touring the properties with NNGF representatives, the students will then be tasked with a semester-long research project aimed at producing two primary outcomes. The first outcome will be to research the immediate community and environment surrounding the property to identify its unique features and needs (e.g., erosion control, food forest, recreational space, etc.). They will develop this research into a proposal for how to best activate that space going forward and present their proposal to the NNGF Board at the end of the semester. The second outcome will be for the research team to write a compelling narrative about the specific property to be included on the NNGF public-facing website. Together, these two research objectives will help steward the future improvement of these properties and increase community awareness and engagement.