Property, Land-Use, & Ecology

Climate resilience starts with directed action at the local level. Resiliency has become the critical factor in understanding how communities can plan to sustainably adapt to ecological and economic challenges of the future. Despite the multitude of federal and state laws protecting the environment and governing the use of natural resources, it remains a fact that the primary environmental decision-maker in our country is the individual landowner. This class will examine critically the historic development of a sacrosanct legal right in the United States—the right to own private property. We will explore land-use in the United States beginning with European colonizers first contact with Indigenous people, tracing historical developments all the way up to modern day issues related to sprawling growth and development.