294.24 sec. 001 - Environmental Health Law Through Film (Fall 2025)
Instructor: Claudia Polsky (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only | profile)
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only
Units: 1
Grading Designation: Credit Only
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Meeting:
M 6:25 PM - 8:15 PM
Location: Law 132
From August 18, 2025
To October 06, 2025
Course End: October 06, 2025
Class Number: 33103
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 0
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 45
As of: 04/03 07:13 AM
Why do so many kids have asthma? Why is aggressive brain cancer becoming more common? Why do dangerous beauty products preferentially harm BIPOC women? Why is human fertility decreasing by 1% per year?
Through the lens of environmental feature films and documentaries, this course will discuss the legal structures that under-protect our environmental health and that magnify health inequity. Films will include many of the following: Erin Brockovich (toxic air emissions), Dark Waters (contaminated drinking water), Into the Weeds (pesticide exposure); Gather (Native American food systems), The People v. Agent Orange (weaponization of toxics), and the HBO Max docu-series Not So Pretty (hazardous cosmetics and personal care products). The class will regularly engage with issues of societal bias with respect to race, class, and gender as we consider whose health is considered expendable and which narrative lenses are used to tell stories about environmental health harm.
The course will meet for a total of 7 sessions for the first half of the term. In preparation for class discussions, students are required to view films on their own through streaming services (all are available free or cheaply), and to prepare short response papers on three of these films of their choosing.
The course will include opportunities to interact with some combination of issue experts/film participants/filmmakers to discuss the role of film in effecting social change. The pedagogical goal is for you to learn a lot about substantive environmental health issues and environmental law while also having fun and eating popcorn.
Exam Notes: (None) Series of papers or assignments throughout the semester
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Course Category: Environmental and Energy Law
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Social Justice and Public Interest
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