From climate change to biodiversity loss, environmental sociology reveals that the world’s most urgent environmental problems are also deeply social problems. This course will introduce you to key theories and topics in environmental sociology, indicating how foundational sociological concepts, such as power, inequality, and social structure, can explain ecological issues. We will engage with both the ecological insights of classical social theorists and essential areas of contemporary research, including environmental racism, gender and the environment, and climate politics. Through close readings of texts and evaluation of contemporary data and events, we will learn to analyze complex socio-ecological processes and problems; expected case studies include the new Quantum Computing Center on the southside of Chicago, the socio-ecological consequences of AI and data centers, and the rollback of federal environmental policies. Throughout the course, you will also conduct independent research on a contemporary socio-ecological issue affecting our campus, Chicago, or your hometown. Your final project will not only use environmental sociological tools to explain the problem, but also to propose (and possibly implement) a social intervention.