What is this class about?
This is a course about the state of Alaska, and the institutions and individuals that made it the way it is today. We'll consider well-known issues such as the history and current status of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the truly unique Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, the creation of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, and what the deal is with Sarah Palin. In addition, we'll delve into some of the lesser-known stories, like Project Chariot, a '60s-era government plan to dredge an enormous deep-water harbor in NW Alaska using nuclear bombs (no joke), and the controversy that has forever surrounded the Tongass National Forest. Throughout the course, we'll push ourselves to understand how we can use Alaska's story to understand the broader course of American environmental history and activism.
Who is this course for? How do I know if I should take this course?
This course is open to students from all majors, and there are no prerequisites . It is an interdisciplinary course offered by the Program on the Environment 
at the UW . It is not simply a history course, nor is it just a political ecology course, or even a conservation course. It is a course about a region of the world with a unique history that reflects the national character. If you have an interest in Alaska specifically or in the way our society interacts with it's natural environment, you'll fit right in.
The course has ample reading, discussion, and writing ("W" credit is offered). For that reason, we recommend that students have taken at least one writing-intensive course or simply to be comfortable writing and revising papers before taking this class.
Currently, the course is formally restricted to students with junior or senior standing. However, this is not a hard-and-fast rule, so if you're interested in the course but don't have quite enough credits under your belt to qualify for this restriction, you should email Brooks 
, the instructor, to ask for an addcode.
What kind of work will this class entail? How will it be graded?
There are no exams in this course. Students in the course will be graded in three main areas:
- participation in classroom and online discussions about course topics
(this requires reading about 100 pages per week from the course texts and other sources), - the writing and editing of five two-page essays of varying formats that will be assigned throughout the quarter, and
- an environmental "case study" (this year focusing on the Tongass National Forest) in which students will work in groups to create and represent the position of a relevant organization in both print and audio media. By the end of this project, you'll have created a radio spot , even if you have no previous audio recording experience (don't worry, we'll provide plenty of help with this).
What do I get for taking this course (transcript-wise)?
This is a 5-credit course with W credit . In addition, though it's not clear in the time schedule, this course also counts as I&S credit in partial fulfillment of the UW's General Education Requirements .