Students in ‘LoveBake’ Course Examine Environment

Students in ‘LoveBake’ Course Examine Environment

BY DAVID KAPLAN
Rice News Staff
May 28, 1998

There was one prerequisite for taking the "LoveBake" college courses
held last fall and spring: "An interest in saving the world."

The courses focused on a small part of the world–the Rice University campus.
Looking at the campus as an environmental system, students explored a multitude
of ways in which Rice might operate in a more environmentally-sensitive manner.

Co-sponsored by Lovett and Baker colleges, LoveBake, an interdisciplinary course,
included a team of more than a dozen faculty members, as well as a field trip
to Biosphere 2 near Tuscon and several prehistoric American Indian sites. The
two-semester course was directed by Arthur Few, professor of space physics and
astronomy, and Bill Leeman, professor of geology and geophysics.

According to Leeman, "The rationale for these courses stems from our view
that many of the problems facing society today and in the future are multi-disciplinary
in nature, yet traditional approaches to high-er education tend to focus on
‘specialization.’ We felt that Rice needed a model to bridge this gap."

To research ways in which the Rice campus could have less impact on the environment,
LoveBake student teams examined Rice’s learning spaces, playing fields, food
service, grounds and composting, and surface water and natural wet areas.

Among the student ideas proposed: A "naturalist’s guide to the Rice campus;
solar energy utilization and underground parking for future residential colleges;
and a campus-wide survey of classroom aesthetics and functionality from the
perspective of students and faculty. A version of the full student report may
be seen on the Web at http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~bake302/ARESreport.html.

The fall Love 201 course focused on broad environmental issues such as population
growth, biodiversity, global warming, and natural resources and their societal
impacts. The spring Bake 302/303 course attempted to take a systems analysis
approach to understanding how a relatively complex system like the Rice campus
functions and how related human decision-making impacts the local environment.
Descriptions of these courses are available via the Internet at http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~leeman/lovebake.html.

Brown College senior Shalini Jain notes that "administration and faculty
were cooperative in supplying the students with the information we needed, were
enthusiastic about our research and looked forward to our findings."

Hanszen College senior Joyce Almaguer found the course to be "enlightening.
I don’t think any of us realized what kind of impact our actions–especially
those things we consider insignificant, like lighting a playing field or watering
a lawn–could have on the environment."

Leeman believes "the students got a better understanding of how the campus
operates, and learned an awful lot about how to identify problems and work on
strategies to present their ideas. The students also came away realizing that
there are already a lot of environmental efforts going on that haven’t been
publicized."

Next fall and spring Leeman and other former LoveBake faculty members will
teach two new courses, University 200 and 300, modeled after the LoveBake courses.