3 credits. An introductory course on social scientific contributions to environmental and natural resource issues. Section I, overview. Section II, initial framing of environmental problems: placing problems in their wider political context, new approaches to uncertainty and failure, and the importance of how the analytical boundaries to resource systems are drawn. Section III, questions of method: the dynamics of working within development projects, and the art of rapid appraisal and short-term consultancies. Section IV, local peoples, resources, and (under)development: representing the poor, development discourse, and the question of indigenous peoples and knowledge. Two or three guest lectures by leading contributors to the field. No prerequisites. This is a Foundations course in F&ES, a core course in the joint F&ES/Anthropology doctoral degree program, and a prerequisite for F&ES 869b/ANTH 572b. Three hours lecture/seminar.