Nature, Power and Society
Nature, Power and Society explores links between nature, power, and society, considering human relationships with earth's resources like food, energy, water, and landscapes.
Summary
Past student reviews · Ian Baird
One student reported that Professor Baird expected students to memorize the exact definitions of over 200 vocabulary words for exams.
What you’ll be able to do
Describe key elements that link nature, power, and society.
Explain the social, economic, and/or environmental dimensions of the sustainability challenges regarding a range of important policy issues with environmental and sustainability implications.
Apply sustainability principles and/or frameworks to address the challenges associated with a range of development issues that have environmental implications.
Analyze the causes of and solutions for sustainability challenges of various development policy decisions.
Source: UW Guide 1· UW Guide 2
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapSophomore standing. Not open to students with credit forENVIR ST 112
- Sophomore standing
- not eligible with
“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- All of
- Sophomore standing
- Not eligible with
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
IAN BAIRD is recorded teaching in Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2025, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Ian Baird
Students found the course concepts understandable and not too difficult, though opinions on the instructor varied significantly regarding his teaching style and grading.
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2022: 3.23 GPA, 37.5% A/AB (n=24 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.09 GPA, 50.0% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.29 GPA, 71.4% A/AB (n=14 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Past student reviews · Ian Baird
One student reported that Professor Baird expected students to memorize the exact definitions of over 200 vocabulary words for exams.
Past student reviews · Ian Baird
Some students enjoyed the lectures and found the material interesting, while others noted that lectures were repetitive of the textbook and the instructor interrupted questions.
Topics
- Human-earth resource relationships: food, energy, materials, water, biota, landscapes
- Population, scarcity, resource tenure, green consumerism, political economy, ethics, hazards, political ecology, environmental justice
Skills
- Describing key elements linking nature, power, and society
- Explaining social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability challenges
- Applying sustainability principles and frameworks to development issues
- Analyzing causes and solutions for sustainability challenges in development policy
Grades
Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Fall 2025
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
No offering records for the selected term.
Raw records
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Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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"model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
"task_version": "17",
"output_id": "ba1238009874261902284f65f6d393bbb265f9a3e9719d0240f72d58c54363c1",
"requirements_status": "needs_review",
"dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}