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Introduction to Environmental Studies (Spring 2010)
Page history
last edited
by ike sharpless 13 years, 11 months ago
Introduction to Environmental Studies
Class Notes to Date
- Environment, Jan 28, Malthus and Darwin.pdf
- Environment, Feb 2, Hardin, White, and Brundtland.pdf
- Environment, Feb 4, Vandana Shiva.pdf
- Environment, Feb 9, Peter Singer and Aldo Leopold.pdf
- Environment, Feb 18, Raven chapters 1 and 2.pdf
- Environment, Feb 23, Raven chapters 3-6, selected passages.pdf
- Environment, Feb 25, Environment chapter 8, Human Health and Environmental Toxicology.pdf
- Environment, March 2, Environment chapters 11-13, Energy.pdf
- Environment, March 4, Focus on Resources, Raven chapters 14-16 and 18, selected passages.pdf
- Environment, March 9, Raven ch 21, Climate Change.rtf
- Environment, March 11, Raven ch 17 and Berger, Biodiversity and Animals.pdf
- Environment, March 25, Chasek et al chapter 1.pdf
- Environment, March 30, Chasek ch 2, intl environmental actors.pdf
- Environment, Chasek ch 3, first three case studies.pdf
- Environment, April 6, Ozone and Climate Change, Chasek case studies day 2.pdf
- Environment, April 8, Case Studies day 3.pdf
- Environment, April 13, Chasek ch 7.pdf
- Environment, April 22, Agriculture Module, Day 1.pdf
- Environment, Ag day 2.rtf
- (Lecture Notes): Environment, April 29, Focus on Animal Agriculture.rtf
Course Description: This course introduces environmental issues from a range of disciplines and perspectives. We begin in Module I with an overview of a number of classic works in the field, tracing the history of modern environmentalism to its Darwinian and Malthusian roots. Module II provides an empirical underpinning for ecosystem and natural resource management. Module III applies these empirical tools to international issues, with an emphasis on international environmental law and policy. Module IV applies the theoretical, scientific, and policy expertise gained in Modules I-III to the various crises of global food policy in the 21st century.
Course Expectations and Policies: Please refer to the syllabus, at: Environmental Studies Course Syllabus, Sharpless, UML Spring 2010.pdf
Book critique guidelines and approved list: environmental studies, book critique approved list and guidelines.pdf
Study notes and references for policy quiz
Using this Page: We will primarily use this page to compile and examine current events assignments. Assignments are at least two hours prior to class on Thursdays and should pertain to the regions or topics discussed since the last assignment. Feel free to use the list of links I have provided in the syllabus (and which are available here for your convenience), or to find your piece elsewhere. The articles you find should generally be short enough for people to have a chance to browse them, but long enough that we can learn from them. A full-page Economist article is a good length. In order to receive credit for each assignment, you need to do one of the following two things: 1) write a short paragraph in the comments section of this page explaining why this article or piece caught your attention, and how you think it relates to our studies, or 2) write a short paragraph (or more, if you want) in the comments section of another student's post. You are of course free to do both; this forum is meant to be interactive, and you should feel free to comment however and wherever you want on the pbworks page.
Useful Web Links: click here for the list of web links that is available in your syllabus. I may add to this list as the semester progresses, whereas the list on the syllabus will remain as it is. Feel free to add any other links that you feel may be of use to your fellow students in the comments section.
Course Documents are available here.
Some useful writing tips
Links for online readings to date:
Jan 28
- Malthus, T.R., “An Essay on the Principle of Population”, preface and chapters 1 and 2, available at http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Malthus/essay2.htm
- Darwin, Charles, “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection”, chapter 14, “Recapitulation and Conclusion” (focus on first half and last page), available at http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-origin-of-species/chapter-14.html
- "On the Origin of Species, Revisited" - New Scientist article summarizing the 14 chapters' key points: http://www.newscientist.com/special/on-the-origin-of-species-revisited
Feb 2
Thursday, April 15: Focus on Corporate Social Responsiblity
Videos shown in class to date
- TED Talks, Stewart Brand proclaims four environmental 'heresies': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUxwiVFgghE
- TED Talks, Sylvia Earle: How to Protect the Oceans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43DuLcBFxoY
- Hans Rosling at TED: http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html
- GOOD Magazine piece on the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vddX4n30sXY
- Carl Sagan: COSMOS. On Evolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZpsVSVRsZk
- Richard Dawkins in 1991: "Waking Up in the Universe" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHoxZF3ZgTo&feature=player_embedded#
- 1993 documentary on the Origin of Species: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfmOaAz371M
- "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" (pt. 1 of a good scripted biography of Darwin): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=910dz5sCb1I&feature=related
- 'Disproving' evolution based on insights from cell biology and 'irreducible complexity': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1iCjKWzeEE&feature=related
- Shiva on GM foods (for The Future of Food documentary): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi1FTCzDSck
- Shiva on the 2008 global food crisis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KfvYjZ5fyw
- Shiva, "Outsourcing Global Pollution": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjbVlZUsm34
- Shiva on intellectual property rights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NlD_mw9xaI
- The Yes-Men on Bhopal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiWlvBro9eI (see also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXSpyZCRIjU)
- Noam Chomsky, "Does Activism Matter?": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEI2VBARX14
- Critical documentary on "Globalization and the Media": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6HRt1bH_dw
- "Hidden Face of Globalization": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bhodyt4fmU
- Annie Leonard's "Story of Stuff" project: http://www.storyofstuff.com/ (also available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8)
- TIME photoessay, 'what the world eats': http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373664,00.html
- An excellent (but sort of long and slow) lecture on understanding exponential growth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY
- Severn Suzuki at the Earth Summit in Rio (1992): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g8cmWZOX8Q
- Shiva at Copenhagen on Amy Goodman's Democracy Now: http://mediacology.com/2009/12/14/vandana-shiva-at-copenhagen/
- Bhopal 25 years later (Time photoessay): http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1943455,00.html
- "12 kinds of environmentalists" (this list is by no means exhaustive, but is meant to show the diversity of 'types' of environmentalists even within the 'Global North'): http://www.bravenewleaf.com/environment/2008/03/the-12-kinds-of.html
- Explaining deep ecology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2gZ6FRhc3w
- An interview with Peter Singer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bi81JcddWc
- Renewable vs. nonrenewable resources: concept exercise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vihCWCIobOg
- Another graphic representation of the Millennium Development Goals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3p2VLTowAA
- The ecological footprint as a 'resource accounting tool': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94tYMWz_Ia4
- Glenn Beck on Al Gore's ecological footprint...: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJkPybzPSLo
- Video example of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Hawaiian rail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlYvIwRGl4g
- Showcasing the mission of a global environmental justice NGO, the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nJqiKNIFS4
- Biocides: Rachel Carson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbtp2B-IFmw
- Elinor Ostrom (2009 Nobel Prize-winning economist), "beyond the tragedy of the commons": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByXM47Ri1Kc
- An interesting take on understanding growth: http://www.impossiblehamster.org/
- Using your web search engine to save the rainforest? Worth a shot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfy_ILRZhF4&feature=player_embedded# (www.ecosia.com)
- Explaining the laws of thermodynamics (on an astronomical scale): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkRo-ERyOWg
- Silly but helpful song about food chains and ecological pyramids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE6wqG4nb3M
- Chemosynthesis, hydrothermal vents, and the implications for extraterrestrial life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QqmUBbfn6Y
- Three kinds of symbiosis
- Bees as a keystone species (NATURE special): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIUo3STj6tw
- Visualizing the coriolis effect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49JwbrXcPjc
- Jeffrey Sachs, interviewed by GOOD magazine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlqryI7SH8s
- FRONTLINE video - poisoned waters: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poisonedwaters/view/?utm_campaign=viewpage&utm_medium=grid&utm_source=grid
- A video on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) from UNEP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaSrAvJOtb4
- A video on how culture shapes our reality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uampb1WO2Hw&feature=player_embedded
- On mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziuFW-7h1LM
- Bill Gates on Energy at TED (Feb 2010): http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates.html
- A local, and recent, example: LNG Tanker from Yemen arrived in Boston last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OunDjyheYGY
- A complicated but good explanation of peak oil: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwNgNyiXPLk
- Greenpeace activism at the Alberta tar sands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHOerF5pWRA
- Example of a solar thermal power farm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OkqJw1oTMk
- On acid deposition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=893KB3s_jIA&feature=related
- On ecology as an ideology (by Slavoj Zizek, a radical Slovenian philosopher): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGCfiv1xtoU
- Pete Alcorn at TED - an (unrealistically?) optimistic view on the future of population: http://www.ted.com/talks/pete_alcorn_s_vision_of_a_better_world.html
- Groundwater-the hidden source of life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iht9WBBXepA
- Managing stormwater runoff (EPA vid): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huO_NRn34GI
- Lecture on soil horizons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQhyMsisRD8
- Understanding transpiration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc9gUm1mMzc
On Darwin
Videos and links on climate change
Videos on biodiversity
Videos on Animal Studies
Videos on Inhumane Practices in Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) [I won't be playing these in class--they are quite graphic. Watch them if you feel like it]
The best current example of global environmental politics in action: this week's CITES conference in Doha
Links and Videos on Global Environmental Politics
Other links of interest
Links for class on First 3 Case Studies
Links on Whaling, Biodiversity, CITES, and Fisheries
Links on Trade and Environment
Links on ecolabeling
Links on CSR
Videos on Food and Agriculture
Links on Animal Agriculture
Links for Tuesday, March 4
Links for the last day of class
Videos for the last day of class
Relevant Assignment Dates:
Papers, Quizzes, Test
Date |
Session Name |
Materials |
Assignment |
3/4 |
Short paper due |
Short Paper Guidelines
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Turn in paper either via paper copy or here |
3/23 |
Midterm Exam |
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midterm |
4/20 |
Policy Quiz |
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policy quiz |
5/17 |
Long Papers Due |
Book critique guidelines |
Turn in paper via email |
Current Events Assignments
Introduction to Environmental Studies (Spring 2010)
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