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EoS_BB

Page history last edited by Professor Wayne Hayes 11 years ago

Welcome to the Economics of Sustainability Bulletin Board

Professor Wayne Hayes | SUST640 | Spring 2013

Edition #11: 4/26/2013

The highlight of our class on April 29 will be student presentations. Here is our agenda:

  1. Business, announcements, and closure of course
  2. Student presentations: Sean, Raheen, Karin, Brian, Courtney, Joe 
  3. Discussion of presentations
  4. Break
  5. Overview of Natural Capital
  6. The Business of Sustainability, presentation
  7. Course evaluation by students. 

 

Edition #10: 4/21/2013

I will arrive early to our class, as is my practice, and will be available for consultation. Our agenda for class on Monday, April 22, is:

  1. Discuss upcoming events in SUST64001 and debrief our panel from last week.
  2. Introduce our guest, Professor Behzad Yaghmaian to discuss economic globalization: readings are listed in the course schedule.
  3. Break: I will be available to chat 
  4. Continuation of presentation on my PowerPoint on Economics of Sustainability
  5. Preparation for closure of class, including format of research paper and your presentation scheduled for April 29.

 

Note that I have rescheduled the section on The Business of Sustainability for April 29. 

 

Edition #9.1: 3/23/2013

I hope that you have enjoyed the Spring Break. I sent out a message today, 3/23/2013, concerning upcoming events.

 

Our agenda for class on Monday, March 25, is:

  1. Greetings, schedule, and business
  2. Updates on your selection for book review and on term paper status 
  3. Overview of readings as listed in the schedule
  4. Break, an opportunity to chat
  5. I will start of my presentation on Economics and Sustainability, which can be downloaded from the schedule. 

 

I look forward to our class meeting on Monday. 

 

During the day, I found several web sites of interest to The Business of Sustainability:

 

Edition #8: 3/12/2013

Remember our early encounter with Jeremy Grantham, the investment analyst and long-term forecaster? He was recently interviewed by Charlie Rose on PBS. Watch the first segment to hear how a long-term analyst explains the global economy, population, and resources. His numbers-driven analysis is compelling.

 

Edition #7.1: 3/10/2013

Our agenda for class on March 11 is:

  1. Business and announcements. Examine the links, below, provided by Professor Rikki Abzug,, Director of the Ramapo College MBA.
  2. End discussion of The Story of Stuff and its meaning for sustainability. I also suggested Davis S. Pena, Commodity Fetishism, Sustainable Development, and Marx's Capital,Political Affairs, November 15, 2007. See the class schedule.
  3. Review my article Economic Strategies for Sustainability, which was distributed, and my Statement of Concern.
  4. Please identify the book that you will substitute for Tim Jackson, Prosperity Without Growth. We will review the format for the book report that is due on April 15. 
  5. Discussion of where we stand and how to get to closure. We will fill in the agenda for the second half of Economics of Sustainability.

 

Rikki Abzug, the Director of the Ramapo College MBA, sent me these links:

  1. Incoming MBA students will be asked to commit to the MBA Oath: Responsible Value Creation. Would you sign? Notice the prominence of sustainability in this commitment.
  2. The accredited Ramapo College MBA program will be founded on PRME: The Principles of Responsible Management Education. Can you support these principles? Let's talk about it.

The theme of the MBA is organizational leadership toward change. Works for me: and you?

 

We will finish the review of The Story of Stuff with an emphasis on what it all means. Read my support notes along with the end of the book. See the schedule. Read the op-ed in today's New York Times: Living With Less. A Lot Less by Graham Hill.

 

I am personally resolved to extend and deepen my Economic Strategies for Sustainability article into a web-based project and, by the fall, a compiled e-book. The article was designed to introduce sustainers to the Dismal Science of economics. Read this along with my lament, my Statement of Concern. I intend to issue a progress report on this project for our April 1 class. Really.

 

BTW, does this reference at Docstoc, Documents & Resources for Small Businesses and Professionals look familiar? I just stumbled across it doing an unrelated search. 

 

Edition #6.0: 3/6/2013

In an e-mail that I distributed, I referred to a provocative article that calls attention to commodification as the engine of capitalism, thus making consumerism an essential issue. The article is Davis S. Pena, Commodity Fetishism, Sustainable Development, and Marx's Capital, Political Affairs, November 15, 2007. Take a look.

 

The essay on The Story of Stuff is due on March 18. We will end the book, (at last) at our class on March 11.

 

Edition #5.2: 3/4/2013

Our agenda for our class of March 4 includes:

  1. Business, updates, status
  2. Review of project proposals
  3. Jonah Sachs: How to Win the Sustainability Story Wars and The Hero's Journey 
  4. The Story of Stuff as described in the schedule.
  5. Set up for next week.

 

As I write, the Ramapo College wireless network is down. I cannot load adjustments to our schedule from my computer to my web server. But I can access my wiki from my desktop! The proposed adjustments for discussion are these:

  1. We will continue the review of Story of Stuff on March 11.
  2. The book review of Story of Stuff will be delayed to March 18.
  3. The section on ecological economics will be March 25.
  4. The term paper draft will be scheduled for April 1.
  5. Since my surgery has been (tentatively) rescheduled for April 4, I will not be able to attend class on April 8. I will respond to each draft in MS Word mark-up. I will arrange telephone or skype conferences with each student during that week in response to their term paper drafts.  
  6. The due date of the report on the (approved) book of your choice remains April 15. 

 

Edition #4.1: 2/19/2013

I have revised the dates in the schedule as we discussed in class on February 18. The definition of the term research project has been refined.

 

As you think of your research project, see the 2/19/2013 edition of GreenBiz.com and read the interview with Jonah Sachs: How to Win the Sustainability Story Wars. View Jonah Sachs's video, The Hero's Journey. This may help you to frame your project.

 

Edition #3.1: 2/18/2013

Our focus in class on February 18 will be The Story of Stuff. See the course schedule for the details. My supplementary notes elaborate and explain some of the main points for the Economics of Sustainability. My PowerPoint presentations will also guide class discussion.

 

The term project and the draft have been defined.

 

Please also read a recent New York Times article by Tina Rosenberg, Avoiding the Curse of the Oil-Rich Nations. This article supplements the chapter on Extraction.

 

Edition #2.3: 2/10/2013

I have updated the syllabus and the schedule to incorporate changes that we discussed in class last week. Note in particular the adjustment to the grading devices.

 

Please read the 2/10/2013 New York Times article It's Not Easy Being Green by David Leonhardt. The article offers a useful way to begin our class on Monday. I will refer to an article on Ikea and sustainability in Forbes Magazine.

 

The agenda for our class on Monday, February 11 is:

  1. Business and announcements
  2. Discussion of draft of term paper proposal, counting six points, and revision of grading policy is syllabus and the schedule
  3. End Grantham , Summers, held from last class, and brief presentation on Anthropocene and Sachs, delivered during the Foundations of Sustainability course
  4. Break, with discussion of replacement book options for Prosperity Without Growth  
  5. Overview and significance of Brundtland Commission Report: see schedule
  6. Begin The Story of Stuff, see schedule.

 

Please note the changes in the grading policy in the Economics of Sustainability SUST64001 syllabus. A term paper proposal worth 6 points is added and the book review will be an appropriate book of your choice, counting 16 points. The proposal is due on February 25. The book review substitutes for Prosperity Without Growth and is due by April 15.

 

Edition #2.1: 2/3/2013

Note that I have revised the schedule for our class on February 4. I have scheduled Hitana Bay for the first half of our session and have reduced the readings for the second half.

 

Our agenda is:

  1. I will discuss business and provide an overview of tonight's class. I will suggest post-spring break modifications to class activities and assignments.
  2. We will play Hitana Bay and discuss the principles of sustainable development and the implications of our choices.
  3. We will take a short break and allow for open discussion as needed.
  4. We will review of Anthropocene and I will explain why the concept historically grounds the Economics of Sustainability. The PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded from the link in the schedule.
  5. We will review the Grantham and Summers articles listed in the schedule. I will ask you to work out a portfolio of investment with Grantham in mind.
  6. We will revisit Sachs to remember why it is important in opening up a path for emerging nations. 

 

To supplement our discussion of Jeremy Grantham on commodities and sustainability I will refer to several web documents:

 

 

Edition #1: 1/27/2013

Welcome to the SUST640, Economics of Sustainability! Please note the course syllabus and the schedule. Our first class will provide introductions and a planning session for the flow of the semester. Please see the schedule for the events for our first class meeting, January 28. 

 

Our agenda for January 28 follows the schedule for that date:

  1. We will introduce each other and review the syllabus and the schedule, with special attention to the workflow of the course and the grading policy.
  2. I will distribute a sustainable development role-playing simulation game, Hitana Bay. We will run the game, report as a team, and discuss learning and implications.
  3. We will set up for next week's class.

 

I am looking forward enthusiastically to our time together.  

 

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