Ecology, Economics, and Ethics Bulletin Board | Fall 2011

Edition #7: 11/4/2011

I look forward to resuming our class in ASB137 on Wednesday evening. Please note that I have provided assignments to guide our next two classes, displayed on the course schedule.  My intention is to help you to frame and compose the essay on the intersection of economics and sustainability that is due on November 23.

Edition #6: 10/19/2011

Please note that the term paper proposals are due by class time this evening. I will also ask you about the status of your experiential learning logs.

Professor Ashwani Vasishth will swap classes with me for the next two weeks, October 26 and November 2. Please note the reading assignments for those classes. 

Note the article on Triple Pundit, a congenial web site for Ecology, Economics, and Ethics, on Occupy Wall Street, and the choice of quote by Naomi Klein to feature:

"The point is, today everyone can see that the system is deeply unjust and careening out of control. Unfettered greed has trashed the global economy. And it is trashing the natural world as well. We are overfishing our oceans, polluting our water with fracking and deepwater drilling, turning to the dirtiest forms of energy on the planet, like the Alberta tar sands. And the atmosphere cannot absorb the amount of carbon we are putting into it, creating dangerous warming. The new normal is serial disasters: economic and ecological."

Upon my return on November 9, please be prepared to discuss the essay on the intersection of economics and sustainability. The essay is due on or before November 23 (no class, the evening before Thanksgiving). I have provided a sample essay which I will explain in class.

Look for reading assignments and check back to the Bulletin Board each week.

Edition #5: 10/11/2011

Tom Friedman of the New York Times has just published a column that fits nicely with Ecology, Economics, and Ethics: Something is Happening Here, October 11, 2011. We should peruse it for class. Friedman is following up on his prior column on this topic, The Earth is Full, June 11, 2011.

Please see the defintion of the term project/paper. To expedite the term paper proposals, I will set aside time for brainstorming at the top of our class on Wednesday, October 12. We will sort through themes and begin a dialog on your projects.

Keep up on my notes on The Story of Stuff.

Edition #4: 10/6/2011

The due date for the term paper proposal has been pushed back to October 19. Again, I will ask in our next class, October 12, for key words as to your chosen theme. We will discuss this at the top of our October 12 class. I would be happy to provide feedback for even partial proposals submitted in advance.

In class on October 12, we will conclude The Story of Stuff, so please use my notes. We will then examine my article, Economic Strategies for Sustainability and the articles by Peter Montague on sustainable development, listed in the schedule..

Edition #3.1: 10/3/2011

We will focus on Annie Leonard's The Story of Stuff in our class on October 5. Please see the notes that I have prepared based on our readings.

Recall that I have asked you to indicate in class on October 5 a topic that you are considering for the term paper for Ecology, Economics, and Ethics. The term paper proposal is scheduled for October 12, but I will be flexible with the due date.  I think it best if we do this exercise near the end of the class. My goal is a proposal that will support a solid final project.

I have linked the full version of Wolfgang Sachs's important paper, Fairness in a Fragile World.

Edition #3: 9/26/2011

I regret to note the passing of a heroine of World Sustainability, Wangari Maathai, of Kenya. (See also New York Times obituary.) The Greenbelt Movement initiated by Dr. Maathai and other women in Africa offers a beacon toward World Sustainability.

Joaquin Maravillas noted a significant case of dispossession reported in a recent New York Times article: In Scramble for Land, Group Says, Company Pushed Ugandans Out. We will review this article in class. I have prepared notes to guide our reading of The Story of Stuff.

We will discuss the term paper proposal memo.

Edition #2.1: 9/20/2011

Our class on September 21 will be divided into two parts, divided by a short break:

1. We will play the Hitana Bay simulation role-playing game that I distributed at our last class.
2. We will discuss the readings that serve to introduce and to frame the course, as displayed in the schedule. These should be read in advance and you should be prepared to discuss the readings. 

Please note that I have made a late addition to the readings for our class of September 21, but that the addition is recommended but not required.

I have also defined the format for the term paper proposal that is due on October 12.

Edition #1: 9/11/2011

Welcome to Ecology, Economics, and Ethics, ENST30501, for the fall 2011 semester. Please see the course syllabusfor a description of what happens here. The schedule provides a map for the unfolding of the course. The schedule will adapt to the flow of the course.