THE ENVIRONMENT
and the
GLOBAL ECONOMY
OVERVIEW
The global economy holds important implications for the global environment and for domestic economic conditions. Indeed, the events of September 11, 2001 remind us that global politics is very much influenced by the global economy. Great dependence of the industrialized world on oil¾much of which comes from the Middle East, where economic and political conditions are hardly encouraging for human progress¾illustrates that the global economy is seen by many individuals as a source of economic and political repression. When governments fail to create the conditions of economic and democratic progress then despair and frustration are the expected results. Despair can be played out in unpleasant ways.
In this course we will explore topics concerning how humans impact nature, how we think of (and "construct") nature and the environment, how ethics and economics inform environmental policy, and how population growth affects levels of human consumption and therefore environmental quality. In addition, we will explore how a modest level of economic knowledge can be useful for understanding issues of biodiversity and sustainability, the global economy, international trade in timber and oil, air pollution (greenhouse gasses that cause global climate change), and pollution of international rivers. We will explore these topics from the economic way of thinking. The intent here is to help you understand how an economic perspective can provide important insights into the causes and solutions of various global environmental problems.
The class meets for lectures twice a week (M&W), plus there is a third period each week (F) that is used for occasional discussion and review if needed.
Your grade will be based on:
1. Class participation: 10 percent of your grade;
2. Three major exams, one in the 5th week (February 27), one in the 10th week (April 9), and one during finals week (this last exam will also be offered the last day of class (May 7) for those who prefer to take it then). Each of these exams is worth 30% of your grade (for a total of 90%). These three exams cover only the material for the 4 weeks prior to each exam. That is, the exam during finals week is not cumulative (and thus is not a “final exam”) but is simply the third of three equal exams during the semester.
SYLLABUS AND COURSE MATERIALS
Required readings and PowerPoint lecture slides are listed for each section (by date).
DATES AND TOPICS:
Overview of the Course
Wednesday, January 23
Lecture slides
The Global Economy
WEEK 1: Monday, January 28 and Wednesday 30
Lecture slides
The Hong Kong Phenomenon: James Surowiecki
Nature and How We Use It
WEEK 2: Monday, February 4 and Wednesday, February 6
Lecture slides
Colonialism
and Nature: Louise Brockway
The Creation of a Commodity (diamonds): Edward
Epstein
Mountain of Wealth--River of Waste (New York
Times)
Population and Population Growth
WEEK 3: Monday, February 11 and Wednesday, February 13
Lecture slides
Global Population Trends: Warren Robinson
How and Why We Consume as we Do
WEEK 4: Monday, February 18 and Wednesday, February 20
Lecture slides
Environmental Stress: Richard Benedick
Unsustainable Consumption: Juliet Schor
WEEK 5:
Monday, February 25: REVIEW
Wednesday, February 27: FIRST EXAM
International Pollution
WEEK 6: Monday, March 3 and Wednesday, March 5
Lecture slides
The Problems of Trans-Boundary Pollution:
L. Milich and R. Varady
and other interesting links:
The
National Geographic Society
The European Rivers Network
The Danube: River of Cooperation
Sustainable Development
WEEK 7: Monday, March 10 and Wednesday, March 12
Lecture slides
Environmental Sustainability: Goodland and Daly
Ecological Sustainability: Callicott and Mumford
The Scientist's Burden: Lele and Norgaard
Sustainability: Bromley
SPRING BREAK
Deforestation and World Timber Trade
WEEK 8: Monday, March 24 and Wednesday, March 26
Lecture slides
The Lure of Tropical Hardwoods: Jan Laarman
Global Climate Change
WEEK 9: Monday, March 31 and Wednesday, April 2
Lecture slides
The Changing Climate: Steven Schneider
WEEK 10:
Monday, April 7: REVIEW
Wednesday, April 9: SECOND EXAM
The World Oil Market
WEEK 11: and WEEK 12: Monday, April 14, Wednesday, April 16, and Monday April 21
Lecture slides
The Curse of Oil: James Surowiecki
Saudi Oil Problems (New York Times)
Values and Choices: How We Decide
WEEK 13: Monday, April 28 and Wednesday, April 30
Lecture slides
Voices of Environmental Literature: Scott Slovic
Value Systems and Economic Analysis: Steven
Hackett
WEEK 14:
Monday, May 5: REVIEW
Wednesday, May 7: THIRD EXAM (may also be taken during Finals Week--May 16 at 12:25).
Benedick, Richard E. “Human Population and Environmental Stress in the Twenty-First Century,” Environmental Change and Security Project Report, Issue 6, Summer 2000.
Brockway, Lucile H. “Science and Colonial Expansion: The Role of the British Royal Botanic Gardens,” American Ethnologist 6:449-65, August 1979.
Bromley, Daniel W. "Sustainability," The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2007.
Callicott, J. Baird and Karen Mumford, "Ecological Sustainability as a Conservation Concept," Conservation Biology, 11(1):32-40, February 1997.
Epstein, Edward Jay. "Have You Ever Tried to Sell and Diamond?" The Atlantic Monthly, February 1982, pp. 34.
Goodland, Robert and Herman Daly, "Environmental Sustainability: Universal and Non-Negotiable," Ecological Applications, 6(4)1002-17, November 1996.
Hackett, Steven C. “Value Systems and Economic Systems,” in: Environmental and Natural Resources Economics London: M.E. Sharpe, 1998. (chapter 2).
Laarman, Jan G. "Export of Tropical Hardwoods in the Twentieth Century," in: World Deforestation in the Twentieth Century, ed. by John F. Richards, and Richard P. Tucker, Durham: Duke University Press, 1988 (chapter 7).
Lele, Sharachchandra and Richard B. Norgaard, "Sustainability and the Scientist's Burden," Conservation Biology, 10(2):354-65, April 1996.
Milich, Lenard and Robert G. Varady, “Managing Transboundary Resources: Lessons from River-Basin Accords,” Environment, 40(8): 10-41, October 1998.
Robinson, Warren C. “Global Population Trends: The Prospects for Stabilization,” RESOURCES, Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future, 131, Spring 1998.
Schneider, Steven H. “The Changing Climate,” in: Managing Planet Earth, New York: Freeman and Company, 1990. (chapter 3).
Schor, Juliet, "Prices and Quantities: Unsustainable Consumption and the Global Economy, Ecological Economics, 55:309-320, 2005.
Slovic, Scott. “Voices of Environmental Literature,” Environment, 41(2):7-32, March 1999.
Surowiecki, James. "Hong Kong Hooey," The New Yorker, November 17, 2003, p. 68.
Surowiecki, James. "The Real Price of Oil," The New Yorker, December 3, 2001, p. 41.
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