Sustainable Development: Theory and Practice ENV/ELA 3021 Spring 2008 Monday & Thursday 2:30 - 3:45 PM Library Room#1 Instructor: Jacob Park Office: Moses 156 Office Hours: Mon & Thurs 11:00 am - 1:00 pm and by appointment
Tel: 287 - 8326 E-mail:
[email protected]
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Overview To alleviate poverty and raise living standards, developing nations need to aggressively pursue economic development. However, if the resource- and energy-intensive Western models of development are adopted in these countries, severe resource shortages and widespread environmental degradation are likely to occur. Sustainable development theory has emerged to describe an alternative model that attempts to strike a balance the conflicting goals of economic development, environmental stewardship, and social justice. This course explores the many dimensions of the sustainable development debate on both the global and the local level. The course begins with an in-depth historical and theoretical examination of sustainable development and follows up with a series of case study analyses of important sustainable development issues and challenges, ranging from climate change to population. We will conclude the course with a special focus on sustainable development from the perspective of local communities (with a special emphasis on Vermont) and analyze such issues as environmental stewardship, transportation planning, economic development, among others.
Learning Goals After taking this class, students will be able to: ● Discuss the broad concept of sustainable development and its historical origins. ● Appreciate the complex array of environmental, resource, and social problems confronting our planet. ● Understand sustainable development challenges and opportunities on both on the global and local level
Text/Materials Ken Conca and Geoffrey Dabelko’s Green Planet Blues: Environmental Politics From Stockholm to Johannesburg (Westview Press, 2004) and Mark Roseland’s Toward Sustainable Communities: Resources for Citizens and Their Governments (New Society Publishers, 2005) will serve as primary textbook resources for this class. Extensive supplemental course materials, handouts and web resources will be provided in class throughout the semester. 1
Grading Your final grade will be based on written assignments (40 percent); team work/leadership (30 percent); and class contribution/participation (30 percent).
Policies An important component of this class is that everyone needs to be an active presence in class. This means you need to be on time, in class, and contribute to the best of your ability. Your ability and contribution to what might one describe as ‘class leadership’ will be weighed heavily toward your final grade. If you have a specific learning, physical, or psychiatric disability and require accommodations, please let me know early in the semester so that your learning needs may be appropriately met. The Calhoun Learning Center is the office responsible for coordinating accommodations for students and is located on the 3rd floor of Griswold Library. If you have questions, please contact Christina Fabrey, Coordinator of Accommodations, at x8234.
Schedule ASSESSING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: STATE OF THE DEBATE Week 1# January 24
Class Overview/Introduction
Week 2# January 28
NO CLASS
January 31
Key Issues in Sustainable Development
2:00 – 3:00 PM Session 4A of the Focus of the Nation GMC Event “Footprints and Solutions”
Driving Change: Mobility in a Carbon Constrained World: Steve Letendre Cow Power: Is this Crap an Energy Solution? Greg Brown Why is Climate Change so Difficult to “Solve”? Jacob Park
3:00 – 4:00 PM Lecture: Graham Sinclair, UN Principles for Responsible Investment Project
Week 3# February 4
Sustainable Development Debate
- Reading DUE World Commission on Environment and Development “Towards Sustainable Development” Green Planet Blues (pg. 234-245) - Reading DUE “The Skeptical Environmentalist” Debate (available in the February 4 file of the course folder) 2
- Reading DUE Sharachchandra M. Lele “Sustainable Development: A Critical Review” Green Planet Blues (pg. 252-264)
February 7 Sustainable Development Context and Framework - Reading DUE Garret Hardin “Tragedy of the Commons” Green Planet Blues (pg. 37-44) - Reading DUE Susan Buck “No Tragedy on the Commons” Green Planet Blues (pg. 45-53) - Reading DUE Alan Durning “How Much Is Enough?” Green Planet Blues (pg. 275-282) - Reading DUE Excerpt from the WorldWatch 2004 State of the World “Consumer Society” (available in the February 7 file of the course folder)
DISTRIBUTE Writing Assignment#1 Week 4# February 11 Case Study & Group Discussion: Ayuquila River Watershed in Mexico ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT February 14
Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management
- Reading DUE Case Study: Debt for Nature Swaps: Win-Win Solution or Environmental Imperialism? (available in the February 14 file of the course folder) - Reading DUE Elizabeth Kolbert “Where Have All the Bees Gone?” New Yorker August 6, 2007 (available in the February 14 file of the course folder) - Reading DUE Excerpt from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Ecosystems and Human Well Being Report (available in the February 14 file of the course folder)
DUE Writing Assignment#1 Week 5# February 18
Climate Change and Ozone Layer
- Reading DUE Case Study: The Negotiations Leading to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (available in the February 18 file of the course folder) - Reading DUE Jacob Park, “Global Climate Change: Policy Challenges, Policy Responses” in Dennis Pirages and Ken Cousins 2005 From Resource Scarcity to Ecological Security (MIT Press) (available in the February 18 file of the course folder)
February 21
NGO and Civil Society
- Reading DUE Case Study: A Vision for Lake Superior - Reading DUE Barbara Gemmill and Abimbola Bamidele-Izu “The Role of NGOs and Civil Society in Global Environmental Governance” in Daniel Esty and Maria Ivanova 2002 Global Environmental Governance: Options & Opportunities (Yale University Press) (available in the February 21 file of the course folder)
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Week 6# February 25
Population and Urbanization
- Reading DUE Case Study: More Than Just a Numbers Game? U.S. Policy on Global Population - Reading DUE Gita Sen “Women, Poverty, and Population Issues for the Concerned Environmentalist” Green Planet Blues (pg. 358-367) - Reading DUE UNFPA 2007 State of World Population Report Chapter 5 “Urbanization and Sustainability in the 21st Century” (available in the February 18 file of the course folder)
February 28
Environment and Security
- Reading DUE Case Study: Turbot War - Canada, Spain, and Conflict Over the North Atlantic Fishery - Reading DUE Thomas Homer-Dixon “Environmental Scarcities and Violent Conflict: Evidence from Cases” Green Planet Blues (pg. 290-302) - Reading DUE Daniel Deudney “The Case Against Linking Environmental Degradation and Natural Security” Green Planet Blues (pg. 303-313)
Week of February 29 – March 10
SPRING BREAK
Week 8# March 10
Environment and Trade
- Reading DUE Case Study: To Trade or Not to Trade? The Basel Convention and the Transboundary Movement and Disposal of Hazardous Wastes (available in the March 10 file of the course folder) - Reading DUE Daniel Esty “Environment and the Trading System: Picking Up the Post-Seattle Pieces” Green Planet Blues (pg. 200-209) - Reading DUE Jacob Park “Globalization After Seattle” The Washington Quarterly (available in the March 10 file of the course folder)
March 13
Business, Globalization, and Sustainability
- Reading DUE Case Study: Shell in Nigeria – Corporate Social Responsibility and the Ogoni Crisis (available in the March 13 file of the course folder) - Reading DUE Excerpt from Charles Holliday et al Walking the Talk: Business Case for Sustainable Development (available in the March 13 file of the course folder)
DISTRIBUTE Writing Assignment#2 Week 9# March 17
The Clayquot Controversy: A Stakeholder Dialogue Simulation (Part 1)
March 20
The Clayquot Controversy: A Stakeholder Dialogue Simulation (Part 2)
DUE Writing Assignment#2 4
Week 10# March 24
EASTER BREAK
March 27
NO CLASS SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: THINKING GLOBALLY, ACTING LOCALLY
Week 11# March 31
Sustainable Communities, Sustainable Planet
- Reading DUE Chapter 1 (“The Context for Sustainable Communities”); Chapter 2 (“Toward Sustainable Communities”); and Chapter 3 (“Making Community Policy”) in Toward Sustainable Communities: Resources for Citizens and their Governments
April 3
Sustainable Community Building Block I
- Reading DUE Chapter 4 (“Greening the City”); Chapter 5 (“Water and Sewage”); and Chapter 6 (“Waste Reduction and Recyling”) in Toward Sustainable Communities: Resources for Citizens and their Governments
Week 12# April 7
Case Studies in Sustainable Community Development
April 10
Sustainable Community Building Block II
- Reading DUE Chapter 7 (“Energy Efficiency and Renewables”); Chapter 8 (“Atmosphere Change and Air Quality”); and Chapter 9 (“Transporation Planning and Traffic Management”) in Toward Sustainable Communities: Resources for Citizens and their Governments
Week 13# April 14
Case Studies in Sustainable Community Development
April 17
Sustainable Community Building Block III
- Reading DUE Chapter 10 (“Land Use and Urban Form”); Chapter 11 (“Housing and Community Development”); and Chapter 12 (“Community Economic Development”) in Toward Sustainable Communities: Resources for Citizens and their Governments
Week 14# April 21
Case Studies in Sustainable Community Development
April 24
NO CLASS
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Week 15# April 28
Mobilizing Citizens and Their Governments
- Reading DUE Chapter 13 (“Governing Sustainable Communities”); Chapter 14 (“Tools
for Community Sustainability”); and Chapter 15 (“Lessons and Challenges”) in Toward Sustainable Communities: Resources for Citizens and their Governments May 1
Case Studies in Sustainable Community Development
Week 16# May 5
Course Review and Assessment
May 8
READING DAY
FINAL EXAM: Monday, May 12 @ 8:00 AM
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