Textbooks: Our Common Future, Agenda 21, Earth Under Siege. Available in the bookstore.

Articles: throughout the semester, reading assignments will be distributed. Due to copyright laws, only five copies can be provided to a class of our size. Therefore, you will need to create groups in which to share reading assignments.

Journal: You must keep a journal in which you write responses to all reading assignments, films, lectures, classroom discussions. Journals may be collected and used to determine participation grade.

Class meeting: in general, class will meet on Monday-Friday 9:00 am-11:00 am Dana 300. There will be days when class meeting times will be different. In addition, there are several afternoon and evening lectures that you must attend.

Grading: 33 1/3% class participation - missing more than one class (includes assigned lectures) will lower grade for participation by 1 letter grade, 33 1/3% individual project, 33 1/3% group project.

Assignments: In addition to regular reading assignments, there were be two projects assigned. These projects constitute a major portion of the class and must be initiated during the first week of class. The two projects will take different forms. One project will be a group project to assemble a case study on a local example of an effort at sustainability. Possible topics include: recycling and composting at Bates College; selected local manufacturers; companies that engage in "sustainable forestry practices"; organic farming; firms that specialize in "earth-friendly buildings". The case study must present sufficient statistics and data to enable the reader to understand the problem being faced, the options considered, and the solution implemented. In the last week of the term, the case study must be presented orally to the group and a written report turned in as well. The other project will be an individual project that looks at a more global aspect of sustainability. The assignment here is to select a topic that deals with global issues and sustainability and then to identify the problems associated with defining sustainable behavior with respect to the topic selected. In this assignment, definitions of sustainability will need to be explored and discussed. It is expected that the case study will be approximately 20 pages and the individual project approximately 10-15 pages.

Professor availability and course philosophy: It is expected that a great deal of the learning that will take place this semester will occur as a result of work on the two projects assigned. The purpose of the Bates short term is to provide students with an opportunity to immerse themselves in a subject for five weeks. Creativity is encourages, as a consequence, less is proscribed. However, freedom can lead to chaos and procrastination. Avoid this! I will usually be in my laboratory or office from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. Monday - Friday. When I am at Bates, I am delighted to talk to you about anything relating to our course. Do not hesitate to come by and talk about ideas or concerns.

Topics

Is there evidence that human activities are impacting the Earth's ability to sustain life? Read: Our Common Future, Agenda 21, UN Reports on sustainable development (U.N. web site), Earth Under Siege, readings on assessing risk based upon incomplete scientific information.

What is wilderness? Is the idea of wilderness an elitist notion or is it an essential aspect of what it means to be human? Read: Oelschlaeger

Is science the problem, the solution, or both?: Science, anti-science, and sustainability. Role of technological solutions, idea that humans have evolved to sense things only on a limited time scale and that this time scale is not helpful when trying to conceptualize problems associated with sustainability, idea that science has caused humans to stray from a more sensual relationship with the world. Read: David Orr, David Abrams, Richard Dawkins, Julian Simon, assorted readings on energy alternatives, technological solutions, and scientific discussions of sustainability.

Are democracy, capitalism, and sustainability compatible? Can population growth be limited in a manner that is consistent with ideas of individual rights? Role of local people in sustainable development v. centralized experts, notion of strong democracy. Read: William Ophuls, misc. readings from ecological economics, David Orr, Garrett Hardin.

Date	Assignment

April 21	Orientation, introduction, reading assignment: Our Common Future, students were assigned chapters 4-10 (2 students per chapter) and told to identify the major problems and evidence for each problem, the comission's future projections, and the commissions recommendations. Students were encouraged to find other sources to elaborate information in Our Common Future. Students were told to read the preface and the first three introductory chapters and to think about the context in which the document was written, the reliability of the information provided, and the potential biases they would anticipate that the writers might have
April 22	students given the day off from class to complete reading assignment
April 23	Read Chapter 12 in Turco's Earth Under Siege, Chapter on Global Climate Change
April 24	Read "Getting their act together" by Alden Meyer, Nucleus, Spring 1997, "Storm Warnings Rattle Insurers", C & E News, April 14, 1997 (pp. 28-31)
April 25	Read: (1) "Pushing too far, too fast?" C & E NEWS, April 14, 1997 10-18", (2) The Price of Confidence: The Rationality of Radium Removal from Drinking Water," Douglas Crawford-Brown; (3) "The Role of Evidential Reason and Epistemic Discourse in Establishing the Risk of Environmental Carcinogens", Douglas Crawford-Brown; (4) "Ethical Problems in Using Science in the Regulatory Process," Nicholas A. Ashford and Karin A. Gregory, Natural Resources and Environment 2(2) 1986-1987; (5) "A Bayesian Analysis or scientific Judgement of Uncertainties in Estimating Risk Due to 222Rn in U.S. Public Drinking Water Supplies", D. Crawford-Brown and C. Richard Cohen, Health Physics, 53(1) July 1987, 11-21; (6) "Medical Surveillance and Monitoring in the Workplace: The Complexity of Causation," B. Valore, C. Valore, Trial Lawyer, July 1990, 14; (7) Selected articles on risk in Nature "Risk: a suitable case for analysis?" 380(7) 10-14. Assign everyone two articles and then distribute the remaining 5 articles one per group.
April 28	Read: William Cronon "The Trouble with Wilderness" and Max Oelschlaeger "Reflections on the Wilderness Act: Three Decades and Counting", Weber Studies, 12.2 Spring/Summer 1995
April 29	discuss notions of wilderness with Max Oelschlaeger and compatibility of wilderness and sustainable development
April 30	Read Chapter 14 Turco, Global Management and Spell of the Sensuous David Abram, Pantheon Press 1996, "The Ecology of Magic", 93-95, 123-125, 261-274.
May 6	"Achieving Sustainable Use of Renewable Resources", Science 1993, 262, "Uncertainty, Resource Exploitation, and Conservation: Lessons from History" Ludwig, Science 1993
May 7	Energy survey - The Economist, June 18th 1994, "Energy Needs in Developing Countries and Sustainability", Jose Goldenberg, Science, 269, 1995, 1058-1059.
May 12	Chapter 6 and 9 in Turco Acid Rain and Air Pollution
May 13	"Consumption: Challenge to Sustainable Development" "or distraction?" Science, 1997, 276, "Economic Growth, Carrying Capacity and the Environment", Science, 1995, 268, "Population Growth and Economic Development", Samuel Preston, Environment 28, "Beyond Greening: Strategies for a Sustainable World", Stuart Hart, Harvard Business Review, 1997, "Growth Through Global Sustainability: An Interview with Monsanto's CEO Joan Magretta, Harvard Business Review, 1997, "The Tragedy of the Commons" Garret Hardin, Science, 1968, "The Numbers Game" David Berreby, Discover 1990, David Orr Ecological Literacy, "Fragments of Strategies".