ENST 201 (Environment and Society)

Class instructor: Greg Gangi Contact information: Phone (office): 962-9805 Email:ggangi@email.unc.edu Office: 312 Whitehead Building (this used to be a dorm). Note that my office will probably move to Venable at some point during the semester. Office hours: Monday 4:00 to 5:00 and by appointment. I do check email every day but I am trying to concentrate my email work into specific parts of the dayI get a lot of emails as an advisor and email can take over my life. If you have something to discuss, as opposed to just ask about, please make an appointment. When you want to make an appointment please provide me with several times that I can select from, otherwise we can get a game of email tag going.

Orientation: This course will explore changing human-environmental relations from a variety of social, geographical, and historical settings. The course is divided into six interrelated sections. While some lectures do include material from the natural sciences this is a social science class. The class does cut across a large number of disciplines and it strives to do this in a manner that is integrative rather than segregating lessons from different academic disciplines into separate lectures. Of particular interest is examining how environmental change has impacted different societies around the world and projecting how environmental issues, from traditional pollution and land use degradation to modern worries about climate change and endocrine inhibitors have transformed from local issues to one of global concern. Objectives: By the end of this course you will be able to do the following: 1) Discuss the long standing debate between population and consumption as a root of environmental degradation; 2) Describe the changes in food productions systems from smallholder agriculture to the modern global agro-industrial supply chain; 3) Understand the changes the new food system brings to both people and the environment worldwide; 4) Be able to explain the implications of the demographic transition, including how it occurred in the developing world and how the model has fared in the developing world; 5) Understand the global shift to a materialistic-oriented outlook and the impact this has on consumption patterns worldwide; 6) Compare and contrast the environmental policies of the United States with other countries and regions; 7) Be able to discuss the environmental impacts of globalization, both in terms of our health and our biological resources; 8) Develop a deep understanding of a specific case study using research methodology; 9) Improve your ability to work as a part of a teama crucial skill in the real world.

2 Course requirements: Students are required to attend class, to compete reading assignment, to participate in class discussion and recitation exercises, to complete a group project, and to perform successfully on written examinations. There will be a midterm (25% of the grade) and a final examination (35% of the grade). Another 20 percent of the grade will be based upon a case study project that will be assigned in recitation. The recitation grade will account for the remaining 20 percent of the grade. Structure of class: In addition to weekly class lectures, students will attend a one-hour recitation session to enjoy small-group discussion and to explore related topics of interest. Your class involvement will be enhanced by a class listserv, that is set up to facilitate the exchange of references and other course related information. The lecture and recitation instructors offer a number of opportunities for out of class interaction such as having coffee (or caf beverage of your choice) together on Fridays after class, meetings in cafs, and attendance of special events, ie.; guest lectures, documentary films and off campus tours. Class Listserv -Please Note This class has a listserv Enst2013f. We (Greg Gangi and and the ENST 201 TAs) post important information relating to case studies, review sessions, extra credit, frequently asked questions, campus speakers, relevant news articles, etc. You should join by going to: http://listserv.unc.edu/ and subscribing to Enst2013f. I will start using this in the second week of class. If you are not getting the listserv emails contact me. We also have a large number of links for additional research and information which you can access through Sakai.

Laptops and Cell Phones Please leave your cell phones at home or at least remember to turn them off. The use of electronics, including laptops, is not allowed in this class. Too many people come to class and seem to prefer to text message and play video games (or shop and email). This can be distracting to your neighbor and the professor. It is also unnecessarily rude since we dont even have an attendance policy. If you cannot stay off the internet, just stay home. For empirical support of the laptop ban see Yamamoto 2008 (the abstract can be found here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1078740) If you cannot survive without your laptop for taking notes you can submit a request to be allowed to use a laptop for taking notes only but then you will be asked to sit in a certain part of the class so I can tell who is an approved vs. non-approved user.

Required Texts 1) Cribb, Julian 2010. The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It. Berkley, CA: University of California Press. 2) Kasser, Tim 2003. The High Price of Materialism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

3 3) Schapiro, Mark. 2007. Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and Whats at Stake for American Power. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing. Optional but highly recommended: Solutions Journal Subscriptions can be purchased here: http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/ Free online subscription to Renew Economy http://reneweconomy.com.au/ Renew Economy is a bit Australia centric but it emails out a link to five articles during the week. You can spend a few minutes a day reading one or two of their articles and in a few months or a year; you will really have a good understanding of major developments in the field of energy. Other readings can be found online via links on the Sakai website In addition to the above reading we also require that you see the following DVDs/Videos during the semester. 1) Crude Impact 2) The Lost Children of Rockdale County 3) The Inside Job The TAs will arrange for two options to see each film on different evenings. In case you cant make either showing, then you can also watch it in the non-print section of the undergraduate library. Extra Credit opportunities There are usually two extra credit event per semester. This is usually a speaker invited to campus who is giving a talk that is related to what we are covering in this class. I will offer two points extra credit that will be added to the midterm grade, for attending each of the following events: Events will be announced

Schedule Unit I: Introduction

W 1/8 Topics: Introduce the Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology, the Institute for the Environment, course instructors; present course objectives; Discussion: Boserup, Malthus, Cornucopians and Neo Malthusians F 1/10 Maladaptive resource management in prior and present societies Reading assignment for next class: 1. Brown, Dale M. 2000. The Fate of Greenlands Vikings. Archeology Magazine (February 28) http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/greenland/ 2. Diamond, Jared. 1995 The Lessons of Easter Island Discover (August 1995) (in reading folder in sakai) 3. Bloomberg TV: Charlie Rose: Jeremy Grantham on Our Debt Solution Accessed at: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/investment-strategist-jeremy-granthamrBP3CUZJS9mPRsuWLXpSRA.html (Dont be fooled by the title- 75% of this interview is strongly related to this class. I am assigning this because Jeremy Grantham has agreed to come talk with us on February 24th)

Unit II: Human Population Dynamics

Part I -An overview of human population growth and its consequences M 1/13 Topic: The history of human population growth 1. Diamond, Jared 1987. The worst mistake in the history of the human race Discover (May) pp. 64-66. http://www.environnement.ens.fr/perso/claessen/agriculture/mistake_jared_diamond.pdf 2. Nierenberg, Danielle and Macdonald Mia. 2004 The Population storySo Far World Watch (September/October) 14-25. http://www.worldwatch.org/system/files/EP175B.pdf 3. Cribb pp. 1-69 Part II: Food procurement strategies, population growth rates and carrying capacity of the planet. W 1/15 Topics: The significance of hunter-gatherers, the advent of the agricultural revolution. 1) Cribb, pp. 70-99 2) Pearce pp 3-7, 19-25 (posted on Sakai) F 1/17 Topic: Extensive agriculture: Examples from South America and Central Asia 1. Pearce, pp. 27-44 2. Cribb, pp. 100-153 M 1/20 Martin Luther King Day: No class Tuesday 1/21 Extra Credit- #1 Authors of Small Stories, Big Changes: Agents of Change on the Frontlines of Sustainability 4:00 to 5:30 location TB W 1/22 Topic: Industrial agriculture - The historical evolution of capital and labor intensive agriculture and the global trade in food 1. Pearce, pp. 107-127; 2. Mann, Charles. Nov. 2011. How the potato changed the world. Smithsonian Magazine http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/How-the-Potato-Changed-the-World.html; 3. Cribb, pp 154-168 4. Optional additional reading: Conkin, Paul. 2008. "Dimensions of a Revolution". In Revolution Down on the Farm, University Press of Kentucky. Lexington KY. pp 97-122 (available via Google Books)

5 F 1/24 Topic: Population, agriculture and nutrition 1. Pollan, Michael 2007. You are what you Grow, New York Times Magazine. http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=88 2. Hidden hunger: How much can farming really improve peoples health? March 24, 2011. The Economist. http://www.economist.com/node/18438289 3. Bittman, Mark Fixing our Food Problem, New York Times, January 1. 2013. Accessed at: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/fixing-our-foodproblem/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130102 M 1/27 Topic: Limits to Growth: The worlds food supply and the future of agriculture 1. Charles, H. and J. Godfray, et al. Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People, Science 327, 812 (2010) (available at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/327/5967/812.full) 2. Adler, Jerry. May 2011. The Growing Menace from Superweeds. Scientific American, pp 75-79 http://www.nature.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/scientificamerican/journal/v304/n5/pdf/scientificamerican0 511-74.pdf 3. (Optional) Rice, Andrew. Is There Such a Thing as Agro-Imperialism? NY Times Magazine 11/22/2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/magazine/22land-t.html?pagewanted=all TAs will set up some times to see Crude Impact this week W 1/29 Topic: Working around the Limits: Ecological Agriculture and Technology 1. Zeleski, Adam. Five innovations that boost soil fertility. Christian Science Monitor, November 2011. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/Change-Agent/2011/1130/Five-innovationsthat-boost-soil-fertility 2. Cribb, pp 169-203 3. Schapiro, pp 1-41 Part III: Birth Rates: The demographic transition; how and why birth rates eventually decline. F 1/31 Topics: The importance of equal rights for women / International Family Planning efforts in developing countries--See Grameen Bank Video (discussion in class) 1. Dobson, Andrew and Robin Carper. 1996. Infectious diseases and Human Population History. BioScience 46(2): 115-126 M 2/3 Topic: The Demographic transition and population pyramids (focus on the growth rates of developing countries) 1. Schapiro, pp 42-82 2. Mastny, Lisa. 2004. The Hazards of Youth. World Watch. http://www.worldwatch.org/system/files/EP175C.pdf Part IV Death rates: Causes of Death and the changing ecology of disease W 2/5 Topics: Disease agents; definitions of health and disease; human ecology of disease. 1. Garrett, Laurie 1994. Machupo [ch 1] in The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance. NY: Penguin Books. F 2/7 Topic: Manmade toxins and human health Agenda: See video Expose (Discussion to be continued in recitation sections and in the next class) 1. Taubes, Gary. 2011. Is sugar toxic? The New York Times Magazine (April 12, 2011). http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?pagewanted=all 2. Schapiro, pp 83-158

6 M 2/10 Topics: Globalization and infectious diseases: Human mobility, landscape change, and the ecology of disease 1. Garrett, Laurie. 1994 Microbe Magnets [Ch 9] in the same book, pp. 234-259. W 2/12 Topic: Manmade toxins and human health: Cancer, endocrine disruptors, type 2 diabetes, etc. 1. Davis, Mike. 2006. Slum Ecology Orion (March/April) pp 17-23. http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/167/ 2. Schapiro, pp 158-178 TAs will set up some times to see The Lost Children of Rockdale County (Conyers Film) this week Part V Urbanization and Migration F 2/14 Topic: Urbanization and the pace and consequences of Third World Urbanization (Megacities) 1. Kuenstler, James H. 1994. The Geography of Nowhere: The rise and decline of Americas man-made landscape pp. 113-146. 2. TAs will arrange two showings of The Lost Children of Rockdale County (Times and places TBA) M 2/17 Topics: Urban ecology in the US; the low density outward spread of American Cities and the social, public health and environmental consequences 1. Kasser Chapters 1 and 2 W 2/19 Topic: The Consequences of a poorly planned and built environment discussion of video on Conyers Georgia 1. Kasser chapters 3, 4 and 8 2. Watch one or two video (they are short) from the streetfilms web site: http://www.streetfilms.org/ F 2/21 Topic: Urban Design 1) Derewicz, Mark. Isolation Desolation, Endeavors, December 19, 2012. Accessed at:
http://endeavors.unc.edu/isolation_desolation

M 2/24 Topic: The Consequences of a poorly planned and built environment Part II 2) Speck, Jeff. 2012. Walkable City: How Downtown can save America one step at a time (New York: Farrar, Straus
and Giroux), pp. 15-50

Extra Credit- Jeremy Grantham talk- 6:00 PM

Unit III: Affluence and Modernity The role of the individual

The idea that happiness comes from the marketplace is perhaps the single biggest revolutionary idea to come out of the twentieth century. This unit examines the origin and global spread of that idea and the consequences of this notion for individuals, society and the environment will be explored. We will also consider explanations for the power of this particular vision of the good life. W 2/26 - See Advertising Video in class discusses the relationship between the notion that happiness comes from the marketplace and the ideology of neo-liberalism (market fundamentalism) 1. Kasser, Chapters 5-6 F 2/28 Topics: Environmentally friendly planning (examples from Europe, Brazil and the United States) 1. Buettner, Dan. 2010. San Luis Obispo: A Real American Dream in Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones
Way (Washington, DC: National Geographic), Chapter 2.

2. Flint, Anthony. 2006. This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of America. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins Press. pp 81-103. (also available online through UNC libraries) 3. Beatley, Timothy, 2012. Green Cities of Europe, (Washington, DC: Island Press) Chapter 1

7 M3/3 Topic: Happiness comes through the market place: The global spread of an idea and the hidden costs of this new version of human fulfillment. 1) Kasser, Chapters 7 W 3/5 Topic: Hyperindividualism and Manufactured Desires 1. Kasser, Chapters 8 and 9 F 3/7- MIDTERM Spring Break

Unit IV Institutions: Technology, Economics, Policy and Values

M 3/17 Topic: The Changing Nature of Pollution and the political-legal framework for dealing with issues of pollution. We will discuss the use of statutory laws at the level of the nation-state to the international regimes of the global community. 1. Schapiro, pp 179-189 W 3/19 Topic: Microeconomic tools for promoting pro-environment actions among individuals and firms 1. Cassidy, Paul. 2009. The Prisoners Dilemma and rational irrationality. Pp 140-150. (available on Sakai) 2. Krugman, Paul. April 2010. Building a Green Economy, NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/magazine/11Economy-t.html 3. Rosenthal, Elizabeth. Carbon Taxes makes Ireland even Greener. New York Times, December 27, 2012.
Accessed at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/science/earth/in-ireland-carbon-taxes-payoff.html?src=me&ref=general

F 3/21 Topic: Why mainstream thinking in macroeconomics is inconsistent with sustainability 1) Joseph Stiglitz, Amaryta Sen, and Jean-Paul Fitoussi 2010. Mismeasuring our Lives, Forward (pp vii-xv) 2) Dietz, Rob. The Triumph of Fantasy over Science, Parts 1 and 2: The Rise of Fantasy as the Basis for Economic Policy CASSE (Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy) Accessed online on August 16, 2012 at: http://steadystate.org/category/rob-dietz/ M 3/24 Topic: Macro-Economic Schools of Thought Keynes, Hayek and Ordoliberalism 1. Bigelow, Gordon 2005. Let there be Markets Harpers Magazine (May) http://harpers.org/archive/2005/05/0080538 (this is html, a pdf can be found via the UNC Library systems e-journals). 2. Keynes vs. Hayek listen to below pod cast (28 minutes) http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=141802704&m=14181 3252 W 3/26 Topic: Society and the future Does a market centered vision of society put us on autopilot? Reading and Assignment: 1) Sandel, Michael. 2012 What Money cant buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux), Introduction and chapter 3.

2) See The Inside Job -stay tuned for times and places. F 3/28 Topic: Environmental Policy and models of policy-making. In this unit we will focus exclusively on models that apply to democracies (Bureaucratic Model and Elite Model) 1. Listen to the following story (only 4 minutes)- Forget Stocks or Bonds, Invest in a Lobbyist: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/01/06/144737864/forget-stocks-or-bonds-invest-in-alobbyist?sc=emaf 2. Oreskes, Naomi and Erik Conway. 2010. The denial of global warming. In Merchants of Doubt, Bloomsbury Press NY. pp 169-215

8 M 3/31 Topic: Environmental Policy and models of policy-making: Elite Model and Classical Pluralism Reading: 1) Joshi, Ketan. Anti-Wind turbine syndrome: We need to Clear the Air, posted on August 14, 2012. Accessed at: http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/anti-wind-turbine-syndrome-we-need-to-clear-the-air95349 2) Snyder, Jim. Clean Energy Requirements Targeted by ALEC, Norquist. In Bloomberg News, April 23, 2012. Accessed at; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-24/clean-energy-requirements-targetedby-alec-norquist.html W 4/2 Topic: Environmental movement, critique of society by environmental movement; the US Movement and its values and political efficacy is compared with that of the Green Party movement in Europe. 1) Griswold, Eliza. How Silent Spring Ignited the Environmental Movement, New York Times, September 21, 2012. Accessed at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/how-silent-springignited-the-environmental-movement.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 F 4/4 Topics: Building a Green Economycross-country comparisons 1. Fingleton, Eamonn. Germanys Economic Engine The American Prospect, February 2010. Accessed at: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=germanys_economic_engine 2. How Germany became Europes Green Leader, Solutions, October 2011. Accessed at: http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/981
3. Peace, Johanna. South Korea to Invest $85 Billion in Green New Deal Breakthrough, July 6, 2009. Accessed at: http://thebreakthrough.org/archive/south_korea_to_invest_85b_in_g#

M 4/7 Topics: Liquid fuels and transportation: Peak Conventional Oil, Unconventional Oil, Geopolitics and climate change: The future of Energy production 1) Kujawski, Richard. Climate Change and National Security: Pentagon Says Global Warming Is Real and Is Planning for the Worst in Living Green Magazine, April 4, 2012. Accessed at: http://livinggreenmag.com/2012/07/04/climate-change/climate-change-and-national-securitypentagon-says-global-warming-is-real-and-is-planning-for-the-worst/ 2) Carter, Colin A and Miller, Henry I. Corn for Food not Fuel. New York Times July 31, 2012. Accessed at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/31/opinion/corn-for-food-not-fuel.html W 4/9 Topic: Reforming the way electricity is produced and the way electricity is regulated. 1) Tomain, Joseph P., "The Past and Future of Electricity Regulation" (2002). Faculty Articles and Other Publications. Paper 111, Part 3 (pp. 443- 463). Available online at: http://scholarship.law.uc.edu/fac_pubs/111 F 4/11 Topic: The Future of Electricity: The promise and limitations of renewable energy technologies; changing our energy and transportation infrastructure. Germany offers a road map for other countries- An examination of Germany policies promoting energy efficiency and the growth and development of renewable energy. 1) Fairley, Peter. 2012. Edisons Revenge: The Rise of DC Power in Technology Review, pp 11-12 2) Reddy, Narend. Superconductor Electricity Pipelines in Right of Way, May/June 2012, pp 26-32. 3) Fairley, Peter 2012. Real Electricity Flows from Virtual Plant in Technology Review, pp 6-7. 4) Behr, Peter. Smart Grid Costs are Massive, but Benefits will be Larger, Industry Study Says, Climate Wire, May, 25, 2011.

Unit V- Globalization
M 4/14 Topics: The Colombian exchange of people, plants, animals, and pathogens; demographic tragedy in the New World 1) Bright, Chris. 1998. "Evolution in Reverse" in Life Out of Bounds: Bioinvasion in a Borderless World, pp. 17-31. New York: W. W. Norton & Company W 4/16 Topic: Bioinvasion or Pangaea coming back together: exploring the consequences of moving organisms into new environments. 1. Hobhouse, Henry 1987. "Sugar and the slave trade" in Seeds of Change: Five plants that Transformed Mankind, pp. 43-91. New York: Hill and Wang. (UNC E-reserve) 4-18- Holiday- No Class M 4/21 Topics: The origins of the global capitalist economy and its environmental ramifications. 1) Finnegan, William. 2003. The Economics of Empire http://www.mindfully.org/WTO/2003/Economics-Of-EmpireMay03.htm M 4/23 Topic: The Bretton Woods System (1944-2000) 1. Hertwich, Edgar H. and Peters, Glen 2009 Carbon Footprint of Nations: Trade-Linked Analysis in Environmental Science Technology, 43, pp. 6414-6420. M 4/25 Topic: Globalization, trade and the carbon footprints of developed countries. 1) Grantham, Jeremy. Welcome to Dystopia from Morningstar, August 1, 2012, http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/SubmissionsArticle.aspx?submissionid=150627.xml

Final Exam Noon to 3:00 on April 28th in the regular classroom. Other featured lectures for this semester: Feb 4 - Lester Brown http://events.unc.edu/event/gri-water-nexus-series-water-food/ March 19 IE lecture = Barrien Moore http://events.unc.edu/event/spring-environmental-seminar-dr-berrien-moore/ April 16 - Alexandra Cousteau http://events.unc.edu/event/campus-earthweek-keynote-alexandra-cousteau/