ENS 102 Spring, 2003
Environmental Studies

Tom Rasmussen, Instructor
Office: Olin 413
email: frasmusse@alfred.edu

In every culture, people harness energy in order to grow more food and provide better shelter but, in doing so, they run the risk of damaging the physical environment which make life itself possible. In this course, we will examine the impact different people have had upon their environment over time and inquire into the environmental prospects on a planet inhabited by increasingly numerous, resource hungry humans.
First we consider the fundamental problem of food production and distribution in less developed countries (LDCs), where 1 billion people have inadequate diets. Can LDCs feed growing populations, raise standards of living and avoid environmental pollution and resource scarcity?

Course Objectives

Issues of material production, environmental pollution and resource scarcity are subject to continuous dispute between people who think about environmental issues in sharply different ways. Because environmental issues are located where ecosystems and human social systems interact, environmental issues are very complex. Each of us puts bits of information together in to more or less coherent stories or accounts as we attempt to answer the following questions.

In terms of economic, aesthetic and moral judgments, to what extent should we strip the earth of material resources and use the environment as a convenient dumping ground for human waste products?

Are basic resources essential to human well being (e.g., food and energy) inherently limited or can the supply be expanded indefinitely through the appropriate social actions (e.g., developing technology, adapting to change)? Are present levels of population and material consumption sustainable into the 21st century?

Do growing populations or increasing levels of consumption place the greater burden on the earth's resources? Is the present distribution of resources among the rich and poor within societies and between societies equitable? Does economic growth narrow the gap or widen it? Can we escape Garrett Hardin's tragedy of the commons?

Under what conditions will people alter their growth-oriented social values, psychological predispositions and political priorities in order to protect and enhance their environment? Should we replace our anthropocentric world view with a biocentric world view?

Regular attendance and participation in class activities is expected of all students anticipating a grade of B of better. Course grades will be computed as follows:

5 to 8 page paper on food, population, and environment (due on Friday, March 21) ….…..20%

5 to 8 page paper on tropical deforestation
(due Friday, April 28)…………………………………………………………………..20%

Exam 1 (Friday, February 14...……………………………………………………..……20%

Exam 2 (Friday, March 28)……………………………………………………………. ..20%

Exam 3 (Friday, May 13)……………………………………………………………….20%

Required Texts (Available at Powell Campus Center Bookstore)

-Phillips Foster, The World Food Problem, Second edition Lynne Reinner, 1999

-Theodore Goldfarb, Environmental Studies, 2nd ed., Dushkin McGraw Hill, 2000

-Susan Place ed., Tropical Rainforests: Latin American Nature and Society in Transition, Scholarly Resources, 2001.

Paper Assignments

I. Are environmental constraints likely to prevent our growing enough food to feed 10 billion
people? Deforestation is taking place as families clear forested area to grow crops and as wealthy societies buy logs for timber and furniture. Water shortages may result as governments dam rivers to provide irrigation water, as thirsty societies deplete underground aquifers, or as deforestation reduces annual rainfall.

1) Using Garrett Hardin’s metaphor of the tragedy of the commons, explain why farmers cut down forests or use too much water for their crops even if the life-sustaining environment is harmed. Using Elinor Ostrom’s ideas, how can we avoid the tragedy of the commons?
2) The environmental consequences of expanded crop production are usually evaluated from an anthropocentric perspective. Write a critique of deforestation or water use from an ecocentric perspective.
3) Donella Meadows (Limits To Growth), Herman Daly (Steady State Economics) and Barry Commoner (the closing circle) all argue that perpetual economic growth is impossible and sooner or later we must achieve a sustainable zero growth economy. Evaluate the sustainable economy argument in terms of expanding crop production in the 21th century.

II. Investigate in detail one aspect of tropical deforestation. For example:
• deforestation in China, Indonesia or another Asian state
• are small peasant farmers or large multinational ranchers and loggers the principal agents of rainforest destruction?
• what does the future hold for indigenous rainforest human inhabitants?
• what policies can governments implement to slow the pace of rainforest destruction?
• discuss the politics of rainforest destruction. Who influences government policy-large landowners, poor urban dwellers who wish to become farmers, wage earning rural workers. multinational corporations?

Your papers must be well organized, well written, adequately footnoted and have a clear focus or theme. Use academic journals and journals that appeal to particular audiences (environmental, industry groups). Use Wilson Select Plus to find sources. Draw upon multiple sources of information. Plagiarism will earn you an F for the course. Please note well the statement on plagiarism in The Student Handbook.

January 20: Environmental Carrying Capacity and Limits to Growth
Goldfarb 2:2, 11:3, 2:4, 2:5, 10:1
Place, 5,11,12

January 27: Principles of Ecology and Sustainable Development,
Goldfarb 3:1, 3:1, 10:2, 16:1, 16:5, 15:3
Place, 2,6,19,21,22,26

February 3: Anthropocentric and Ecocentric World Views
Goldfarb 1:1, 1:3, 16:2, 16:3, 2:1, 2:6, 7:2, 16:4
Place 1, 13

February 10: Income, the Price of Food and Hunger
Foster, chapters 1, 14, 6, 8

February 17: Water and Forests: Constraints on Agriculture?
Foster, chapters 11, 12
Goldfarb 7:3, 8:3
Place 14, 4

February 24: Inequality and Food Production
Foster, chapter 9
Place, 7, 18

March 3: Class Reports

March 17: Global Population Trends
Foster, chapter 7

March 24: Demographic Transition Theory
Goldfarb, 2:3, 11:1, 11:2, 11:3

March 31: Population Policies
Foster, Chapter 16

April 7: Reducing Income Inequalities
Foster chapter 17
Place 8, 9, 10

April 14: Urban Bias: Farm vs. Town
Foster, chapter 18, 19
Place 15, 16, 17

April 21: Increasing Food Supply
Foster, chapter 20, 22
Place 15, 16, 17,23,24,15

April 28: Class reports