READINGS FOR GLOBAL CHANGE, FALL 2006

For Monday 11 September:
Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall, 2003. "
An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and its implications for United States national security." (This is a report commissioned by the U. S. Department of Defense and prepared by a consulting organization called theGlobal Business Network . It was submitted to the Pentagon in 2003, and released to the public several months later.)

For Thursday 14 September:
McKibben, B. 1998. A special moment in history.
Atlantic Monthly. (I think you can find a copy with illustrations intact through library website/journals...)

For Monday 18 September
Ehrlich and Ehrlich, One with Nineveh, Chs. 1-3; (I will have copies on reserve in Library and in Dickinson Reading Room file cabinet). NOTE that you can also read this online through library's 'ebrary' database.  You will need to install a plug-in for your browser, then do a search for the book
Hardin, G. 1969.
The tragedy of the commons.

For Monday 25 September: Two somewhat technical readings concerning human carrying capacity
Wackernagel et al. 2002.
Tracking the ecological overshoot of the human economy. PNAS
Imhoff et al. 2004.
Global patterns in human consumption of net primary production. Nature


For week of  2-5 October:

Tilman, et al. 2002 Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices. Nature.  Bring any questions to class on Thursday 5 October: use this paper as the basis for your next page (DUE MONDAY 9 OCT)

Ehrlich and Ehrlich, One with Nineveh, Chs. 6-7 (and you're welcome to read chapters in between).  The book is on reserve in library and copies in Dickinson Reading Room -- but remember you can access (and print sections) through library's 'ebrary' database as discussed above.


For week of 9 -13 October:
Chapters 1-3, Maslin, Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction
Also begin reading in Kolbert, Field Notes from a Catastrophe -- First 2 chapters more or less


For 16 - 19 October
For THURSDAY 19 OCTOBER: questions and discussion on  James Hansen 2006, Global Temperature Change, PNAS This is, in part, a summary of some of the latest contributions of what we're covering on the science side, but it also makes a transition into some fairly detailed consideration of why the scientific understanding might imply a policy problem -- somewhat unusual in the 'primary research' literature.  (ALSO, you might do some exploration of Hansen's recent presence in the national media.)
OTHERWISE,
    - be up through Ch. 5 of Maslin, and BRING ANY QUESTIONS to  class.
   
- be up through Ch. 4 of Kolbert, and likewise.


For 26 October
Be ready to discuss Pacala and Socolow, 2004, Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies. Science

    (NO CLASS on 23 Oct - Long Weekend)
    Be reading on in Kolbert and Maslin
    WE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT 'TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS'; Things that 'could be done' to alter course of climate change. BRING QUESTIONS, COMMENTS -- but be ready to consider what any course of action might 'cost' -- what are the trade-offs.


For  30 October - 2 November

    Read through CH. 7-8 of Maslin
    Read through rest of Kolbert
    WE WILL CONTINUE TALKING ABOUT 'TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS' and continue on to "NON-TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS' -- social, policy, and political addresses of what might be done - be ready to consider HOW such solutions could be implemented - not just 'we could do [whatever]'; Realistically, HOW can 'whatever' be made to happen?

For 9 November
    Check out these news reports from BBC.  Be ready to discuss:
       http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6115644.stm
       http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4074911.stm
       http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4269921.stm
       http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6111160.stm

AND, a major report, just released in Britain, leading to Tony Blair calling for making greenhouse warming a pre-eminent interenational priority.  The sciences is all review at this point; focus on the economics.  Start with the 'short executive summary' and readmore as you wish.
    STERN REPORT


For 13 - 16 Nov
Read this web-page, and be ready to discuss:
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6729
AND begin reading Quammen's The Song of the Dodo: first 2-3 chapters.

    NOTE that this will be quite a shift in style and direction.  This is narrative journalism, stylistically. In substance, first few chapters are really about some basic ecological/evolutionary theory -- they address the scientific theories for the origin and regulation of biological diversity.  Later chapters will bear more directly on the 'issues' of diversity loss and conservation..

 

KEEP READING QUAMMEN

 

 

For Monday 11 DEC

Be prepared top discuss these TWO VERY SHORT PAPERS

Biodiversity Conservation and the Eradication of Poverty

Can We Defy Nature's End?