Planet Under Stress
International Responses to Global Environmental Problems
NC State Encore Program
January 26-March 4, 2009
Mondays, 9:00-10:30
Instructor: Marvin S. Soroos
Professor Emeritus, School of Public and International Affairs
msoroos@mindspring.com
Overview:
The planet Earth is a global commons that is being altered and degraded by a rapidly growing and industrializing world population. This course will explore some of the major ecological challenges that humanity faces during the 21st century and review the efforts of the international community to address them. Problems to be considered will include world population trends, the international flow of air pollutants, depletion of the ozone layer, global climate change, environmental threats to the oceans and their living resources, and the decline of the planet's biodiversity. The mixed record of the United States in supporting international efforts to address these problems will also be critiqued.
Suggested readings:
No general textbook is recommended, but several articles and websites are suggested for those who would like to do additional reading related on the week's topic. A list of recent books on global environmental issues can be found at the end of this syllabus.
Overview Readings:
UNEP, Global Environment Outlook (GEO-4), Summary for Decision Makers, 2007
Millennium Ecological Assessment, Synthesis 2005 (Wikopedia summary)
January 26, 2009 - Global and National Populations Trends: Boom or Bust? (lecture outline) (other articles)
Suggested readings:
World Population Data Sheet - 2008 (browse on line)
Phillip Longman, "The Global Baby Bust," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 83, No. 3, May/June 2004, pp. 64-79
Phillip Longman, "The Return of Patriarchy, Foreign Policy, No. 153, March/April 2006, pp. 56-65
Herschel Elliott and Richard Lamm, "A Moral Code for a Finite World," Chronicle of Higher Education, November 15, 2002, pp. B7-B9
Suggested websites:
National Ecological Footprints World Consumption Cartogram
United States Census Bureau-International Population Center
United Nations Population Information Network (POPIN)
IIASA, Chinese Population Trends (Animation)
International Planned Parenthood Federation
Negative Population Growth (an NGO---statistics on US population growth)
International Conference on Population and Development (1994)
February 2, 2009 - The International Flow of Air Pollutants: Can They be Stopped? (lecture outline) (other articles)
Suggested readings:
EPA , Acid Rain Website (browse on line)
"UN Reports Pollution Threat Over Asia," New York Times, November 13, 2008
"Pollution from Chinese Coal Casts a Global Shadow," New York Times, June 11, 2006
Marvin Soroos, "Preserving the Atmosphere as a Global Commons," Environment, March 1998 (handout)
Suggested websites:
Air Pollution and Climate Secretrariat (Sweden)
Air Pollution Treaty, Fact Sheet #14
Encyclopedia of the Atmospheric Environment - Acid Rain
February 9, 2009- Stratospheric Ozone Layer: A Success Story in International Cooperation? (lecture outline) (other articles)
Suggested readings:
EPA, "On the Trail of Missing Ozone" (cartoon gives basic introduction to the topic)
UNEP, Twenty Questions and Answers about the Ozone Layer-2006 Update (browse on line)
"Earth's Ozone Shield is Poised for Recovery.'" Christian Science Monitor, June 1, 2006
Suggested websites:
The Ozone Hole (basic information about the ozone layer and threats to it)
UNEP, Backgrounder: Basic Facts and Data on the Science and Politics of Ozone Protection, 2005 (browse on line)
US EPA Ozone Depletion Website, Twenty Most Frequently Asked Questions about the Ozone Layer
February 16, 2009 - Global Climate Change: Is it the Ultimate Environmental Challenge? (lecture outline) (other articles - science)
Suggested readings:
EPA, Climate Change Website (browse)
UNEP, Fact Sheet: Climate Change at a Glance (good basic introduction to the topic)
Spencer Weart, "The Discovery of Rapid Climate Change," Physics Today, August 2003
Air Pollution and Climate Secretariat, "Fact Sheet---Kyoto Protocol"
Paul Saunders and Vaughan Turekian, "Why Climate Change Can't be Stopped," Foreign Policy, September 2007
Suggested websites:
Union of Concerned Scientists, "Global Warming Science"
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Climate Ark Newsfeed (extensive compendium of newspaper articles on climate change)
National Snow and Ice Data Center (See "Cryosphere in the News"--right column below)
World Meteorological Organization
UNEP, Understanding Climate Change: A Beginner's Guide to the UN Framework
Convention and Its Kyoto Protocol
Cool Heads Coalition (a skeptical website)
February 23, 2009 - The State of the Oceans: How Adequate is the International Law of the Sea? (lecture outline) (other articles)
Suggested readings:
"Sea of Troubles; Man is Assaulting the Oceans. They Will Smite Him if He Does Not Take Care," Economist, December 30, 2008
"More Abused Than Used," Economist, December 30, 2008
"Scramble for the Seabed," Economist, December 30, 2008
"Troubled Waters," Economist, December 30, 2008
"Grabbing It All: In Most Places Fisheries Policies Have Completely Failed," Economist, December 30, 2008
"The Curse of Carbon: A Meltdown Tinged with Acid," Economist, December 30, 2008
UN Division for Ocean Affairs, "UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: A Historical Perspective"
Suggested websites:
Oceans and Law of the Sea (main United Nations LOS website)
Wikipedia Encyclopedia, "UN Convention on the Law of the Sea"
International Maritime Organization
UN FAO, Fisheries Department
March 2, 2009 - Threats to the Planet's Biodiversity: What Can be Done to Preserve It? (lecture outline) (other articles)
Suggested readings:
Julia Whitty, "By the End of the Century Half of All Species will be Gone: Who Will Survive?" Mother Jones, May/June 2007
Suggested websites:
ICUN Red List of Endangered Species
World Conservation Union (IUCN)
Conservation International's Biodiversity Hotspots
World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, Our Forests, Our Future
UNESCO World Heritage Sites (US World Heritage Sites)
World Data Base of Protected Areas
Other readings
Books
Lester Brown, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Earth Policy Institute, 2006
Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Viking 2005
Thomas Friedman, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution----And How it Can Renew America, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008
Taras Grescoe, Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood. Bloombury, 2008.
Donald Kennedy, State of the Planet, 2006-2007, Island Press, 2006 (collection from editors of Science and sponsored by AAAS.
John and Teresa Kerry, This Moment on Earth: Today’s New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future, Public Affairs, 2007
Elizabeth Kolbert, Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change, Bloomsbury, 2006
Eugene Linden, The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations, Simon & Schuster, 2006
George Monbiot, Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning, South End Press, 2007
Fred Pearce, When the Rivers Run Dry: The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century, Beacon Press, 2006
Joseph Romm, Hell and High Water: Gloibal Warming---the Solution and the Politics---and What We Do. HarperCollins, 2006.
Chris Wood, Dry Spring: The Coming Water Crisis of North America. Raincoast Books, 2008.
Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs 2007-2008: The Trends that Are Shaping Our Future, 2006
Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2008, 2006
Classic Articles in the Environmental Field
Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons," Science, 162(1968):1243-1248
Kenneth Boulding, "Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth," 1966
Websites and Miscellaneous
Environmental Sustainability Index
Environmental Performance Index (rankings of nations)
Blacksmith Institute, "World's Most Polluted Places"