Course Description:
Our environmental circumstances pose problems of value and choice for each
of us and challenge us to reconsider the way we act individually and collectively
in an ever changing ecosystem. Whether we like it or not there is no
escaping the fact that ethical values are embedded in the premises and assumptions
of all decisions we make concerning land and resource use.
Responsible land management has come to include concern for land as habitat
-- not just for humankind alone -- but for other communities of species
that inhabit it as well. In addition, we have come to understand that
land management needs to reflect an understanding of the land in its ecological
context, including its local and larger significance in the hydrological cycle,
the carbon cycle, public health, etc.
This course invites students to reflect upon the problems confronting those
who have to make decisions about land management and resource use. It
highlights different approaches to environmental ethics and examines the underlying
assumptions of the scientific, managerial, economic, aesthetic, religious,
judicial and public policy discourse on the environment. Emphasis will be
given to the growing global recognition that humankind is now evolving toward
a new consciousness of the ethics of sustainability.
The course requires students to:
N.B. It is recognized that students from different levels of educational experience may well be taking this course, ranging from undergraduates through graduate and professional school students. All students taking the course will be expected to fulfill the requirements enumerated above, but the assessment of their work will take into account their respective levels of educational experience. The subject for the term research paper should be discussed with the course instructor.
- attend lectures and study class lecture notes made available in most cases via the Internet.
- complete "in-class," "take-home" or "online" short assignments & weekly quizzes that will be presented occasionally throughout the term;
- complete Assigned Reading -- and suggested readings, where appropriate. Regularly consult, study and absorb the material listed under Weekly Assignments (ie. Week 1, Week 2, etc.) where appropriate. Class and online discussions will often assume you know about and are familiar with this material.
[N.B. Beyond the works listed below, additional Assigned Reading and handouts may be distributed in class or via the World Wide Web from time to time during the semester. These materials form an integral part of the course, and they are to be read and reflected upon as well as those readings listed below.];- complete and submit to the appropriate course "dropbox" on it iSites website by Wednesday, 28 September 2016 a Statement of Research Intent. This should be a title and a paragraph, indicating what your research for the Prospectus and eventual paper will focus upon.
- complete and submit a Prospectus with an Annotated Bibliography for their Term Research Paper. The deadline for submitting the prospectus is 19 October 2016 in class. Suggestions on the prepartion of the research paper are outlined in the web document: The Prospectus with Annotated Bibliography
- complete and submit a Term Research Paper with supporting bibliography on a selected topic concerning environmental ethics and land management. . To receive a grade in the course, all papers must be received in "hardcopy," printed format on or before December 7, 2016 Submission of this paper in electronic form only will not be accepted as valid.
Course Grading and Late Submission of Written Work:
Grading for the course will be derived from 5 total elements:
- in-class and/or online participation in the course "Chat Room" during class as well as the Harvard Canvas "Class Discussion Sessions." Topics and questions will be posted under the link to "Weekly Discussion Questions" which will be linked to the appropriate space in which you should respond on the class Canvas site.. (approximately 30%);
- on-time online submission by 28 September 2016 of the "Statement of Research Intent." (approximately 10%)
- on-time online submission by 19 October 2016 of the research Prospectus with Annotated Bibliography (approximately 20%);
- on-time online submission of the term research paper PLUS "hardcopy" submission by December 7, 2016. (approximately 40%) [N.B. all papers must be received in "hardcopy," printed format on or before December 7, 2016. Submission in electronic form is required as well. All papers must be submitted to the Final Paper Dropbox on the Harvard iSites course website.]
N.B. Late submission of the course written work (specifically the Prospectus with Annotated Bibliography and the final research paper) will normally result in a loss of one third of a grade per day (not per class session, but per 24 hour delay). Thus, for example, a student who might normally receive a B+ for the written exercise should expect to receive a B if the paper is one day late. Similarly a student who might normally receive an A for the submitted paper can expect to receive a B+ if it is received two days late.
Month/Day Wednesdays August 1(1) September 7 (2) 14 (3) 21 (4) 28 (5) October5 (6) 12 (7) 19 (8) 26 (9) November2(10) 16 (12) Thanksgiving 30 (13) December 7 (14) 14 (15)
- Introduction to Course
- Basic Concepts of Ecology
- Elements of Ethical Reasoning - An Anthropologist's Approach
- Environmental Ethics: The Terrain and Main Components of Debate
- Our Historical Context: Colonialism, Imperialism and Sprawl
- Statement of Research Intention
- Public Lands: Mining, Timber & Grazing Lands
- Private Lands: Agriculture
- Land Management and Waste: Toxic & Nuclear Waste
- Prospectus & Annotated Bibliography is due by end of class
- Land Management and the Emerging Water Crisis
- Land Management and the Global Commons: Air, Oceans, Forests
- Land Management and Public Health
- Sick Earth, Diseased Humans: "Geo-Engineering" vs. "Planetary Physiology"
- Principles of Ecosystem Management and the Ethics of Global Sustainability
- Global Trends and Local Counter-Trends in Human Relations to the Land
- NB All Papers Must Be Submitted by the end of this session
- From Beneith the Grassroots to The Sky Above -- Soils, Climate, Food and Visions for a Sustainable Future
Aug 31, 2016 | Introduction to the scope, character and requirements of the course. An overview discussion of topics to be covered and an introduction to how to get access to the related resources for each course session. |
Assigned Reading: | ||
[no reading assigned for the first class session] | ||
Week 1 -- Resources and Assignments |
Sept. 7, 2016 |
All living species live in ecosystems. No organism can live apart
from an environment, and the ecosystem can be understood as the ensemble
of organisms and the environments needed to sustain them. Environmental
ethics -- if it is to be more than a simple academic exercise in logic
-- needs to be grounded in a firm understanding of the structure and function
of ecosystems. This class will outline some of the fundamental characteristics of ecosystems and emphasize basic concepts of ecology that will serve as a foundation for further discussions of ethical behavior in an ecosystem. |
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Week 2 -- Resources and Assignments |
Sept. 14, 2016 |
All societies possess at least some form of ethical reasoning, and often
many conflicting systems. Ethical systems -- like linguistic
systems -- are a "built in" feature of human cultural life. Ethics
have to do with people think "ought to be done," and all
societies struggle with the tension between the way things are
and the way they think they ought to be. Yet although the existence of ethical systems is universal, individual ethical systems themselves-- like languages -- are far from universal. We are presented with several questions to resolve: Where do societies get their sense of what "ought to be?" How is it possible to compare different ethical systems? If there is no such thing as a single "universal" ethic, are there nevertheless common elements in all ethical reasoning? |
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Week 3 -- Resources and Assignments |
Sept. 21, 2016 | A number of thinkers and writers have contributed to the development of thinking about environmental ethics, and it is worth considering some of their specific contributions. Aldo Leopold, wrote his influential Almanac nearly sixty years ago -- before there was much consciousness of humans acting as destructively as we now know they can in an ecosystem. What relevance can his observations possibly have for us today? |
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Week 4 -- Resources and Assignments |
Sept. 28, 2016 |
Although some writers seem to transcend their circumstances while considering
issues of environmental ethics, most thinkers are thoroughly grounded
in the conditions of a particular time and place. This is also true
of cultures as a whole. The values of a culture are "artifacts"
of historical circumstance and collective experience.
It is important to keep this in mind in assessing statements about "what ought to be done" to or with the land. The contemporary concern for land and resource management comes into play only after a particular history of colonial expansion and imperial domination that has characterized global history for the last five hundred years. What impact does this history have upon statements of environmental ethics? Should the sensitivities and sensibilities of the "First Nations" be taken into account in developing contemporaty environmental ethics? With the recent history of colonialism in mind, what is an appropriate "baseline" for ethical judgments about behavior in the environment? |
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N.B. - Statement of Research Intent is due - to be submitted in class or, for distance learners, via the course "Assignment" dropbox. | |||||||||||||||
Week 5 -- Resources and Assignments |
October 5, 2016 | The United States government owns a considerable amount of land throughout the entire United States. How should this public land be managed? What are the historical patterns of mining, timber and grazing practices on public lands? Many of these practices were put in place over a century ago. Should these practices be reformed? If so, according to what principles should these lands be managed? |
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Week 6 -- Resources and Assignments |
October 12, 2016 | One of the most intensive uses of privately held land in America is that involved with agriculture. How have agricultural lands been managed in the past? What are the factors that lead farmers to manage their lands poorly? What affect has the changing structure of American agriculture had upon land management in agriculture? |
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October 19, 2016 | From their earliest archeological remains, humans have been identified by their garbage piles. In the industrial and nuclear era some forms of human waste have left toxic and lethal legacies on the land. How should these wastes be managed? Who should bear the brunt of these residues? What the environmental justice issues reflected in waste placement and management? |
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Week 8 -- Resources and Assignments |
October 26, 2016 | Land use constitutes an important component of the hydrological cycle. Land management practices profoundly effect the quality of both surface and ground water. Since these two sources of water provide virtually all the water available for industrial use and human consumption, land management practices will largely determine the nature of both localized and regional water crises. What responsibilities does society have to manage "wetlands"? or underground "aquifers"? How can changes in land management practices effect current and future generations? |
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Week 9 -- Resources and Assignments |
November 2, 2016 | Some resources are by nature fluid, and for that reason, they cannot be adequately understood as simply localized assets. Land management decisions in some specific regions affect the health of oceans and the composition of the global atmosphere upon which the whole world community depends for its well being. How should land management principles be crafted to preserve and protect the global commons of air, oceans, fisheries and forests? |
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also, please read:
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Week 10 -- Resourcs and Assignments |
November 9, 2016 | Scientists who are aware of the way in which healthy ecosystems function have been emphasizing that changes in land management practices can have profound public health implications. In the long run it is widely acknowledged that the health of human populations rests upon the health of the underlying ecosystems upon which they depend. Abrupt or even gradual changes in land management practice over time can lead to the rapid growth of vector species or the rapid disappearance of keystone species, causing massive public health crises for humans or their domestic animals. . |
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November 16, 2016 |
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Week 12 -- Resources and Assignments |
Nota Bene - Remember that your papers should contain different levels of analysis,
elaborating:
A Problem - the topic you are investigating should present some kind of problem,
dispute or dilemma. Your paper ought, then, to assess the “adequacy” of the contending ethical principles. Finally it should conclude with a description of The Policy Recommendations you would offer for the problem at hand along with a discussion of the ethical principles that you feel make this option the most compelling you can think of. In writing your paper, please make sure to conform to the best writing practices as outlined in the student guide booklet, entitled: Harvard Guide to Using Sources The Chicago Manual of Style Online & the: Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide In addition you may wish to draw upon: |
November 30, 2016 |
Numerous international efforts have been launched to articulate and codify
ethical principles of sustainability. These include principles adopted
at the first global environmental summit known as the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janiero
in 1992. In addition, the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible
Economies (CERES) has drawn up a list of ten principles, and the international
Earth Charter movement has developed others that it will seek to place
before the United Nations in 2002. How can these efforts be assessed? What is their value? What can be said to be "fair" or ethically justified given the history of global development until the dawn of the 21st Century? |
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Week 13 -- Resources and Assignments |
December 7, 2016 |
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Week 14 -- Resources and Assignments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[ Note Bene:
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All Final Research Papers are Due in Class |
December 14, 2016 | In addition to centralizing, standardizing and mechanizing trends in the evolution of global agriulture, we are also beginning to see counter trends on a local basis. Some of this impulse emerges from a recognition that current global trends are destroying the topsoil around the world, and the response has been to re-examine the fundamental mechanisms of restoring and maintaining soil fertility. Another major impulse for reform has emerged from a growing awareness that the world's increasingly petro-intensive food system is currently designed primarily for delivering profit to large corporate entities rather than providing healthy or nutritious food to those who need it. We will consider the approach to two specific alternative approaches -- one focused on restoring foil fertility and the second focusing upon healthy and sustainable food systems.
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Week 15 -- Resources and Assignments | |
Assigned Reading for the Course are drawn from:
Weiskel, Timothy C. & Richard Grey | ||
1992 | Environmental Decline and Public Policy: Pattern, Trend and Prospect (Michigan, Pierian Press, 1992), |
Crosby, Alfred | ||
1993 | Ecological Imperialism : The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (Studies in Environment and History) (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993). |
Garrett, Laurie | ||
2000 | Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health. (New York, Hyperion, 2000). |
Wendall Berry | ||
1996 |
The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture (Counterpoint; Revised edition, 1996) |
Richard Manning | ||
2005 |
Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization (North Point Press, 2005). |
Andrew Nikiforuk | ||
2014 |
The Energy of Slaves: Oil and the New Servitude (Greystone Books, 2014). |
James Howard Kunstler | ||
2012 |
Too Much Magic: Wishful Thinking, Technology, and the Fate of the Nation (New York, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2012). |
Vandana Shiva | ||
2002 | Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit (Boston, South End Press, 2002). |
Vandana Shiva | ||
2008 | Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis (South End Press, 2008) |
Pope Francis | ||
2015 | Laudato Si' (The Vatican, 2015) |
Pope Francis | ||
2015 | Laudato Si' with Introduction by Naomi Oreskes (The Vatican, Melville House,2015} |
Pope Francis | ||
2015 | Laudato Si' - Presentation & Commentary (SDSN, The Vatican, 2015) |
Further Suggested Readings: | ||
Dianne Dumanoski | ||
2009 | The End of the Long Summer: Why We Must Remake Our Civilization to Survive on a Volatile Earth (New York, Crown Publishers, 2009). |
James Lovelock | ||
2009 | The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning (New York, Penguin, 2009). |
Arran Stibbe | ||
2009 | The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy: Skills for a Changing World (New York, Green Books, 2009). |
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The Unassigned, Recurrent, Required Reading:
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