Schedule: ENST20902 and ENST20903 | Fall 2011

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This Schedule page provides a road map to the implementation of both

This is the page you need to follow to keep up with the flow of our course. See also the course Wiki Bulletin Board. The schedule may change occasionally, so check back often.

Important Dates ^

The Academic Calendar for the Spring 2011 semester displays important dates to keep in mind. Please note the due dates for ENST20901 and ENST20903 below:

September 1: Orientation and Business of the Course

September 1: After our introductions and some business, our first session provides a detailed overview of the course to establish expectations and to assist your planning and preparation.

  1. Introductions, yours and ours: roster
  2. Orientation, overview, and business of the course: syllabus, schedule, Wiki Bulletin Board: We will go over the flow of the course in detail.
  3. Contact information, especially enst209@gmail.com
  4. How to do well here: tips and traps; Q. and A.

September 8: Home

  1. Please view on your own the 2009 film Home.
  2. The Anthropocene: Are Humans Now Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature, by Will Steffen, Paul J. Crutzen and John McNeill.

September 12 to 22: Introducing Sustainability

September 12: Professor Edelstein will present the background of Limits to Growth and the origins of World Sustainability, Evolution of the Concept of Sustainability.

September 19: Historical context: The destruction of tropical forests in the 1980s. We will view in class the documentary, Banking on Disaster.

September 22: We begin to explain what World Sustainability means in the context of ENST209. We will explain sustainability in a historical context. Please read for class and be prepared to discuss:

  1. We will end Banking on Disaster and a role playing game simulating the scenario depicted in the film.
  2. Powerpoint presentation on paradigms of sustainability prepared by Professor Michael Edelstein

September 26: We begin to explain what World Sustainability means in the context of ENST209. We will explain sustainability in a historical context. Please read for class and be prepared to discuss:

  1. Professor Edelstein concluded the background of Limits to Growth and the origins of World Sustainability, Evolution of the Concept of Sustainability. Please note that the lecture on Limits to Growth is contained within this slide presentation.
  2. Please review the Powerpoint presentation on paradigms of sustainability prepared by Professor Michael Edelstein. We will not have time to review this in class.
  3. We will discuss the sustainability graphic organizer.

September 29: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (a.k.a.,the Brundtland Commission Report), Our Common Future.

  1. Browse the Brundtland Report and sample its findings and logic. This is a seminal historical document.
  2. Read the important Overview, noting the way that sustainable development was framed and the language used to define sustainable development, quoted below. Read the Brundtland section on sustainable development carefully. Note the Report's succinct working definition of sustainability: "Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
  3. See Professor Hayes's overview of Brundtland and the origins of Sustainable Development, which lays out important concepts for the course. See also my background notes on Brundtland: part one and part two.
  4. Wiki presentation on Brundtland by Professor Hayes
  5. Wiki on Intergenerational Concerns
  6. Wiki on Triple Bottom Line

October 3: The graphic organizer is due by class time on October 3 as an attachment to an email to enst209@gmail.com. The assignment is defined in the wiki, explained in class, and will be distributed as an email attachment.

October 3 to October 20: The Global Crisis and The Disabling Analysis

October 3: We will introduce and define the global crisis.
  1. Lecture: Professor Edelstein explains the Disabling Dynamic.
  2. Professor Edelstein's PowerPoint on the Unsustainability Paradigm, Version 5: Part I and Part I.
  3. Wiki on Limits to Growth: note links and uploads within this page Professor Hayes, Limits to Growth
  4. Professor Hayes presentation: Framing the Disabling Analysis and Statement of Concern
  5. Read and study Wolfgang Sachs, Fairness in a Fragile World: A Memo on Sustainability. This article is foundational for ENST209 and must be read carefully. Also see the presentation prepared by Prof. Edelstein to de-code the article.

October 6: Film: Al Gore: An Inconvenient Truth, with discussion. We will discuss the Course Enrichment Component experiential learning assignment.

October 10: Lester Brown, Plan B 4.0, Part I.

  1. Hear Lester Brown in his own words explaining Plan B.
  2. Lester Brown, Plan B 4.0, Preface and chapters 1 through 3. Professor Hayes has copious notes on Brown: notes supplementing and setting up Brown with sections on Beyond the Oil Peak, Global Warming, Natural Systems Under Stress and on The Social Divide.

October 13 - October 17: Contaminated Communities

  1. View and study the important case study close to home but of national importance: The Toxic Legacy web site by Jan Barry.
  2. Michael Edelstein, Contaminated Communities, chapters 1 - 5.

October 20: Economic Globalization

  1. See Professor Hayes's presentation on economic globalization for the disabling analysis.
  2. See the Summers memo on exporting polluting industries to Africa for a sample of economic analysis in action.
  3. Read Professor Hayes's outline of economic aspect of the disabling analysis.
  4. Examine Professor Hayes's presentation: Economic Globalization
  5. We will finalize any class business and review for the essay on Part I.

October 24 - November 21: The Enabling Analysis & the Emergence of Civil Society

We start the enabling analysis and begin the preparation of your presentations in this transitional class meeting.

October 24: Introduction to the enabling analysis, civil society organizations, final presentations and paper.

  1. Read Paul Hawken, graduation address, University of Portland, May 19, 2009 and his speech at Bioneers about his book, Blessed Unrest.
  2. Professor Edelstein will explain the "OE Prize," the Orange County equivalent of the Goldman Prize for sustainability.
  3. Hayes slide presentation: Getting Sustainability and his approach to framing the enabling analysis
  4. To complement this section, read Gus Speth's essay at Worldwatch Institute, section on "Three Paths Into the Future."
  5. Read Professor Hayes's wiki page on Civil Society Organizations.

October 27: Class will attend an on-campus conference, The Aral Sea Disaster. See Professor Edelstein's Aral Sea Disaster web site.

October 31 - November 3: Professor Edelstein introduces Civil Society, Social Learning and Environmental Justice.

  1. Please read Edelstein, Contaminated Communities Chapters 6 and 7.
  2. Formation of groups and definition of civil society organization projects

November 7 - November 14: Eco-Economy and Building World Sustainability ^

The essay on global crisis and disabling analysis is deferred due to weather and power outages reported by many students. The due is by class time on November 7.

November 7 - November 10: Class activities:

  1. Paul Krugman, Here Comes the Sun, New York Times, 11/7/2011, speaks of energy sources --- fossil and solar --- and subsidies.
  2. Professor Hayes presentation on Economics for Sustainers
  3. Please read McKibben, Deep Economy. See Prof. Hayes's review of McKibben and watch Bill McKibben's interview. We will discuss Deep Economy.
  4. View and discuss The Story of Stuff and Cap and Trade.
  5. Recommended: Professor Hayes lecture and discussion on ecological economics. The presentation is extracted from a longer article, Economic Strategies for Sustainability
  6. Recommended: Professor Hayes explains what a Strategic Sustainability might include.

November 14: Presentation by Prof. Edelstein, Local Roots of Sustainability and group meetings for preparation of presentations.

November 17 - November 21: Policy Prescriptions for Creating a Sustainable World

November 17 - 21: Class activities:

  1. Professor Hayes provides a Powerpoint presentation to accompany Brown.
  2. See Offshore Wind Power Line Wins Backing, Matthew Wald, New York Times, October 12, 2010. See also Google backs power cable for N.J. offshore wind, Eliot Caroom, Star Ledger, March 2011. See also Koch brothers declare war on offshore wind, Keith Harrington, Grist, July 15, 2011.
  3. Professor Hayes's notes on Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, climate and energy. Prof. Hayes makes an overall presentation on Brown, Chapters 7-10, pp. 168-268
  4. Presentation by Prof. Wayne Hayes: How Can We Transition to World Sustainability?
  5. Conclude the enabling analysis

November 28 - December 15: Student Presentations and Enabling Analysis Paper Due

November 28: Group meetings before final presentations.

The student presentations will conclude World Sustainability. The presentations will count as 8% toward your grade. We will assign the sequence and schedule the presentations well in advance. The presentations will occur on December 1, 5, 8, and 12. We will use the class of November 28 to prepare for the presentations. Note: Students must attend all the presentations.

December 5: The Course Enrichment Component experiential learning assignment is due.

The paper on the enabling analysis is due on December 15, the assigned exam date for this course.


The World Sustainability Web Site | © Michael Edelstiein, Ph.D., Wayne Hayes, Ph.D.
Initialized: 1/10/2007 | Last Update: 11/17/2011 | V. 1.15 Build #22