Introduction to
Ecological Economics

Alternative Policies, Institutions, and Instruments to Implement Ecological Economics Principles

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Understand and further develop some general and specific policy ideas that follow from the principles of Ecological Economics
2. Understand and develop institutions and instruments that may be useful in implementing these policies



Module Outcome

Think about how to apply the Policies, Institutions, and Instruments to your course project problem

Activities

1. Readings:
   
   1. Chapter 4 in An Introduction to Ecological Economics by Costanza et al.
   2. Capitalism 3.0 by Barnes 2006
   3. Barnes, Costanza et al. 2008
   
   
2. Project work: Create a list of policies, institutions, or instruments that relate to or might be useful to your project? Modify or further develop these policies, institutions, or instruments or develop new ones to address your problem.



Principles of Ecological Economics

Course Learning Outcome

Understand the basic principles of Ecological Economics


Module Outcome

Think about how to apply the principles, in particular to your course project problem

Activities

1. Readings:
   
   1. Chapter 3 in An Introduction to Ecological Economics by Costanza et al.
   2. Costanza et al. 1997 (Nature)
   3. Costanza et al. 1998
   4. Balmford et al 2002
   
   
2. Project work: Create a list of principles that relate to or might be useful to your project. Modify or further develop these principles or develop new ones to address your problem.



Markets and price theory

Course Learning Outcome:

Formulate a whole system approach to the human subsystem structure and function.

Sub-module Outcome:

Critique neoclassical theories of the price mechanism, supply and demand.

Activities:



1. Reading: Read Chapter 8 of Daly’s and Farley’s (2004), Ecological Economics book, the material on price theory covering the basic market equation.


2. Reading: Read Chapter 9 of Daly’s and Farley’s (2004), Ecological Economics book, the material on supply and demand and the production and utility functions.


3. Integrative project work: Read the case study on eflornithine.  Now, using your project as a case study, can you identify a situation in which the market is functioning as intended, but the desirability of the results is questionable?  Specifically, explain how the market allocates factors of production to an industry that many would consider less socially desirable, and how it fails to allocate the final product to the consumers who need it most.


4. Identify problems with the ecological economic production function and offer suggestions for how to correct them.  Post your suggestions on the discussion board, and pose questions to at least two of your classmates about their suggested solutions.  Answer the questions posed to you.


5. Project work: Explain the market failures associated with the resources relevant to your problem.


6. Discussion board: Comment on the following statement: The demand curve is determined by preferences weighted by income. Markets are therefore plutocratic, based on the principle of one dollar, one vote.  Democratic societies should reconsider the use of markets for allocation decisions affecting ecosystem services.




Self Check:

At the end of this section you should be able to answer the following questions:


• What are markets supposed to do?
• How do market forces generate prices?
• How do prices serve as a fulcrum for balancing supply and demand?
• What are value and efficiency from the perspective of neoclassical economics?
• What are the normative assumptions underlying the definitions of value and efficiency?
• How do markets use prices to efficiently maximize monetary value?

Societal challenges and paradigm shift

Course Learning Outcome

Construct the pre-analytic vision of ecological economics

Module Outcomes

1. Evaluate the current societal challenges;
2. Envision the next paradigm shift of economics.



Activities

1. Reading: Chapter 3 of Daly’s and Farley’s (2004) Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications.


2. Discussion board: Consider one of the serious problems that society faces today.  Is there a relationship between this problem and conventional market economics?  Does ecological economics offer useful insights into this problem?  Would this problem have emerged if society had adopted an ecological economics perspective 100 years ago?  Why didn’t we adopt ecological economics 100 years ago? Why have we still failed to adopt it today?


3. Reading: Chapter 1: Humanity’s Current Dilemma of Costanza et al. Introduction to Ecological Economics


4. Video: Watch the Dana Meadows and Robert Costanza talks.


5. Integrative project assignment: Workbook exercise 1.2 on desirable ends.


6. Wiki: Building on your desirable ends exercise from module 1.1, together create one shared vision for the future. Try to be as specific as possible. Try to convince the others of your point of view. When you cannot achieve consensus over a portion of the vision, move it to a separate section of the page (i.e. you should end up with a consensus statement of a shared vision, followed by a separate list of vision statements about which you disagree.)


7. Discussion board: Reflect on the difficulty of coming to a consensus about what the future should be like. How many of the shared elements do you think would be universally accepted?  How would such an exercise on a larger scale, between multiple countries, play out? Would a society guided by the principles of ecological economics be more or less likely to achieve this vision than one guided by neoclassical economics?  Why?


8. Reading: Farley’s and Costanza’s “Envisioning shared goals for humanity: a detailed, shared vision of a sustainable and desirable USA in 2100”. How similar is the vision presented in this article to the vision you came up with as a group? If you have some interesting insights you’d like to share with the group, post them to the discussion board.


9. Discussion board/Project assignment: Finish choosing a problem and your partners.


10. Project work: Project team and general project description. Instructions on p. 33-34 of workbook.

Self Check

• What is uneconomic growth?
• What is a pre-analytic vision?
• What is the pre-analytic vision of ecological economics, and how does it contrast with that of neoclassical economics?
• What is scale and what is optimal scale?
• What is distribution?
• What is allocation?



Current status of resources and systems thinking

Course Learning Outcome

Formulate a whole system approach to the ecosystem structure and function.

Module Outcomes

1. Assess the current status of the resources of nature;
2. Develop the vocabulary and tools of systems thinking.

Activities

1. Reading: Chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter 7 in Daly’s and Farley’s (2004) Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications.


2. View Albert Bartlett lecture on Exponential Growth (yes, all 8 parts)


3. Discussion board: Find an article discussing actual or target rates of exponential growth (i.e. growth rates expressed in percentages). You might look for targeted rates of economic growth (e.g. Hoover Institution), growth in energy demand, growth in health care costs or anything else.  After viewing the Bartlett lecture, post a reflection on the discussion board discussing the implications of this growth rate over the next 70 years. Include a link to the article.


4. Reading: Chapter 3 in in Farley, Erickson, Daly workbook: Structuring the problem


5. Project work: Exercise 3.1 in DEF - viewing a problem from different perspectives


6. Integrative project work: Exercise 3.2 in DEF- applying the principles of systems thinking


7. Integrative project work: Exercise 3.3 in DEF - visioning exercise


8. Project work: Prepare preliminary literature review


9. Explore the World Without Oil website.  Keep track of when we hit the gasoline prices they describe.  See how the results compare with their predictions

Self Check

At the end of this section you should be able to answer the following questions:


1. Why is continuous exponential growth of any physical subsystem impossible in a finite system?


2. What are Senge’s ‘laws’ of systems thinking?


3. What are emergent properties?


4. What are delays?


5. What are positive and negative feedback loops?


6. What is net return on energy invested (also known as energy return on energy invested, or EROI)?


7. What is the difference between risk, uncertainty and ignorance?


8. What is the Hubbert curve, and what does it tell us about future oil supplies?

Resources of nature and nature of resources

Course Learning Outcome

Formulate a whole system approach to the ecosystem structure and function.

Module Outcome

Identify the resources of nature and the nature of those resources as relevant to economics.

Activities

1. Reading: Chapter 4 in Daly’s and Farley’s (2004) Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications.


2. Discussion board: Think about a specific ecosystem (even an urban ecosystem if you like)-or better yet, go visit one, and take along a field notebook. Make a list of three stock-flow resources found in that ecosystem, and three fund-service resources. (Note that you will need to be very specific about the use of each resource. For example, drinking water is a stock-flow, while water for swimming is a fund-service). Tick off the attributes of stock-flow and fund-service for each (see Box 4.1 in DF).
   
   Is the resource rival or non-rival? In general, can you think of any stock-flow resources that are non-rival? Can you think of any fund-service resources provided by nature that are rival?
   
   Is the resource excludable or non-excludable? (Note that excludability may differ depending on the specific value in question.) If it is non-excludable, can you think of an institution or technology that could make it excludable? Do you think it should be made excludable? Why or why not?
   
   Is the resource a market good or a nonmarket good?
   
   In general, can you think of any stock-flow resources that cannot be made excludable? Can you think of fund-service resources provided by nature that can be made excludable?
   
   Post your results to the discussion board.  Look over the other posts. If you find an error, post a correction.


3. Project reading: Chapter 2 in Farley, Erickson, Daly workbook, Defining the Problem.


4. Integrative project work: Exercise 2.1 in Farley, Erickson, Daly workbook, Sketch out a resource web


5. Integrative project work: Exercise 2.2 in Farley, Erickson, Daly workbook, Resource characteristics and state of knowledge.


6. Project work: Exercise 2.3 in Farley, Erickson, Daly workbook, social construction and political power.


7. Project work: Contact a project partner and prepare a contract, pp. 49-51 in Farley, Erickson, Daly workbook.

Self Check

At the end of this section you should be able to answer the following questions:


1. What are the laws of thermodynamics and how do they limit economic growth?


2. What is a stock-flow resource?


3. What is a fund-service resource?


4. Why does the distinction between stock-flow and fund service matter?


5. What is excludability, and why does it matter for ecological economics?


6. What is a rivalness, and why does it matter for ecological economics?


7. What is the relationship between excludability, rivalness, stock-flow and fund-service resources?

Human behavior and its relevance to resource allocation

Course Learning Outcome

Formulate a whole system approach to the human subsystem structure and function.

Module Outcome

Analyze theories of human behavior and its relevance to resource allocation and welfare.

Activities

1. Human Behavior Wiki: Before doing any of the readings, make up a list of 5 personality traits that define a good or admirable person, and 5 personality traits that define a bad or despicable person.  Physical traits such as strength, intelligence, athletic ability, looks, and so on are irrelevant. Post these to the Wiki.  If your list contains a characteristic that one of your classmates already listed, add your name alongside it. If you disagree with a characteristic someone else used, explain why.


2. Survey: Take the rationality survey.  This should only take 2 minutes.  (I doubt the results will show much, because there are so few people actively engaged in the course, but after you take it I will describe the results from other classes and other research.)


3. Reading: John M. Gowdy (2004). Altruism, evolution, and welfare economics. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization Vol. 53 69-73.


4. Reading: Ernst Fehr & Urs Fischbacher (2003). The Nature of Human Altruism. Nature | Vol. 425 | 23 October 2003.


5. Reading: Chapter 13 in Daly’s and Farley’s (2004) Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications.


6. Survey: Take the survey on good/bad people.  If you were to place one good person and one bad person together on a desert island, both with the same physical traits, who do you think would be most likely to thrive?  If you placed 10 good people on one island and 10 bad people on another island, which population would be most likely to thrive?


7. Project work: Read Chapter 4 of the Farley, Erickson, Daly workbook: Breaking down the problem.


8. Discussion board (Human sub-system: Good/Bad people): In module 1.2 we asked you to read “Economic Man” and “Wants” from the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics.  Post your views on the following topics: Do you think the explicit and implicit human behaviors in the neoclassical economic model most closely resemble an admirable or a despicable person? Do you think most people are admirable, despicable, or somewhere in between? Do you think the human race would be more likely to thrive if we behaved like good people or bad people? Do you think cultural evolution can change our behavior?


9. Project work (Recommended): Do Exercise 4.1 of the Farley, Erickson, Daly workbook.


10. Discussion board (Human sub-system: rationality survey) (Recommended): Go to the rationality survey discussion board to view the results.  Post a brief comment on the extent to which you believe people behave rationally, and the implications for economic theory.  Read other’s comments.


11. View Josh’s lecture on the economics of ecosystem services.  Note that this lecture covers many topics you’ve already addressed, but for this unit, we specifically want you to consider the macro-allocation problem: How do we allocate ecosystem structure between economic production and ecosystem services, both of which are essential to our survival.  Do you think competition or cooperation is better suited to this task?


12. Discussion board (Human sub-system: Ecosystem services) (recommended): Post your reflections on ecosystem services on the discussion board and respond to the reflections of others.


13. Integrative project work: Return to the exercise on resource characteristics and state of knowledge, assigned as part of the introductory module.  Explain how you think the resource characteristics might influence how they should be allocated (i.e. competitively or cooperatively).  Now apply your explanation to the specific resources relevant to your project.

Macroeconomics

Course Learning Outcome:

Formulate a whole system approach to the human subsystem structure and function.

Module Outcome:

Critique conventional theories of macroeconomics from empirical validity of underlying assumptions to desirability of theoretical outcomes.

Activities:

1. Complete the assigned sub-modules:
   
   1. GNP and Welfare
   2. Money
   3. Distribution
   4. ISLM (Monetary and fiscal policy)
   
   
   
   
2. Complete the assigned project work:
   
   1. Reading on Evaluating the objectives
   2. Create a list of knowledge and skills necessary to address your problem
   3. Create a list of key stakeholders
   4. Create a list of key disciplines
   5. Rewrite your problem statement and add goals and objectives.
   6. Reading on Bringing it all together.
   
   
   
   
3. Complete the assigned integrative project work:
   
   
   
   1. Identify 3 issues related to your project that affect GNP and 3 issues related to your projects that affect human welfare but have no impact on GNP. Do the activities that affect GNP do so appropriately (i.e. does an increase in GNP correspond to an increase in human welfare)? How does society’s goal of continually increasing GNP affect the decision making process about issues relevant to your project?  Now describe how one of the alternative mechanisms we’ve studied would address the shortcomings of these activities, or suggest an alternative accounting system that would do so. (One page paper)
   
   
   2. Integrative project work: How could monetary and fiscal policy be used to solve your problem?
      OR
      Accepting the goals of EE, How would you use monetary and fiscal policy to solve the current financial crisis?
      OR
      How would you use monetary and fiscal policy to achieve the goals of EE? (One page paper).
   
   
   
   

Self Check:

At the end of this section you should be able to answer the following questions:


• What is GNP, and what are its strengths and weaknesses as a measure of welfare?
• What is money? What are its uses and how is it created?
• How are wealth and resources distributed in our economy, and why does it matter?
• How do monetary and fiscal policy work, and how can we use them to achieve the goals of ecological economics?

Microeconomics

Course Learning Outcome

Formulate a whole system approach to the human subsystem structure and function.

Module Outcome

Critique neoclassical theories of microeconomics from empirical validity of underlying assumptions to desirability of theoretical outcomes.

Activities

1. Markets and price theory
2. Market failure



Differentiating between neoclassical and ecological economics

Course Learning Outcome

Construct the pre-analytic vision of ecological economics

Sub-module Outcome

Differentiate between neoclassical welfare economics and ecological economics.

Activities

1. Reading: Chapter 2 of Daly’s and Farley’s (2004) Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications.


2. Discussion board: Read the “Economic Man” and “Wants” from the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. State whether you believe humans actually act in such a manner in their daily lives.  How do these actions and beliefs differ from those held within ecological economics?  Read the postings of some of your classmates and comment on them.


3. Wiki: Create a chart comparing and contrasting ecological economics and neoclassical economics. On each respective side put the main points for each school of thought.  For each major point also write down the reasoning behind the development of these practices and their goals, these may be either historical or current needs.


4. Video: Watch ‘Principles of economics, translated’ by the Standup Economist


5. Project reading: Part 1 & Part 2 of chapter 1 in Farley, Erickson, and Daly (2005), Ecological Economics: A Workbook for Problem-based Learning.


6. Discussion board/Project assignment: Begin choosing a problem and your partners.  Post an idea for a problem on a discussion board, or if someone has already posted a problem that interests you, post your ideas there.

Self Check

At the end of this section you should be able to answer the following questions:


• What is uneconomic growth?


• What is a pre-analytic vision?


• What is the pre-analytic vision of ecological economics, and how does it contrast with that of neoclassical economics?


• What is scale and what is optimal scale?


• What is distribution?


• What is allocation?


• What are the central differences between ecological economics and neoclassical economics?

History and evolution of ecological economics

Course Learning Outcome

Construct the pre-analytic vision of ecological economics.

Sub-module Outcome:

Examine the history and evolution of ecological economics.

Activities:

1. Reading: Introduction and Chapter 1 of Daly’s and Farley’s (2004) Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications.


2. Reading: Chapter 2 of Costanza’s “Introduction to Ecological Economics: Chapter 2”


3. Discussion board: Why might excessive resource use have greater impacts on future generations than the current one?  Consider the definition of Pareto efficient allocation.  If the current generation is the de facto owner of all resources, could it be Pareto efficient for this generation to consume fewer resources so that future generations are better off?


4. Reading: “Stewardship for a ‘Full’ World”


5. Project reading: “Introduction: What does an Ecological Economist do?” in Farley, Erickson, and Daly (2005), Ecological Economics: A Workbook for Problem-based Learning.


6. Video: Watch Costanza’s talk on “Reintegrating the Study of Humans and the Rest of Nature”


7. Discussion board: Write a one page description of your vision of a sustainable and desirable future, i.e. what you believe are the desirable ends towards which society should allocate its resources. Use your imaginations without ignoring the laws of physics and ecology.  Post your vision on the discussion board. Read and comment on the other students’ visions.  You will be asked to return to this in the module on societal challenges and paradigm shifts.


8. Suggested reading: Ropke, I.  (2004) The early history of modern ecological economics Ecological Economics 50: 293-314. AND Ropke, I.  2005.  Trends in the development of ecological economics from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.  Ecological Economics 55(2):262-290.

Self Check:

At the end of this section you should be able to answer the following questions:


• What does ‘transdisciplinary’ mean, and how is it different from multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary?
• What is the different between growth and development?
• What are “The Lisbon Principles”?
• What is general systems theory?

IS/LM model

Course Learning Outcome: Formulate a whole system approach to the human subsystem structure and function.

Sub-Module Outcome: Apply monetary and fiscal policy to achieve ecological economic goals.

Activities:


1. Read material on ISLM and monetary and fiscal policy.


2. Integrative project work: How could monetary and fiscal policy be used to solve your problem?
   OR
   As an alternative to 3: Accepting the goals of EE, How would you use monetary and fiscal policy to solve the current financial crisis?
   OR
   How would you use monetary and fiscal policy to achieve the goals of EE?


3. Project work: Rewrite your problem statement, and add goals and objectives.


4. Project work: reading on synthesis: pulling it all together.



Self Check: At the end of this section you should be able to answer the following questions:


• What is the relationship between savings, investment, interest rates and national income?


• What is the relationship between liquidity preference, interest and national income?


• What causes a shift in the IS curve?


• What causes a shift in the LM curve?


• What causes inflation?


• Why are governments so concerned about inflation are their concerns justified?


• How does monetary policy work, and how could we use it to achieve the goals of ecological economics?


• How does fiscal policy work, and how could we use it to achieve the goals of ecological economics?



Distribution

Course Learning Outcome: Formulate a whole system approach to the human subsystem structure and function.

Module Outcome: Analyze the current distribution, the role of distribution in quality of life and economic efficiency. Examine mechanisms for creating a more desirable distribution.

Activities:


1. Read material on Distribution.


2. Read newspaper articles on distribution and class mobility (census results)


3. View video on the l-curve: The L-Curve: Income Distribution of the U.S., or see web-site ”Tour of the US Income Distribution: The L-Curve”


4. Project work: Create a list of key stakeholders



Self Check: At the end of this section you should be able to answer the following questions:


• What is the Gini coefficient?
• What is the difference between functional and personal distribution of income?
• What is discounting, how does it work, and what are its implications for intergenerational distribution?



Money

Course Learning Outcome: Formulate a whole system approach to the human subsystem structure and function.

Sub-Module Outcome: Analyze the current monetary system, identify its strengths and weaknesses, investigate more sustainable, just and efficient alternatives.

Activities:


1. Read material on Money.


2. View video on Money as Debt
   
   1. Part 1: Corrupt Banking System - Cartels Robbing the Public
   2. Part 2: Corrupt Banking System - How Money is Created
   3. Part 3: Corrupt Banking System - Money is Debt
   4. Part 4: Corrupt Banking System - Monetary Reform
   5. Part 5: Corrupt Banking System - Warning About the NWO
   
   
   
   
3. Project work: create a list of key stakeholders



Self Check: At the end of this section you should be able to answer the following questions:


• What are the functions of money?
• Where does money come from in modern countries?
• What is fractional reserve banking?
• Why is money the same as debt?
• What is seigniorage?
• What are local currencies?



GNP and welfare

Course Learning Outcome: Formulate a whole system approach to the human subsystem structure and function.

Sub-Module Outcome: Assess the effectiveness of GNP and its alternatives as measures of economic welfare.

Activities:


1. Read material on GNP and welfare.


2. Project work: Read material on evaluating objectives.


3. Audio: Listen to lecture excerpt on GNP as a cost.


4. Integrative Project work: Identify 3 issues related to your project that affect GNP and 3 issues related to your projects that affect human welfare but have no impact on GNP. Do the activities that affect GNP do so appropriately (i.e. does an increase in GNP correspond to an increase in human welfare)? How does society’s goal of continually increasing GNP affect the decision making process about issues relevant to your project?  Now describe how one of the alternative mechanisms we’ve studied would address the shortcomings of these activities, or suggest an alternative accounting system that do so. (One page paper)


5. Project work: Create a list of knowledge and skills required to address your problem.



Self Check: You should be able to answer the following questions after finishing this module


• What does GNP measure?
• What are the shortcomings of GNP as a measure of economic welfare? Of total welfare?
• What are basic human needs?
• What alternative measures of economic welfare or total welfare exist, and how do they improve on GNP?



Market failures

Course Learning Outcome:

Formulate a whole system approach to the human subsystem structure and function.

Sub-module Outcome:

Identify the situations in which markets fail to allocate resources in a way that maximizes economic surplus.

Activities:

1. Reading: Read Chapter 10 of Daly’s and Farley’s (2004), Ecological Economics book, the material on market failures


2. View lecture on the economics of ecosystem services.


3. Integrative project work: The market failure matrix


4. Project work: What is the optimal scale for your problem?


5. Project work: Prepare a problem statement.


6. Optional (to improve your understanding of the material): Assignment on the economics of renewable resources.



Self Check:

You should be able to answer the following questions after finishing this module.


• What characteristics must resources exhibit for a market to function well?
• Which of these characteristics are policy variables, and which are physical characteristics of the resource in question?
• What are public goods?
• What is the ‘tragedy of the commons’, and why is this name inappropriate?
• What is the tragedy of the non-commons?
• What are negative externalities, and why are they ubiquitous?
• What market failures are most relevant to abiotic resources?
• What market failures are most relevant to biotic resources?



Linear Throughput

Using products you recently purchased as an example (ex. a T-shirt) to fill in the following diagram.  Keep in mind the idea linear throughput.  The first couple are done for you.

Natural Resources Used → Economy (Production & Consumption) → Waste (Recycled?)
Trees (Energy) → Shoes → Packaging
Cotton (Material) → T-shirt → Toxins in stream





Quiz on the Ideas Surrounding Circular Flow

Multiple Choice:
1. People putting money into savings is an example of a leakage. What is the corresponding injection?
a. exporting goods
b. putting money into investments
c. getting a higher-paying job

2. What is one thing that could result from the sum of injections being greater than the sum of leakages?
a. deflation
b. unemployment
c. inflation

3. What are the two ends of throughput?
a. equal opportunities and employment for all
b. economic growth and unlimited expansion
c. depleted environmental sources and polluted environmental sinks

4. What is the balanced equation that throughput is subject to?
a. Input = output + accumulation
b. Throughput = input + output
c. Accumulation = output + input

5. What does it mean if something is high-entropy?
a. Its energy is almost or completely “used up”
b. It still has much energy to be used
c. It has half the energy that it once had

6. What do classical economists need in order to begin including ecological concerns into the study and practices of economics?
a. A preanalytic vision
b. A paradigm shift
c. A traditional approach

7. What are the two parts of the economy according to the Circular Flow model of the economy?
a. households and government
b. government and firms
c. households and firms

Short Answer:
8. What is one of the problems with the Circular Flow model of the economy?

Matching:
Directions: Match the letters to the numbers. There are multiple possibilities.








1. Leakages 2. 2nd Law of Thermodynamics 3. Injections 4. 1st Law of Thermodynamics

a. Savings b. Taxes c. Investment d. Material cannot be recycled 100% e. Exports f. Government Spending g. Imports




Creation and destruction of matter and energy is impossible

History of Sustainable Development

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”—Albert Einstein

The term “sustainable development” is fairly new, stemming from the work of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in The World Conservation Strategy.  This concept was further developed in 1987 in the report of the Brundtland Commission in which sustainable development is defined as development that “meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This report brought to light the current rate of material consumption and the deterioration of the environment.

Read One Child Policy in China Designed to Limit Population Growth and answer the following questions: What is China doing to make their population sustainable?  Is it working?  What are the negative effects of China’s effort?

Read History & Chronology of Sustainability, choose and event from the timeline to explore further and determine its importance in the movement towards sustainable development.


Growth vs. Development

Watch the following video on the !Kung Bushmen of South Africa ”The Hunters- A !Kung Bushmen” film and then explain what the advantages and disadvantages of hunter-gatherer societies are. Do you think they have a higher or lower quality of life than we do today?

Taking the information given to you in both films, in you own opinion do you think that the benefits to society of the Industrial Revolution outweigh the costs to the world today? Explain your answer by using specific examples from The Day The World Took Off.

Look at the pictures provided and determine whether they represent examples of growth or development. 




Las Vegas from 1973 to 1992 (Source: Apartment Therapy)

The chain of cities and suburbs from Boston to Washington D.C. resulting in a “Megacity” (Sources: USGS atlas, Flatrock.org)
→
(Sources: Lee Hayden Real Estate, Martin Mulligan & Associates)


Take a footprint quiz, try and be as truthful in your responses as possible. When you have completed the quiz click on the “What You Can Do- individual” link on the right side of the page. Read the suggestions and make a list of which ones contribute to either growth or development. Write a brief paragraph about how you can reduce your personal contribution to growth.

New video test

embed code will go in here