EST 426/ EST 626: Concepts and Principles of Sustainable Development

Fall 2008

11:00 to 12:20 T, Th (First class August 26, 2008)

Instructor: Jack Manno, Associate Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies

211A Marshall, 470-6816, jpmanno@mailbox.syr.edu

Teaching Assistant: Susana Del Granado, Ph.D. student, GPES, 301 Illick, 470-6812 smdelgra@syr.edu

Weekly Office hours

Manno: Tuesdays 1:30- 3:30 pm, Wed. 9-10 or by appointment.

Del Granado: Mon & Fri 8 – 10 am.

For all students interested in applying the concepts of sustainable development in their careers and lives.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this class the student should be able to:

• Define, explain and give examples of concepts and principles of sustainable development, including fundamental ideas of ecological economics as presented in the class.
• Evaluate public policy approaches with regard to sustainable development principles.
• Discuss in general terms the history of international development with specific attention to the relationship between environment and development.
• Describe and defend sustainable development criteria based on high quality of life and low quantity of environmental impacts.
• Provide examples of policy initiatives and projects that meet these criteria for sustainable development.
• Provide and explain examples of how individuals apply concepts and principles of sustainable development in their work and personal lives.

Rationale and Overview of the Course

Human beings live in groups, in communities. We are social animals. At our best we cooperate to enhance our ability to achieve material well-being and solve the five basic challenges of economic life: extracting raw materials from Nature, transforming those raw materials into products we use for our survival and to enhance our wellbeing, sharing the efforts and distributing the products in a way that keeps the community together, storing (or insuring) what we need for later periods of scarcity, and handling the waste products of production and human life. These tasks have been accomplished in countless diverse ways by the many cultures that have existed on Earth. To be sustainable, a society must not only solve these basic challenges but must do so in a constantly changing environment. It is this feedback and adjustment that is at the heart of the sustainable development challenge. In order to thrive, human communities must be flexible and creative. Information about the environment has to feed back into the development process and adjustments must be made accordingly. Environmental degradation and the inability to adjust to changing conditions played a major role in the collapse of many societies in the past.

The question for this course is, “How do we live well without undermining the natural systems on which we fundamentally depend?” This is a challenge for natural resource management and also for chemistry, hydrology, engineering, economics, communication, psychology, personal change dynamics and the social sciences. In this course all disciplines are welcome. You will be asked to query your own discipline with the question of how the challenge of sustainable development can be addressed.

A word about definitions - The term "sustainable development" has been used in many different ways. It grows out of the International Development experiences accumulated in the efforts to s to reduce poverty in the “underdeveloped” world, mostly the former colonies of the European powers many of whom won independence in the period after WWII. The term gained international recognition through the work of the World Commission on Environment and Development also known as the Brundtland Commission and its report Our Common Future released in 1983. In this report, sustainable development was defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This is one of the most often quoted definitions. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources introduced the term earlier in its World Conservation Strategy (1980), stating, "Development and conservation operate in the same global context, and the underlying problems that must be overcome if either is to be successful are identical." They thus recommended a strategy entitled "Towards Sustainable Development." Since then many other definitions have been proffered.

Much can be learned from critiques of the notion of sustainable development. We will spend some but not much time on criticizing definitions. The most cogent of these suggest that "sustainable development" appeared as a way to postpone facing the fundamental challenge that the environmental crisis posed to contemporary patterns of economic development. Simply stating that development can be made sustainable doesn't make it so but may make some believe that the need for fundamental economic change is less urgent. Most other critiques would give the term (or some other term of their choosing) more substance by describing the need for and path to radical social transformation. If radical social, political or economic change is required to solve the problem of sustainable development, we will uncover the need in trying to solve the problem. In this course, the emphasis will be on solutions.

Course Requirements

This is a very participatory course. It is designed to engage you personally. My belief as an instructor is that learning happens best when it is directly related to your goals and interests. The purpose of this course is to sharpen our thinking in relation to the concepts and principles development. Students will be asked to do personal exploration into their role as professionals, scholars, producers and consumers. Each week we will meet in groups of three or four for listening and learning (L & L) sessions. You will also be asked to respond to one or more questions and take turns expressing your thoughts on the question(s). You will also be asked to respond to the question in writing (no more than 2 pages) to be emailed to me and Susana before the next class. These questions will often involve material from the texts. You must have completed the readings prior to class and be prepared to share your thoughts. There are no right answers to the L & L questions, only more or less thoughtful responses.

You will receive via email questions prior to class to guide your reading and for discussion in class. Students will be asked at random for their input. Poor preparation will be noted and will affect participation grade.

All students are required to write a profile of either an individual who is contributing to solving the problem of sustainable development or an organization or project advancing sustainable development. Students must submit a profile proposal by the end of September. You must receive my approval for your topic or the final paper will not be accepted. Ms. Del Granado will record profile approvals. Guidelines for each of the categories will be handed out in class.

Graduate students will also do a project exploring the relationship between wellbeing and energy and material consumption in an effort to identify potential examples of sustainable development. Guidelines will be handed out.

There will be a take home mid-term and final exam.

Expectations

I expect that you will:

- be at every class session (unless excused in advance) on time,

- be active listeners to whoever is speaking,

- complete reading assignments prior to class,

- complete and turn in writing assignments on time,

- be active learners and teachers as exhibited through thoughtful participation by asking questions and contributing thoughtfully to classroom discussion,

- treat each other and the instructor with courtesy and respect.

You should expect me:

- to serve as a facilitator of learning for the students collectively and individually,

- to come to class prepared,

- to be accessible to students outside class time, and to serve as an effective consultant to the student in their learning,

- to assist students in finding additional resources when needed to reach the expected learning outcomes.

Textbooks

The textbook will be available at Follett's Orange Bookstore in Marshall Square Mall and perhaps at the University Bookstore at the Schine Student Center

Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications, by Herman Daly and Joshua Farley, Island Press, 2004. A course reader will also be available for purchase from the ESF business office.

Grading

Final grades will be calculated as follows:

• Term profile: 30% (undergrads) 25% (grads)
• Project presentation 10% (undergrads) 5% (grads)
• Midterm exam: 25%
• Final exam: 25% (undergrads) 15% (for grads)
• Grad Project: 20 % (for grads)
• Participation, including attendance and L & L session written responses: 10%

COURSE SCHEDULE

Date	Topic	Reading
8/26	Introduction - Sustainable Development – the problem-posing approach	Introductions and Review of Syllabus
8/28	Sustainable development	From Our Common Future, Ch. 2, Manno and Whaley: Sustainable Development, Meadows: If the world were a Village, Rees, Globalization and Sustainability: Conflict or Convergence
9/2	Critique of Sustainable Development	Korten, pp. 159-189.
9/4	Sustainability and Competitiveness	Hargroves and Smith: Natural Advantage of Nations. McDonough: The Next Industrial Revolution.
9/9	Diet Matters The Personal is political	Berry: Conservation is Good Work, p.33-36, Goodland, Environmental sustainability in agriculture, McKibben, The Year of Eating Locally.
9/11	Systematic challenges: global economy and fossil fuels	Hall et al: Hydrocarbons and the evolution of human culture; Lovins, Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken
9/16	Threshold hypothesis- Grad student team projects	Max-Neef: Economic Growth and Quality of Life: A Threshold Hypothesis; Manno and Jamborcic: Sufficiency and Simple Living: The Path to Personal and Global Well-Being, Cobb at al, If the GDP is Up, Why is America Down. Wilson et al, Contrasting and comparing sustainable development indicator metrics.

9/18	Conventional vs. emergent alternative wisdom	Korten, Sustainable Development: Conventional versus emergent alternative wisdom; Reflection on Competing Wisdoms Barkin, The Philosophical and Material Underpinnings of a : A Contribution to Ecological Economics(November 2006). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=943569, Ostrom et al, Revisiting the Commons. (Hardin, The Tragedy of the Commons. Optional)
9/23	Sufficiency and Commoditization	Princen: Ecological Rationality, Manno: Commoditization and Consumption Efficiency and an Economy of Care and Connection, Manno: Ch. 5 from Privileged Goods. Grad Project Proposals Due
9/25	Grad Project meeting – Teams Assigned	No readings
9/30	No class – Eid Ul-Fitr
10/2	Introduction to Ecological Economics , The Nature of Resources	Daly and Farley, Textbook Ch1-3 Project Proposals Due.
10/7	The nature of resources and the resources of nature	Daly & Farley Ch. 4
10/9	No class. Yom Kippur
10/14	Midterm Exam
10/16	Market Failures GNP and Welfare	Textbook Ch. 10-13
10/21	Money and Its History	Textbook: Chapter 14
10/23	Distribution	Textbook: Chapter 15
10/28	International Trade & Globalization	Textbook: Chapter 17 & 18
10/30	International Flows and Macroeconomic Policy	Textbook: Chapter 19
11/4	Film: Life & Debt
11/6	Panel and discussion
11/11	Policy Design Principles, Policy Options – Sustainable Scale	Textbook Ch. 20 & 21, Reader: “The Role of Government,” from The Natural Advantage of Nations” Translation Day
11/13	Policy Options – Just Distribution & Efficient Allocation	Textbook: Ch. 22 & 23
11/18	Presentations	Grad Team Presentations
11/25	Presentations	Profile Projects Due
11/27	No Class- Thanksgiving
12/2	Presentations
12/4	Presentations
Week of 12/8- 12	Final exam	Grad projects write-ups