EES 100 -- Human Population and the Global Environment
May Term 2013
“The Earth has seen five great extinction spasms in its history: the twentieth century showed signs of
starting a sixth, the only one caused by humanity. …Altogether, by 2000 the proportion of life on
earth that served human ends, directly or indirectly, approached 40 percent on land and 10 percent in
the seas, probably five to eight times as much as in 1900. So, in the process of trying to feed
ourselves, make money, and protect ourselves from our fellows, we recast the biosphere dramatically,
inserting ourselves as the main force shaping biological evolution. In the short run this unconscious
process brought far more people, less famine, more wealth, and longer life than ever before in human
history. How it will play out in the long run remains to be seen.” McNeill &McNeill, The
Human Web. p. 286
Time: 9:00 –11:50 daily
Location: 107 DPC
Instructor: Mark W. Anderson, Senior Instructor in Resource Economics and
Policy, School of Economics
Office: 305 Winslow Hall
Phone: 581-3198
email: Mark Anderson on FirstClass
Office Hours: Noon to 1:00 after class. Please come to see me if you have
questions, concerns, or just want to talk about the material in this class!
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of May Term you should be able to:
- Explain the concepts and principles necessary to evaluate contemporary
issues of population growth, natural resource conservation, and environmental
protection. You might ask, is there something special about the time in which we live?
-Understand and be able to explain the broad concepts of demographic
transition, industrialization, modernization, common property, and
externalities. How does modern society shape how humans relate to the natural world?
-Be able to interpret diverse types of information about environmental issues,
to develop your own perspectives on these issues, and to communicate these
perspectives more effectively. What does it mean when people say the environment is
cleaner than it ever has been? Or, how could that be so when others say that the
environmental problems we now face are insurmountable? Can these both be so?
Collectively these objectives address the spirit of the learning outcomes goals in
UMaine’s general education requirement for the area of population and the
environment, which is defined as follows:
Preamble: We have a finite physical and biological environment and human
beings throughout our history have had an impact upon it. The general
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education area of Population and the Environment uses a highly
interdisciplinary approach that brings together aspects of the natural sciences,
the social sciences, and the humanities to further student awareness and
understanding of these complex interactions. Although the technical solutions
to environmental problems will be based upon scientific knowledge, the goals
to be set and the ethical, political, economic and social dimensions of meeting
them are the domain of the humanities and social sciences, which therefore
must constitute a major focus of the area.
Student Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of general education study in
the area of Population and the Environment, students will be able to:
1. Think in an informed and critical fashion about human population and
the human impact on the natural environment through an understanding
of ecological systems.
2. Understand the role of both local and global environmental change on
the quality of human life.
3. Assess the manifold role of human population growth on environmental
quality and the quality of life, both in industrial and developing
countries.
4. Analyze the influence of cultural, religious, economic, educational, and
political factors on population growth and environmental quality.
5. Evaluate possible solutions to population/environment problems, which
may include the role of technological advancements, a reexamination of
educational and political institutions, enlightened reassessment of
traditional religious and economic conceptions, and rethinking of the
contemporary Western conception of "the good life".
Texts:
1) McNeill, J. R. (2000). Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History
of the Twentieth-Century World. New York: W.W. Norton. Please bring this
text to class when we have assigned readings in it.
2) Web-based readings listed in the daily schedule below.
Grading: Letter grades will be assigned on the following proportions:
Prelim I
25%
Prelim II
30%
Participation – attendance, in-class writing, discussion
10%
Final Exam (Comprehensive)
35%
The assignment of final grades for the course will follow the definitions of letter
grades established by the faculty of The University of Maine:
A -- superior work
B -- good work
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C -- satisfactory but undistinguished work
D -- poor work
F –- Failure
+/- grades will not be assigned.
Your work on exams will be evaluated on your mastery and integration of
information from five distinct sources:
-reading assignments in the texts
-material from FirstClass Conference
-PowerPoint presentations in lectures (lectures will not duplicate the readings;
they will cover the same material but from a different perspective)
-my discussion and amplification in the lectures
-your responses to my questions in class, in-class writing, small group
discussions, and overall attendance
Exams: Exams will be given on the dates scheduled in the table below. Make-up
exams will only be given if absences are excused for legitimate reasons by the course
instructor before the exam. Requests for a make-up exam must be made in writing,
giving the reason you believe the make-up will be necessary. Exam questions will be
multiple choice questions and will be drawn from both the readings and from class
activities. The questions will be designed to allow you to demonstrate understanding
of the key concepts of the course and their inter-relationships.
Disability Accommodations: If you have need of accommodations for a disability,
please contact Ann Smith at Services of College Success Program, East Annex, 5812319.
Class Attendance: You are expected to attend class. Exam questions will be based
on both assigned readings and materials presented in class -- they do not duplicate
each other.
9:00 – 9:50
Monday, May 13
Class Introduction
10:00 – 10:50
11:00 – 11:50
Where are we going this
Nature as Resource
semester? The Context –
handout to be provided in class
Reading for Tuesday –McNeill, Preface & Chapter 1 and
McFalls, Joseph A. (2007). Population: A Lively Introduction. Population Bulletin, 62:1.
www.prb.org/Publications/PopulationBulletins/2007/PopulationALivelyIntroduction.aspx
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Tuesday, May 14
Nature as Resource continued
Human Population: No Ordinary Time
Readings for Wednesday – McNeill, Chapter 9 and
a) Brockerhoff, “ An Urbanizing World.” Population Reference Bureau
www.prb.org/Source/ACFAC3F.pdf
Wednesday, May 15
Human population
Urbanization
Industrialization
(continued)
Readings for Thursday – McNeill, Chapter 10 and
Vaclav Smil, “Energy” from Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History:
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~vsmil/pdf_pubs/Encyclopedia%20of%20World%20History.p
df
Thursday, May 16
Energy
Friday, May 17
Review
Prelim #1
9:30 – 10:30
10:45
“The Wilderness Idea”
and introduction to U.S.
Environmental History
Readings for Monday, McNeill, Chapter 7
Monday, May 20
Food and Agriculture
Readings for Tuesday, McNeill, Chapters 3 & 4
Tuesday, May 21
The Idea of Common
Air Pollution
Property
Readings for Wednesday,
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-spm.pdf
this is a large file because of the graphics, but the report is not that long and very important
Wednesday, May 22
Climate Change
Externalities
Readings for Thursday, McNeill, Chapter 8
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9:00 – 9:50
Thursday, May 23
Biodiversity
10:00 – 10:50
11:00 – 11:50
Fisheries
Readings for Friday Rachel Carson Unit, McNeill, Chapter 11
Friday, May 24
Review
Prelim #2
9:30 – 10:30
10:45 Video
“Rachel Carson’s Silent
Spring”
Monday, May 27 -- No Class --Holiday
Readings for Tuesday, McNeill, Chapters 5 & 6
Tuesday, May 28
Water: Cycles and Pollution
Readings for Wednesday
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Anthropocene?topic=49533
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Globalization_and_environmental_politics?topic=49533
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Consumption_and_well-being
Wednesday, May 29
Modernization &
Consumption & Stuff
Globalization
Readings for Thursday, McNeill, Chapter 12
Thursday, May 30
What does it mean to be sustainable?
Friday, May 31
Review
Ecological Footprinting
Final Exam
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