I taught a similar seminar a few years ago that was built around David Brin's novel "Earth:. It's idea-dense science fiction that gives students a lot to sink their teeth into and provides a framework for discussing a lot of science. I also strongly recommend "The World in 2050" by Laurence C. Smith, which looks at big environmental and demographic trends. "Thinking in Systems" by Donella Meadows is also a good supplement.
Hope that helps, Jane On Wed, Feb 1, 2017 at 6:53 PM, Neufeld, Howard S. <neufel...@appstate.edu> wrote: > Dear All – > > This semester I am teaching an experimental Honors seminar course to > juniors/seniors titled *The Future of Human Civilization: Climate Change, > Population Growth and the Possibilities for Sustainability*. > > > > I know the title may sound pretentious, but I purposely wanted to make it > provocative. The students are a mix of STEM and non-STEM majors. > > > > I would welcome suggestions for ancillary materials for the course. We > have a large number of primary journal articles and a large cadre of books, > including the updated *Limits to Growth*, *2050* and *2052* (yes those > are two books about the future!), Al Gore’s *The Future*, Oreskes & > Conway’s *Collapse of Western Civilization*, and Ron Scranton’s *How to > Die in the Anthropocene*. > > > > I almost included Diamond’s *Collapse*, which was high on the list, but I > didn’t think it had the proper perspective. I'm currently reading David > Biello's *The Unnatural World*. > > > > I’d be particularly interested in any high quality videos that pertain to > the course subject, plus further suggestions for readings. We opened with > Nick Bostrom’s article “*The Future of Humanity*” to set the stage for > the rest of the course, then followed up with the Ehrlichs’ recent PNAS > article on whether global civilization can avoid a collapse. Then we read > Schramski et al.’s article in PNAS on the analogy of Earth as a discharging > battery. > > > > Thanks! > > Howie Neufeld > > -- > Dr. Howard S. Neufeld, Professor > Director, Southern Appalachian Environmental Research and Education Center > (SAEREC) > Chair, Appalachian Interdisciplinary Atmospheric Research Group (AppalAIR) > > Mailing Address: > Department of Biology > 572 Rivers St. > Appalachian State University > Boone, NC 28608 > Tel: 828-262-2683; Fax 828-262-2127 > > Websites: > Academic: http://biology.appstate.edu/faculty-staff/104 > Personal: http://www.appstate.edu/~neufeldhs/index.html > SAEREC: http://saerec.appstate.edu > AppalAIR: http://appalair.appstate.edu > Fall Colors: > Academic: http://biology.appstate.edu/fall-colors > Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FallColorGuy > > -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov, Ph.D. Lecturer and DBER Fellow, UCLA co-founder, www.worldbeyondborders.org "Muad'Dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he *could* learn. It's shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult." --Frank Herbert, *Dune*
