Re: [ECOLOG-L] Request for Readings/Videos for Honors Course on Future of Human Civilization

2017-02-02 Thread Philip Mitchell 
I took a very similar honors seminar, “Reality 101: A Survey of the Human 
Predicament”, taught by Dr. Nate Hagens at the University of Minnesota.  We 
looked at the future of human civilization through the lenses of evolutionary 
psychology, the environment, and the economy.  The syllabus 
(https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5mpeRerMxtZOGZnOG9OaXBfYUE/view?usp=sharing 
)
 has all of the readings that were assigned as part of the course.  E.O. 
Wilson’s Social Conquest of Earth and some of the essays in the Energy Reader 
(http://www.postcarbon.org/publications/energy-reader/ 
) by the Post Carbon 
Institute were particularly good.
Our professor has organized a listserv and Facebook group for everyone 
who has taken the class, and we are trying to get a student group running to 
discuss these issues further.  If any of your students are interested in 
participating in these discussions, we’d love to get perspectives from students 
at other institutions.  
Peace!
Philip Mitchell
University of Minnesota
mitc0...@umn.edu  


> El feb. 1, 2017, a las 8:53 PM, Neufeld, Howard S.  
> escribió:
> 
> 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 and2052 (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 
>

Re: [ECOLOG-L] Request for Readings/Videos for Honors Course on Future of Human Civilization

2017-02-02 Thread Eric Randolph 
For a decent movie check out The 11th Hour released in 2007. It touches all
aspects of the course title.

On Thu, Feb 2, 2017 at 12:54 AM, Jane Shevtsov  wrote:

> 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.  > 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 <(828)%20262-2683>; Fax 828-262-2127 <(828)%20262-2127>
>>
>> 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*
>

Re: [ECOLOG-L] Request for Readings/Videos for Honors Course on Future of Human Civilization

2017-02-02 Thread Jane Shevtsov 
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. 
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*

[ECOLOG-L] Request for Readings/Videos for Honors Course on Future of Human Civilization

2017-02-01 Thread Neufeld, Howard S. 

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