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 <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/ <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 <mailto:mitc0...@umn.edu>
> El feb. 1, 2017, a las 8:53 PM, Neufeld, Howard S. <neufel...@appstate.edu> > 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 > <http://biology.appstate.edu/faculty-staff/104> > Personal: http://www.appstate.edu/~neufeldhs/index.html > <http://www.appstate.edu/~neufeldhs/index.html> > SAEREC: http://saerec.appstate.edu <http://saerec.appstate.edu/> > AppalAIR: http://appalair.appstate.edu <http://appalair.appstate.edu/> > Fall Colors: > Academic: http://biology.appstate.edu/fall-colors > <http://biology.appstate.edu/fall-colors> > Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FallColorGuy > <https://www.facebook.com/FallColorGuy>
