Ecological Context of Planning

Submitted by William Rees on Mon, 07/18/2011 - 15:03

PLAN 504

Section Number:

001

Waitlist Section:

0W1

2011W Term 1

Tuesday

Thursday

09:00 - 10:30

Location:

WMAX 150

Credit Hours:

(3)

This Course is currently offered

Course Description:

Keywords: epistemology; Cartesian dualism; nature of ‘reality’ and reality of nature; ecosystems structure/function; material cycling; energy flow; thermodynamic laws; systems self-organization (autopoiesis); far-from-equilibrium thermodynamics; human ecology; ecological footprint analysis; chaos and catastrophe (planning for); globalization; global change; growth; human cognition; (un)sustainability; societal collapse.

General Description: This course advances a planning-oriented approach to bioecology and ecosystems theory for sustainable development. We begin by tracing the origins and development of prevailing attitudes (paradigms, worldviews) toward ‘the environment’ and their role in creating today’s human ecological crisis. We then explore the interaction of evolutionary and cultural factors in determining human ecological behaviour. With this as context we examine the de facto structure and function of ecosystems; how they are perceived as resource systems for human use; and the behavioural response of those systems to (over)exploitation. Students will consider the planning implications of thermodynamic law, human trophic dynamics (energy and material flows in human-dominated ecosystems), autopoiesis, self-organization, complexity theory, and related structural and functional properties of the ecosphere. We will specifically consider the possibility that unsustainability is actually a manifestation of H. sapiens extraordinary evolutionary success. Next we advance an ecological framework for understanding global urban-centred regions in their global systems context using ecological footprint analysis. Finally we examine potential policy frameworks for developing more sustainable humankind-ecosystems relationships and some of the barriers to putting them in place. The principles examined are illustrated throughout by examining current examples of, and mainstream responses to, such symptoms of human ecological dysfunction as climate change, climate change denial; biodiversity losses, landscape and soil degradation, BP’s well-head blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, peak oil, etc.

NB: Plan 504 is advised for all Planning students and it is a core course in the Ecological and Resources Planning stream. For most other students, PLAN 504 is strongly advised as preparation for PLAN 596 and the Spring term workshop on ‘Global change, Complexity and Panarchy: Framing Planning for the 21st Century’.

the major energy and material flows that characterize human obligate dependence on the natural environment;
the structural and functional properties of ecosystems and economies as far-from-equilibrium, self-organizing dissipative structures;
the differences between primary production in nature and secondary production in the economy;
ecological footprint analysis: quantifying the human ‘load’ on Earth;

Learning Objectives:

The overall objective of this course is to provide planning students with a sustainability-oriented bio-ecological perspective modern human society in relation to the ecosphere. A second major objective is to assist students to understand the gulf between scientific knowledge pertaining to global change and mainstream policy responses. Students will come to understand that there are no ‘environmental’ or ecological problems per se. Rather, ecological trends ranging from climate change, through ocean acidification, to soil erosion are emergent phenomena attributable to the fundamentally dysfunctional relationship between techno-industrial society as currently conceived and the ecosystems that sustain it. We explore the hypothesis that unsustainability is the inevitable by-product of human evolutionary success gone awry. Achieving sustainability requires raising to consciousness the hidden biological and cultural causes of this dilemma.

Specific learning objectives include:

alerting students to how the ‘social construction of reality’ bears on society’s perception of local/global ecological change and its importance;
providing a basic understanding of the structural and functional properties of ecosystems and economies as far-from-equilibrium, self-organizing dissipative structures;
familiarizing student planners with: a) humankind’s role in, and impact on, the natural ‘environment’ as our species becomes an increasingly dominant component of all global ecosystems b) the planning implications of autopoiesis, self-organization, homeostasis and panarchy in ecosystems;
introducing students to the ‘human nature’ of humankind–ecosystems interactions. What are the roles of nature (genetic predispositions) and nurture (memetic programming) in the widening gap between knowledge and policy action? To what extent is our contemporary ecological crisis a manifestation of human evolutionary ‘success’?
helping students to develop a new conceptual planning framework based on ecosystems theory and principles relevant to sustainable development at relevant spatial scales; what is the appropriate ‘niche’ of industrial society in relation to major resource ecosystems;
applying this framework to examine selected contemporary issues stemming from human-induced global change; e.g.,fisheries collapses, biodiversity loss.
equipping student planners to be effective critics of prevailing planning and development theory and to become constructive contributors to the transformation of planning practice for sustainability and cultural survival.

Course Organization:

The course covers several broad topic areas. Within each there will be lectures as well as student seminars or short debates on current planning-relevant local ecological and global change issues. As shown below, the instructor will assign readings as the course proceeds. Most readings will be provided in electronic form. (NB: It is essential that students keep pace with reading assignments). In addition to participating in class discussion and seminars, students will prepare short assignments and a major paper (with annotated bibliography) on a topic related to the lecture material, selected in consultation with the instructor. Students will use ‘academic journal format’ for the organization of their papers.

Tentative course schedule for Winter 2011: (NB: Exact schedule and readings shown are subject to change—updates, substitutions, additions and deletions will occur.)

Week 1 - Week of Sept 5

Orientation week – events and celebrations.

Week 2

Session 1

How we know: Introduction to epistemology
Perception and the role of the senses

Working-group assignment – Is ‘peak oil’ of concern to planners? (key sources to be provided)

Representative Readings:

Beer, S. 1981. “I Said, You Are Gods.” (Third Annual Teilhard Lecture). Teilhard Review 15:3:1-33.

Buchanan, M. (2007) “What made you read this?” NewScientist 195 (2611), pp. 36-39. Available at this link

Regal, P. 1990. “The Illusion Organ,” Chapter 3, in The Anatomy of Judgment. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Overbye, D. 2007. Free Will: Now You Have It, Now You Don’t. New York Times, 2 January 2007. Available at this link

Additional recommended source: Berman, M. 1984. The ReEnchantment of the World. Toronto: Bantam Books.

Session 2

What is real? The social construction of meaning;
On science as the dominant ‘way of knowing’

Representative Readings:

Capra, F. 1983. “The Turning of the Tide.” Chapter 1 from The Turning Point. Toronto: Bantam Books.

Capra, F. 1983. “The Newtonian World-Machine.” Chapter 2 from The Turning Point. Toronto: Bantam Books.

Jones, A. 1987. “From Fragmentation to Wholeness: A Green Approach to Science and Society.” (Part 1) The Ecologist 17:6:236-240.

Taylor, D. 1992. “Disagreeing on the Basics: Environmental Debates Reflect Competing World Views.” Alternatives 18:3:26-33.

Week 3

Session 3

The Newtonian/Cartesian universe – how scientific materialism has come to prevail
The structure of scientific inquiry

Representative Readings:

The Ecologist 10: 6 & 7 (July-Sept. 1980). See esp. Waller, on “Scientific Materialism” (p. 224), and Taylor, on “Subjectivity and Science” (p. 230).

Jones, A. 1988. “From Fragmentation to Wholeness: A Green Approach to Science and Society.” (Part 2) The Ecologist 18:1:30-34.

Skolimowski, H. 1978. “Ecophilosophy vs. the Scientific World View.” The Ecologist Quarterly 227-248. Classic reference:

Nagel, E. 1979. The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation. Hackett Publishing. Key portions available at this link

Session 4

Peak Oil Working groups: Reports and discussion

Week 4

Session 5, (OVERSHOOT DAY)

The concept of unlimited growth
Roots of the expansionist paradigm and implications of ‘overshoot’

Representative readings:

Turner, G. 2008. A Comparison of ‘Limits to Growth’ with Thirty Years of Reality. Canberra: CSIRO Working Paper Series 2008-09. Available at: http://www.csiro.au/files/files/plje.pdf

Vitousek, P. et al. 1997. Human Domination of Earth’s Ecosystems. Science 277: 494-499.

WWF. 2008. Living Planet Report 2008. Gland, Switzerland: World Wide Fund for Nature. Available at: http://www.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/living_planet_report/lpr_2008/ Background reference: Meadows, D. J. Randers, D. Meadows. 2004. Limits to Growth: The Thirty Year Update. Chelsea Green Publishing. ( Classic reference on ‘overshoot’: Catton, W. R. 1980. Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Session 6

On ecological sustainability: Science and denial

Representative Readings:

Lubchenco, Jane. 1998. “Entering the Century of the Environment: A New Social Contract for Science,” Science 297: 491–497.

Pratarelli, M.E. and C. Aragon. 2008. Acknowledging the ‘Primitive Origins of Human Ecological Dysfunction’: A View Toward Efficacy and Global Ecological Integrity. Globalization 8 (1) pp. Available on line at http://globalization.icaap.org/content/v8.1/Pratarelli_Aragon.pdf

Union of Concerned Scientists. 1992. World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity at: http://www.ucsusa.org/about/1992-world-scientists.html or http://earthednet.org/EEDMaterials/Content/WORLD%20SCIENTIST%20Warning.htm See also: MEA. 2005. Living Beyond Our Means: Natural Assets and Human Well-Being (Statement from the Board). Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. http://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.429.aspx.pdf

Simon, J. (ed) 1995. “Chapter One” of The State of Humanity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers (Or Cato Policy Report, Oct. 1995: The State of Humanity: Steadily Improving at: www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/pr-so-js.html

Week 5

Session 7

The various meanings of “sustainability”
Education for the new Millennium

Representative Readings:

Orr, D.W. 1991.What is Education For? in Trumpeter 8:3 Summer, 1991 (Environmental Crisis, Education, and Deep Ecology).

Rees, W.E. 1995. “Achieving Sustainability: Reform or Transformation?” Journal of Planning Literature 9: 343-360.

Rees, W.E. 2003. “Impeding Sustainability? The Ecological Footprint of Higher Education.” Planning for Higher Education (Journal of the Society for College and University Planning) March-May 2003, pp 88-98.

Rees, W.E. 2010. “Sustainability Concepts” Unpublished MS.

Tainter, Joseph A. 2009. “Human Resource Use: Timing and Implications for Sustainability”. Presented to Symposium on Human Macroecology: Understanding Human-Environment Interactions across Scales, at the 94th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Albuquerque, 2-7 August 2009.

Classic reference: WCED. 1987. Our Common Future. Report of World Commission on Environment and Development. New York: United Nations.

Session 8

Fundamentals of ecology;
The structure and function of nature: Ecosystems defined

Representative Readings:

Odum, E.P. 1993. “Levels of Organization”. Chapter 2 in Ecology and Our Endangered Life-Support Systems (Second Edition). Sunderland, MS: Sinauer Associates.

Odum, E.P. 1993. “The Ecosystem”. Chapter 3 in Ecology and Our Endangered Life-Support Systems (Second Edition). Sunderland, MS: Sinauer Associates.

Week 6

Session 9

Biogeochemical cycles (nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon)
Recycling in the economy: Imitating nature?

Representative Readings:

Krebs, C. 1988. “Natural Systems Recycle Essential Materials.” Chapter 8 in The Message of Ecology. New York: Harper and Row.

Odum, E.P. 1993. “Material Cycles and the Physical Conditions for Existence.” Chapter 5 in Ecology and Our Endangered Life-Support Systems (Second Edition). Sunderland, MS: Sinauer Associates.

Session 10

Energy flow in ecosystems;
Bio-energy and the human enterprise

Representative Readings:

Myers, R. A., and B. Worm 2003. “Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities.” Nature 423:280–283.

Odum, E.P. 1993. “Energetics,” Chapter 4 in Ecology and Our Endangered Life-Support Systems (Second Edition). Sunderland, MS: Sinauer Associates.

Pauly, D., and M. L. D. Palomares. 1991. “Fishing down marine food webs: an update.” Pages 47-56 in L. Bendell-Young and P. Gallaugher, editors. Waters in Peril. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, Massachusetts.

Ricker, W.E. 1968. “Food from the Sea.” in Resources and Man, Cmte. on Resources and Man, National Academy of Sciences/Natural Research Council. San Francisco, Ca.: W.H. Freeman & Co., pp. 87-108.

Week 7

Session 11

Energy and society
Humans—the entropy machine
The fossil fuel subsidy and where do we go from here?

Representative Readings:

Dukes, J.E. 2003. “Burning Buried Sunshine: Human Consumption of Ancient Solar Energy.” Climatic Change 61: 31-44.

Duncan, R.C. and W. Youngquist. 1999. “Encircling the Peak of World Oil Production.” Natural Resources Research 8: 219-232.

Hall, Charles A. S. and John W. Day, Jr. 2009. “Revisiting the Limits to Growth After Peak Oil”. American Scientist 97: 230-237.

Price, D. 1995. “Energy and Human Evolution.” Population and Environment 16: 301-319.

Vitousek, P. et al. 1986. “Human Appropriation of the Products of Photosysthesis.” Bioscience 36:6:368-373.

Wade, N. 1975. “Entropy: The Measure of Economic Man.” Science 190: 447-450. See various Newsletters of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil http://www.aspo-ireland.org/index.cfm/page/newsletter

Session 12

Breaking the Cartesian/Newtonian mould
Introduction to complex systems

Representative Readings:

Kay, J. and E. Schneider, 1994. “Embracing Complexity: The Challenge of the Ecosystem Approach.” Alternatives 20:3:32-39.

Miller, P. and W.E. Rees. “Introduction.” Chapter 1 in Ecological Integrity: Integrating Environment, Conservation, and Health, D. Pimentel, L. Westra and R. F. Noss (eds). Washington: Island Press.

Partridge, E. 2000. “Reconstructing Ecology.” Chapter 5 in Ecological Integrity: Integrating Environment, Conservation, and Health, D. Pimentel, L. Westra and R. F. Noss (eds). Washington: Island Press.

Week 8

Session 13

Autopoiesis and far-from-equilibrium thermodynamics
Self-organizing holarchic open systems (SOHO) theory

Representative readings:

Kay, J, and H. Regier 2000. “Uncertainty, Complexity and Ecological Integrity: Insights from an Ecological Approach. Chapter 8 in Implementing Ecological Integrity P. Crabbé et al. (eds) Klewer Academic Publishers.

Prigogine, I. 1997. The End of Certainty: Time, Chaos and the New Laws of Nature. The Free Press, New York (selections).

Rees, W.E. 2008. “Confounding Integrity: Humanity as Dissipative Structure” Chapter 17 in L.Westra, et al., eds. Reconciling Human Existence with Ecological Integrity (pp. 293-302). London: Earthscan

Schneider, E. and J. Kay. 1992. “Life as a Manifestation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.” Preprint from International Journal of Mathematical and Computer Modeling.

Session 14

The cybernetics of nature: Positive and negative feedback
Systems control and regulation

Representative Readings:

Cohen, J. and D. Tilman. 1996. “Biosphere 2 and Biodiversity: The Lessons So Far.” Science 274: 1150-1151.

Kerr, R. 1988. “No Longer Willful, Gaia Becomes Respectable.” Science 240:393-395.

Odum, H.T. 1988. “Self-Organization, Transformity and Information.” Science 242: 1132-1139.

Perry, D.A., et al. 1989. “Bootstrapping in Ecosystems.” BioScience 39:4:230-237.

Ward, P. 2009. Gaia’s Evil Twin. NewScientist 202 (2713): 28-31 20 June 2009.

Week 9

Session 15

Exploring chaos: A mathematical experiment
A world of chaos and catastrophe
Planning for surprise:

Representative Readings:

Crutchfield,J., J.Farmer, N. Packard, R.Shaw. 1986. “Chaos.” Scientific American 255:46-57.

Davies, P. 1990. “Chaos Frees the Universe.” New Scientist 128:1737:48-51.

Vivaldi, F. 1991. “An Experiment with Mathematics.” Chapter 3 in Exploring Chaos A Guide to the New Science of Disorder, Nina Hall (ed). New York: W.W. Norton. Excellent overview source on chaos theory: Cohen, J. and I. Stewart. 1994. The Collapse of Chaos. New York: Penguin Books.

Session 16

The evolving eco-paradigm: Stable limit cycles and nature benign
Nature perverse or nature adapting?
Introducing panarchy theory

Representative Readings:

Holling, C.S. 1985. “Resilience of Ecosystems: Local Surprise and Global Change” In: Clark and Munn, (eds.), Sustainable Development of the Biosphere. Laxenburg, Austria: IIASA and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (See also other papers in this volume.)

Rees, W.E. 2000. “Scale, Complexity, and the Conundrum of Sustainability”. Chapter in Planning for Sustainability, James Meadowcroft and Mike Kenny (eds). London: Routledge.

Rees, W.E. 2010. “Thinking Resilience” In press. Post-Carbon Institute.

Walker, B. and D. Salt. 2006. Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World. Island Press, Washington.

Excerpts from: Gunderson, L.H. and C.S. Holling. 2002. Panarchy: Understanding transformations in human and natural systems. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Week 10

Session 17

Biophysical systems as chaotic systems
On the edge of ‘catastrophe’

Representative Readings:

May, R. 1989. “The Chaotic Rhythms of Life.” NewScientist 124:1691:37-41.

Davies, P. 1990. “Chaos Frees the Universe.” NewScientist 128:1737:48-51.

Week 11

Session 18

Implications of complexity for resource planning and management
From fisheries collapses to international development disasters

Representative Readings:

Cartwright, T 1991. “Planning and Chaos Theory.” APA Journal (Winter 1991:44-56).

Wallace, D. and R. Wallace. 2008. “Urban Systems During Disasters: Factors for Resilience.” Ecology and Society14(1) Art. 18. Available at: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss1/art18/

Mann, R. 1987. “Development and the Sahel Disaster: the Case of the Gambia.” The Ecologist 17:2:84-90.

Wade, Nicholas. 1974. “Sahelian Drought: No Victory for Western Aid.” Science 183: 4147 (July): 234-237.

Session 19

Exploring the human niche: H. sapiens as archetypal ‘patch-disturber’
The human enterprise as a sub-system in the SOHO hierarchy

Representative Readings:

Fowler, C.W. and Hobbs L. 2003. “Is humanity sustainable?” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 270: 2579-2583.

Pauly, D. 2000. “Global Change, Fisheries, and the Integrity of Marine Ecosystems: The Future has Already Begun.” Chapter 5 in Ecological Integrity: Integrating Environment, Conservation, and Health, D. Pimentel, L. Westra and R. F. Noss (eds). Washington: Island Press.

Rees, W.E. 2000. “Patch disturbance, Eco-Footprints, and Biological integrity: Revisiting the Limits to Growth.” Chapter 8 in Ecological Integrity: Integrating Environment, Conservation and Health. (D. Pimentel, L. Westra, and R. Noss, eds). Washington, DC: Island Press.

Week 12

Session 20

Revisiting human carrying capacity
On ‘Man’ in Nature: The human ecological footprint

Representative Readings:

Catton, W.R. 1986. Carrying capacity and the limits to freedom. Paper prepared for Social Ecology Session 1, XI World Congress of Sociology, New Delhi, India. (18 August, 1986).

Rees, W.E. 2003. “Carrying Capacity and Sustainability: Waking Malthus’ Ghost.” Chapter for the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems. Oxford: EOLSS Publishers.

Rees, W.E. 2006. “Ecological Footprints and Bio-Capacity: Essential Elements in Sustainability Assessment.” Chapter 9 in Jo Dewulf and Herman Van Langenhove, eds. Renewables-Based Technology: Sustainability Assessment, pp. 143-158. Chichester, UK: John Wiley and Sons.

Vince, G. 2009. “Surviving in a warmer world.” NewScientist 201 (2697): 29-33.

Session 21

The growing ecological deficit

Representative Readings:

Diamond, J. 1995. “Easter’s End.” Discover Magazine (1 August 1995).

Kissinger, M and W.E. Rees. 2009. “Footprints on the prairies: Degradation and sustainability of Canadian Agriculture in a Globalizing World.” Ecological Economics 68: 2309–2315.

Rees W.E. 2002. “Globalization and Sustainability: Conflict or Convergence?” Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society 22 (4): 249-268.

Wackernagel, M. et al. 2002. “Tracking the Ecological Overshoot of the Human Economy” Proc Nat Acad Sci 99:14: 9266-9271.

WWF. 2008. Living Planet Report 2008. Gland, Switzerland: Worldwide Fund for Nature (and others).

Week 13

Session 22

Cities as (Vulnerable) Ecological Entities
Future of urban regions

Representative Readings:

CSIS. 2007. The Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Climate Change. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies. Available at http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/071105_ageofconsequences.pdf)

Folke, C., A. Jansson, J. Larsson, and R. Costanza. 1997. “Ecosystem appropriation by cities.” Ambio 26: 167-172.

Goodwin, N. 2008. “Overview of Climate Change: What does it mean for our way of life? What is the best future we can hope for?” Working Paper No. 08-01. Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University, Medford MA. Available at: http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/wp/08-01OverviewOfClimateChange.pdf

Rees, W.E. 2003. “Understanding Urban Ecosystems: An Ecological Economics Perspective.” Chapter 8 in Understanding Urban Ecosystems, Alan Berkowitz et al. (eds) New York: Springer-Verlag.

Warren-Rhodes, K. and A. Koenig 2001. “Ecosystem appropriation by Hong Kong and its implications for sustainable development.” Ecological Economics 39 (3): 347-359

Session 23

Is our evolutionary success killing us?
Is Industrial Culture inherently unsustainable?
The human prospect: Biological and/or cultural evolution?

Representative Readings:

Epstein, R. and Y. Zhao. 2009. The Threat that Dare not Speak its Name - Human extinction. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 52 (1): 116-125.

Hern, W.M. “Is human culture oncogenic for uncontrolled population growth and ecological destruction? Human Evolution 12: 97-105.

Randers, J. 2008. “Global Collapse—Fact or Fiction?” Futures 40: 853-864.

Rees, W.E. 2003. Is Humanity Fatally Successful? Journal of Business Administration and Policy Analysis 30-31: 67-100 (2002-2003)

Smith, J. W. and G. Sauer-Thompson. 1998. “Civilization’s wake: Ecology, economics and the roots of environmental destruction and neglect.” Population and Environment 19: 541-575.

Rees, W.E. 2008. “Human Nature, eco-footprints and environmental injustice.” Local Environment - The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability 13 (8): 685 – 701.

Rees, W.E. 2010. What’s Blocking Sustainability? Human Nature, Cognition and Denial”. In Press with Sustainability: Science Practice and Policy.

Tainter, J. 1995. “Sustainability of Complex Societies.” Futures 27: 397-404.

Course Requirements and Grading:

20% Class participation

80% Written work—short assignments and major paper

Course Assignments:

Variable, depending on class size and student interests. In general, participants are expected to participate in in-class debates, reviews of readings, short assignments, general discussion, etc. There will be one major paper, topic to be selected by students in consultation with the instructor. (See also "Course Organization.")

Course Policies:

There are no special "course policies" for this course.

Course Materials:

There are no required texts or purchases. Weekly readings will mostly be available on-line (otherwise copies will be provided).

Representative source materials include:

Capra, F. 1996. The Web of Life. New York: Anchor Books.
Catton, W. R. 1980. Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Clark, W.C. and R.E. Munn. 1986. Sustainable Development of the Biosphere. IIASA/Cambridge University Press.
Cohen, J. and I. Stewart. 1994. The Collapse of Chaos. New York: Penguin Books.
Diamond, J. 2005. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking Press.
Gunderson, L.H. and C.S. Holling. 2002. Panarchy: Understanding transformations in human and natural systems. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Krebs, C. 1988. The Message of Ecology. New York: Harper & Row.
MEA. 2005. Living beyond our means: Natural assets and human well-being (Statement from the Board)’. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Available at (retrieved May 2009): http://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.429.aspx.pdf
Meadows, D. J. Randers, D. Meadows. 2004. Limits to Growth: The Thirty Year Update. Chelsea Green Publishing.
Newman, P. T. Beatley, and H. Boyer. 2008. Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change. Washington: Island Press
Newman, P., and I. Jennings. 2008. Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Odum, E.P. 1993. Ecology and Our Endangered Life-Support Systems (Second Edition). Sunderland, MS: Sinauer Associates.
Pratarelli, M.E 2008. Myopic Man: On the Nature and Universality of Self-Deception and its Long-Term Effects on Our Environment. Medici Publishing, Beulah, Colorado
Prigogine, I. 1996. The End of Certainty. New York: The Free Press
Register, R. 2006. EcoCities: Rebuilding Cities in Balance with Nature (revised edition). Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.
Stanton, W. 2003. The Rapid Growth of Human Populations. Multi-Science Publishing.
Wackernagel, M. and W.E. Rees. 1996. Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.
Wexler, B.E. 2006. Brain and Culture: Neurobiology, Ideology and Social Change. Cambridge, USA: Bradford Books (MIT Press).
WWF. 2008. Living Planet Report 2008. Gland, Switzerland: World Wide Fund for Nature.

Special Needs:

Please inform the course instructor as soon as possible if you have special needs and require accommodation of any kind. Please visit http://www.students.ubc.ca/access/ for more information on campus resources.

Academic Integrity:

The University is an environment that fosters learning and the free exchange of ideas while maintaining responsibility and integrity. Violations of academic integrity include but are not limited to plagiarism, cheating, dishonesty, fabrication of information, submitting previously completed work and misusing or destroying school property. Any material or ideas obtained from digital or hard copy sources must be appropriately and fully referenced. Students are expected to uphold all the standards articulated in UBC's academic integrity site. If the instructor finds evidence of a violation of academic integrity the case will be investigated by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and, where appropriate, action will be taken. Disciplinary action may lead to a failing grade or suspension from the University.

Supplemental Materials:

UBC has numerous research, pedagogical and health resources available to students. These include The centre for Teaching and Academic Growth (TAG), the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, the Writing Centre, Student Health Services and student Counselling Services. Please make use of these resources or contact the instructor if you have any questions. Students new to UBC are especially encouraged to become familiar with the broad spectrum of resources that UBC provides.