Global warming and the media

From Forbes Magazine:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/12/23/media-climate-change-warming-opinions-contributors-larry-bell.html

Blizzard time!

The New England blizzard of December 26-27, 2010, in time lapse, from the streets of Boston:



http://bcove.me/czwdlbll

Class #14, 11/29/10

**Roster, etc.

**Projects due this evening.

**Return previous work.

**Discussion of readings:

----->Kirkpatrick Sale:  "Progress".

----->Erazim Kohak:  "Agathocentric Ecology".

**More on this issue:  Where are we going from here?



**Concluding discussion and points.

**Proposal for next week (December 6).  Reading Day or Exam?

Pope: bullish on agriculture

Pope: bullish on agriculture

And, just for fun, here's what he really said.

Class #13, 11/22/10

**Roster, etc.

**Reminder:  Your Project is due next Monday, 11/29.

**Due tonight:  Chapter 13, "Environmental Justice"-- specifically read pp. 659ff, "The Earth Charter."

**From today's NY Times:  An article about China's huge hunger for coal, and the willingness of nations who publicly are environment-friendly to sell it to the Chinese.  Is there a double-standard here?  Or, are strict environmental standard between nations inherently hypocritical?

**While we're on the subject, let's look at the Three Gorges Dam project.  It reached full operational capacity in October, 2008.  Videos here.

**Also for next week:  Two short philosophical articles on handouts.  We'll talk about these next week, and then I'll ask you to do a little in-class writing before we break.

Class #12, 11/15/10

**Roster, etc.

**Due tonight:   The validity of climate change-- 
  
----->Pew Center, "Understanding the causes of Global Climate Change," pp 569ff; 

----->Gardiner, "Ethics and Global Climate Change," pp 573ff.

----->IPCC's web site. 

----->Activity:  Prioritizing our environmental decisions.

**Further discussion:

----->Trailer for "Cool It" 

**For 11/22:  "Environmental Justice," Chapter 13--


----->Read:  "The Earth Charter," pp 659ff.

----->Your projects are due on the 29th (in two weeks).

Books for next semester's courses

You can pass the word on this for anyone who seems interested, also.

**Monday nights:

PHIL 3323 Philosophy of Religion

Peterson, et al., editors, Philosophy of Religion:  Selected Readings, 4th edition, 2009.
ISBN# 978-0-19-539359-0

**Wednesday nights:

PHIL 3301 Moral Issues: Personal and Professional

2 texts:

Pojman, Louis P., How Should We Live?  An Introduction to Ethics, 2004, Wadsworth Pub.
ISBN# 978-0534556570

Glover, Jonathan, Humanity:  A Moral History of the Twentieth Century, 2001, Yale U. Press.
ISBN# 978-0300087154

Class #11, 11/8/10

**Rosters, etc.

**Distribute/discuss final requirements for ecology project.

**"Then and Now" Exercise on use of resources, and discussion. 

----->Working in groups: Here are a group of lifestyle questions to consider. On the first time through them, answer each question about how you and your family have dealt with these issues in the past few years or months.


1--What wakes you up in the morning?


2--How do you find out what the weather will be today?


3--Who fixed breakfast; what did you eat?


4--What type of work do you do?


5--How do you get to work?


6--What do you bring for lunch? (--or do you bring a lunch?)


7--What time did you leave work to get home?


8--Who fixed dinner? How long did it take?


9--How did you obtain the meat items you had for dinner?


10--What about vegetables, and fruit?


11--Where do you keep your milk and butter?


12--When's the last time you ate something that had been frozen?


13--What did you do with the dinner waste and leftovers?


14--What do you do with your household trash?


15--I know this is nosy, but what happens to the human waste from your household?


16--What happened the last time someone got sick from the flu? What did happen (or would have happened) when someone broke a bone or had another serious injury?


17--When is the last time you heard from your family in Massachusetts? Assuming you needed to get a message to them, how long would it take to reach someone? What if it were urgent?


18--What is the anticipated level of education of the majority of your family (of your generation or younger)?


19--What do you do for entertainment? What pastimes does your family enjoy together?


Now your instructor will give you another processing assignment to go over, using the same questions. You'll need to use your imagination.... General discussion will follow, and you'll be asked to make a decision.


**This week's readings and information:  The validity of climate change--
 
----->Pew Center, "Understanding the causes of Global Climate Change," pp 569ff;


----->Gardiner, "Ethics and Global Climate Change," pp 573ff.

----->IPCC's web site.
 
**For next week, 11/15:  Readings on Economics and Ecology--
 
----->Herman Daly, "Consumption:  The Economics of Value Added and the Ethics of Value Distributed," pp 611ff.
----->Mark Sagoff, "At the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, or Why Political Questions are not all Economic," pp 619ff.

Class #10, 11/1/10

**Roster, etc.

**News items to review (see below).

**Review of readings:

----->M.A. Fox, "Vegetarianism and Treading Lightly on the Earth," pp 496ff


----->Hilary French, "You are what you breathe," pp 507ff

----->Rachel Carson, "Silent Spring," pp 526ff

----->Anne Platt McGinn, "Combating Malaria," pp 536ff

----->Ray and Guzzo, "The Blessings of Pesticides," pp 562ff.


**"Then and Now" Exercise on use of resources, and discussion.


**For next week, 11/8/10:  Climate Change.  Read:


----->Pew Center, "Understanding the causes of Global Climate Change," pp 569ff;


----->Gardiner, "Ethics and Global Climate Change," pp 573ff.


Write:  At this point, what level of efforts on the part of yourself, the nation and the world to mitigate climate change?

A report on malaria control controversy.

Also from the BBC.

The Looming Rare Earths Train Wreck

The Looming Rare Earths Train Wreck

Here we have all kinds of information about energy security, trends in U.S. petroleum usage, and electric cars.

Partial agreement in Japan leaves biodiversity status uncertain

But, at the very least, the question is raised, and is worth discussing.  Article is here.

Class #9, 10/25/10

**Rosters, etc.


**Due today: Readings from Chapter 8, "Food Ethics"--

----->Garrett Hardin, "Lifeboat Ethics," pp 443ff

----->Murdoch and Oaten, "Critique of Lifeboat Ethics," pp 452ff

----->Jonathan Rauch, "Can Frankenfood save the Planet?" pp 476ff
----->----->Video--meet Norman Borlaug, Times Man of the Millenium.
First, setting the situation with a short biography:


And, the late Dr. Borlaug:


----->M.A. Fox, "Vegetarianism and Treading Lightly on the Earth," pp 496ff

-----> What do the following groups of nations have in common:

----->----->Group I:  Somalia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan, Iraq, Chad, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Haiti.

----->----->Group II:  New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Iceland.

----->One more view on the causes of poverty:  See the Transparency International web site.

**Exercise on "progress"--1900 vs. 2010.

**For 11/1: "Pollution and Pesticides," Chapters 9 and 10--Read:
----->Hilary French, "You are what you breathe," pp 507ff
----->Rachel Carson, "Silent Spring," pp 526ff
----->Anne Platt McGinn, "Combating Malaria," pp 536ff
----->Ray and Guzzo, "The Blessings of Pesticides," pp 562ff.

Primitive man--carnivore or vegetarian?

What did your grandpa eat 30,000 years ago?  It turns out that he may have had a relatively healthy diet.

See the story on the latest research here.

Class #8, 10/18/10

**Rosters, etc.


**Due:
----->Write: What explanation/solution to the reality of populations on earth seems most reasonable to you: Hardin's, McKibben's or Kasun's?


**An update on diversity of life:  http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/10/18/destroying-earth-conference-claims/


**Tonight's Discussion:  "Population and Consumption"--selections from chapter 7--

----->Bill McKibben, "A special moment in history," pp 378ff;

----->Jacqueline Kasun, "The unjust war against population," pp 399-412.


----->Visuals for McKibben & Kasun:  https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1tJqq4UDv3oB7oTG92CYwf4lWPL8sAnzjOTV4hTCNqfA&pli=1

----->----->See the video with Kasun here: http://www.mefeedia.com/news/22136041 


**For 10/25/10:  Readings from Chapter 8, "Food Ethics"--
----->Garrett Hardin, "Lifeboat Ethics," pp 443ff
----->Murdoch and Oaten, "Critique of Lifeboat Ethics," pp 452ff
----->Jonathan Rauch, "Can Frankenfood save the Planet?" pp 476ff
----->M.A. Fox, "Vegetarianism and Treading Lightly on the Earth," pp 496ff

----->Please write--Would you consider giving up meat entirely? Explain your answer.

Class #7, 10/11/10

**Rosters, etc.

**Due tonight:----->Begin discussions of population with Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons," pp 389 ff.  No writing assignment for this week.

Discussion and analysis of the text.

Some explanations and interpretations:






**For 10/18:  "Population and Consumption"--selections from chapter 7--
----->Bill McKibben, "A special moment in history," pp 378ff;
----->Jacqueline Kasun, "The unjust war against population," pp 399-412.

----->Write:  What explanation/solution to the reality of populations on earth seems most reasonable to you:  Hardin's, McKibben's or Kasun's?
 

Class #6, 10/4/10

**Rosters, etc.

**Due tonight:  Defining whether obligations to posterity should play a role in my environmental position.

Read--

• Robert Heilbroner, "What has Posterity Ever Done for Me?" pp 347ff
• Garrett Hardin, "Who cares for Posterity?" pp 350ff.

----->Write: What good reasons, if any, are there for you and me to care about the quality of the environment to be experienced by our children and their children?

**Discussion of "carbon savings 10:10" advertising.

**Group activity/discussion of duties toward posterity.

**Discussion of Heilbroner and Hardin.

----->Supplements for this issue are here.

**For 10/11:

----->Begin discussions of population with Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons," pp 389 ff.  No writing assignment for this week.

We may make time to discuss this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx4yr0FFhMQ&has_verified=1

Class #5, 9/27/10

**Roster, Etc.

**Interesting--AND we'll read more about resources and politics later in the year:  Politics and the nations of the Nile River.

----->----->From the BBC, a map of global water distribution.  What do you notice about the areas of water supply stress?

----->----->Also from the Middle East:  Can you build "green" in a land with no green?

**Due tonight:

• Preliminary report on your ecology project.
• Based on the assigned readings, a summary/evaluation of the one reading whose position best matches your own.

**Short revisiting of Arne Naess' point of view. What sort of change of mind does he advocate--reform or something deeper? And, what do you think that would mean for your life?

**Review and discussion of this week's points of view:

• O.P. Dwivedi, "Satyagraha for Conservation," pp 310ff
• Lily de Silva, "The Buddhist Attitude Towards Nature," pp 319ff
• M. Y. Izzi Deen, "Islamic Environmental Ethics," pp 323ff
• S. Ogungbemi, "An African Perspective," pp 330ff.
• Visuals and background for tonight's readings.

**For 10/4: Defining whether obligations to posterity should play a role in my environmental position.

Read--

• Robert Heilbroner, "What has Posterity Ever Done for Me?" pp 347ff
• Garrett Hardin, "Who cares for Posterity?" pp 350ff.

----->Write: What good reasons, if any, are there for you and me to care about the quality of the environment to be experienced by our children and their children?

And speaking of conservation, ...

...did you read about the enormous alligator hunted and killed by a woman in the Carolinas, during the gator hunting season?

Class #4, 9/20/10

Roster, etc.
----->Questions about project, etc.  Remember that the preliminary report is due next week, 9/27.
----->Due tonight:  Writing:  Briefly summarize Arne Naess' position (hint:  he's radical).  Then, what is your case for agreeing or disagreeing with what he's saying.  [About a Page].


**Here's an article about genetically-modified salmon.  Would you buy it?  Would you feed it to your family?  "Frankenfish!"



**Tonight's discussion/presentation:

• Visuals.
• John Stuart Mill, "Nature," pp 123ff.
• Albert Schweitzer, "Reverence for Life," pp 131ff.
• A very short feature.
• Aldo Leopold, "Ecocentrism:  The Land Ethic," pp 163ff
• A short bio, "Green Fire."
• J. Baird Callicott, "The Conceptual Foundations of the Land Ethic," pp 173ff
• Arne Naess, "The Shallow and the Deep," pp 215ff
• Arne Naess, "Ecosophy T," pp 219ff.
• A video testimony from Arne Naess.

**For 9/27:  A survey of the world's nature-values--Chapter 5.

• Read:
• O.P. Dwivedi,  "Satyagraha for Conservation," pp 310ff
• Lily de Silva, "The Buddhist Attitude Towards Nature," pp 319ff
• M. Y. Izzi Deen, "Islamic Environmental Ethics," pp 323ff
• S. Ogungbemi, "An African Perspective," pp 330ff.
• Write:  Which of our writers do you find expresses a position closest to your own?  Summarize that position and state what there is about it that you agree with.

Class #3, 9/13/10

**Roster, etc.

**Handout and discussion:  The Project.

**Due tonight:  A page on your evaluation of Jamieson's "Against Zoos".

**A question for discussion:  What is the most important factor in the way that humans have adapted to and learned to manipulate their environment?  Is it genetic (innate factors) or is it cultural (a learned/shared response)?
----->See here for one view.

**Discussion of Chapter 2, "Animal Rights:"
----->----->Immanuel Kant, Rational Beings Alone Have Moral Worth, pp 62ff.
----->----->Peter Singer, A Utilitarian Defense of Animal Liberation, pp 73ff.
----->Read Dale Jamieson's "Against Zoos," pp 97ff.  

**For 9/20:

----->From Chapter 3, "Philosophical positions on Nature"
----->----->John Stuart Mill, "Nature," pp 123ff.
----->----->Albert Schweitzer, "Reverence for Life," pp 131ff.
----->----->Aldo Leopold, "Ecocentrism:  The Land Ethic," pp 163ff
----->----->J. Baird Callicott, "The Conceptual Foundations of the Land Ethic," pp 173ff
----->----->Arne Naess, "The Shallow and the Deep," pp 215ff
----->----->Arne Naess, "Ecosophy T," pp 219ff.


----->Writing:  Briefly summarize Arne Naess' position (hint:  he's radical).  Then, what is your case for agreeing or disagreeing with what he's saying.  [About a Page].

A new couple on the dance floor: Hermine and Gaston

And remember, we don't meet until the 13th.  See previous entry for the assignment.

Meanwhile, it will be wet in Houston for a couple of days, with Gulf-grown TS Hermine now scheduled to pass just west of here.  She's predicted to drag some serious showers along with her.  Here's the Sunday morning update.  And old Gaston continues to shuffle on to the Caribbean, due westward.  This track has nothing good on it for us.

Class #2, 8/30/10

**Roster, etc.
----->Note:  No class next week, 9/6.  It's Labor Day.

**Due:  Assignment on definitions:  environment, ecology, nature.

**Discussion over definitions--
----->environment
----->ecology
----->nature

**Discussion over Exhibit A--influential examples of Western nature poetry:
----->The Bible:  Genesis 1--the first creation story;
----->----->other key passages:  Psalms 8 & 29, Romans 10 (handout);
----->----->three poems from G.M. Hopkins (handout);
----->----->by contrast:  Millay, Shelley (handout).

**Exhibit B:  Nature in the roots of Western philosophy:
----->"Nature" in Platonist and Stoic thought (handout).

**The debate--Is civilization or religion to blame for the destruction of the natural environment?
----->Lynn White;
----->Patrick Dobel.

**For 9/13: 
----->Begin reading Chapter 2, "Animal Rights:"
----->----->Immanuel Kant, Rational Beings Alone Have Moral Worth, pp 62ff.
----->----->Peter Singer, A Utilitarian Defense of Animal Liberation, pp 73ff.
----->Read Dale Jamieson's "Against Zoos," pp 97ff. 
----->----->Write a page:  Do you agree with Jamieson's argument?  What is your experience with zoos?  Should they be closed?

Welcome! Class #1, 8/23/10

Agenda for tonight:

1. Welcome/General Orientation/Roster Check.
2. Textbook and materials.
3. Course overview, syllabus and calendar.
4. Finding Things.
5. Philosophy, Philosophical Method, and Applied Fields of Philosophy.
6. Environmental Ethics.
7. Handouts and assignment for 8/30.
8. Complete info sheet and survey.

Resources:

• The text for this class is an anthology. Here are the specs:
  Environmental Ethics: Readings in Theory and Application
  Louis P. Pojman and Paul Pojman
  Wadsworth Publishing, 5th Edition, 2007
  ISBN-13: 978-0495095033
• Syllabus/Course Description. 
• Course Calendar.

Next Class:  8/30/10.

• Do:  Reflection #1--Basic Definitions.
• Read:  
• Introduction, pp. 1-3.
• What is Ethics, pp. 4-7; be prepared to discuss the questions.
• Reading #1, from Genesis.
• Reading #2, Lynn White, "The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis;" please decide whether you agree or disagree with Prof. White.  On what grounds?
• Reading #3, Patrick Dobel, "The Judaeo-Christian Stewardship Attitude to Nature."