GEOG Day 26

Housekeeping Items Does anyone have time to help staff the Geography table tomorrow, especially between 1:00 and 2:30? It will be next to the 100 Mile Diet table up against Building 200 on the south side. Today, I would like to review what you liked and didn't like about the course – in terms of readings, lectures, guest speakers, videos, assignments, etc. - - and review for the final exam, which will be on Tuesday, April 14 in the Gym at 9 a.m. The format will mainly be short answer and essay, but there might be the odd T/F and multiple choice question.

Issues and Concepts for the Final seeing the economic, social, and ecological as interdependent; the issue of controlling carbon and how “people pollute because it is the cheapest way they have of solving a certain practical problem: how to dispose of the waste products remaining after production and consumption of a good.” effective incentives/ disincentives; “lack of ownership rights to environmental resources means that there are few incentives to take the environmental consequences of our actions into account.” externalities;

Issues and Concepts for the Final 'pollution havens' 'market failure' “the invisible hand” comparative advantage & what has changed since Ricardo advocated free trade economic efficiency vs. optimal scale embeddedness of economy in society & nature 1 st and 2 nd laws of thermodynamics & their relevance to economics steady-state economy “Spaceship Earth” weakness of the '3-legged stool' model the theory of infinite substitution

Issues and Concepts for the Final defensive expenditures “capitalism, as we know it today, would... appear to be incompatible with anything vaguely resembling sustainability.” the national and global polarization of wealth reform globalization or revert to localism? “we can't reform capitalism without adopting some of its insights.” “there is no inherent, fixed or non-negotiable aspect of capitalism in general... that renders it for all purposes incompatible with the pursuit of a sustainable society.”

Issues and Concepts for the Final “Capital is a stock of anything that has the ability to generate a flow of benefits which are valued by humans.” the 'five capitals' framework and the nature and definition of each one in term natural capital as the precondition for the others 3 categories of natural capital  resources- renewable and non-renewable;  sinks- absorbing, neutralizing and recycling wastes, and  services- such as climate regulation nature vs. technology as the limiting factor in production why the institutional and societal denial?

Issues and Concepts for the Final how to get people in the developed world to make the necessary sacrifices? where are the Roosevelts and Churchills of the ecological crisis? redefining 'national security' does the commitment to economic growth have to go, and is that feasible? the “death of environmentalism” critiques of, and alternative to, the GDP (Day 14)‏ Jared Diamond's theories for why societies make disastrous decisions (Day 17)‏ can selfishness save the environment? are humans primarily selfish or altruistic and how much of this culturally conditioned? what about people's concern for their children?

Issues and Concepts for the Final is 'tragedy of the commons' an accurate analysis? would privatization of all ecological resources solve the problems? civil society and its role and achieving a sustainable society what is the best way of motivating the desired behaviour of individuals and corporations? will the necessary shift in cultural values take place? “...sufficiency in consumption permits a greater emphasis to be placed on other aspects of human experience, which are actually more rewarding and fulfilling than consumption. Far from entailing self-denial, sufficiency... is a means of liberation. An all-absorbing concern with consumption is replaced by the pursuit of other values that yield more happiness.” Will this sell?

Issues and Concepts for the Final dematerialization and resocialization 'consumer sovereignty'/ choice vs. corporate manipulation how much choice is compatible with sustainability? the 'communitarian' economy formal and informal sectors of the economy differentiated on the basis of rationale and scale some of the sub-sectors making up the informal sector the importance of co-ops in some parts of the world new types and models of corporations and the kinds of accounting systems and frameworks they are using 'greenwash' and 'ethical investment' what kinds of reforms will be needed in the financial system? the “genuine wealth model” and the history of some of the alternative currents in economics