Summer 2018: Sustainability Leadership

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Sustainability Leadership

Course: BIOL/OEAS/IDS 467, BIOL/OEAS 567 (three credits)
CRNs: 35510, 35861, 35874, 35855, 35856
Course title: Sustainability Leadership
Instructors: Dr. Hans-Peter Plag, Dr. Tatyana Lobova, Dr. Eddie Hill
Term: Summer 2018 (season 1)
Time: Mondays and Wednesday, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Location: BAL 2068 -- SRC 1009

NOTE: Make sure that your document includes your name and the title of the question set. In your answers, provide detailed citations of all sources you used to write the answer. Preferably, base your answer on peer-reviewed literature. At the end of the document, provide a list of the references. Insufficient citation or missing list of references will result in subtraction of up to 20 points.

Question Set 5

Answer five of the seven questions.

  1. What are the main conclusions of Machlis and Jarvis (2018)?
  2. How does conservation factor into sustainability and how does it relate to technological progress replacing functions in the Earth's life-support system?
  3. How important is it for you that humanity aims for sustainability and what would you be willing to sacrifice for that?
  4. Rusbridger (2015) raises the following questions: “Even when the overwhelming majority of scientists wave a big red flag in the air, they tend to be ignored. Is this new warning too similar to the last? Is it all too frightening to contemplate? Is a collective shrug of fatalism the only rational response?” How do Rusbridger's questions relate to cognitive biases and their impacts on risk perception? Discuss your point of view with an example.
  5. To what extent have the warnings to humanity issued by scientists in 1992 (Union of Concerned Scientists, 1992) and 2017 (Ripple et al. (2017)) evolved in terms of urgency and support by scientists?
  6. What are the main conclusions of Ferry (2017) and Bernstein (2017)? Do you agree?
  7. Discuss the role of ethical and economic models for sustainability.

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Please, submit the answers by e-mail to the two instructors. Note that your answers to the questions should be concise and in a scientific writing style. Please, include your name at the top and the questions before each answer. The answers have to cite the sources consulted in writing the answer and a list of references. Citations and Reference have to follow the documentation style defined by the Council of Scientific Editors, known as the CSE style. See SSF-Guide or the WISC page for more information on the CSE style. Examples of correct references can be found here.