geog257
Geography 257 Rod C. McKenzie
Environment and Ethics SOS B-15F, 213-740-7770 (ENST) or -0057 (RCM’s office)
Fall, 2012 rodmcken@usc.edu, rodc.mckenzie@gmail.com Fax 213-740-8566; 626-345-1425 Office Hours: MW 12:15 -12:45 (SOS B-15), 2:30-3:30 (Café 84) and by appt.
TA: Nicholas Dahmann (dahmann@usc.edu)
Quite often, environmental issues are discussed in terms of economic, political and/or social implications. Ethical issues, fundamental to the topic, are usually ignored. Failure to consider these issues is often understandable when the nature of pragmatic politics and economics is understood. Ethical positions are most often phrased as questions asking how we, as humans, relate to other humans individually, to other humans as groups, to other humans still to be born, to other forms of life and/or to entire sets ranging from ecosystems to the entire planet. Questions as to humans’ relations with nature are often raised as well as the relationship between technology and progress – for example, are gains from technological innovations mainly accrued by the wealthy and often at the expense of poor or dispossessed peoples? To what extent do technological innovations generate serious social and ecological problems? Is progress in meeting human needs always at the expense of nature? Is the biotechnology revolution in agriculture in the best interest of both humanity and nature? Questions such as these will be dealt with as our course proceeds during the semester.
The course is organized around four themes: 1) population, 2) pollution, 3) resources and 4) wildlife and ecosystems. Within each thematic block we will consider our individual and collective rights and responsibilities to others ranging from individuals to groups, nations and other impacted interests. Population usually leads the thematic approach in that we must inquire as to the interrelationship between population growth and environmental
Environment and Ethics SOS B-15F, 213-740-7770 (ENST) or -0057 (RCM’s office)
Fall, 2012 rodmcken@usc.edu, rodc.mckenzie@gmail.com Fax 213-740-8566; 626-345-1425 Office Hours: MW 12:15 -12:45 (SOS B-15), 2:30-3:30 (Café 84) and by appt.
TA: Nicholas Dahmann (dahmann@usc.edu)
Quite often, environmental issues are discussed in terms of economic, political and/or social implications. Ethical issues, fundamental to the topic, are usually ignored. Failure to consider these issues is often understandable when the nature of pragmatic politics and economics is understood. Ethical positions are most often phrased as questions asking how we, as humans, relate to other humans individually, to other humans as groups, to other humans still to be born, to other forms of life and/or to entire sets ranging from ecosystems to the entire planet. Questions as to humans’ relations with nature are often raised as well as the relationship between technology and progress – for example, are gains from technological innovations mainly accrued by the wealthy and often at the expense of poor or dispossessed peoples? To what extent do technological innovations generate serious social and ecological problems? Is progress in meeting human needs always at the expense of nature? Is the biotechnology revolution in agriculture in the best interest of both humanity and nature? Questions such as these will be dealt with as our course proceeds during the semester.
The course is organized around four themes: 1) population, 2) pollution, 3) resources and 4) wildlife and ecosystems. Within each thematic block we will consider our individual and collective rights and responsibilities to others ranging from individuals to groups, nations and other impacted interests. Population usually leads the thematic approach in that we must inquire as to the interrelationship between population growth and environmental