Syllabus

SYSTEMS: System descriptions of resource systems with emphasis on the issues of scale and type. The basics of a thermodynamic description of a system. The first and second law, lifecycle costing, full cost, supply versus demand side management.

ENERGY: Resources, consumption patterns, technologies, supply and demand side management.

WATER: Resources, consumption patterns, technologies, supply and demand side management.

SOLID WASTE : Waste sources, production patterns, technologies, supply and demand side management.

HOUSEHOLDS' IMPACTS: An intergrated description of a household's resource use.

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT: Our footprint on the planet.

DYNAMICS OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS: The notion of hierarchy attractors, flips, uncertainty, and self-organization.

WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY?: A review of the concept of sustainability.

ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY: A review of the concept of ecological integrity, the ecological normative principle for sustainability.

SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS: The social-economic normative principle for sustainability.

AN ECOSYSTEM APPROACH: Thinking about humans on the planet as part of a lager ecosystem. Intergrating ecological realities with societal needs.

INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY: Using an ecosytem approach to make industry and institutions sustainable.

REVIEW AND INTEGRATION.

The course reader and text are available in the university bookstore. Course readings for specific weeks will be announced on the course WWW site. The course text is The Nature of Economies by Jane Jacobs.

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Last updated: 8 September, 2000 jjk