| Triple Focus of GEOL 171: Energy, Earth, & Economics Modern complex societies and existing ecosystems are facing unprecedented challenges to their survival. The world as you know it is the product of a steady supply of cheap, readily available coal, natural gas, and oil that have provided fuels, plastics and other petrochemicals, and electricity. Yet Earth is a finite planet, and the skyrocketing population and rates of energy consumption have hastened the inevitable arrival of peak production rates of key natural resources (e.g., oil peaked in summer 2008). Modern societies spend increasingly larger percentages of their GDP on fuel and electricity, yet have no plans for sustainable use of such resources, and development and scaling up of other sources (biomass, tar sands, coal-to-liquid, wind, solar) are many years away. Meanwhile, exponential growth of the world's human population has directly caused dramatic changes in the land surface, oceans, and atmosphere of Earth, chiefly (but not only) because of the release of carbon dioxide by the burning of fossil fuels. Current levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane are far greater than at any time in the previous 650,000 years; the collapse of the food web in the oceans is inescapable; changing precipitation patterns threaten millions of people with drought, flooding, and famine. The coup de grace was the sudden but not surprising implosion of the global debt-based "growth economy" in 2008. Greed and stupidity both have starring roles in this ongoing drama, which we will examine in the course. The key to long-term human concerns is that the economic meltdown poses a tremendous obstacle to the transformation of the basis of the global economy from fossil fuels to renewable energy resources. |
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| Prerequisite: Upper-division standing at SJSU. Please contact me if you wish to audit (depends on enrollment and room size). GE credit: None, by design. Only enroll in this course if the topic matters to you—which should be the case, because the ongoing and forthcoming changes are likely to profoundly affect nearly aspect of your life, and the lives of all humans in the future. |
Expectations: A lot of reading, much of it of online sources; willingness to contribute usefully to classroom discussions; some short papers; a long paper; a final exam. Participation will be key to your grade in the course; you will not be able to "get by" by checking Blackboard or downloading my presentations. Thus, do not enroll if you cannot or will not attend class. |
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Some Topics We'll Examine Historical and current uses of natural resources, particularly petroleum The history, development, and future of the modern global growth economy Relationships between petroleum and economic growth in the 20th century Potential “replacements” for petroleum-based fuels Solar, wind, and other "clean" sources of electricity Climatic impacts of possible paths to the future, particularly involving energy resources Possible futures ranging from zero-growth sustainability to traumatic plunges in economic and social stability I intend to keep the schedule flexible so that we can discuss current events as they happen. |
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| Check here for formal announcement of adopted texts, if any. Meanwhile, the four sites below are highly recommended, and you can check out more links here. |
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| RealClimate: Climatology blog, run by 10 professional climatologists, aimed at the interested public. The Oil Drum: Web site devoted to Peak Oil and other energy issues. Professionally run and written; quantitative analyses presented in comprehensible language. I read this almost every day. Chris Martenson's pages, with The Crash Course: Outstanding series of slide shows w/audio that clearly outline the imposing economic and energy crises facing the U.S. I give it the highest possible recommendation. Dr. Michael Mills' site: Two parts: (1) multimedia exploration of Peak Oil and our chances of avoiding ecological overshoot (lengthy, but very accessible); (2) the most complete resource list I've seen of resources related to Peak Oil, including URLs, papers/books, DVDs, and more (really, really useful). |
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| Whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth—to know the worst and to provide for it. (Patrick Henry, 1775) | ||||||||||
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