Sustainability Freshman Inquiry March 10, 2010 Jeff Fletcher

Logistics, Follow-up Follow-up –Further comments on midterm –A Few Comments on Capitalism and Collapse Dance this Thursday, March 11, 7- 10pm in the Ballroom –FRINQ Race and Social Justice fundraiser for Mercy Corps for relief efforts in Haiti. –There is an $8.00 cover charge. All proceeds will go to Mercy Corps Final Reflection Essay –Due Friday by 5pm –Box in UNST, on shelf to right, just inside door Mentor Session: End of term survey

Retrospective Things to be improved winter quarter –Class participation (instructor, students) –Develop speaking skills & active class participation –Time management—readings and assignments on time –Reading assignment handouts more carefully –Clearer expectations on assignments, more helpful feedback –More personal interest in student learning –More interactive, hands-on –Diversity awareness (race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity) –More sharing of different backgrounds –Better integration with mentor session –More activities taking advantage of the fact that you live on campus, mostly same floor

Learning Activities Carbon Footprint Report (with draft) Field Notes from a Catastrophe take-home essay exam Annotated Bibliography for your focal society (Collapse chapter) Final group presentation on Collapse Homework Essays –HW1 Sustainability Autobiography (draft of first paragraph, minimize “to be” verbs) –HW2 Bad/Good Apples (sharing in mentor session) –HW3 Changing Recycling Behavior –HW4 Assessing the Impact of a Paper (Criticisms of Collapse) –Extra Credit Other activities: –PSU Recycles project for Broadway and Ondine –Watching and discussing Frontline Heat and The Story of Stuff –Library visit –Guest lecture from Dr. Barbara Brower on the Himalayans –Other participation assignments including quizzes, reading questions, Tragedy of the Commons exercise, graphing and statistics on rain word data, Stabilization Wedge Game, etc..

Some Specific Learning Objectives Sustainability Issues –Natural Cycles—water, carbon, nitrogen, etc. –Atmospheric composition, Greenhouse Gas Theory –Political (but not Sci.) climate change controversy –Sources and sinks of CO2 and other gases –Difficulties of societal decisions, Equity and Fairness Issues, Exploitation of Power –Stabilization Wedges –Ecocide and criticisms of Collapse; Difficulties in understanding past societies –Psychology of happiness and consumerism (does stuff make us happy?) Basic skills –Writing/Reading Awareness of audience, consistent voice and tense, thesis statement and supporting evidence, use of citations and evaluating source reliability, Critical reading –Discussion skills Trying out ideas, helping others develop their ideas, honest but polite feedback, avoiding logical fallacies –Quantitative/Technology Understanding scientific evidence in terms of statistics; webpage design, start portfolios; basic modeling, algorithmic thinking, logic, programming? Understanding Systems Ideas (meta level) –Social Dilemmas (Tragedy of the Commons, Prisoner’s Dilemma), Simpson’s paradox –Carrying capacity, More on feedbacks –Chaos theory, unpredictability of complex systems (butterfly effect); Catastrophe theory, irreversibility –Free market, How we decide what is best (maximizing greatest good, Pareto optimal, max GDP, etc.) All of this in the context of improving on four main University Studies Learning Goals

Preview of Next Term Focus on: –Economics, Energy, Consumerism –Environmental Movement and Solutions –The Positive, Hopeful Activities of Citizens Habits of a Systems Thinker

Main Texts Oil on the Brain: Petroleum's Long, Strange Trip to Your Tank –by Lisa Margonelli (2008) Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World –by Paul Hawken (2008)

HAVE A GREAT BREAK!!