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STSS 4963 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Meeting Times: M, R 12-2 Place: Sage 2707
 * Sciences of Sustainability: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives**

Prof. Michael Fortun Sage 5112 X6598 Office Hours: M, R 2-3; or by appointment. fortum@rpi.edu

__Course Objectives__
How did various environmental sciences -- primarily the ecological sciences, but also natural history, climatology, biogeochemistry, agronomy, and similar sciences – emerge, and develop into what today we call "sciences of sustainability"? How and why did their organizing concepts change, from a "chain" to a "balance" of nature, to "ecosystems," to "resilient" "complex adaptive systems"? How did scientists change their object of study from "the environment," to "coupled human-natural systems"? Why do some scientists understand the earth not only as an integrated ecosystem, but as a kind of superorganism? How have we built the technological infrastructures, and the national and international institutions that support them, aimed at understanding the earth, and its limits, and its peoples, as a whole? When did "science" become "postnormal science," and what are the new challenges and promises it holds? This course explores these questions, examining in detail the Gaia hypothesis, the growth of the ecological sciences in the United States in the 20th century, the emergence of environmental science institutions, and related topics. Students will develop an original independent research project describing the history or contemporary state of a particular science of sustainability (e.g. ecological economics, natural history), a particular human-natural system (e.g. a watershed, a city, coral reefs), a particular concept (e.g. "biodiversity," "resilience," "Gaia," ), a particular thinker/actor of sustainable science (e.g. James Lovelock), or similar subject.

__Learning Outcomes__
By the end of the course students will have:
 * become literate in the historical development of environmental sciences in the 20th century
 * become familiar with some of the key scientists who have grown and continue to grow sciences of sustainability?
 * learned the key concepts which have guided environmental science and practice, past and present
 * understood the essential interdisciplinarity and pluralism of environmental sciences
 * a deep appreciation for the necessary entanglements of science, social institutions, economics, culture, and politics in environmental matters of concern
 * the ability to conceptualize, design, and carry out independent interdisciplinary research aimed at understanding an historical or contemporary sustainability science or sustainability issue.

__Outcomes Assessment__
Your grade for the course will be based on the following percentages:

Overall participation 10% One leading of class discussion 10% 10 film or article annotations 20% Independent research project (milestones, 30 pp. paper/wiki page, and oral presentation) 40% Final take-home exam 20%

ASSIGNMENT AND GRADING DETAILS, AND OTHER COURSE POLICIES

 * 10% Active Participation ** Attendance is required, but attendance alone does not guarantee a high participation grade. The participation grade is based on the quality of participation in class discussions. You may have two excused absences (for illness, emergencies and approved Rensselaer activities); documentation for excused absences should be obtained from the Student Experience Office, 4th floor Academy Hall, x8022, se@rpi.edu. An unexcused absence can be made up through submission of an extra film or article annotation (see details below). If no annotation is provided, each unexcused absence will result in a 2% reduction from your final grade.

Computers should be brought to class but should not be used without explicit permission. Other forms of electronic communication are not allowed. Any departure from this policy is equivalent to an unexcused absence.


 * 10% One leading of class discussion ** This 400-level course will be run like a research seminar: lecturing will be kept to a minimum, in favor of student-generated critical analysis of course materials and discussion. Once during the semester, each student will be charged with initiating and leading class discussion about a particular reading. Your can use the article annotation structure (see next section) to present the main ideas of the article, some key quotes, and some key questions it raised for you that you think the class should discuss. You can put your presentation notes in your portfolio page, which will allow you to also link web pages, short videos, or other material you want to incorporate and bring up for discussion. Presentations will be graded by your peers, including me as //primum inter pares//.


 * 20% 10 article or film annotations ** Active reading or viewing -- taking notes, assembling notes into thoughtful summaries and questions -- is essential to learning in any advanced course. The article annotations in particular will provide a basis for more meaningful participation in class discussions, for your own presentation of an article for discussion, for possible use in your final research project, and for the final take-home exam.

__Printed copies of article annotations are due in class the day the reading is assigned; printed copies of film annotations are due the next class session after the film is shown. Once a due date has passed, so has your opportunity for submitting the annotation for credit. These assignments should also be posted in your wiki portfolio. You are responsible for maintaining electronic backup copies of your work.__

Printed copies should have this type of heading:

YOUR NAME, Annotation #, date Title of article or film

Credit received will depend on coverage of questions, use of concrete examples, and high quality writing. Annotations can be in essay form, or can answer each question separately, but must be in complete sentences and paragraphs. You are not restricted to these questions, but your annotation needs to somehow cover or address the summary goals and ideals they represent. It should be clear that you have moved beyond notes to a sophisticated analysis.

1. Title, author/director, citation?

2. What is the main topic or argument of the text, or the central argument or narrative of the film?

3. How is the argument or narrative made and sustained?

4. Discuss 2-4 quotes or scenes that capture the critical import of the text or film.

5. What parts of the article or film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Least?

6. What concepts, passages, arguments, or scenes didn't you understand?

7. What questions does the article or film raise for you, or what additional information would you like to know?


 * 40% Independent research project and presentation.** You will be undertaking independent research into a particular science of sustainability; a sustainability issue requiring new scientific work, concepts, metaphors, or technologies; a particular scientist or scientific institution that has been central to the development of a sustainability science; or a similar topic that you can negotiate with me. Proposals for group projects are welcome. We will discuss more detailed expectations and processes for the project as the semester goes on, but the guiding structure is:
 * 1) identify early on a topic of interest to you, pertaining to the themes of the course (by end of week 3);
 * 2) develop and refine the topic through initial literature search and review, and discussion with class members and me (by week 5);
 * 3) deepen your research into the multiple dimensions (scientific, historical, social, political, economic, cultural) of the topic (weeks 6-11);
 * 4) present your research in the form of a paper (~30 pp double-spaced) or a wiki page in your portfolio, and in a 10-minute oral presentation to the class in the last two weeks of the semester.

Items 2 and 3 represent milestones including written work that must be submitted on time, as indicated in the syllabus below. Failure to meet a milestone will result in a 5 percentage point reduction in your final grade.

Another option is to work through a series of exercises compiled by the Resilience Alliance, which you can download here to preview:. Working through the questions and materials presented here is one way, but certainly not the only way, to shape and carry out your research project and presentation.

Although your choice of topics is almost completely open, there are a few criteria that your project must adhere to: 1. It has to center on a question of //**science**// (see course title), i.e. your project concerns a matter of scientific knowledge: how some aspect of some sustainability science developed, why it is shaped the way it is, what gaps or limits it might have, how people and institutions are trying to fill that gap or push that limit, etc. 2. Your final paper/presentation **//must//** address the policy, social, historical, conceptual, or (broadly) human dimensions of this science question, conveying what the relevant social science or humanities literature has to say about them.

As the course progresses, the amount of assigned reading will decrease somewhat to allow more time for your own research. We will also devote more class time to collective discussion of research strategies, thinking through questions and problems, and similar matters pertaining to the projects and their presentation.


 * 20% Cumulative Take-Home Exam ** Your final exam for this course will ask you to integrate and reflect on what you have learned about the sciences of sustainability, past and present. I am likely to ask you to discuss particular individuals, concepts, and institutions that have been important to the development of sustainability sciences, or to briefly recount particular cases or events from the historical or contemporary period. The general format will consists of a set of about 15-20 questions, for which you will prepare relatively brief responses to a subset of 10-15 of those. Deeply engaging the class readings, films, discussions and presentations, and doing solid annotations, and taking the time to review these as the exam approaches should be more than sufficient preparation. The exam will be due on the last day of class, Monday May 7.

__**Academic Dishonesty Policy**__
You should read the Rensselaer Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities so that you understand all the acts that constitute a violation of the Institute’s academic dishonesty policy. Plagiarism is the most frequent violation, sometimes because students are unfamiliar with what constitutes plagiarism. Brief but thorough descriptions of plagiarism can be found at [|http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml] or [].(See this recent New York Times article -- [] -- for a view of the current culture of plagiarism.)

Academic honesty of the highest order is expected. It is not acceptable to submit work done for another class in this class, although it is acceptable to build on previous work. Talk to me if you have ANY questions about this. It is not acceptable, of course, to submit work done by someone else as your own.

Citations must be included for both indirect and direct quotation, providing clear documentation of sources. Special care must be taken to properly cite digital resources.

If I am able to confirm plagiarism or another form of academic dishonesty on any assignment in this course, you are likely to fail the entire course, at minimum.

__Texts__
There are no required texts to purchase for this class. You will, however, be doing extensive reading for your research project in addition to the common readings for the class, all of which are on-line.

**Week 1**

 * Jan 26 Introductions **

**Jan 29 Initial explorations** READ: Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi, "Introduction" to //The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision// (Cambridge University Press, 2014)

For Thursday, spend an hour or two looking through some of the links on the links page. Write something for your new portfolio page that talks about what web pages you read (and what pages you added to the links page, if any), what you thought about them, AND name and outline UP TO 3 possible topics that you might consider building your research project around. These might be new ideas based on your reading, or ideas you already had.

Take some time as well to write a few notes in response to the Capra and Luisi reading. What do you think are the most important arguments? What do you agree or disagree with? What questions did it raise for you? What was familiar, and what was new?

=__Segment I: A Selective Rapid-Fire Grand Tour of Concepts, Approaches, Events, Institutions, Debates, Pleas, and Scenarios__=

Week 2
READ: Reed F. Noss, "Values Are a Good Thing in Conservation Biology," Conservation Biology 21(1):18-20 National Science Foundation Advisory Committee For Environmental Research and Education, Transitions and Tipping Points in Complex Environmental Systems, 2009. Willis Jenkins and Christopher Key Chapple, "Religion and Environment," Annual Review of Environment and Resources 36 (2011):441–63.
 * Feb 2 **

READ: John N. Parker and Edward J. Hackett (2012), "Hot Spots and Hot Moments in Scientific Collaborations," American Sociological Review 77(1):21-44.
 * Feb 5 **
 * Field trip to the Radix Center **

William E. Rees, "Thinking 'Resilience'," from //The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainability Crises//, Richard Heinberg and Daniel Lerch, eds. (Healdsburg, CA: Watershed Media, 2010).

Week 3
READ: Ziauddin Sardar, "Welcome to Postnormal Times," Futures (2009) Sylvia Tognetti (2013), "Revisiting Postnormal Science in Postnormal Times and Identifying Cranks" (This PDF begins as a blog post here.)
 * Feb 9 **Postnormal Science

John Turnpenny, Mavis Jones, and Irene Lorenzoni, "Where Now for Postnormal Science?: A Critical Review of Its Development, Definition, and Uses," Science, Technology, and Human Values 36(3) (2011):287-306.

READ: Will Steffen et al., "The Trajectory of the Anthropocene: The Great Acceleration," The Anthropocene Review (2015) Nassim Nicholas Taleb et al., "The Precautionary Principle (with Application to the Genetic Modification of Organisms)," NYU School of Engineering Working Paper Series, Extreme Rick Initiative =__Segment II: Concepts and Cases in the Sciences of Sustainability__=
 * Feb 12 **

Week 4 Climate Science

 * Feb 16 President's Day -- No class **

DUE IN CLASS (post on your portfolio page): Brief written statement of your research topic, motivating question(s), initial list of sources, preliminary plan of direction.) READ: Paul Edwards, Global Climate Science, Uncertainty, and Politics: Data-Laden Models, Model-Filtered Data," Science as Culture 8:4 (1999):437-472 http://search.ebscohost.com.libproxy.rpi.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=6673941&site=ehost-live
 * Feb 19 **

Paul Edwards, "History of Climate Modelling," []

Werner Krauss, Mike S. Schafer, and Hans von Storch, "Introduction: Postnormal Climate Science," Nature and Culture 7(2), Summer 2012: 121-132.

Week 5 In and Out of Balance
READ: Donald Worster, "The Value of a Varmint," Chapter 13 of Nature's Economy Donald Worster, "Producers and Consumers," Chapter 14 of Nature's Economy
 * Feb 23 **


 * Feb 26 **

READ: Donald Worster, "Declarations of Interdependence," Chapter 15 of Nature's Economy

Daniel Botkin, "Adjusting Laws to Natures Discordant Harmonies,"

Week 6
Project Milestone (post on your portfolio page by start of class): Results of initial literature search, with initial description of source where possible. You should have at least ten sources, at least 5 of which are from the peer-reviewed literature, including at least 2 sources from the humanities, social science, or policy literatures. READ: [|THE BIOSPHERE AND THE NOÖSPHERE] (pp. xxii, 1-12) W. I. VERNADSKYStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27826043
 * March 2 Planetary Intergalactic **

Bertrand Guillaume, "Vernadsky's Philosophical Legacy: A Perspective from the Anthropocene," The Anthropocene Review (2014) vol. 1(2):137-146.

READ: James E. Lovelock and Lynn Margulis, "Atmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere: the gaia hypothesis" (1974)
 * March 5 **

James Lovelock, "Reflections on Gaia" [[file:Lovelock reflections on gaia.pdf]]
Lynn Margulis, "Gaia by any other name"

Week 7 Gregory Bateson: Steps to an Ecology of Mind
READ: Selections from Gregory Bateson, //Steps to// a //n Ecology of Mind//
 * March 9 **


 * March 12 **

= =

Week 8 Resilience
READ:
 * March 16 **

READ: //Gigi Berardi, Rebekah Green, & Bryant Hammond,// Stability, "Sustainability, and Catastrophe: Applying Resilience Thinking to U.S. Agriculture," Human Ecology Review 18:2 (Winter 2011) [|Full Text PDF] http://www.humanecologyreview.org/pastissues/her182/berardi.pdf
 * March 19 **

= SPRING BREAK =

Week 9 Biodiversity

 * March 30 **
 * READ: **
 * Harold A. Mooney, [|The Ecosystem Service Chain and the Biological Diversity Crisis] **

Thompson, Ian D., Okabe, Kimiko, Tylianakis, Jason M., Kumar, Pushpam, Brockerhoff, Eckehard G., Schellhorn, Nancy A., Parrotta, John A., Nasi, Robert, "Forest Biodiversity and the Delivery of Ecosystem Goods and Services: Translating Science into Policy."  BioScience (Dec2011) Vol. 61, Issue 12 []

Key Messages, Cities and Biodiversity Outlook, Stockholm Resilience Center
 * April 2 **
 * READ:**

Cities and Biodiversity Outlook: Action and Policy (PDF), Stockholm Resilience Center

Week 10 Paradigms Lost and Found
T.F.H. Allen, A.J. Zellmer, and C.J. Wuennenberg, "The Loss of Narrative;" Garry D. Peterson, "Ecological Management: Control, Uncertainty, and Understanding;" and Kevin de Laplante, "Is Ecosystem Management a Postmodern Science," pp. 333-415 in //Ecological Paradigms Lost: Routes of Theory Change//, ed. Kim Cuddington and Beatrix Beissner (Elsevier, 2005)
 * April 6 **

READ:
 * April 9 **

Week 11
Project Milestone (posted on your portfolio page by beginning of class): Rough draft of your final project. READ: The Ecologically Noble Savage Debate
 * April 13 **
 * April 16 **

= Week 12 = **April 20** READ: David Orr, "Four Challenges of Sustainability"

April 23 Folke et al. "Reconnecting to the Biosphere" = Week 13 = April 27 Presentations: Synthetic Biology (Jeremy), Coral Gardens (Jake)

April 30 Presentations: Panarchy (Kelly), Another Anthropocene is Possible (Scott)

FINAL EXAM IS HERE:

= Week 14 = May 4 Presentations: Plastic Ocean (Spencer), Climate Studies (Victor)

May 7 Presentations: Wolves! (Jordan, Joelle), Greg

= Week 15 = May 11 Presentations

FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT DUE

May 14 Final

FINAL EXAM TO BE EMAILED TO ME BY 2 PM

Nathan Sayre, "The Politics of the Anthropogenic," Annual Reviews in Anthropology 2012. 41:57–70.

Leopold and Tansley, Ethics and Ecosystems
David Orr, "Framing Sustainability" []

Ecosystems, energies, and interdependencies
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">David Orr, "Four Challenges of Sustainability"[]

Peter Taylor**, "**Technocratic Optimism, H. T. Odum, and the PartialTransformation ofEcological Metaphor after World War II," Journal of the History of Biology 21:2 (1988): 213-244; http://www.springerlink.com/content/r544349634414413/

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Chunglin Kwa, " Representations of Nature Mediating between Ecology and Science Policy: The Case of the International Biological Programme" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Social Studies of Science, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Aug., 1987), pp. 413-442 Article Stable URL: []

READ:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;"> Steffen, Willi, et al., " <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff8d43; font-family: Minion,Garamond,serif; font-size: 1.5em;">The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship," AMBIO: A JOURNAL OF THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT Volume 40, Number 7, <span class="pagination" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 0.9em; vertical-align: baseline;">739-761 , DOI: 10.1007/s13280-011-0185-x

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Dorion Sagan, "What Narcissus Saw," in Slanted Truths: Essays on Gaia, Symbiosis and Evolution, by Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan (Springer-Verlag, 1997)