Readings for 2008-2009 Workshop--Day 2

Day 2: Sustainability and the Environment. As you have seen from yesterday’s reading (Introduction to Sustainability), the environment, society and economics are intertwined. In the second, third, and fourth readings we will focus on each of these areas. Today’s readings primarily focus on the Environment. Human consumption of natural (particularly nonrenewable) resources and the concomitant production of waste (pollution) is a central issue of sustainability and how it relates to the environment. a) overview of environmental issues: Please read Chapter 1. Entering a New World (pdf), from Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (W.W. Norton & Company). http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB3/Contents.htm b) ecological footprint: To get an idea of how your lifestyle affects the environment, please calculate your ecological footprint at http://www.myfootprint.org/
OPTIONAL RESOURCES --Lester Brown’s 2008 entire book is available at: http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB3/Contents.htm (entire book) Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (W.W. Norton & Company).
--Local environmental scorecard: This is a link to a website that provides an environmental scorecard for local areas by entering your zipcode; it’s useful for finding specific facts and figures about Scranton or wherever you live: http://www.scorecard.org/community/index.tcl?zip_code=18510&set_community_zipcode_cookie_p=t&x=45&y=7