Panel discussion on Tuesday, Nov. 15.
2:00n - 4:00 p.m.
Ursa Major Suite in the Bronco Student Center
Panelists include Charles Kolstad, environmental economics professor at UC Santa Barbara; James Miller, assistant professor of geography at Cal State Fullerton; and Dean Freudenberger, a food policy expert who previously worked at Lutheran Theological seminary.
Presentation on February 16, 2012.
3:00-5:00 pm
Ursa Major Suite in the Bronco Student Center
Dr. Curt Stager is an ecologist, paleoclimatologist, and science journalist whose work appears in both scientific journals and publications such as National Geographic and on NPR. His book Deep Future: The Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth was listed in the Kirkus Review as one of the best non-fiction books of 2011, described as “a probing exploration of the impact of climate change over geological time.”
See more about Dr. Stager’s work and writings at http://www.curtstager.com/.
For more information about this event, please contact Victoria Bhavsar, First Year Experience committee (vbhavsar@csupomona.edu).
Stay tuned for more information
All first-year freshmen are invited to participate, even if you’re not in a “First Year Experience” class!
Based on Bill McKibben’s book Eaarth, the common read for First Year Experience classes.
In the first two chapters of the book Eaarth, author Bill McKibben presents evidence that leads him and many other people to conclude 1) that climate change is real, 2) that human activities do contribute to climate change, and 3) that the environmental and social impacts will be big and probably bad. The third chapter suggests that the first step of the solution is to create a different paradigm for human success, a paradigm based on stability and sustainability rather than growth.
The final chapter of the book suggests a way to adapt, to survive, and perhaps even to thrive in the new physical and social environment of our “Eaarth.” The suggestion is to create small local systems such as small farms, local food systems, regional or even single-building based energy generation, and so forth, to meet our needs in our communities, while maintaining fulfilling mental and emotional connections with the larger world through the internet.
From your perspective as a student in your major, do you believe that we CAN do as McKibben suggests in the final chapter? Why or why not? What evidence leads you to your conclusion? For example, do you believe that it’s possible from an engineering perspective? A political perspective? A historical perspective? A humanitarian perspective? A business perspective? If you believe that we CAN do it, what are the first steps to take? If you believe we CANNOT or perhaps SHOULD NOT do as McKibben suggests, what alternative do you suggest?
Use Times New Roman 12-point or Arial 11-point, double-space your essay, and use 1-inch margins. Essays should be about 1000 words long, plus references if applicable.
An adequate essay will be well written and will fully address the prompt questions above. An outstanding essay will be well written, fully address the questions above, AND make connections between the writer’s perspective and that of other perspectives (for example, a political science or humanities student will also address technical concerns, and an engineering student will also address political or social concerns).
