COM310—"The Century of Limits"
Spring, 2009
Dr. Patrick Logan
Department of Communications Studies, URI, Kingston RI 02881
Phone: 401-874-2970; Fax: 401-874-4722
Email: mayfly@uri.edu
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/com/Logan/teaching/html/COM310_sp_09/syllabus.htm

Grading | Reading List

COURSE GOALS

Our goal is to better understand the communications within scientific discourse communities and between those communities and the general public as we focus on contemporary problems of global climate change, peak oil, and anthropogenic consumption of global resources and exhaustion of global sinks. We will study how scientists reason about uncertainties in contemplating what we must do to avoid possible global catastrophe during the 21st Century—the Century of Limits—and how scientific reasoning and awareness is either effectively communicated or systematically distorted and misused as it is directed toward formation of critical planetary social movements.

PREREQUISITES

A passion for reading and writing, a quest for knowledge of where the world is heading, and a faith that we can make critical differences of a planetary scope.

TEXTS

Book orders were shared with The URI Book Store (Memorial Union) and The RI Book Company (Emporium)

Additional readings are either required or optional. All readings are listed here.

FORMAT & GRADING

We will have two weekly classes, one intended for lecture and one focused on discussion. We will focus on analysis and written reviews of books and assigned reading materials. This course is reading and writing intensive; there will be 4 short book reviews and a final paper. Grades are based on these plus degree and quality of participation (including but not limited to simple attendance). (See grading).

ATTENDANCE

Students should be prepared to think long, hard, and deeply in this course, and to reflect the seriousness of the subject matter with their attendance, diligent preparation, and activity in class. For greater clarity, see grading.

SCHEDULE (Spring, 2009)

Class: Tues. & Thurs., 12:30-1:45, 109 Tyler Hall
Office hours: see Dr. Logan's Teaching and Office Schedule.

COURSE OUTLINE

Note: Required readings and written assignments are included in this outline/schedule. For more concise views, see Readings and Grading/Assignments. The schedule of topics presented below, the due dates of assignments, and the schedule for readings (to be completed in anticipation of lecture and discussion sessions) are all flexible; any changes will be mutually agreed upon in class as the semester proceeds.

Week 1 (Jan. 22)

Introduction: Communicating Scientific Information Critical to the Future of Mankind and Earth.

Course mechanics: Course syllabus, readings, grading.

Core concepts of limits: Global carrying capacities, exponential growth of human numbers, overshoot.

Schumpeter's pre-analytic vision: How personal biases, desires, and entitlements shape our ability to communicate scientific information, particularly about the future.

Reading:

Book Review #1: Growth and Limits (due Feb. 5)

Term Paper: Communicating the Century of Limits (due Apr. 14)

Week 2 (Jan. 27, 29)

An Overview of Limits to Vital Resources and Sinks.

Ecology of the global biosphere: Open and closed natural systems.

Renewable and non-renewable resources: Critical industrial mineral and ores. The meaning of sustainability for renewable resources.

Who will feed China? Who will feed Rhode Island? Farms and fisheries as renewable but limited resources. What happens when the oil runs out?

Finite sinks: The nature of atmospheric pollution and climate change. Planetary energy balance.

The special case of water: Water as the grand transporter. Overview of the status of global fresh waters.

Reading:

Week 3 (Feb. 3, 5)

Why Can't All the Scientists Play Well Together?
Scientific Discourse Communities and the Question of Global Climate Change.

Is it getting warm in here? The Roles of Observation and Modelling in Climate Science.

Scientific Thinking: The scientific method and the meaning of reasoning, proving, and consensus. The skeptical nature of science.

Reading:

Book Review #2: Storm World (due Feb. 26)

Week 4 (February 10, 12)

Professor, speak to me.
Communicating from the Discourse Community to the Public.

The Special Problem of Communicating Science in the Public Policy Arena: If the Natural Sciences Are Aware of Global Limits, Why Don't the Human Regulatory Sciences Act?

When Science Clashes with Politics: The Case of James Hansen.

When Science Confronts the Economy: Is There a Corporatist War on Science?

Reading:

Review (Quiz): Storm World

Week 5 (February 17, 19)

Communicating Global Climate Crisis:
Is Failure to Communicate Behind American Failure to Lead Societal Change to Respond to Critical Global Limits?

Global crisis awareness and action: What are the messages? How and why are they being delivered? What is the outcome? How can scientists and their publicists (e.g., Mr. Gore) do better?

The scientists and the academic research industry: Are personal greed and academic timidity preventing scientists from delivering critial messages?

The government: Are these the same messages? How and why are government messages being delivered? What is the outcome? How can politicians do better?

The corporation: Are Supercapitalism or The Shock Doctrine Systematically Distorting Communications Between the Scientific Community and the Public?

Reading:

Week 6 (February 24, 26)

Communicating Peak Oil's Messages:
Is the Public Moribund or is a Social Change Movement on Peak Oil Beginning to Emerge?

Peak Oil: Is the Party Really Over? The Science Behind Estimating Reserves and Depletion Rates.

Alternative Energy Sources: Core Concepts of Energy Gain and the Viability of Alternatives to the Liquid Fossil Fuels: The Energy Cost of Harder-to-Extract Reserves and Alternatives

Reading:

Book Review #3: Heinberg. (due 3/12)

Week 7 (March 3, 5)

Communications to create public awareness of the feasibility and comparability of alternative energy sources and the human behavioral adjustments that may be coming?

Post-Peak Oil: Energy scenarios for the 21st Century.

Biofuels: Panacea or Lobbyist's Boondoggle? How does the public separate fact from fiction?

Public Acceptance of Public Transportation: Should the public accept that the party is over? Are we prepared park the car permanently, and to walk to the train?

Reading:

Week 8 (March 10, 12)

(March 10 is mid-semester.)

Through the Looking Glass: The Special Problem of Communications to Develop Public Awareness and Understanding of Scientific Predictions of the Future.

Computing tomorrow: Understanding models used in Limits to Growth.

Model building: Introduction to systems science and simulation. What is "the systems approach?"

Model validation: What makes a model "real?" The difference between scientific proof and scientific speculation. Who and what should we believe about the future?

Reading:

Week 9 (March 24, 26)

March 16-20 is Spring Break!

Living Within the Limits: Communications to Create Social Movements for Change Based on Scientific Assessment of Alternative Futures

Transitions—Changin the Easy or the Hard Way: Bending exponential curves into asymptotes—OR—Bouncing off the carrying capacity.

Environment and economy: How environmental limits from resources and sinks constrain the economy. How economic perceptions and conduct much change.

Reading:

Book Review #4: Lovelock (due 4/16)

Week 10 (March 31, April 2)

The Scientist as Cassandra: What Should the Science Community Do in the Face of Public Apathy or Systematic Distortion of Critical Information About the Future?

Mourning the future: Can scientists accelerate stages of change that begin with public mourning (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) for the loss of mythical futures (the end of the party)?

Sifting through visions: Who says what, why are they saying it, what should we believe?

Reading:

Week 11 (April 7, 9)

Public Response to the Scientist as a Delphic Oracle: Societal Behavior in the Face of Scientific Reasoning About the Future.

Doing nothing: If we become aware that we can't party on, will we try to anyway?

The prime directive: How can wealthy nations cease discounting people who are distant in space and time?

Last man standing or dawn of a new age: Should America continute to pursue policies of global domination or assume a greater role in leadership for broad change?

James Lovelock: The special awareness and perspective of the author of the Gaian hypothesis, a systems thinking metaphor. Lovelock's challenges to public thinking on nuclear power, organic agriculture, the green movement, and other bits of conventional wisdom.

Readings:

Week 12 (April 14, 16)

The Rhetorical University in the Century of Limits: Getting Higher Education Engaged as a Critical Agent of Societal Change

Engaging: Going beyond "I can't do anything; we must do something."

The New Socialism: Moving from H. sapiens individualis to H. sapiens socialis—the prospects for rapid global change in human outlook

Evolution of the Land Grant Philosophy: Returning to the role of education, and in particular higher education, in preparing us for our future.

Pace: Thoughts on the politics of achieving enduring cultural change

Week 13 (April 21, 23)

Mitigating the Long Emergency or Preparing to Survive Collapse?

What if it Goes Wrong?: Reflections on Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse, James Kunstler's The Long Emergency, Joseph Tainter's The Collapse of Complex Societies, and Kevin Rosario's The Culture of Calamity.

What Can Each One of Us Do?: Weighing practical alternatives between working for social change and working for self preservation in the years ahead. Are there middle roads, local foci, or other sources of optimism?

Week 14 (April 28)

(Wednesday, April 29, is the last day of classes.)

Student Critique of the Course. Comments and suggestions for future course improvements.