Readings in Environmental Thinking Autumn 2017, Fridays 15:10-17:00, CHN G42

Credit points: 3

Lecturers Prof. Dr. Jaboury Ghazoul (JG) Ecosystem Management, ETH Zurich

Prof. Dr. Gertrude Hirsch Hadorn (GHH) Environmental Philosophy, ETH Zurich

Prof. Dr. Anthony Patt (AP) Climate Policy, ETH Zurich

Short description The course objective is to critically introduce foundational texts that led to the emergence of the environment as a subject of scientific importance, and shaped its relevance to society.

The course provides many opportunities for informed discussion of influential environmental texts and ideas. We hope that, in addition to improved understanding of the history of the environmental movement, the course will also create enthusiasm among students to explore the broad subject of environmental sciences not just from a scientific perspective, but also from historical, cultural and ethical perspectives.

Learning goals The course will provide you with opportunities to read, discuss, evaluate and interpret key texts that have shaped the environmental movement and, more specifically, the environmental sciences. You will gain familiarity with the foundational texts, but also understand the historical context within which their academic and future professional work is based. More directly, the course will encourage debate and discussion of each studied text, from both the original context as well as the modern context. In so doing we hope that you will be encouraged to consider and justify the current societal relevance of your scientific work and studies.

Justification The rise of the environmental sciences, and the increasing importance of the environment in society and governance, has been dramatic and rapid. Issues in the environmental sciences are now so broad and important that they reach into all aspects of society, from food and land use, to water management, energy use, economics, culture and health. With such breadth it is easy to lose sight of the foundational ideas, texts, people and movements that pushed the environment up the social and political agenda. Yet many of foundational ideas still lie at the heart of the environmental discourse, and continue to shape environmental thinking. Faced with the recent proliferation of papers, books, webpages and other information outlets many of us find that we rarely have the time to read seminal early works. This would, however, be a mistake as these works have not only shaped the discipline within which we all work, but also retain many important elements that remain just as current now as they were when originally published.

Content The course will be run as a ‘book reading club’. The first session will provide a short introduction as to how to explore a particular text (that is not a scientific paper) to identify the key points for discussion.

In each week thereafter we will assign a text that has had significant impact on our interpretation of environmental issues. You will be expected to read the text, and make short notes concerning your thoughts about the text and the ideas it inspires. These notes are for your use only, and are intended to facilitate your contribution to the class discussion. We will not ask for these notes and nor will they be assessed in any way.

Two to four students (depending on class size) will be appointed to briefly present a text at each session. Students should expect to present the text for no more than 10 minutes to the rest of the class during the scheduled class session. Four slides should be used with the following structure:

Slide 1: Information about the author and the historical and cultural context in which the text was written

Slide 2: What the text is about and the impact it had at the time of publication

Slide 3: Personal perspective on the text: e.g., issues of particular personal interest and resonance.

Slide 4: Questions of interest as a basis for group discussion

Following the initial presentation we will have an open class discussion about the text, its ideas and its influence. Towards the end of the session the presenting students will summarise the emerging points and conclusions.

There will be one variation on this format: On one occasion we will not assign a text, but instead we will ask you to. In the week from 28 October – 3 November we will ask each of you to select one text of your own choosing. In the following class (3 November), you will each briefly present your chosen text to the class, and explain why you chose it. Text assignment for the following week will be determined by a vote. On 10 November the selected text will be presented to the class by one of the lecturers, and followed by the usual discussion.

Assessment Presentation of text (50%): as described above

Written report (50%): A short (3-4 pages) report on the key ideas emerging form the texts that have been discussed through the course, and how they have shaped your personal thinking with respect to environmental issues. To what extent do the ideas remain relevant to current environmental challenges, and how might they contribute to the development of solutions to such challenges. The reports must be sent to the lecturers by 10 January, 2018.

Environmental Readers: Course structure and timetable Classes on Fridays, 15.15-17.00, CHN G42

A selection of chapters has been drawn from the following texts. Other texts will be provided – please make sure you check the course website: http://www.ecology.ethz.ch/education/Readings

Week Date Session content Lead lecturer

1 22 September Introduction to the course; Critical analysis JG, GHH

2 29 September Rachel Carson: Silent Spring JG

3 6 October Dennis Meadows et al.: Limits to Growth & Jürgen Dahl Federgeistchen GHH

4 13 October Yuval Noah Harari: Sapiens AP

5 20 October Gardiner: A perfect moral storm GHH

6 27 October Aldo Leopold: Sand County Almanac JG

7 3 November Brief presentation of student-selected texts, voting, and text assignment All

8 10 November Discussion of selected student text All

9 17 November Nan Sheperd: The Living Mountain JG

10 24 November Robert Macfarlane: The Wild Places JG

11 1 December Garrett Hardin: The Tragedy of the Commons AP

12 8 December Ernst Schumacher: Small is Beautiful GHH

13 15 December Concluding discussions and synthesis JG, GHH, PK

14 22 December Free for writing reports JG: Jaboury Ghazoul GHH: Gertrude Hirsch Hadorn AP: Anthony Patt

Rachel Carson “The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery - not over nature but of ourselves.”

Rachel Louise Carson (1907–1964) was an American marine biologist and nature writer whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.

Carson was born on May 27, 1907, on the family farm in Pennsylvania. She spent much of her youth exploring her family's 26 ha farm. She began writing stories at an early age and her first story was published at age eleven. The natural world was the focus of her writing throughout her life.

She attended the Pennsylvania College for Women to study English, but transferred to biology in January 1928. After graduation Carson continued her studies in zoology and genetics at Johns Hopkins in the fall of 1929, and earned a Master's degree in zoology in June 1932. In 1935, her father died suddenly, leaving Carson to care for her aging mother

and in a critical financial situation. She secured a temporary position with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, writing weekly educational radio broadcasts that focused on aquatic life and was intended to generate public interest in fisheries. The success of this series led in 1936 to her full-time appointment as a junior aquatic biologist in the Bureau of Fisheries. Carson rose within the Fish and Wildlife Service, becoming chief editor of publications in 1949. During this time she continued her writing and following the success of her books she decided to write full-time which she was doing by 1950.

In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation and the environmental problems caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented portion of the American public. Silent Spring spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy—leading to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides—and the grassroots environmental movement the book inspired led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Following the publication of Silent Spring Carson received several notable awards and honors. She also received many speaking invitations but was unable to accept the great majority of them as her health was steadily declining with a diagnosis of cancer. She died on April 14, 1964.

Dennis L. Meadows and Donella H. Meadows

“What are today considered to be problems are actually symptoms. The real problem is physical growth in material and energy flows pressing against the limits of a finite planet”.

Dennis Meadows (born in 1942 in the United States) is an American scientist and Emeritus Professor of Systems Management at the University of New Hampshire. He is best known as the senior author of the highly influential Limits to Growth by Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William W. Behrens III.

Dennis Meadows received his Ph.D. in Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was based in the second half of the 1960s through to the early 1970s. From 1970 to 1972 he was director of the ‘Club of Rome Project on the Predicament of Mankind’, also based at MIT. This project constructed multiple world models, and it is these that formed the core of the Limits to Growth which was published in 1972 and led to the international prominence of the

Club of Rome. The Club of Rome continues as a global think tank that deals with a variety of international political issues.

Donella Meadows (1941- 2001) was a chemist who worked with Jay Forrester at MIT on systems dynamics and became a professor at Darmouth College. Together with Dennis Meadows, she has founded the Balanton Group, a global network of researchers and practitioners in fields related to systems analysis and sustainable development. For 16 years she wrote the weekly column “The Gobal Citizen” on world events that where published in many newspapers. For 26 years she led a farm.

The Limits to Growth has been superseded by a 30-year update, published in 2004 in which Meadows and coauthors explain: "Now we must tell people how to manage an orderly reduction of their activities back down below the limits of the earth's resources."

Jürgen Dahl

“Gesetzt den Fall, eine Stubenfliege vermöchte sich eine Meinung über ihre Umwelt zu bilden – und wer wollte seine Hand dafür ins Feuer legen, dass sie es wirklich nicht kann? – so würde die Stubenfliege das Fehlen faulenden Fleisches in der Stube als existentielle Zumutung empfinden und von ordentlichen ökologischen Verhältnissen erst wieder reden mögen, wenn sich die Katze unterm Sofa erbricht und damit eine Fülle von Nahrungsressourcen verfügbar macht. ”

Jürgen Dahl (1929-2001) is is known for his sceptical essays based on his extensive knowledge about gardening and the nature. Born on October 18, 1929 in Moers, Germany, he became a bookseller, who was very interested in language and later a passionate gardener and writer. He also acted as a co-editor of the journal Scheidewege (Crossroads). He got famous with his contributions in newspapers and the radio as well as with brilliant essays as a skeptical environmentalist. His essays regarding ecology have been published in nearly a dozen of volumes including: Der unbegreifliche Garten und seine Verwüstung: über Ökologie und über Ökologie hinaus (1984), Nachrichten aus dem Garten Praktisches, Nachdenkliches und Widersetzliches / aus einem Garten für alle Gärten (1987) or Bitteres Lachen im grünen Bereich. Essays und Glossen eines Skeptikers (2001). There is one book in English: The Curious Gardener.

He received the prestigious Deutscher Journalistenpreis in 1965, the Bruno H. Schubert Environment Prize in 1987 for his work to protect the environment, and the German Horticultural Association's prize for nature education in 1998. The journal Die Zeit counts him among the best essaysts in German languag and foremost a free person.

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Stephen M. Gardiner Stephen M. Gardiner is Professor of Philosophy and Ben Rabinowitz Endowed Professor of Human Dimensions of the Environment at the University of Washington, Seattle. His main areas of interest are ethical theory, political philosophy and environmental ethics. His research focuses on global environmental problems (especially climate change), future generations, and virtue ethics.

He is the author of A Perfect Moral Storm: the Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change (Oxford, 2011), the coordinating co-editor of Climate Ethics: Essential Readings (Oxford, 2010), and the editor of Virtue Ethics: Old and New (Cornell, 2005). His articles have appeared in journals such as Ethics, the Journal of Political Philosophy, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, and Philosophy and Public Affairs.

He has published on a diverse range of topics including intergenerational justice, the ethics of geoengineering, the precautionary principle, climate justice, Aristotle's account of the reciprocity of the virtues, Seneca's approach to virtuous moral rules, and Socrates' political philosophy.

Yuval Noah Harari “This is the essence of the Agricultural Revolution: the ability to keep more people alive under worse conditions.”

Harari is an Israeli historian, born in 1976. Harari first studied specialized in medieval history and military history in his studies from 1993 to 1998 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He completed his PhD at Jesus College, Oxford, in 2002. He is currently a professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Harari won the Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in 2009 and again in 2012.

His book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind was first published in Hebrew in 2011, and in English in 2014. The book is a history of human development from the

Stone Age to the 21st century, and it focuses on macro-historical questions about human development. Harari has also written about other issues including the rise and impact of artificial intelligence on human society, and the treatment of domesticated animals since the agricultural revolution.

Harari is committed to meditation, which he states has "transformed my life", and he annually takes a meditation retreat of around one month, without books or internet. Harari is a vegan, which resulted from his research on the treatment of domesticated animals.

Aldo Leopold “Our tools are better than we are, and grow better faster than we do. They suffice to crack the atom, to command the tides. But they do not suffice for the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.”

Aldo Leopold (1886–1948) was an American professional forester and environmentalist best known for his book A Sand County Almanac (1949). His main contribution to the shaping of the environmental movement was through his ‘land ethic’, an essay about the ethics of nature and wildlife conservation that has a holistic perspective of land management and which stands in contrast to an ethic that emphasizes human mastery of nature. He was a highly respected professional ecologist and forester who contributed substantially to the development of wildlife management as a science.

Aldo Leopold was born in Burlington, Iowa on 11 January, 1886. He spent much of his youth outside, walking, climbing and observing nature. He did well at school and by his teenage years he had already decided upon a career in forestry. He was accepted to study forestry at Yale University after completing undergraduate forestry courses at Sheffield Scientific School. On graduating in 1909, Leopold was employed by the US Forest

Service in Arizona and New Mexico. Over the next 15 years he completed the first management plan for the Grand Canyon, and wrote the Forest Service's first game and fish management guidelines.

In 1933 he was appointed Professor of Game Management at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, probably representing the first professorship of wildlife management anywhere. Around this time he bought 32 hectares in the ‘sand country’ of central Wisconsin. This region had been logged, repeatedly burnt and was heavily overgrazed. His management of this land, and his experiences in it, are described in A Sand County Almanac (1949), which he finished just before he died and was published after his death in 1948.

Nan Shepherd

Nan (Anna) Shepherd (11 February 1893 – 23 February 1981) was an English teacher at the Aberdeen College of Education in Aberdeen, Scotland. In addition to being a teacher, Shepherd wrote novels and poems. Her novels were set in small communities in Northeast Scotland, a region in which she lived all her life. The Scottish landscape had a central role in these novels, and also featured in her poetry. A recurring theme of her novels is the tensions between traditions and modern development. Shepherd also wrote one non-fiction book on her experiences of walking in the Cairngorm mountains, and it is this book that has generated most interest.

Nan Shepherd was a dedicated hill-walker, and she spent much of her time walking over the Cairngorm Mountains to which she developed a very close affinity. Her poetry reflects her love for mountain landscapes, and is exemplified in her anthology of poetry, In the Cairngorms, published in 1934. Her most lasting book is The Living Mountain which was written in the 1940s but was not published until 1977.

Robert Macfarlane

“The deepwood is vanished in these islands -- much, indeed, had vanished before history began -- but we are still haunted by the idea of it”

Robert Macfarlane, born in 1976, is a British travel and nature writer and teaches in the Faculty of English at the University of Cambridge. His first book, Mountains of the Mind, was published in 2003 and is an account of the development of Western attitudes to mountainous landscapes. He considers why people are drawn to mountains despite their dangers, and examines the powerful and sometimes fatal hold that mountains can come to have over the imagination.

A second book on literary criticism was followed by a third book The Wild Places which was published in September 2007. In this book he describes a series of journeys in search of the wildness that remains in the British Isles. The book explores wildness both geographically and intellectually, testing different ideas of the wild against different landscapes. It describes Macfarlane's explorations of forests, moors, salt marshes, mudflats, islands, sea-caves and city fringes. It won many prizes, including North America's Orion Book Award, a prize founded "to recognize books that deepen our connection to the natural world, present new ideas about our relationship with nature, and achieve excellence in writing."

Macfarlane represents the modern manifestation of nature writing, and is seen as the inheritor of a tradition of nature writing which includes John Muir and Aldo Leopold, as well as more recent figures, most notably Roger Deakin who was a strong influence on Macfarlane. His interests in topography, ecology and the environment have also been expressed through many newspaper and magazine essays.

A 30-minute interview with Robert Macfarlane is available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00mf31l

Garrett Hardin

“Broadly stated, most ecological problems reduce to a single problem of balancing supply and demand.”

Garrett Hardin (April 21, 1915 – September 14, 2003) was an American ecologist who is most famous for his foundational paper The Tragedy of the Commons, published in Science in 1968. This paper warned of "the damage that innocent actions by individuals can inflict on the environment". He also expostulated what has become known as Hardin's First Law of Human Ecology, that every action has unwanted consequences.

Hardin received a B.S. in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1936, and a PhD in microbiology from Stanford University in 1941. He moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1946 where he then served as a Professor of Human Ecology from 1963 until his retirement in 1978.

In 1993, Hardin published Living Within Limits, in which he argued for the existence of limits to economic growth on a planet with finite resources. A major theme of his thinking was the issue of overpopulation. Some of his writings have been controversial in that they address abortion, sterilization, and limits to non-western immigration. His Tragedy of the Commons thesis has also come under attack by the later writing of Elinor Ostrom, among others, on the success of co-operative structures for the management of common goods.

Hardin believed in individuals’ right to choose their own time of death. He, together with his wife, committed suicide at home in September 2003.

Ernst Schumacher “Our ordinary mind always tries to persuade us that we are nothing but acorns and that our greatest happiness will be to become bigger, fatter, shinier acorns; but that is of interest only to pigs. Our faith gives us knowledge of something better: that we can become oak trees.”

Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher (1911–1977) was born in Bonn, Germany and was schooled in Bonn and Berlin. He left Germany for Oxford University, England, in 1930, and then went on to Columbia University, New York, where he graduated in economics. He returned to the UK (he had no intention of living in Germany under Nazism) but for some time during the World War II he was interned on an isolated English farm as an "enemy alien". During this time Schumacher wrote a paper entitled "Multilateral Clearing" which drew the attention of the famous British economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynes arranged for Schumacher’s release from internment. Keynes subsequently found a position for him at Oxford University. He later served as the Chie Statistician for the British Control Commission which was charged with rebuilding the German economy. From 1950 to 1970 he was Chief Economic Advisor to the UK National Coal Board for two decades.

Schumacher is best known for his critique of Western economies and his proposals for human-scale, decentralized and appropriate technologies. His ideas became well-known in much of the English-speaking world during the 1970s. His 1973 book Small Is Beautiful is among the 100 most influential books published since World War II, and his ideas have led to the development of the concept of Intermediate Technology.

Small is Beautiful is a collection of essays in which he argues that we economic growth should not proceed at the expense of the degradation of our finite natural capital which would deprive future generations of its benefits. Schumacher's work coincided with the rise of environmentalism and ecological concerns.

He died during a lecture tour of a heart attack on 4 September 1977, in Switzerland.