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REM 100 (Global Change) Course Outline
Wed/Fri 12:30-1:20, B9200
Term: Fall 2013
Instructor: Karen E. Kohfeld
Office: TASC1 8431
Email: kohfeld@sfu.ca (please note: your TA should be your first point of contact)
Office Hours: Wed, 1:30-2:30pm or by appointment
Broad Learning Outcomes
Once you complete this course you should be able to:
1. Define and explain some major global environmental issues, their causes, and
consequences.
2. Critically evaluate the strengths and drawbacks of ways for dealing with these issues.
3. Apply course concepts to real-world environmental problems (for example, in the media)
4. Challenge your own assumptions regarding environmental issues, and
understand/develop your personal values
5. Feel empowered with knowledge and ways to act to address global change issues.
Course Themes
We will draw from many real-world examples of environmental problems, including population
growth, climate change, food security, water resources, energy use, waste, and pollution. We will
learn about the ideologies and socio-political organizations that form the framework in which
environmental problems occur. We will use several tools to evaluate and analyze environmental
problems, including ecological footprint, cost-benefit analysis, valuation of ecosystem services,
and definitions of “sustainability.”
Course Structure
1. Two hours of lecture and a one-hour tutorial, weekly;
2. Each of the 13 weeks addresses one or more topics relating to global change, providing a
format for discussions of environmental history, ethics, change, market forces, sustainability
3. Course Schedule is attached to this document – see Schedule.doc file on canvas.sfu.ca for
announced updates to the schedule as semester progresses.
Student Evaluation
Participation (20%)—Attendance and participation in discussions of readings and lectures.
- Tutorial attendance and participation (13%)
- Plagiarism tutorial (2% of tutorial grade)
- iClicker (5%)
Assignments (30%)—
A1 – Life Cycle Analysis (15%)
A2 – Analyzing “The truth about the environment” (15%)
Mid Term Test (20%)
In-class assessment of student knowledge of first 5 weeks of course content.
Final Exam (30%)—
Cumulative assessment of student knowledge of course content and capacity to
apply and integrate knowledge with case studies
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Required Text, Readings, Resources
1. Required Text: Global Issues: An Introduction, 4rd edition, John L. Seitz and Kristen A.
Hite, 2011, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford, UK, 304 pp.
2. Lecture will make use of iClickers. Students will need to buy a personal iClicker from the
SFU Bookstore
3. Readings: found in links at the end of this syllabus and on Schedule.doc
4. Online library help: http://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/subject-guides/rem/rem100globalchange
Grading and Help
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Plagiarism is not be tolerated.
Turn off all electronic devices during lectures and tutorials, except by prior arrangement.
Lecture outlines will be posted on Canvas, but you will need to learn to take individual notes.
Outlines will not be posted if attendance drops below about 75%.
Get to know a class member who can help you if you have to be absent from class.
Lectures will not be recorded.
Late assignments may be penalized 1 grade per day late (e.g., grade of ‘A+’ drops to ‘A-‘ if 2
days late).
Quiz and assignment grades will not be posted and are available exclusively from TAs.
Assignments are due before the start of tutorial. Late assignments are penalized 1 grade step
per day (e.g. A+ becomes A). Deferred grades are only given under extreme and exceptional
circumstances, such as illness or death in the family and a doctor's note is required. A heavy
workload is not sufficient justification.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated and is surprisingly easy to detect. Please read and complete the
Plagiarism Tutorial and two quizzes on canvas.sfu.ca before your first tutorial. You are required
to complete this tutorial before we will accept and grade any of your in-class assignments.
Submit written assignments through Turn it in Software
All students are required to submit their written work for this course via Turnitin
http://www.turnitin.com, a third party service licensed for use by SFU. Turnitin is used for
originality checking to help detect plagiarism. Students will be required to create an account
with Turnitin, and to submit their work via that account, on the terms stipulated in the agreement
between the student and Turnitin. This agreement includes the retention of your submitted work
as part of the Turnitin database. Any student with a concern about using the Turnitin service may
opt to use an anonymous identity in their interactions with Turnitin. Students who do not intend
to use Turnitin in the standard manner must notify the instructor at least two weeks in advance of
any submission deadline. In particular, it is the responsibility of any student using the anonymous
option (i.e. false name and temporary e-mail address created for the purpose) to inform the
instructor such that the instructor can match up the anonymous identity with the student.
For more information see the Protection of Privacy section of the SFU calendar
at http://students.sfu.ca/calendar/student-info/privacy.html.
For more information on the university’s policies on turn-it-in, please visit:
http://www.sfu.ca/itservices/plagiarism/turnitin.htm
Follow the instructions below.
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1. Register yourself as a new user. Your e-mail address and a password of your choice are
used for subsequent logins.
2. Login as a student and then click on join new class. You will require the class ID and
class enrollment password provided by your TA.
3. Click on turn it in!
4. Select the appropriate assignment number from the pull-down menu. Copy your
assignment into the clipboard and then, using Ctrl-V or Command-V, paste it into the
appropriate box.
5. Click on submit
Important Course Dates:
Assignment 1:
Handed out in T1 tutorial (9-13 September)
Due at Beginning to T5 tutorial (7-11 Oct)
Assignment 1 due via turnitin.com before tutorial begins.
Midterm: Friday, 18 October, in class.
Assignment 2:
Handed out in T5 tutorial (7-11 October)
Due During week of 12-15 November. Tutorials are canceled for this week, so
you should turn in your assignment to turnitin.com before the time when your
tutorial would begin. NOTE that assignments for students in the Monday tutorial
are due on Tuesday, 12 November at 12pm.
Last Day of Classes: Friday, 29 November
Last Tutorial: Monday, 2 December
Final: Wednesday, 10 December, 3:30-6:30pm,
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Tutorials and Teaching Assistants
CATALOG Location
Tutorial Day Time
D101
TUE
D102
9:30-10:20AM
7954
AQ 4125
WED 2:30–3:20PM
7956
AQ 5038
D103
WED 3:30-4:20PM
7958
AQ 4125
D104
THU
9:30-10:20AM
7960
AQ 5014
D105
THU
9:30-10:20AM
7962
AQ 2122
D106
THU
2:30–3:20PM
7964
AQ 5038
D107
THU
2:30–3:20PM
7966
AQ 5028
D108
MON 2:30–3:20PM
7968
AQ 2120
D109
MON 3:30-4:20PM
7970
AQ 2120
D110
TUE
2:30–3:20PM
7972
AQ 5027
D111
TUE
9:30-10:20AM
7974
AQ 2122
D112
TUE
2:30–3:20PM
7976
AQ 2120
D113
TUE
3:30-4:20PM
7988
AQ 5027
D114
THU
3:30-4:20PM
7990
AQ 5025
TA
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NOTE: Please prepare ahead and download your readings in advance while you are on campus.
REM 100 SYLLABUS SCHEDULE - (please note that readings on this schedule may get updated - please listen for announcements!)
Wk
Class
Date
Topic
Lecture Readings
Tutorials
Tutorial Reading
1
1
4-Sep
Course outline and
overview
SEITZ Introduction (1-2)
NO TUTORIALS
NO TUTORIALS
What is the Global
Environment
Excerpt from From Barry
Commoner, The Closing Circle:
Nature, Man and Technology,
1971 (N.Y., Alfred Knopf, 1971);
SEITZ Ch 5: 163-166
T1: Introductions;
Codes of Conduct;
Plagiarism; LCA;
Assignment 1
Distributed
Plagiarism Tutorial and Quiz
T2: Visions of the
Future; Discuss Exam
Questions
Costanza, Robert, Four Visions of the
Century Ahead, The Futurist, 23-28, 1999.
T3: What is the
“Tragedy of the
commons”?
Hardin, G. The Tragedy of the Commons,
Science, 162:1243-1248
2
2
3
4
6-Sep
3
11-Sep
Approaches to
Resource Use
SEITZ Ch 5: 189-193
4
13-Sep
The Great
Transformation
SEITZ Ch 1 (20-25)
5
18-Sep
LIBRARY LECTURE
NO READINGS
6
20-Sep
Measuring Prosperity
Ch1 - Introducing the planet - A
Story of Change (UNEP One
Planet Many People, Ch 1)
25-Sep
Human-Environment
Relationship and the
Dominant Social
Paradigm
SEITZ Ch 2 (53-66); Cobb et al.
“If the GDP is up, why is America
down?” Atlantic Monthly, 1995.
The Great Debate
Shafer, W. E., Social Paradigms
and Attitudes Toward
Environmental Accountability,
Journal of Business Ethics,
65:121-147, 2006.
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8
27-Sep
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REM 100 SYLLABUS SCHEDULE - (please note that readings on this schedule may get updated - please listen for announcements!)
Wk
5
6
7
8
Class
Date
Topic
Lecture Readings
Tutorials
Tutorial Reading
T4: What is Your
Ecological Footprint
and how would you
change it?
Read text under "footprint basics" and
take the Ecological Footprint Quiz at
www.footprintnetwork.org Also check out
your 'Carbon footprint at:
www.carbonfootprint.com
T5: Review;
Assignment 2
distributed
Assignment 1 Due
9
2-Oct
Population Growth
SEITZ Ch 1 (3-33)
10
4-Oct
Wealth and Poverty
SEITZ Ch 2 (44-72)
11
9-Oct
Carrying capacity /
ecofootprint
SEITZ Ch 2 (32-39); Kates,
Robert W. (2000) Population
and Consumption: What we
know and what we need to know,
Environment v. 42 n. 3, p10-19.
12
11-Oct
Who owns the
environment?
Property rights
TBA
14-Oct
THANKSGIVING, MONDAY TUTORIALS CANCELED
13
16-Oct
Market Failure and
the Environment
14
18-Oct
MIDTERM
15
23-Oct
What is Global
Sustainability
Feeny et al., The Tragedy of the
Commons - 22 years later,
Human Ecology, v. 18 n. 1, pp. 119, 1990.
T6 Market Failures and
The Story of Stuff;
Brainstorm Ideas for
Advocacy Letter
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Earth Summit (1992)
SEITZ Ch 7: 232-244
T7: Were Vancouver
2010 Olympics
Sustainable?; Vote on
Advocacy Letter Ideas
Assignment 2
Distributed
Vancouver Olympics 2010 Sustainability
Report; VANOC under fire
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REM 100 SYLLABUS SCHEDULE - (please note that readings on this schedule may get updated - please listen for announcements!)
Wk
9
10
11
12
13
Class
Date
16
25-Oct
Topic
Lecture Readings
International
Agreements
TBA
17
30-Oct
Acid Rain
SEITZ Ch 5 (166-173)
18
1-Nov
Ozone
SEITZ Ch 5 (173-175);
Morrissette article assigned for
Wk 9 tutorial.
Tutorials
Tutorial Reading
T8: What makes
international
agreements work?
Morrissette, PM (1989) The evolution of
policy responses to stratospheric ozone
depletion. Natural Resources Journal 29:
793-820.
T9: Should Canada
label GMOs, and are
GMOs a better
alternative to the Green
Revolution?;
Video: GMO and Canada ;
Sakko, The Debate over Genetically
Modified Food
19
6-Nov
Climate Change
SEITZ Ch 4 (129-138); Woods
Hole climate change primer
20
8-Nov
Energy
SEITZ Ch 4 (115-130, 138-151);
Global energy crisis, Economist
Debate
11-Nov
REMEMBRANCE DAY - TUTORIALS CANCELED ON TUE 9 NOV, WED 10 NOV, AND THU 11 NOV
21
13-Nov
Biodiversity
SEITZ Ch5 (194-197)
22
15-Nov
Food and Green
Revolution
SEITZ Ch 3 (78-109)
23
20-Nov
Food and Green
Revolution
SEITZ Ch 3 (78-109)
24
22-Nov
Freshwater
SEITZ Ch 5 (168-171)
25
27-Nov
Technological Fixes
SEITZ Ch 6: 211-231
29-Nov
Course Review
Tutorials Canceled;
ASSIGNMENT 2
DUE
T10: Cost of Water
T11: REVIEW
The Value of H2O, Economist Debate
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