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Ethics of Sustainability Instructor Guide - NSF 1

Instructor’s Guide

Ethics of Sustainability

For NSF May 2010

By: Kelly Biedenweg, Deb Wojcik, and Martha Monroe

With contributions from Charles Kibert, Les Thiele, and Anna Peterson


Contents

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 3 COURSE SYLLABUS .......................................................................................................................... 4 Course Description...................................................................................................................... 4 Course Grading ........................................................................................................................... 4 Course Assignments and Readings............................................................................................. 5 Schedule...................................................................................................................................... 6

DAILY INSTRUCTIONS ...................................................................................................................... 8 SLIDESHOW PRESENTATION TITLES ............................................................................................... 10 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTIONS ............................................................................................................... 11 Activity 1: Similarities of Technological Problems Homework .............................................. 11 Activity 2: Cats Indoors: Is it A Sustainability Issue? In-class Discussion............................ 12 Activity 3: Your Environmental Ethic Homework .................................................................. 15 Activity 4: Precautionary and Reversibility Principles In-Class Activity and Graded

Assignment ................................................................................................................................ 16 Activity 5: Hardin’s Lifeboat Ethic Homework and In-class Discussion................................ 21 Activity 6: Minimizing Externalities Homework.................................................................... 23 Activity 7: Systems Thinking Homework Before and After Class ........................................... 24 Activity 8: A Multistakeholder Process Homework and In-class Activity .............................. 28 Activity 9: Ecological Footprint Homework and In-class Discussion..................................... 36 Activity 10: Ford Sustainability Case Study In-class Discussion ........................................... 39


INTRODUCTION This Instructor’s Guide is an example of how one might conduct a 15-week course to accompany the Ethics of Sustainability textbook. The curriculum is based on a single three-hour class each week and can be taught by one professor or several with diverse expertise. As designed, the course is most appropriate for graduate students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, though it has been successfully piloted with graduate students from many other fields, including natural resources, law, and philosophy. The Instructor’s Guide contains a piloted syllabus, slideshow presentations, a brief description for how to conduct each class, and detailed instructions for 10 learning activities. Activities are a combination of short homework assignments that can be graded as well as in-class activities to facilitate discussion. The homework assignments are usually intended to prepare students for the following class; it should usually be assigned prior to the class period you wish to present on the topic. Excepts are noted in the Daily Instructions section. Learning activities are complete with instructions, materials, and grading rubrics. This course can be completed in person and online; instructions for an online format are included with each activity. The primary quality that makes for an excellent ethics course is the ability to facilitate discussion among all students, allowing for open sharing and challenging of ideas rather than emphasizing didactic dissemination of factual information. We hope that these tools enable this quality.

TEACHING AN ONLINE COURSE This course material can be effectively taught both in a traditional classroom setting and online. There are many online course technologies available, and your school may already have a system in place. Suggestions are provided throughout these course materials for how to adapt the activities to an online audience. Lecture materials can be provided in several ways, with the easiest being to post the PowerPoint presentations provided on the class website for students to view. To supplement this, instructors can audio or videotape themselves presenting the lectures and provide these recordings to students. Any Internet-based resources are easily linked to a course Website.


COURSE SYLLABUS

Course Description Engineers, scientists, resource managers, designers, and other professionals deeply engaged in the development and application of technology routinely make decisions that have ethical implications, as their work impacts the health and welfare of society and the natural environment. This class provides basic instruction in the Ethics of Sustainability for such professionals. Students will learn the various interpretations and applications of sustainability, the role of technology in addressing sustainability issues, and the ethical principles essential for attending to these concerns. This class introduces a basic set of principles that will help students consider such issues as intergenerational equity, social justice in the global community, interspecies respect and protection, and ecological economics. Students will also explore the challenges involved in making and implementing decisions the midst of complex sustainability issues. Course Objectives: By the end of this course, students will: 1) Explain and illustrate the importance of each of the three legs of sustainability – economic,

environmental and social – and their intersections 2) Identify the distinctive combination of social, economic, and environmental ethics that enter into

discussions of sustainability 3) Describe criteria and goals for selecting technology that supports sustainability 4) Defend and apply ethical principles pertaining to the global community, future generations, and other

species in their professional and personal decision making 5) Design decision-making processes and plans for information exchange that enable the adoption of

sustainability ideas 6) Develop their own professional and personal sustainability ethic Texts and Materials: Readings are based on the Ethics of Sustainability textbook by Kibert, Thiele, Peterson and Monroe. Occasional websites and papers are described in the schedule.

Course Grading

Assignments Points Various reflection activities 80 Ethics of Sustainability Paper 100 Ethics of Sustainability Debate 20 Final Report 100 Final Presentation 50 Attendance and Participation 50

Total 400

Grading Scale:

A 3.67 – 4.0 93 – 100% C 1.67 – 1.99 73 – 76% A- 3.33 – 3.66 90 – 92% C- 1.33 – 1.66 70 – 72% B+ 3.00 – 3.32 87 – 89% D+ 1.00 – 1.32 67 – 69% B 2.67 – 2.99 83 – 86% D 0.67 – 0.99 63 – 66% B- 2.33 – 2.66 80 – 82% D- 0.33 – 0.66 60 – 62% C+ 2.00 – 2.32 77 – 79% E 0.00 59% or below


Course Assignments and Readings Readings Readings must be completed before the class period for which they are assigned. Assignments 1) Activities Throughout the semester, you will be asked to complete brief in-class or take home exercises, to prepare for an interesting class discussion. These activities will be worth 10 points each and instructions will be provided when the activity is required. As they are essentially participation activities, you will receive full credit as long as you thoughtfully complete the assignment according to instructions. You can look forward to short writing assignments on these topics, due on these dates: Similarities of Technological Problems Class 3 Your Environmental Ethic Class 5 Precautionary and Reversibility Principles Class 6 The Lifeboat Ethic Class 7 Minimizing Externalities Class 8 Systems Thinking Class 10 A Multi-stakeholder Process Class 11 Ecological Footprint Class 12 2) Ethics of Sustainability Paper (Due around class 9) For this assignment you will write an approximately 2000 word (8-page) double-spaced essay about the sustainability and ethical components of a contemporary problem. You will select from the following list of issues before Class 6 and at least two people will focus on each issue. Your essay should describe the social, economic and environmental dilemmas related to the issue and analyze the role of technology in producing and potentially mitigating the dilemma. Based on your analysis of the problem, you will make an argument in favor of a specific course of action. We will have debates in class based on these papers.

1. Nuclear energy as a solution to climate change 2. Corn-derived ethanol to replace gasoline 3. Shifting to Generally Modified crops designed to provide extra vitamins 4. Xenotransplantation to produce spare human organs 5. Autonomous robotic doctors and nurses 6. New pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers to increase crop yields 7. Use of nanotechnology to improve solar energy yields 8. Application of nanotechnology to increase microprocessor speeds 9. Use of carbon fibers to create lightweight aircraft and automobiles 10. Shift to hydrogen and fuel cell powered automobiles 11. The shift to Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the Netherlands

3) Final Project (Due class 14&15) The final project will require you to apply knowledge gained in this course to create a sustainable decision or management plan for an institution, agency, NGO, program, company or corporation. You will identify a problem of interest to you, develop a process to address that problem, describe how your process uses ethical principles, and explain how behavior change strategies can help in the adoption of your plan. This plan will be presented to the entire class with a media component (e.g., poster, video, or activity) on the last two weeks of class. Your paper will be individually written and approximately 12-18 double spaced pages (double spaced). Topics must be approved by the instructor.


Schedule

Class Topic Student Preparation for Class 1 Orientation to Course

2 The Sustainability Framework

Read: Introduction and Chapter 1 Read: Andrew C. Revkin, ‘Forget Nature. Even Eden is Engineered,” New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin,20 August 2002 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/20/science/earth/20MANA.html Read: Bleddow et al. Overcoming systemic roadblocks to sustainability at http://www.pnas.org/content/106/8/2483.full.pdf+html View video: Ray Anderson, The business logic of sustainability http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP9QF_lBOyA

3 The Technology Challenge

Read: Chapter 2 Read: Emily Singer. “ The Dangers of Synthetic Biology,” Technology Review, 30 May 2006 http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/16932/ Read: Bill Joy, “Why the future does not need us,” Wired, Issue 8.04, August 2000 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html View video: Interview with Bill Joy by Charlie Rose http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1418708261987821742&ei=UpkdS8KsIYeWqwL6rJGNDQ&q=Bill+Joy&hl=en#

4

Ethical Concepts and

Foundations

Chapter 3

essay by Anthony Weston

5

Environmental Ethics and Other

Species

Chapter 6

Aldo Leopold “The Land Ethic”

6

Future Generations Chapter 4

Stewart Brand, “4 Environmental Heresies,” TED Talks

Lester Brown, “Selling our Future,” pp. 3-27 in Plan B: 4.0 available at

http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/books/pb4

7 The Global Community Chapter 5

Robert Wright, “The Evolution of Compassion” TED Talks

Garrett Hardin, “Lifeboat Ethics,” available at

http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_lifeboat_ethics_case_agai

nst_helping_poor.html


8

Sustainable Economics

Read: Chapter 7 Read: Robert Goodland. “Herman Daly Festschrift: The world is in over-shoot and what do we do about it,” The Encyclopedia of Earth, July 2009 http://www.eoearth.org/article/Herman_Daly_Festschrift:_The_world_is_in_over-shoot_and_what_to_do_about_it View video: Robert Costanza, 13 March 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ0xyQw8cX4

9

Ethical Reflection Paper due In-class debate/discussion

10

The Process of Decision Making Read: Chapter 8 Read: Kaplan and Kaplan, 2008, “Bringing out the best in people. Conservation Biology 22(4) 826-829 Read: Seligman, J. nd. Building a Systems Thinking Culture at Ford Motor Company. Reflections. 6 (4/5): 1-9. Accessible at http://www.solonline.org/repository/download/reflections6_45.pdf?item_id=8955067

11

Turning Professional Practices into Ethical Decisions

Read: Chapter 9 Read: Muth, R. M. and Hendee, J. C. 1980. Technology transfer and human behavior, Journal of Forestry. 78(3): 141-144.

Read: Bouwen, R. and T. Taillieu. 2004. Multi-party collaboration as social learning for interdependence. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology. 14: 137-153.

12

Personal and Planetary Sustainability

Chapter 10

13

Major Case Studies Read: Chapter 11 of Ethics of Sustainability

Scan:

Seligman, J. nd. Building a Systems Thinking Culture at Ford Motor Company. Reflections. 6 (4/5): 1-9 Note: This reading assigned earlier in the course, but review it again for this class. “Ford Announces Dealer Sustainability Program,” February 14, 2010 Ford Sustainability Report 2008-9 (pdf) Ford Sustainability Report 2008-9 (Ford Microsite) “Ford Saves $1 million…by Shutting Off Computers,” Ariel Schwartz, Fast Company, March 23, 2010 “Building a Sustainable Motor Company: An Interview with Bill Ford,” Sheila Bonini and Hans-Werner Kaas, McKinsey Quarterly, January 2010 'ote: You will have to register to use this site, but it is free.

14

Presentations of final project ** FINAL PAPERS DUE **

15 Presentations of final project


DAILY INSTRUCTIONS Class 1:

1) This is an introductory day. Students should first be introduced to the instructor(s) and each others, then to the terms Ethics and Sustainability. The syllabus should be presented, carefully going over course objectives, required materials, and expectations.

2) The Introduction slideshow should be presented. Class 2:

1) Present the slideshow presentation titled Sustainability Framework. 2) Assign the first homework assignment (Activity #1).

Class 3:

1) Present the third slideshow presentation titled the Technology Challenge. 2) Watch the TED Talk by Janine Benyus on Biomimicry

(www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action.html) (17 minutes). 3) Separate students into small groups. Ask them consider to 1) how to use biomimicry as a

guiding principle for technology and 2) develop a set of criteria to assess technologies (15 minutes). Share these criteria as a large group.

Class 4:

1) Present the fourth slideshow presentation titled Making Ethical Decisions Class 5:

1) Present the fifth slideshow presentation titled Environmental Ethics and Other Species. 2) Conduct the Cats Indoors activity (#3). 3) Assign the second homework assignment, Your Environmental Ethic (Activity #3).

Class 6: 1. Present slideshow presentation titled Future Generations. 2. Conduct the Precautionary and Reversibility Principles activity (#4) in class and require worksheet as a graded assignment. 3. Begin discussion of the midterm Ethics of Sustainability Paper. Describe expectations such as content requirement, grading rubric, page limits, due date, and presentations for Class 9. Have students sign up for one of the topics presented in the syllabus. At least two students should focus on each topic. Explain that during Class 9, they will have 2 minutes to present the problem and 5 minutes to present brief bullet points of suggestions for addressing the problem ethically. 4) Assign the Lifeboat Ethic (Activity #5) as homework for Class 7. Class 7:

1) Present slideshow presentation titled Global Community. 2) Conduct the Evaluating Hardin’s Lifeboat Ethic Activity (#5) in class.


Class 8: 1) Present Sustainable Economics slideshow. 2) Watch the Story of Stuff video online (http://www.storyofstuff.com – 20 minutes) and

lead a discussion about what students think about the validity and reliability of the content, what it means, and what can be done.

3) Assign the Minimizing Externalities Activity (#6) for homework. (ote, this is the one

occasion where homework is assigned post-class as students may need the class lecture

to effectively complete the assignment.

Class 9:

1) Have students present their 2 minute problem description and 3 minute bullet point suggestions. Have students who are presenting the same topic do so contiguously. Allow 5-10 minutes of responses from other classmates to the students’ presentations (with emphasis on comments that will constructively challenge their suggestions).

2) Assign the first homework for the Systems Thinking Activity (#7) for Class 10. They should read the handout and complete the assignment prior to reading the chapter.

Class 10:

1) Present the Decision Making presentation. 2) Present Systems Thinking presentation. 3) For the next class, in addition to their updated responses for the systems activity (second

handout for Activity #7), they are also responsible for the homework related to their part described in the Multi-stakeholder Process Activity (#8).

Class 11:

1) Begin leading students through the Multi-Stakeholder Process. Use the Role Play slideshow and directions for Activity 8 as guidance.

2) Continue with the Professional Practices slideshow once complete. 3) Assign the Ecological Footprint Activity (#9) as homework due Class 12.

Class 12:

1) Show the Personal and Planetary Sustainability slideshow. 2) At the Ecological Footprint slide, go to the ecological footprint website and lead Activity

#9 on Ecological Footprints. 3) Finish the class slideshow.

Class 13:

1) Lead Activity 10, the Ford case study. Classes 14 & 15:

1) Students give 15 minute presentations of their final assignment. Presentations may be a slideshow, video, or an interactive activity.


SLIDESHOW PRESENTATION TITLES Introduction 45 slides Class 1 Sustainability Framework 72 slides Class 2 The Technology Challenge 40 slides Class 3 Making Ethical Decisions 34 slides Class 4 Environmental Ethics 23 slides Class 5 Future Generations 19 slides Class 6 Global Community 29 slides Class 7 Sustainable Economics 44 slides Class 8 Decision Making 33 slides Class 10 Systems Thinking 18 slides Class 10 Role Play 8 slides Class 11 Professional Practices 20 slides Class 11 Personal and Planetary Sustainability 18 slides Class 12


ACTIVITY DESCRIPTIONS

Activity 1: Similarities of Technological Problems Homework

Learning Objectives

• Explain how current technological concerns are similar to each other and generally similar to those in the past

• Explain how the Technological Paradox relates to each of these problems

Overview

Technological problems have many similarities, one of which is their tendency to result in Technological Paradoxes. A Technological Paradox occurs when technology is the source of a problem, and technology can in turn also be the solution to the problem (more or new technology). Further, technology can enable a good quality of life for present generations while at the same time threaten the quality of life for future generations.

Homework Assignment

Select from the following technological challenges or suggest your own and write a one page, single-spaced description about 1) the challenge and the technology that was implemented, 2) the sustainability issues related to the technology, , and 2) your recommendations about what criteria should be used to screen the technology prior to implementation to result in a decision that promotes sustainability. Technology examples:

-Transporting material goods across the Atlantic -Generating power to foster mass production -Mitigating CO2 concentrations -Increasing the shelf-life of food -Improving communication across states -Landing a person on the moon

Online Format

Have students post their papers to the class forum. Each student should read and respond to at least one other paper.

Evaluation

Evaluation should be based on providing thoughtful responses to each question. If an online course, students should also be graded on whether they provide the correct number of thoughtful responses to previous postings. 10% - description of the challenge 60% - sustainability and ethical principles 10% - recommendations 20% - overall thoughtfulness of responses to all questions


Activity 2: Cats Indoors: Is it A Sustainability Issue? In-class Discussion

Learning Objectives

• Critically analyze whether the containment of domestic animals is a sustainability issue

Overview

The ethical and sustainability issues that dictate proper interactions with ‘wild’ nature are often obvious to many people. Thinking about our relationship to domesticated species, however, may be more difficult to consider with these same principles. How does my treatment of my dog, cat, or hamster affect the social, ecological and economic spheres? Is it sufficient to merely have a connection to costs and benefits, for example, to count as “affecting the economic sphere?” This short discussion allows students to explore this idea by discussing the relevance of the Cats Indoors movement to sustainability. Class Activity Time Required 20-25 minutes

Materials

� Cats Indoors Information Sheet for each student

In-Class Activity Instructions

Step 1: 5 minutes

Either present the Cats Indoors information or provide each student an Information Sheet and ask them to read it. Step 2: 15 minutes

Facilitate a discussion on whether students consider Cats Indoors a sustainability issue. Be sure everyone has an opportunity to provide an opinion. Optional Discussion Questions:

1) Note that the arguments by all three websites are essentially the same – though the New Zealand Regional Council lays its argument under the guise of sustainability. Is Cats Indoors a sustainability issue? Why or why not? What are the environmental concerns? The social? Economic?

2) Economic: Who pays for the treatment (neutering, feeding, euthanizing) of unwanted cats? Can outdoor cats (feral and domesticated) significantly impact economically important natural resources?

3) Social: Does allowing cats outdoors result in social inequities? 4) How is an environmental issue different from a sustainability issue?

Note: If every issue has an element of “the rich can; the poor can’t” that may not be sufficient to ascribe the issue to the social sphere. Invite students to consider the criteria that should be used for an issue to claim each of the three dimensions.

Step 3: 2 minutes

Activity Wrap-up. Environmental issues are sometimes difficult to distinguish from sustainability issues. That is particularly challenging in this chapter because it is focused on ethical principles related to other species and ecosystems. This activity has asked you to expand your analysis of an issue beyond the comfortable lens of environmentalism and consider whether the issue is, in fact, a sustainability issue. While environmentalism is important, we hope that


this course is conveying that sustainability issues have a broader consideration – they have economic and social consequences in addition to environmental ones.

Online Format

Provide students the attached reading and ask them to respond to the discussion questions through informal postings. Ask students to respond to at least three postings from other students.


Cats Indoors Information Sheet

FROM AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY: www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/index.html

“There are more than 90 million pet cats in the U.S., the majority of which roam outside at least part of the time. In addition, millions of stray and feral cats roam our cities, suburbs, and rural areas. Scientists estimate that free-roaming cats kill hundreds of millions of birds, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians each year. Cat predation is an added stress to wildlife populations already struggling to survive habitat loss, pollution, pesticides, and other human impacts. Free-roaming cats are also exposed to injury, disease, parasites, getting hit by cars, or becoming lost, stolen, or poisoned. Millions of domestic cats are euthanized each year because there are not enough homes for them. Cats can also transmit diseases and parasites such as rabies, cat-scratch fever, and toxoplasmosis to other cats, wildlife or people. The Solution : In 1997, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) launched the Cats Indoors! Campaign for Safer Birds and Cats to educate cat owners, decision makers, and the general public that cats, wildlife and people all benefit when cats are kept indoors, in an outdoor enclosure, or trained to go outside on a harness and leash.” FROM THE U.S. HUMANE SOCIETY: www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pets_for_life_program/cat_behavior_tip_sheets/your_cat_indoors_or_out.html

“Ever wonder what goes on behind closed doors? Healthy, safe cats live out their entire lives, for one thing. If you want your cat to live to a ripe old age, the best thing you can do for her is keep her inside. Allowing your cat to wander around on her own, without your supervision, makes her susceptible to any of the following life-shortening—and often painful—tragedies:

• Being hit by a car • Ingesting a deadly poison like antifreeze or a pesticide • Being trapped by an unhappy neighbor • Being attacked by a roaming dog, cat, or wild animal • Contracting a disease from another animal • Becoming lost and unable to find her way home • Being stolen • Encountering an adult or child with cruel intentions”

FROM THE GREATER WELLINGTON REGIONAL COUNCIL IN NEW ZEALAND:

Sustainability tips - desex your cat http://www.gw.govt.nz/sustainability-tips-desex-your-cat/

Cats are natural hunters and love to catch birds, lizards and even cicadas and moths. This can be a problem if the animals they are catching are rare endangered. Save native birds, cicadas and lizards like this green gecko by desexing your cat. Unplanned cat breeding can increase the risk – unwanted cats often become wild cats, feeding on native birds and insects in the bush. By desexing (spaying or neutering) your cat, you’ll help to reduce the number of wild cats in your neighbourhood.


Activity 3: Your Environmental Ethic Homework

Learning Objectives

• Develop a concise statement that encompasses one’s personal environmental ethic.

Overview

Understanding ethics requires both investigation of others’ thinking and reflecting on one’s own. This activity allows students to critically think about what is important to them in their ethical view about the environment by developing their own environmental ethics statement.

Homework Assignment

Introduce the idea that it is important to understand our own thinking about ethics to critically examine others’ perspectives. Relating this specifically to the environment, ask students to write a concise (1-2 sentence) statement that encompasses their view on environmental ethics. Emphasize that this is focusing on the environmental leg of sustainability, not all three legs. To guide this, you can provide the following prompts: 1) Begin with the words, “I believe that…” to get things started.

2) List or have students list several words or phrases that you/they believe to be important about the environment and humans’ role in it. What should people think and do regarding the environment and non-human animals? 3) Have students put their key ideas and thinking together into their own personal statement.

You can also provide an example of a non-environmental ethic to demonstrate what an ethics statement might look like. An example of a corporate ethics statement follows:

“I believe that businesses have the responsibility to give back to the communities and

societies in which they work, pay attention to social and environmental concerns as much

as financial ones, and provide their employees with adequate compensation and

benefits.”

Online Format

Students can complete the same homework assignment and submit electronically to the instructor.

Evaluation

This activity should be evaluated on thoughtful completion of the statement. For online formats, evaluation should also be based on responding to the required number of statements.


Activity 4: Precautionary and Reversibility Principles In-Class Activity and Graded Assignment

Learning Objective

• Compare and contrast the Precautionary and Reversibility Principles

Overview

An ethic of sustainability requires that we consider impacts on not only the present generation, but future generations as well. Two principles that address these impacts in different ways are the Precautionary Principle and the Reversibility Principle. The Precautionary Principle is applied when an activity has the potential to harm human health of the environment. It requires that precautions are taken by the proponent of the policy or technology now, in a proactive way, even if we do not know exactly what those impacts are scientifically. Applying the Reversibility Principle involves making decisions with a strong bias towards choosing only those products or activities whose negative impacts either have an endpoint or can be reversed after the technology or policy is stopped. This activity allows students to consider, compare and contrast these two principles as they are applied to a number of past and present inventions. Students work in small groups to apply the Precautionary and Reversibility Principles to various technological innovations, past and present, and then come together to discuss the strengths and limitations of each approach, as well as the overall challenge in trying to resolve. Class Activity Time Required: 60 minutes

Materials

� Comparing Precautionary and Reversibility Principles worksheet

� Whiteboard/chalkboard and markers/chalk

� Newsprint

� Markers

Instructor Preparation

� Copy enough worksheets for all students

� Distribute newsprint and markers to tables around the room for use by small groups

In-Class Activity Instructions:

Step 1. 10 minutes

Have the class brainstorm a list of 4-6 technologies that have had both positive and negative impacts after they were implemented. These should be technologies with which they are familiar. List these on the board. Be sure everyone understands both the positive and negative results from each. Depending on what the class comes up with, you can supplement their list with the following:

• Chloroflurocarbons – originally used as fire retardants, refrigerants and propellants. It the 1970s, however, it became apparent that CFCs were depleting the ozone layer and in 1989 the Montreal Protocol banned CFCs production worldwide.


• DDT – an effective pesticide that can be applied aerially. Non-toxic to workers. Enables people to live in tropical zones where mosquitoes carry dengue fever, malaria, and other diseases. Unfortunately, it bio-accumulates in the food chain and affects species that have a limited diet, only eating animals with DDT stored in their fat, such as bald eagles and peregrine falcons, but not seagulls. The sale and use of DDT has been banned in the U.S. since 1972 but is commonly used in India on food that may be shipped to the U.S.

Step 2. 15 minutes

Divide students into groups of 4-5. Assign each group one type of technology from the list. Alternatively, groups can choose a technology that is relevant to them, or all groups can be assigned the same technology. Have students complete the Past Technology column in the worksheet within their small groups. Step 3. 15 minutes

Students should complete the Current Innovation column on the worksheet for nanotechnology, genetically modified trees, or another emerging technology relevant to your class. In this case, hindsight is impossible, so students are challenged to forecast and imagine how the technology might impact future generations, using the Precautionary and Reversibility Principles as a basis for this analysis. Step 4 15 minutes

As a full class, discuss the results of the small groups’ analyses and the commonalities and differences among the technologies in terms of the applicability of the Precautionary and Reversibility Principles. Discussion questions can include:

• Do you think the inventors or proponents of these past technologies considered the Precautionary Principle? The Reversibility Principle? Why or why not?

• Do you think this technology would have been implemented had these Principles been applied?

• What are the biggest challenges you face when trying to consider technology’s impacts on future generations? How and to what extent do the Precautionary and Reversibility Principles help you to consider future generations?

• What other challenges do you face when attempting to apply the Precautionary Principle? The Reversibility Principle? What can you do to overcome these challenges?

• Is reversibility really possible? What other changes (social, economic, environmental) accompany the primary impacts of the technologies we’ve discussed that would make reversibility difficult if not impossible?

• Considering the difficulty in reversing impacts, is following the Reversibility or Precautionary Principle more important?

• Are there additional ideas or principles that should be applied to better incorporate a consideration of impacts on future generations? How would you go about integrating them into your decision-making process?


Step 5 3 minutes

Activity Wrap-up There is no way to know all of the impacts of a technological innovation. There are, however, ways to estimate those impacts and the potential benefits and harms that may befall future generations as a result of those technologies. While there are limitations to both the Precautionary and Reversibility Principles, these principles provide useful frameworks for analyzing the impacts of technology beyond the immediate. Expanding the time horizon from the present, when pressing problems demand fast solutions, to the future, when unforeseen impacts can be devastating and irreversible is essential if we are to pursue a future centered on sustainability.

Online Format

Students are divided into small discussion groups of 4-5 students, who individually complete the worksheet and then post their responses to the discussion questions. Each student should read the postings of other students in their group and respond to at least three of these.

Evaluation

Evaluation should be based on thoughtful responses to the worksheet and discussion questions. If an online course, students should also be graded on whether they provide the correct number of thoughtful responses to previous postings. 40% - worksheet completion 40% - short essay responses to discussion questions 20% - thoughtfulness of responses throughout


Comparing Precautionary and Reversibility Principles Worksheet

Past Technology:

Current Innovation:

What issue or challenge is/was this technology intended to solve?

For those that favor(ed) this technology, what are its benefits? Why was/is it appealing to implement this technology over others?

For those who oppose(d) this technology, what are some of the actual or potential harms associated with it?

What were/are the scientific uncertainties associated with this technology?


How would you calculate the risk associated with this technology? What factors would you need to consider?

If you applied the Precautionary Principle, what would you need to consider before implementing this technology?

How do you ensure that negative impacts on future generations are minimized, or better yet, eliminated? Is this possible?

If you applied the Reversibility Principle, what would you need to consider before implementing this technology?

How do you ensure that any negative impacts on future generations can be reversed? Is this possible?


Activity 5: Hardin’s Lifeboat Ethic Homework and In-class Discussion

Learning Objective

• State and defend a position about how rich, powerful populations should consider the needs of poor and powerless populations

Overview

Garrett Hardin, 1915-2003, was an ecologist whose opinions often crossed into the fields of ethics, economics and politics. In his 1974 paper, Hardin compares the Spaceship Earth distribution of resources (i.e., the world as a commons) to the Lifeboat metaphor (i.e., each country as its own boat). Spaceship Earth requires a single leader or it will result in the Tragedy of the Commons. The Lifeboat metaphor represents rich countries ensuring that their boats full of people and resources stay afloat while considering providing resources to swimming poor nations. This exercise asks students to evaluate how concepts considered in the book relate to Hardin’s Lifeboat Ethic by challenging the notion that rich nations have a responsibility to share power, benefits, and burdens. The exercise should only be completed after having read the Global Community book chapter.

Homework Assignment Prior to Class Discussion

Have students read Hardin’s Lifeboat Ethic and write a 1-2 page summary of its main points and how well it addresses ethical principles regarding global human populations. Class Activity Time Required: 35 minutes

Materials

� Copies of Hardin’s Lifeboat Ethic 1974 article (or access to the Garrett Hardin Society website: http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/ )


� Have students read the Lifeboat Ethic as reprinted on the Garrett Hardin Society website, or from the original Psychology Today (September 1974). They should also have read the Global Community chapter in the Ethics of Sustainability text.

o Explain that the Hardin reading will challenge them to consider the ideas from the Global Community chapter from a different perspective and think critically about what aspects of Hardin’s argument they agree or disagree with. Ask them to highlight phrases that particularly stand out (positively or negatively) to them. Remind them that the article was written in 1974, when the cold war was raging, the Berlin Wall separated East and West Germany, the bald eagle was endangered, the Vietnam War was on the news every night.

� Review and select from the discussion questions provided below to stimulate debate.


Step 1: 30 minutes


Engage the group in a large-group discussion. Encourage maximum participation and minimum input on your part as the instructor. For large classes, split into smaller groups and have graduate student TAs moderate/facilitate the conversation. Below are potential discussion questions.

1) Can someone give us a brief description of the Tragedy of the Commons? How does the Tragedy of the Commons relate to the Lifeboat Ethic?

2) Can someone give us a brief description of the Lifeboat Ethic? 3) Did any particular lines or phrases in the essay stand out? 4) What policy concerns did Hardin have? 5) Does Hardin’s argument ignore anything? What? 6) Does anyone want to defend Hardin? 7) Was he empirically right, considering population trends? 8) Hardin’s image suggests that we’ll be fine as long as we don’t let them in – a survivalist

viewpoint. Is that true? Is it possible? Could we close our borders? What might happen?

9) Can we solve all our problems by keeping others out (e.g., global warming?) 10) What happens if we get pushed out of the lifeboat? Is there another bigger lifeboat that

will come along? 11) What are the solutions?

a. Privatize everything? b. What are the rights of ownership of natural resources? Should we be able to own

something and decide to destroy it or do we own and hold as trustees for future generations?

Activity Wrap-Up: The decision to help or avoid harming underprivileged and vulnerable populations, whether from different countries or within our own country, is an important component of sustainability decisions. As we have seen from the Hardin article and the Ethics of Sustainability chapter, it is also not a simple one. Vulnerable populations are different from us in space, time, and often culture. They are, however, greatly influenced both positively and negatively by our actions. In turn, they could influence our population for better or worse. Choosing to ‘help’ a vulnerable population is a decision that is easier to envision than ensuring to ‘do no harm’ to a vulnerable population. Yet both are essential ethical guides. Unfortunately, there are no clear answers as to what actions are helpful or harmless. Nonetheless, both helping and preventing harm are considerations we must give to improve the sustainability of our personal and professional decisions.

Online Format

Have students read Garrett Hardin’s Lifeboat Ethics (1974). Select from the discussion questions above and ask students to write their responses online. Each student should respond to at least three other student’s responses.

Evaluation

The paper evaluation should be based on thoughtful responses and accurate understanding of the principles.


Activity 6: Minimizing Externalities Homework

Learning Objectives

• Define an externality

• Describe externalities specific to a particular company and how they can be addressed

Overview

One of the key concepts in ecological economics is the idea of externalities. When externalities are not accounted for, as is the situation in much traditional economics, we are not appropriately addressing sustainability issues. This homework assignment engages students in exploring a specific company, defining a few of the externalities as a result of their production, and providing suggestions for how to minimize and/or internalize these externalities.

Homework Assignment

Ask students to find an example of a company that is considering how best to minimize its externalities. In a 2-3 page paper, describe the company, the product, and how they are minimizing or internalizing the externality.

Online Format

Have students post their papers to the class forum. Each student should read and respond to at least one other paper.

Evaluation

Evaluation should be based on providing a thoughtful response. If an online course, students should also be graded on whether they provide the correct number of thoughtful responses to previous postings. 10% - description of the company 40% - understanding of externality 40% - recommendations 10% - overall thoughtfulness


Activity 7: Systems Thinking Homework Before and After Class

Learning Objective

• Explain how using systems thinking can enable more sustainable decision making

Overview

Understanding systems involves scaling up one’s thinking so that instead of focusing on one piece of a large puzzle, such as car exhaust, we look at many interactions among the parts of a bigger system, such as the global carbon cycle. Systems thinking involves training our brains to look for cycles, feedback loops, and resource flows, and to understand that different events may interact over different time scales. Systems are characterized by consisting of processes at different space and time scales; being dependent upon what happened in the past; and having defined boundaries, inputs and outputs (things you can see and measure at a particular point in time), internal components, and mutual causality and indirect effects that result in positive and negative reactions.

You have noticed that previous classes have delved into the economics/development angle (including technology), and the social side – but we have not covered the environmental “leg” of sustainability. We assume that most of you know about that, or that information is more readily available. But one component of the environmental leg is ecosystem health, and since many technologies are constructed or used with some ecosystem impact, some attention to ecosystems will be appropriate.

Homework Assignment

Read the handout and answer the three questions, then read the Process of Decision Making chapter to prepare for class. After class you will receive another set of questions to answer. Submit both sets of answers (pre- and post-reading) by the next class. Although your grade will come from your second set of responses, you will be referencing your initial ideas, so it is important to have written them down in advance.

Online Format

Students can complete the same homework assignment based on the two readings (handout and book chapter) and submit electronically to the instructor.

Evaluation

This activity should be evaluated based on the completion of each set of questions. 50% should go toward simply completing the first, and 50% should go toward the quality of the responses in the second.


Systems Reading

North Florida is the location of the highest density of 1st magnitude springs in the world. These springs are valued destinations for recreation, unique and valuable aquatic ecosystems, sources of significant local revenue, and windows into the quality of Floridan Aquifer, from which most Florida residents, and an increasing number of commercial bottlers, draw drinking water. These artesian springs are also the site of a variety of complexities arising from economic, environmental, and social interactions. If you haven’t been to a spring, take this virtual tour at http://www.floridasprings.org/exploration/featured/wakulla/.

The springs are the direct result of cracks and conduits in the limestone bedrock of North Florida. Rainwater (which is slightly acidic from carbon dioxide in the air forming carbonic acid in the water droplets) seeps into the soil and erodes the alkaline former coral reef. Over time, water drips into cavities and hollows out conduits, forming caves. When the rock ceiling becomes thin, the collapsing cavity forms a sinkhole on the surface of the land. For more information about the water cycle in Florida, cave formation and springs, see http://www.floridasprings.org/anatomy/jow/.

Old timers talk about plentiful fish circling in the spring pools, enormous crayfish in the spring runs (the rivers that begin at the springs), and turtles galore. Today’s visitor sees less than half of the wildlife that was probably there just 50 years ago. Of course, the water levels have also been reduced by half in some cases. Groundwater withdrawals for Ocala, Gainesville, Jacksonville, and every other community and farm in north Florida reduce the level of the aquifer and the flow of water from the springs across the region. Several springs have stopped flowing in recent years.

Florida’s springs and water table are accustomed to fluctuation. During flood stages, the springs actually run backward as river water enters the conduits and alters the chemical composition of the groundwater. During drought, the springs draw a greater portion of their water from deep in the aquifer (also known as ‘old water’) and contain less of the newer, ‘surface’ water.

Many springs are open to the public and protected through federal, state, or county parks (e.g., Poe Springs in Alachua County, Ichetucknee Springs near Fort White, Wakulla Springs State Park, Juniper Springs in the Ocala National Forest). Today’s visitor is likely to remember egrets and herons stalking the spring runs, mullet jumping above the surface of the rivers, snail eggs lined up just above the water level on emerging grasses and sticks, cypress trees in the river floodplain, and large turtles sunning themselves on logs. The clear spring water enables swimmers and canoists to peer into the springs and follow cormorants or fish along the river. Unfortunately, the careful observer also sees brown slimy algae clinging to every strand of eelgrass and covering underwater logs and rocks. In some springs the algae forms a thick matt that blocks the sunlight to submerged plants.

What has changed the health of the springs? Certainly a variety of things have changed, from increasing development and farming, to increasing water removal, and cyclic droughts and floods. There’s less biomass in the river from fish, turtles, and snails. The land in the springshed (the land that drains to the springs) is now urbanized or farmed, in many cases. Because of the known links between nutrients such as nitrates and algae growth, many people believe farm fertilizers, manure, septic systems, and lawn treatments have contributed massive amounts of nutrients that are polluting the springs.


Pre-Reading Questions

Name ____________________________________

1. The springs are a system. The health of the springs if affected by many things. If we want to explore springs health, we need to define the system. List the things that should be included in our springs system to enable us to explore and understand springs health, given your current understanding of the Florida springs.

2. What potential causes of the increased algae should be investigated?

3. Using the items listed above, draw a model or map of your understanding of what is affecting the health of the springs, specifically the increase in algae. Use arrows to show one item affecting another item. Use a + to suggest a growth relationship (as in an increase in adult rabbits �+ leads to an increase in baby rabbits) and a – to suggest a stabilizing relationship (as in an increase in rabbits �- leads to a decrease in rabbit food.


Post Discussion Assignment

Respond to the following questions in 2-3 pages.

1) Looking back at your first list of the things that should be included in a springs system, what would you remove, and what would you add to your list?

Remove:

Add:

2. What other causes of the increased algae should be investigated? 3. We seem to be regularly surprised at the outcomes of our actions, whether it is employing a new technology or managing an ecosystem. Can systems thinking reduce the surprise factor? Why or why not? 4. Why is adaptive management a useful tool for managing a system or introducing a

technology? What skills and assumptions would be required for it to work?

5. Looking at the springs health problem from the larger perspective of addressing ecosystem

health in general, given population increases, changing technologies, limitations on information,

and complex science that the public may not understand, what ethical perspectives and principles

would be helpful as managers and stakeholders make decisions about the springs?


Activity 8: A Multistakeholder Process

Homework and In-class Activity

Learning Objectives

• Engage in a multi-stakeholder decision-making process

• Describe critical aspects of multi-stakeholder processes and defend their importance

Overview Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have the ability to provide inexpensive basic goods to those in need, improve the quality of agricultural products, and reduce dependency of pesticides. They also present a risk of affecting the traditional crop and other elements of the ecosystem (pollinators, insect feeders, etc.). In addition, the ways GMOs are distributed can lead to extreme differences in access and financial gain between GMO producers, GMO and non-GMO farmers, and consumers. In this short role play, students will form a national committee for Zilnamaya, a newly formed nation in the tropics that is working hard to practice an ethic of sustainability. The committee is charged with deciding whether a GMO will be allowed to enter the country. Students will be provided information about the product’s potential social, ecological and economic impacts. They will also be provided the guide created by a committee working with the United Nations for risk assessment and selection of acceptable GMOs. In learning about a common format for making ethically-based policy decisions about sustainability, they will experience and reflect on their participation in a multi-stakeholder decision-making process.

Homework Assignment

Assign students the following readings to be completed prior to initiating the in-class activity: From the Problem Formulation and Options Assessment (PFOA) Handbook Problem available on the Web through the GMO ERA Project at http://www.gmoera.umn.edu

1) Skim: Preface (pg. v-vi), Chapter 2 & 3 (pg. 7-43) 2) Read carefully the hypothetical example in Chapter 6, pg. 137-141

Randomly assign students to one of the expert groups described on the PFOA workgroup worksheet. Their homework is to bring in 1-2 pages of response to the questions specific to their group for the hypothetical case study. In Class Time Required: 2 hours

Materials:

� Problem Formulation and Options Assessment Handbook

� GMO Workgroup Questions

� Newsprint and markers

� Tape


� Read the hypothetical scenario from PFOA handbook (pg. 137-141)

� Make copies of the hypothetical scenario for everyone


� Make copies of GMO workgroup questions for everyone if you choose this route

� Post or email an electronic version of the PFOA GMO risk assessment guide

� Write on newsprint or the board the 9 steps to the PFOA process for reference: Step 1: Problem formulation Step 2: Prioritization and Scale Step 3: Problem statement Step 4: Recommendation to move forwards Step 5: Option identification Step 6: Assessment in relation to the technology Step 7: Changes required and anticipated Step 8: Adverse effects Step 9: Recommendation


Step 1: 10 minutes

Welcome students to the first technical committee meeting based on Zilnamaya’s first ever PFOA. Explain that they have been invited to participate as important members of society to analyze the benefits and risks of introducing a new GMO into our country. Life-altering decisions will be made based on their participation. As they know, the PFOA methodology is a multi-step process. (Refer to the 9 steps on the board and briefly review their content – students should have learned about these in the readings). Prior to this meeting, a large group of stakeholders, including government employees and laypeople, met to discuss and prioritize their needs and potential solutions. Thus, they have already gone through the problem formulation stage, prioritization and scale, the problem statement, the recommendation to move forward and the option identifications. During our needs assessment, they described a large dependence on the matton crop, but the prevalence of a pest that was ruining the crop. We then prioritized the need to maintain and enhance matton crops and brainstormed an array of options for addressing this need. We are now at Step 6, Assessing the Relation to Technology and the Problem. As experts in various dimensions of this technology, we have requested you to convene to assess the risks and benefits of this option, and to present those to the multi-stakeholder group for further discussion. We will have two hours to come up with sound information and suggestions before meeting with the group again in three weeks. We thank you for your continued participation. Step 2: 25 minutes

(PFOA Step 6 & 8) Have students break into their four expert groups as assigned to them for the homework. One will be the technology experts, another the sociopolitical experts, a third the economic experts and a fourth the environmental experts. Hand out the GMO workgroup questions. They should develop answers to their group’s respective questions for Steps 6&8, and prepare a presentation to the whole group. Students may need to make up information for this and future aspects of the exercise. That is fine. We are most concerned with the type of thinking they engage in. Step 3: 20 minutes

Ask each group to report out on their summary.


Step 4: 40 minutes

Now ask students to switch groups, so that each new group has one representative from each expert group. Discuss the questions under Step 7: changes that may be required. Based on the identified attributes of the option, what changes to the local economy, social organization of the sector, and policies will be necessary to implement the GMO? Step 4: 25 minutes

Groups will briefly present the changes they can envision as necessary for ensuring the appropriate implementation of the new GMO. They should also address reversibility from their group’s perspective. Then lead a group discussion about the role of multiple stakeholders and the quality of the discussions they had in the expert group and the mixed group. Though this activity only had us partake in a small aspect of a multi-stakeholder process, it has allowed us to think about what it would be like to participate in a complex decision and what types of questions should be asked. Now that you have had this experience, we want you to reflect on the usefulness of a multi-stakeholder process for conflictive decisions. Discussion Questions

1) Compare your experiences in the expert group and mixed group. In reality, if you were really experts, how might these groups function differently?

2) PFOA was developed to help nations wrestle with challenging problems that have technical and complex basis where few people hold that knowledge, yet was designed to increase participation, transparency, and accountability. Why? What are the costs and benefits of doing so?

3) In what ways could a multi-stakeholder process address ethics and help groups make more ethical decisions? In which steps does the PFOA process encourage participants to consider ethics?

4) What situation can you envision using this type of activity in your future career? Activity Wrap Up: The PFOA process is an example of a multi-stakeholder process that can be implemented for any type of controversial decision making. It may be useful for defining the types of policies to establish to prevent or mitigate pollution, or to weigh the benefits and risks of a new technology that eases people’s transportation woes. When many people know different types of information about the topic, when the topic is controversial and prone to adverse effects, and/or when many people have an interest in the development and distribution of a product, multi-stakeholder processes for analyzing risk are important methods to ensure that sustainability issues are being considered more thoroughly. These processes encourage meaningful participation of experts and laypeople, open communication, and group learning, thus drawing on many of the decision-making and behavior change theories discussed in chapters 8 and 9.


On-line Format

An online version of this activity is possible, but requires a dynamic venue where students can interact with each other. Preferably it would also allow for students to communicate within their small groups, though this can be dealt with by having group names in posting titles, or by asking them to communicate via other avenues (email, online discussion or blog-type interfaces). Alternatively, students can read the required readings and submit a brief paper responding to the discussion questions.

Evaluation

Students should be evaluated 50% on the quality of their 1-page responses to the questions and 50% on their participation in the activity.


PFOA Workgroup Handouts

Group 1 : Technology and Production Experts

In class next week we will work through a portion of a multi-stakeholder process that was designed to help developing nations decide whether to allow genetically modified organisms to be grown or sold within their borders. The process is described in the Problem Formulation and Options Assessment Handbook (PFOA) available on the Web through the GMO ERA Project at http://www.gmoera.umn.edu (and also in the course electronic reserve system). The handbook is an easy-to-read manual developed by a team of professionals working in support of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety. It uses a multi-stakeholder process to define the problem, the appropriate solutions, the risks associated with GMOs, and to make a recommendation on acceptance. Please read the Preface (pages v-vi) and skim Chapters 2 and 3 (pages 7-43) to become familiar with the process. Also, read carefully the hypothetical example in Chapter 6, pg. 137-141. We will be conducting an in-class role play based on the Zilnamaya case. Your group will be playing the role of experts in GMO technology and production. Please come to class with some ideas about the following questions:

PFOA Step 6: Assessment in Relation to the Technology and the Problem & Step 8: Adverse Effects 1) What are the characteristics of the technology involved? 2) What is the efficacy of the technology to the target? 3) What is the cost of the technology within the production systems? 4) What current advantages do we have for implementing this option? PFOA Step 7: Changes Required and Anticipated 1) What modern technologies can be implemented or designed to contribute to the sustainability of this solution? 2) How difficult will it be to reverse any effects once they occur?


Group 2: Production Economics

In class next week we will work through a portion of a multi-stakeholder process that was designed to help developing nations decide whether to allow genetically modified organisms to be grown or sold within their borders. The process is described in the Problem Formulation and Options Assessment Handbook (PFOA) available on the Web through the GMO ERA Project at http://www.gmoera.umn.edu (and also in the course electronic reserve system). The handbook is an easy-to-read manual developed by a team of professionals working in support of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety. It uses a multi-stakeholder process to define the problem, the appropriate solutions, the risks associated with GMOs, and to make a recommendation on acceptance. Please read the Preface (pages v-vi) and skim Chapters 2 and 3 (pages 7-43) to become familiar with the process. Also, read carefully the hypothetical example in Chapter 6, pg. 137-141. We will be conducting an in-class role play based on the Zilnamaya case. Your group will be playing the role of experts in production economics. Please come to class with some ideas about the following questions:

PFOA Step 6: Assessment in Relation to the Technology and the Problem & Step 8: Adverse Effects 1) What barriers to use exist?

Is the distribution system in place, can the potential solution be integrated into the present production? Can the farmers afford the potential solution?

2) How does this option fit with current practices? How might the use of the option change production practices, such as use of other species, tillage systems, pesticide use?

3) How might the potential solution reinforce poor practices or disrupt useful ones? 4) What sources of baseline data are available on the agricultural system? PFOA Step 7: Changes Required and Anticipated 1) What changes in the structure of production might contribute to this solution? 2) What types of government support might contribute to this solution? 3) How might these changes adversely affect the current production system? 4) How difficult will it be to reverse any effects once they occur?


Group 3: Sociopolitical experts

In class next week we will work through a portion of a multi-stakeholder process that was designed to help developing nations decide whether to allow genetically modified organisms to be grown or sold within their borders. The process is described in the Problem Formulation and Options Assessment Handbook (PFOA) available on the Web through the GMO ERA Project at http://www.gmoera.umn.edu (and also in the course electronic reserve system). The handbook is an easy-to-read manual developed by a team of professionals working in support of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety. It uses a multi-stakeholder process to define the problem, the appropriate solutions, the risks associated with GMOs, and to make a recommendation on acceptance. Please read the Preface (pages v-vi) and skim Chapters 2 and 3 (pages 7-43) to become familiar with the process. Also, read carefully the hypothetical example in Chapter 6, pg. 137-141. We will be conducting an in-class role play based on the Zilnamaya case. Your group will be playing the role of sociopolitical experts. Please come to class with some ideas about the following questions:

PFOA Step 6: Assessment in Relation to the Technology and the Problem & Step 8: Adverse Effects 1) What is the range of production systems and what is the geographic region the option is likely to be used in or have an effect on? 2) What laws, regulations, policies or programs currently exist that would regulate the option? 3) Who is likely to benefit form this option? How? 4) Who may bear the burden of the risks associated with this option? How? 5) Are there social, cultural or ethical values that may be at risk by adopting this option? PFOA Step 7: Changes Required and Anticipated 1) What changes in the local community might contribute to this solution? 2) What changes in government support might contribute to this solution? 3) How might these changes affect important social, cultural and ethical values? 4) How difficult will it be to reverse any effects once they occur?


Group 4: Environmental Experts

In class next week we will work through a portion of a multi-stakeholder process that was designed to help developing nations decide whether to allow genetically modified organisms to be grown or sold within their borders. The process is described in the Problem Formulation and Options Assessment Handbook (PFOA) available on the Web through the GMO ERA Project at http://www.gmoera.umn.edu (and also in the course electronic reserve system). The handbook is an easy-to-read manual developed by a team of professionals working in support of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety. It uses a multi-stakeholder process to define the problem, the appropriate solutions, the risks associated with GMOs, and to make a recommendation on acceptance. Please read the Preface (pages v-vi) and skim Chapters 2 and 3 (pages 7-43) to become familiar with the process. Also, read carefully the hypothetical example in Chapter 6, pg. 137-141. We will be conducting an in-class role play based on the Zilnamaya case. Your group will be playing the role of environmental experts. Please come to class with some ideas about the following questions:

PFOA Step 6: Assessment in Relation to the Technology and the Problem & Step 8: Adverse Effects 1) What are the environmental risks associated with this option?

What ecosystems and species are at risk for being affected? What effects are long term vs. short-term? What do we know that we don’t know?

2) Are there potential environmentally beneficial consequences to using this product? 3) What sources of baseline data are available on the agricultural system? PFOA Step 7: Changes Required and Anticipated 1) What precautions will need to be taken to mitigate environmental impacts? 2) What restoration activities will be required to compensate for the anticipated impacts? 3) How difficult will it be to reverse any effects once they occur?


Activity 9: Ecological Footprint Homework and In-class Discussion

Learning Objectives

• Explore how one’s personal activities influence global resources.

• Critically analyze measurements of personal environmental impact.

• Assess the usefulness of personal activity measurements as personal sustainability indicators.

Overview

Various simple tools have been generated for individuals to assess their environmental impact. The Ecological Footprint, Carbon Footprint, and others allow individuals to see how daily activities take a toll on natural resources. While these measurements tend to focus on environmental impacts, they provide some comparison of the influence of our personal decisions on one aspect of sustainability. Students will critically explore the Ecological Footprint tool for measuring their impact, compare them to other students in the class and other people around the globe, and discuss what these measurements should include to be sustainability indicators.

Homework Assignment

Have students complete the Ecological Footprint homework worksheet.

Class Activity Time Required: 30 minutes

Materials:

� Computer, projector and internet connection

� Copies of the Ecological Footprint Homework page


� Whiteboard or Chalkboard


� Visit the Web sites in the homework to ensure they work and become familiar with their content

� Provide students a copy of the Ecological Footprint Homework and assign it for the desired class period.


Step 1. 10 minutes

Have a brief discussion about the results of people’s ecological footprint calculations. 1) What did they find surprising? What did they expect? 2) What are the primary actions that increased their land or carbon use? (Have students raise hands when you suggest different types of behaviors: car driving, flying, eating habits, housing, where they live, etc.).

Step 3: 15 minutes

How is the calculator calculated? Write on the board as students explain the variables that were measured in each calculator. Note that for the ecological footprint, there is a variable built in about country and location. Why might this be? Open up the Redefining Project’s Ecological


Footprint calculator and complete a student’s exact calculation, but for a different country. Discuss how just living in a different country may establish one’s ability to reduce their impact. (dependence on existing transportation and energy grids, food accessibility, housing styles, climate, etc.) How can an individual, then, make better ecological decisions in light of the external barriers? What are other barriers to making better environmental decisions? (ote that

most of the data for these calculators come from national databases, making nationality a

significant variable, but creating no difference between living in Key West, FL or

Kennebunkport, ME.

Step 5: 5 minutes

Activity Wrap Up: Ecological Footprint calculators are necessarily simpler than reality (or they would be unwieldy) but can still provide useful information to guide some personal decisions for the environment. A personal sustainability indicator must be similarly simple, yet credible, to efficiently provide important information that raises awareness about the status of our individual path to sustainability and the next steps we can take to improve that journey.

Online Format

After completing the Ecological Footprint homework have students respond to the following requests: list the variables measured with the calculator, their usefulness for measuring sustainability, and how they as individuals can improve their score. Finally, ask individuals to provide their own suggestion for a sustainability indicator and estimate which factor they most need to change to improve their personal sustainability score.

Evaluation

Students should be graded on thoughtful responses to all questions in the homework. 60% - Ecological Footprint 40% - A Sustainability Indicator


Ecological Footprint Homework Worksheet

For this assignment, you will explore the Ecological Footprint calculator that attempts to measure personal environmental impacts. You will prepare a 1-2 page double-spaced paper responding to the questions in the descriptions below. Your grade on this assignment is based on your thoughtful responses to EVERY question below. Ecological Footprint Footprint calculators generally calculate how many Earth-sized planets would be required to support the existing population if everyone were to live like you. There are a variety of calculators, varying by what they incorporate into the model. Use these two different calculators to calculate your footprint, and then investigate the model’s calculations to discover any differences.

1. What specific variables are these calculators using to measure the sustainability of your personal decisions?

2. How do they calculate them? 3. What are the highlights of each calculator, and what are they missing to fully consider

sustainability? 4. What aspects of your personal decision-making can you alter to significantly reduce your

footprint? 5. What professional decisions can you make that will also allow you to minimize your

ecological footprint? 1) Redefining Progress’s Ecological Footprint Calculator http://www.rprogress.org/ecological_footprint/about_ecological_footprint.htm Note they have an office version and a children’s version. Take the standard Ecological Footprint Quiz. 2) Earthday Network’s Calculator http://www.earthday.net/footprint/flash.html Sustainability Indicators The Redefining Progress website (site #1 above) provides sustainability indicators on a national, regional and community scale. What might a sustainability indicator look like for an individual measure? What variables can you adopt from the larger scale indicators, and what variables would you modify?


Activity 10: Ford Sustainability Case Study In-class Discussion

Learning Objectives

• Apply ethical principles to a specific case study

• Provide suggestions for ways to improve a company’s ethic of sustainability

Overview

Throughout the semester we have discussed the ethical principles that apply to sustainability. Today we will deeply explore a case study about the Ford Motor Company. You will learn about how Ford publicly defines its sustainability efforts, critique their responsiveness to ethical principles, and provide suggestions for improving their practices and becoming more sustainable.

Class Activity Time Required: 105 minutes

Materials

� Ford company Sustainability report (available on their website at: http://www.ford.com/about-ford/company-information/corporate-sustainability)

� Computer, projector and internet connection


� Whiteboard or Chalkboard


� Print copies of the recent Ford company Sustainability report for all students

� Read recent Ford Sustainability Report and decide on talking points for introduction

� Write a list of the ethical principles from the textbook on a whiteboard or chalkboard


Step 1: 10 minutes

Have the Ford company webpage projected in the front of the classroom. Describe that Ford Motor Company produces a Sustainability Report regularly and as a class you will analyze its inclusion of key ethical principles. Step 2: 30 minutes

Have students divide into small groups of 3-5. They should individually scan the sustainability report and note important areas. Then, as a small group, they should discuss where Ford is strong and weak with respect to sustainability. Have them write their answers in two columns, Strong and Weak, on newsprint. Step 3: 20 minutes

Each group should present their thinking to the full class. Step 4: 5 minutes

Show the Global Reporting Initiative Website (http://www.globalreporting.org/Home) and explain that Ford does not use this framework to report sustainability, but it is an example for how companies may choose to go about it.


Step 5: 20 minutes Project the GRI website for the class to see, and use a list of the ethical principles from the class. On newsprint, have the small groups make a matrix of Ford’s actual activities and whether they incorporate any ethical principles (i.e., next to each activity identify an ethical consideration, if apparent). Answer the following question: “What would you tell Ford in a letter explaining their success at being sustainability ‘wise’?” Step 6: 15 minutes

Have the groups share their recommendations and discuss as a large group. Step 7: 5 minutes

Activity wrap up. In order to be successful at sustainability, organizations and individuals will need to change their thinking, engage in long-term planning, and positively respond to innovative government regulation. Companies are addressing government regulations and other calls for increased sustainability in different ways, some more comprehensive and meaningful than others, and some attempts could also be interpreted as ‘greenwashing.’ The principles you have learned in this course will help you avoid making similar mistakes and create meaningful and practical sustainability plans in your future workplace.

Online Format

Provide students the Ford Sustainability report (or web address) and have them complete Step 2 and Step 5 in a 2-4 page paper.

instructor’s guide ethics of sustainability of... · instructor’s guide ethics of...

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