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SYLLABUS FOR PPD 461Sustainable Communities, Policy and Planning

(Sustainability Planning, Sustainable City Planning)Sol Price School of Public Policy – Fall 2012

University of Southern California Los Angeles, California

Note: This syllabus will be periodically updated. Please check Blackboard for the most current version and check with the instructor if you have any questions.

Schedule: Monday and Wednesday, 12 Noon – 1:50 PM, with a short break around 1PMRoom: Lewis Hall 100Instructor: Richard H. (Dick) Platkin, AICPE-mail: platkin@usc.eduTelephone: 213-308-6354 (cell)Office: Lewis Hall 107A, next to the student loungeOffice Hours: After class on Mondays and by appointmentSection: 51154

PPD 461 CATALOG COURSE DESCRIPTION: As taken from the USC course catalog: “Planning as shaped by sustainability theories; sustainability indicators; topics include water resources, air quality, land use regulations, environmental design, carrying capacity, ecological footprint analysis.”

COURSE THEME: This course will focus on the role of urban planning in creating sustainable cities as one component of broader efforts to plan for and promote sustainability, defined as the political, social, and economic reorganization of society to ensure that the extraction, use, and disposal of non-renewable resources does not damage or destroy the planet’s fragile ecology, including the health of communities and individuals

Based on the approach of thinking globally and acting locally, the first half of the course surveys important literature and debates on macro environmental crises and alternative solutions underlying discussions of sustainability, in particular climate change, peak oil, and their implications. The second half of the course identifies and evaluates regional and local sustainability policies and programs, especially at the municipal level, through lectures, guest speakers, and student research on Southern California cities.

The course then examines a broad range of policy prescriptions, best practices, and implementation barriers -- with a careful look at the Los Angeles metropolitan area -- to make urban life more aligned with the quickly changing natural environment in terms of prevention, mitigation, and adaptation.

Because two environmental phenomena, climate change/global warming and peak oil, are new, controversial, and rapidly unfolding, in the first half of this course we will examine several approaches to these interlocking phenomena. This means an examination of the scientific debates regarding climate change/global warming and peak oil, including underlying political and economic mechanisms, as well as a review of the debates over the best policies and programs to address the causes, problems, and alternatives to an advanced civilization dependent on fossil fuels for energy, transportation, chemistry, and business investments.

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Among those who support the scientific consensus that climate change/global warming and peak oil are valid and dangerous trends, there are disagreements over consequences and remedies. For example, Michael Klare, one of whose books we will read, argues that climate change and peak oil are rapidly unfolding and that the primary response of most governments, including our own, is not sustainable planning, but the use of military force to secure oil, natural gas, and related shipping routes. In contrast, authors such as Al Gore, Bill McKibben, and James Kuntsler, author of “dooms-day” volumes on peak oil and climate change, focus on the deterioration and collapse of modern life, in particular cities and suburbs, with little emphasis on military conflict. One analyst, University of Oregon environmental sociologist John Bellamy Foster, attempts to synthesize both approaches and argues that technical solutions to a broad range of environmental crises will not succeed unless they are folded into a comprehensive program of political and economic restructuring to eliminate increasingly non-ecological business practices.

The remedies to the current environmental crisis, including its climate change and peak oil components, presented by these and other authors include broad, macro, global changes in energy production and consumption; national legislation; local, municipal and non-profit initiatives, such as changes in building codes; and many bottoms up community efforts focused on life-style changes, such as biking, gardening and tree-planting, improved farming and diet, and recycling.

The second part of the course will carefully examine the full range of these local solutions, the theories behind them, their likely effects, their limitations, and policy and program gaps which must be addressed, with case studies drawn from the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In addition to lectures, films, and several guest speakers, the study of local initiatives will also include student reports on news articles and local neighborhoods

The course will attempt to present alternative views on issues, policies, and programs related to sustainability. Students are encouraged to participate in these discussions through classroom questions and debates, research projects, supplementary readings, news items, and take-home essay exams.

Please remember to respect those views that are new to you or with which you disagree. If you take issue with any of the views you hear in class, please speak up or let the Instructor know.

QUESTIONS WE HOPE TO ANSWER IN THIS COURSE:

1. What do we mean by “Think globally and act locally” when applied to issues of sustainability at the urban level? How do these issues express themselves locally, and how can solutions be localized?

2. How do industrial processes accelerate or intensify environmental and/or socio-economic trends from earlier periods? How do these same processes and trends, in turn, accentuate climate change?

3. What are the large global (macro) trends and debates that set the context for any local discussion, program, and research on sustainability?

4. In addition to climate change and global warming, what other environmental issues should we be aware of, such as air and water pollution?

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5. Why are fossil fuels, especially oil, so important for current societies: Is its irreplaceability for energy, transportation, and chemistry? Is its enormous profitability? Is its strategic role in geo-political and military conflict? Or, is it a combination of all three?

6. How do two important consequences of peak oil interact with each other: higher costs that foster social dislocation and dwindling resources that become a trigger for political and military conflict?

7. What is happening at the local level in the Los Angeles area to develop sustainable cities among municipalities, as well as non-profit groups, private companies, and individual projects?

8. What are the differences among programs that address causes of climate change, mitigate consequences, or adapt to negative outcomes?

9. How formalized are these local efforts? Are they based on adopted policy documents and plans? How are the plans implemented, including adoption as ordinances? Are the plans and programs monitored to determine their effectiveness? How will they be augmented in the future?

10. What should be done at the local level that is not yet folded into plans, policies, and programs? What are the political and economic barriers to implement available programs and technologies?

11. In terms of measurable benefits to sustainability, how significant are changes to adopt a “green” personal life style, such as eating lower on the food chain, biking, using public transit, home gardening, washing your clothes in cold water, and shopping with tote bags?

BLACKBOARD WEB SITE:

In addition to assigned books that you should buy, other material related to the course will be regularly posted on Blackboard. These include the latest version of the syllabus, supplementary readings, news articles, announcements, PowerPoint presentations, instructor contact information, and the instructor’s Resume and Curriculum Vita. If you need a hard copy of these materials, particularly supplementary readings, please contact the instructor. In addition, some exemplary exams or student reports may be posted – with permission – for others to review as an example of model assignments.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

Richard (Dick) Platkin is a Los Angeles based city planning consultant and writer whose professional experience includes 20 years as a city planner for the City of Los Angeles. He also worked for the City of Seattle, as well as several non-profits and a small private sector planning firm in Los Angeles. In addition to teaching at USC, he works as a city planning consultant, primarily for community organizations, and also writes on planning issues in Los Angeles for Progressive Planning, City Watch, and Ron Kaye’s LA.

His education includes a BA in history from the University of Michigan, a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Washington, and an MA and subsequent graduate work in sociology at UCLA.

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Mr. Platkin is active in the Planners Network and on the board of the Beverly Wilshire Homes Association and East Hollywood Neighborhood Council Planning Committee.

Copies of his current Resume and Curriculum Vita are posted on the course website.

He is interested in meeting with students interested in current internships, volunteering, and careers and/or graduate work in city planning and related professional fields.

REQUIRED COURSE TEXTS, IN ORDER THAT WE WILL READ AND DISCUSS THEM:

In addition to the USC bookstore, these books are available as new or used books through such on-line booksellers as Amazon and ABE books, usually without sales tax and shipping charges.

The Vulnerable Planet: A Short History of the Environment, John Bellamy Foster, 1999, Monthly Review Press. (Foster has several more recent books on the economic and political aspects of sustainability, but this one is the most accessible. More recent Foster essays have been posted though Blackboard in cases where this older book needs updating.

Hot: Living through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, Mark Hertsgaard, 2011, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (Hertsgaard is a widely published journalist whose recent writing has focused on the environment. This accessible book tells both a personal and global story. If any of his new essays on the environment are published during this course, we will fold them in as supplementary readings.

Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy, Michael T. Klare, 2008. (Michael Klare is Professor of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College. This is one of his most recent books on current and likely energy wars intended to secure oil and gas reserves and shipping routes in response to peak oil and gas.)

Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability, David Owen, Riverhead Books, 2009. (This is a well-received book on the latest policies and programs to establish compact, sustainable cities based on mass transit and apartment living.)

These books are recommended for students who want more detailed information or views on sustainable city planning beyond the topics examined in this course.

Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet, Bill McKibben, Times Books, 2010. (This is one of the most important recent volumes on the dangers of and need to address the causes of climate change. It was used in PPD 461 in Spring 2012.)

The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, James Howard Kuntsler, Grove Press, 2009 edition. (Kuntsler is a novelist and prose writer, not an academic. He has a provocative writing style that makes his written work engaging on the implications of peak oil. This book was used in PPD 461 in Spring 2012.)

Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Lester R. Brown, Norton, 2009. This text is also available for a free download at www.earthpolicy.org. (One of the best and most current books outlining the current environmental crisis and how a vast array of political changes and technical innovations can address it. It was used for PPD 461 in Spring 2011.)

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The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with the Planet, John Bellamy Foster, Monthly Review Press, 2009. (One of the best current books on the inadequacy of technical solutions to environmental crisis and the need for comprehensive, alternative political-social-economic approach. It was also used for PPD 461 in Spring 2011). A larger and updated successor volume, also edited by Foster, has recently been published: The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth, Monthly Review Press, 2010.

The Ecology of Place: Planning for Environment, Economy, and Community, Tim Beatley, Island Press, 1997. (A classic text on the planning of sustainable cities. Its focus is the overall quality of life, not just climate issues. It, too, was used for PPD 461 in Spring 2011, and is still highly useful despite its dated references.)

COURSE DOCUMENTARY FILMS:

The 11 th Hour: Turn Mankind’s Darkest Hour into its Finest , Leonardo Dicaprio, 2007

Gasland: Can You Light your Water on Fire? Josh Fox, 2010 (This is an Oscar winning documentary on fracking.)

Who Killed the Electric Car? Chris Paine, 2006.

SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS:

In addition to assigned books, supplementary articles are listed on the syllabus for most class sessions and are uploaded in PDF form through Blackboard.

NEWS ARTICLES:

At least one news article will be presented and/or debated as a formal student assignment at the beginning of most class sessions. Furthermore, students enrolled in this course are strongly advised to monitor environmental news stories, as reported through on-line blogs and news services. If you can only read one source, focus on Climate Progress/Think Progress/Daily Climate.

These on-line news sources are all available for free. Unlike assigned chapters and uploaded supplementary articles, these news items are not required, except for the opening class discussion. The rest are recommended for students who want a deeper understanding of the causes, consequences, and sustainable remedies for the environmental crises examined in the course at the global, national, regional, and especially municipal and neighborhood scales. Two national magazines also have excellent articles, usually with a scientific slant, on environmental issues: Discover and E -The Environmental Magazine. In addition, you can also turn to the following sources for environmental news.

Newspapers:LA Weekly (alternative weekly with good investigative reporting on Los Angeles planning and

governance issues.)Los Angeles Times (LA's major newspaper. It is not what it used to be, but still the best source

of local news related to this course.)

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Wall Street Journal (Well regarded general and economic news, but conservative editorial-opinion section. This newspaper has many global and national articles relevant to PPD 461.)

On-line environmental news consolidators that you can subscribe to for free:Climate Progress/Think Progress (This daily email should be on your reading list for this course.

It occasionally includes non-environmental article not related to this course and not necessary to read. It is also available for $1/month as the Daily Climate, as an Amazon Kindle blog.)

Atlantic CitiesCurbed LAGristPlanetizen (Based in LA, but consolidates news and original essays related to city planning, including sustainability. Also has evaluation of all planning graduate programs.)Climate and CapitalismAlterNet (General news, but option to just subscribe top environmental news)Google Alerts (You will receive daily posts on any key words you select)The Daily GoodScience Daily Environmental HeadlinesENN Daily NewsletterTeam TreehuggerIPS-EnvironmentOn Earth - A Survival Guide to the PlanetStreetsblog Los AngelesThe Daily ClimateEnvironmental Health News/Above the Fold)

On-line E-zines and blogs focused on planning in Los Angeles:City Watch (published twice per week)Ron Kaye's LA (Former Daily News Editor who focuses on original investigative reporting on Los

Angeles City government)The Planning Report (Features in depth articles on planning issues in the Los Angeles area.

Abridged, on-line is free)Plan-itLosAngeles (Instructor’s blog)The City Maven/Maven’s Morning Coffee (Digest of local planning-related events and meetings)

GUEST LECTURERS (Subject to change)Monica Gilchrist on the General Plan Process and the Environment in Southern CaliforniaRon Lorenzen, City of Los Angeles Arborist, on LA’s Urban Forest.Alexis Lantz, Bicycle advocateDeborah Murphy, Pedestrianization planner and advocateJeff Warner, Ph.D., Geologist, on The Science behind Peak OilYadi Hashemi and Susan Bok, Transportation Planners, on the role of Transportation in

Promoting Sustainability.Eileen Hatrick, Urban gardener

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COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:

Course Engagement: 07%Student Presentation/Debate: 03%1st Team Assignment: 15%Mid-Term: 30%2nd Team Assignment 15 %Final: 30%TOTAL 100 %

Course Engagement: Seven percent (7%) of your final grade will be determined by a subjective factor called Course Engagement. It will be based on your attendance and your participation in class discussions, meeting with the instructor during office hours of by appointment to discuss the course and related materials, presentations on current new articles or debates on environmental issues at the beginning of class, and timeliness of assignments. If you have a viewpoint on sustainability not presented in class, you can also have the floor for a presentation, as long as you agree to submit to questions from other students.

Skipping class or using class time for voice mail, personal email, Facebook, Twitter, texting, or web-surfing is the opposite of Course Engagement. Cell phones are not allowed, but you can use your netbook, laptop, or tablet to take notes, as long as you do NOT use class time for anything else. If you don’t find the classroom materials interesting or require your full attention, then please ask questions or raise points that you think have been overlooked. You are also strongly encouraged to let the instructor know how class sessions can be improved – anonymously, if you prefer, through notes left in the Instructor’s mailbox in Lewis Hall 107A

Students who abuse these privileges and choose to surf, e-mail, or text during class, will be asked to stop these practices as a condition of class participation. If you cannot abide by these rules, then you should consider enrolling in another course. Furthermore, if these rules are repeatedly flouted, then class notes may be restricted to hand-written summaries.

Team Assignments: There will be two team assignments, which together will account for 30 percent of your grade. Teams are encouraged -- but not mandatory -- and can have two or three members. If you need help in assembling a team, please contact the instructor.

Both reports should be in writing that is accessible to a non-specialist reader, free of technical terms, jargon, and mechanical errors, and presented in a professional, not academic, writing style. Based on comments, the first team report can be resubmitted for regrading.

Team Assignment # 1: (15 percent of the final grade). Rain or shine, we will undertake a field trip on Friday, September 21, 2012, to the Miracle Mile, LaBrea Tar Pits, Hancock/Page Park, Park LaBrea housing complex, Pan Pacific Park, The Grove, and the Farmers Market. Background articles will be provided in advance and discussed in class. Students should use public transit or bikes to reach the site. Team reports are due by noon in electronic and hard copy by noon, Friday, September 28, 2012.

Students unable to join the field trip can propose an alternative field trip for the same number of points. The instructor must approve the alternative field trip site in advance. Electronic and hard copy reports for alternative field trips are due on a date negotiated with the instructor.

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Questions to be addressed in your team report of about four pages (1000 words) on the first field trip include:

What could be done to improve your transit or bike trip to and from the field trip location?

What design features distinguish these areas from other Los Angeles neighborhoods? What design features could be improved to make these neighborhoods more

sustainable? How could the sustainability features of these areas be grafted onto other Los

Angeles neighborhoods?

Team Assignment #2: (15 percent of final grade). Select a neighborhood or your choice in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and conduct a sustainability analysis with a focus on options for decreasing the local area’s auto-centric features. The instructor will provide a list of potential neighborhoods, but you can also propose one of your own, subject to approval. The criteria used in your report should address the same issues in the first team report, but you should also consider photographs to support your analysis

Your team should be assembled by 12 noon, Wednesday, November 14, 2012, along with your team’s first and second choice for a neighborhood to analyze.

The team report is due in class in hard copy and electronic (Word file) in Class on Monday, November 28, 2012. The report should be limited to five pages – about 1250 words. Please follow all of the writing and formatting requirements outlined in this syllabus and provided in class, such as use of a spell checker, careful editing, and closely responding to the report prompts, listed above.

Mid-Term and Final Exams: There will be two essay exams, one in the form of a take home mid-term essay exam based on the course readings and discussions (Please limit exams to 1500 words at most for @ 30 % each of the total grade). You must submit a hard copy and an electronic version of each essay to the Instructor as a Word (.doc, .dot, or .docx) document by the exam deadline. The electronic copy of the Final Exam must be e-mailed to platkin@usc.edu by the close of business on Friday, December 14, 2012, and a hard-copy must be left in the Department office on the first floor of Lewis Hall by the same deadline. You can also drop off your hard copy in advance at the Department office.

The mid-term and final exam essay will be based on assigned readings. Supplemental readings and interpretations of these readings presented in lectures and classroom discussions should also be addressed in your essays. Material from news items and class debates should also be considered in your answers. Grading is not based on a curve, and the grading scheme for the two Team Reports and two Exams is based on the following criteria:

A level work: Clear, well written answers to questions demonstrating a mastery of all course readings, lectures, and class discussions, including outside materials and arguments, as well as ability to critically support or rebut the positions of the authors and interpretations presented in lectures. Writing without mechanical errors is required for A level work. If you have done the readings, attended and participated in lectures, met with the instructor, and follow directions, you should be able to get an A in this course.

B level work: Mastery of all course readings, lectures, and class discussions. In other words, if you can competently repeat back what you have read, as well as heard in lectures, you will at least get a B in this class. Clear writing without mechanical errors is expected for B level work.

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C level work: Weak essays with writing errors and partial mastery of all course readings, lectures, and discussions.

D level work: Failure to understand assignments, course readings, lectures, and discussions despite attending class and submitting team projects and mid-term and final exams.

F level work: Failure to attend class and submit team projects and mid-term and final exams responding to the description of the assignment.

The purpose of the assignments is to not only demonstrate a mastery of all course materials, but to learn how to make professional reports as preparation for potential work in a planning or related public policy position. This means that all assignments must be typed, double-spaced, and printed in a standard font, such as Arial 12 point. Do not use colored inks. You should leave a 1.25 inch left and right margin, two spaces after every period, and use informative sub-headings to structure your papers. References should be used for all mentioned articles not covered in assigned readings, lectures, or classroom discussions.

Report and Exam Format and Style Requirements: Each report and exam essay must carry your name(s), date on the first page, along with the title of the paper, including the question(s) you are answering. Subsequent pages should have your name(s). Your reports and exam essays must have page numbers and should be stapled together, not clipped.

Be sure to carefully edit all your work and to use your word processor’s spelling and grammar checker to catch all errors. If possible, have someone else read over your draft to catch errors that you and your word processor may have missed. Based on USC requirements, you must submit an electronic copy of all written assignments, in Word (.doc or .docx), platkin@usc.edu.

You should also follow several others writing conventions for professional reports, in particular the use of headers and sub-headers throughout the essay, as well as short sentences and short paragraphs. You should also try to write precisely and avoid generalizations, such as attributing the actions of specific institutions, such as private companies or public agencies, to the entire country, society, or to the public. This means you should avoid such expressions as “we think” or “society does”.

In general, you are strongly urged to make use of the course web-site, campus library, and scholarly Internet resources, in-class discussion, as well as office-hour meetings, to further your interests in sustainable cities. There is a vast storehouse of articles and reports potentially available, with this field rapidly expanding, so please feel free to chat with the instructor before or after class, explore ideas, and discuss options and obstacles. Furthermore, USC has a writing center. Its staff will not only review written work, but offers coaching and training in writing, a critical skill that is now poorly taught in most K-12 schools, but which is essential for all policy-related professions and graduate school programs.

For the 1st Team Project and the Mid-term, students will be able to rewrite papers in response to grading comments. Resubmitted papers will then be re-graded for a potential bump-up in the grade.

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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

Students should maintain strict adherence to standards of academic integrity, as described in http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/SCAMPUS/). For more information also see the “Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism,” from USC’s Expository Writing Program, http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/student-conduct/ug_plag.htm. All references to or excerpts from the work of others must be properly cited using APA citation standards. This includes work made public on the Internet. Please be aware that the University has strict sanctions for plagiarism, including preliminary drafts. If you have any questions about academic integrity or citation standards, please ask in advance.

POLICY REGARDING DISABILITY SERVICES AND PROGRAMS:

Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to the instructor as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open early 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.

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COURSE SCHEDULE FOR LECTURES, READINGS, PROJECTS, AND EXAMS

Note: If you have scheduling conflicts because of family emergencies, religious holidays, or inter-collegiate sports events, please contact the instructor to make alternative arrangements.

Week 1: Monday, August 27, 2012. Overview of Course, including the city-planning context of sustainability initiatives. Discussion of syllabus, including readings and assignments, and questions about the course and instructor. Brainstorming on “off-the-shelf” environmental programs. Readings from course website: 1) Forget Shorter Showers: Why Personal Change does not Equal Political Change. 2) The Problem with Going Green by David Owen.

Wednesday, August 29. Theme 1: Oil and the Economic System Lecture and discussion of Foster, Preface, Chapters 1 (The Ecological Crisis), and 2 (Ecological Conditions Before the Industrial Revolution), pp. 7- 49.Reading from the course website: Foster, The Vulnerable Planet 15 Years Later.

Week 2: Monday, September 3, 2012. No class. Labor Day, university holiday.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012. Student presentation. Lecture and discussion of Foster, Chapters 3 (The Environment at the Time of the Industrial Revolution) and 4 (Expansion and Conservation), pp. 50-107.Readings from the course website: 1) Foster, Capitalism and the Accumulation of Catastrophe. 2) Foster, Economy and Environmental Catastrophe at OWS.

Week 3: Monday, September 10, 2012. Student presentation. Lecture and discussion of Foster, Chapters 5 (Imperialism and Ecology) and 6 (The Vulnerable Planet), pp. 85-124. Readings from the course website: 1) James Kuntsler, Washington Post Ed-Op, We’re Driving toward Disaster. 2) Foster on The Return of Jevon’s Paradox: Capitalism and the Curse of Energy Efficiency.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012. Student presentation. Lecture and discussion of Foster, Chapter 7 (The Socialization of Nature) and Afterward, pp. 125-150.Readings from the course web-site: 1) Isolated Peru Tribe makes Uncomfortable Contact. 2) McKibben on Why the Energy Elite has it in for the Planet.Discussion of first written assignment on Field Trip to the Miracle Mile area, including background articles posted on Blackboard.Circulation of sign-up sheet for teams.

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Week 4: Monday, September 17, 2012. Documentary film: The 11 th Hour: Turn Mankind’s Darkest Hour into its Finest, Leonardo Dicaprio, 2007Reading from course website: Al Gore – We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012. Theme 2: Oil and Climate ChangeStudent presentation. Hertsgaard, Prologue (Growing Up Under Global Warming), Chapters 1 (Living Through the Storm) and 2 (Three Feet of Water), pp. 1-46.Reading from course website: Meeting the Climate Change Challenge, Chafee Memorial Lecture.Discussion of field trip to the Miracle Mile area.

Friday, September 21, 2012. 10 AM – 1 PM. Field trip to Miracle Mile, LaBrea Tar Pits, Hancock/Page Park, Park LaBrea, Pan Pacific Park, Grove-Farmers Market. Tour begins at Tar Pits at 10 AM.

Week 5: Monday, September 24, 2012. Student presentation. Hertsgaard, Chapters 3 (My Daughter’s Earth), 4 (Ask the Climate Question) and 5 (The Two Hundred Year Plan), pp. 47-127.Reading from the course website: Approaching a State Shift in the Earth’s Biosphere.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012. Documentary film: Who Killed the Electric Car, by Chris Paine, 2006.Readings from course website: 1) Panel on Fracking. 2) Why not Frack by Bill McKibben.

Friday, September 28, 2012. First written assignment due in electronic form (Word document emailed to platkin@usc.edu) and hard copy left in Department office. Both due by close of business.

Week 6: Monday, October 1, 2012. Student presentation. Hertsgaard, Chapters 6 (Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?), 7 (In Vino Veritas: The Business of Climate Adaptation), and 8 (How Will We Feed Ourselves?), pp. 128-217.Readings from course website: 1) States Levees Vulnerable to Quakes by Los Angeles Times. 2) Food and Failed Arab states.Feedback on First Team Report, including details for rewrites.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012. Student Presentation. Hertsgaard, Chapters 9 (While the Rich Avert their Eyes) and 10 (“This Was a Crime”), pp. 218-294.Reading from course website: Metropolitan Water District Wages Costly War with Nature and Age.

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Week 7 Monday, October 8. Theme Three: Peak Oil and its ConsequencesThe science and likely implications of peak oil.Readings from course website: 1) Dr. Jeff Warner, USC PowerPoint on Peak Oil. 2) George Monbiot, Peak Oil Cannot be Prevented

Wednesday, October 10, 2012. Student Presentation. Klare, Prologue (The Unocal Affair), Chapters 1 (Altered States) and 2 (Seeking More, Finding Less), pp. 1-62.Reading from course website: Kunstler, Modernity and the Fossil Fuels Dilemma, pp. 2–60.

Week 8 Monday, October 15, 2012. Student presentation. Klare, Chapters 3 (The “Chindia” Challenge) and 4 (An Energy Juggernaut), pp. 82-114.Reading from the course website: Kuntsler, (Doomsday) Living in the Long Emergency, pp. 235-307.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012. Student presentation. Klare, Chapter 5 (Draining the Caspian) and 6 (The Global Assault of Africa’s Vital Resources), pp. 115-176.Readings from course website: 1) A Tour of the New Politics of Global Warming by Scientific American. 2) Demonizing China - Pundits get its Role in Africa Wrong by Barry Sautman.

Week 9 Monday October 22, 2012. Student presentation. Klare, Chapters 7 (Encroaching on “American Lake”), 8 (Crossing a Threshold), and 9 (Averting Catastrophe), pp. 177-261. Reading from course website: Western Oil Firms Remain as U.S. Exits Iraq.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012. Recent articles from course website by Michael Klare: 1) Straights of Hormuz. 2) No Exit from Persian Gulf. 3) Hot Spots. 4) The Energy Wars Heat Up. 5) High Oil Prices here to Stay. 6) America’s Fossil Fuel Fever.

Documentary film: Gasland: Can you Light your Water on Fire? By Josh Fox. Readings form course website: 1) Panel on Fracking. 2) Why not Frack by Bill McKibben.

Discussion and distribution of take-home mid-term exam.

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Week 10 Monday, October 29, 2012. Introduction to Thinking LocallyTake-home mid-term exam to be submitted in hard copy in class and and electronic copy to instructor by e-mail (platkin@usc.edu) by the close of business. Student presentation.Lecture and Discussion on Climate Change in California.

Readings from course web-site:1) Prof. Dan Kammen on UC Alternative Energy Research2) Dr. Kelly Redmond on Climate Change Impacts Observed in California

3) Dr. Dan Cayan on Observable Climate Change in California4) Dr. Michael Haneman on Climate Change in Context of Other Stresses on California’s Future5) Dr. Daniel Sperling on California Transportation Improvements to Address Climate Change6) Executive Summary 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy Discussion 7) Institute for Good Government, California Climate Action Best Practices 8) Alternet_California’s Water Woes Threaten Food Supply

Wednesday, October 31, 2012. Student presentation. Lecture and discussion of Owen, Chapter 1 (More Like Manhattan), pp. 1-48Reading from course web-site: Imagine a Future with Car-Free Cities

Week 11 Monday, November 5, 2012. Student presentation. Lecture and discussion of Owen, Chapter 2 (Liquid Civilization) pp. 49-100.Return of mid-term exams. Rewrites to be submitted on Friday, November 9.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012. Guest Lecture by Monica Gilchrist, Southern California Director of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives -- ICLEI/Local Governments for Sustainability on local municipal sustainability policies and programs.Readings from course website: ICLEI on local climate policies and programs.

Friday, November 9. Rewritten mid-term exams due in hard copy and electronic form by close of business.

Week 12 Monday, November 12, 2012. Student presentation. Lecture and discussion of Owen, Chapter 3, (There and Back), pp. 101-162.Introduction to second written assignment, a study of the sustainability features of an urban neighborhood from instructor’s list or your selectionReadings from course website: Network, Mander and Cavanaugh, Ten Principles for a Sustainable Society.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012. Lists of second report teams and first and second neighborhood choice due in class. Guest lecture on bicycle planning by Alexis Lantz, LA County Public Health.Guest lecture by Deborah Murphy, Architect, on pedestrianization planning.

Readings from course web-site: 1) Biking and Walking Media Fact Sheet. 2) Rise of Urban Biking. 3) Problems with Spring Street Bike Lane.4) LA City Draft Bike Plan June 2010 Executive Summary. 5) California Complete Streets Act.

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Week 13 November 19-23, 2012. Thanksgiving Break.

Week 14 Monday, November 26, 2012. Student presentation. Lecture and Discussion of Owen, Chapters 4 (The Great Outdoors) and Chapter 5 (Embodied Efficiency) pp. 163-264.Reading from course website: Urban Living for Active Living by Kristin Day.

Wednesday, November 28, 2102. Lecture and discussion by Ron Lorenzen, LA City Forester, on the Los Angeles Urban Forest.Lecture and discussion with Eileen Hatrick, Certified Gardener, on School and Community Gardens.Readings on course website: 1) Managing a Sustainable Urban Forest by LA City Urban Forestry. 2) DWP Smart Planting for the New Urban Forest.3) LA Gardens-Issues of Location and Equity

Week 15 Monday, December 3, 2012. Guest Lecture LA City Transportation Engineers and City Planners of Sustainability-Related Plans and Programs in Los Angeles: Susan Bok and Yadi Hashemi. Possible speaker from LA City Planning.Readings from course website: 1) Villaraigosa LADWP Action Plan to Lead the Nation in Fighting Global Warming. 2) Handouts by speakers.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012. Student presentation. Lecture and discussion of Owen, Chapter 6 (The Shape of Things to Come) pp. 265-324Concluding lecture summarizing the course.Distribution of take-home final exam.

Week 16 Friday, December 14, 2012. 11 AM – 1 PM. Final exam essay to be submitted in hard copy and electronic copy (rplatkin@usc.edu). Hard copies also may be dropped off at the Department office before class. Please indicate if you would like comments on your final exam. If you need it mailed to you, please attach a stamped, self-addressed envelope.

Week 17 December 12-19, 2012. University final exam period.

If you are interested in occasional emails on environmental issues raised in the course, please consider giving the instructor an off-campus email address.

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