Sustainability Science Seminar:

Focus on the Rio+10 Earth Summit

NRES 3000, Reg. # 60936

NRES 5000, Reg. # 64546

Instructors: Bruce Vondracek, Emily E. Pullins, Jon Rosales, Suzanne Savanik

1 cr.

Spring 2002

Address questions regarding the course to:

Emily E. Pullins

186 McNeal Hall

St. Paul Campus

612-624-7723

pulli005@tc.umn.edu

Office hours are arranged upon appointment. Please call the number listed above to set an appointment.

Ten years after the first Earth Summit, scientists have made limited progress in evaluating and mitigating the environmental costs to growth and development worldwide. New challenges and roles for scientists, however, are emerging in the formation of "sustainable development" principles and practices. This seminar examines both the role and limits of scientific inquiry used to explore global environmental concerns related to development. We will use the Rio+10 Earth Summit, slated to occur in summer of 2002, as our topical focus in the course.

We begin the course by examining the idea of sustainable development as it has been shaped over three decades. We will review the history of the United Nations Earth Summits, and how these events have contributed to the idea of sustainable development. We will examine different definitions of sustainable development, and will review the social, political and economic contributions to defining the concept throughout the 1980's and 1990's. We will explore the major topical areas discussed in primary documents that were produced by the Bruntland Commission (1987), the first Earth Summit (1992), Rio +5 (1997), and relevant Working Group meetings (such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2000).

As we move from the past to the present, we will focus more specifically on the role of the sciences in the current debates about sustainable development. A recent article in Science magazine by Kates et al. (2001) highlighted an "estrangement" of scientific communities from sustainable development activities throughout the 80's and 90's. In this course, we will investigate their claim that scientific communities are undergoing "…efforts to promote a sustainability transition…" by doing a new kind of science that, "differs to a considerable degree in structure, methods, and content from science as we know it." We will ask "core questions of sustainability science" as we consider the primary topics to be discussed at the Rio+10 Earth Summit, September 2-11, 2002 (see last page). Throughout the course we will provide readings and discussions on scientific and socio-economic topics related to environment and development that will be addressed during the Rio+10 Earth Summit.

Goals

The goals of the seminar are to provide advanced undergraduate and graduate students with an overview of the foundations of systematic and interdisciplinary scientific inquiry (social, economic and biological) in sustainable development and sustainability science concepts, as they have been applied in international policy negotiations. The course caters to beginning graduate students and upper-division undergraduates who are seeking a broad survey of sustainable development issues and history, combined with a focus on the role of the sciences, broadly, in sustainable development programs.

Objectives

By the end of the course the student will be able to:

• learn and critique the role and limits of scientific inquiry in a context of sustainable development
• elaborate on the history of the UN Environment Program and related series of Earth Summits
• explore a wide breadth of development issues that will be discussed at the Rio+10 Summit from a multidisciplinary perspective
• participate in a local workshop about international environmental policy and science

Classes

This course will be taught through a series of faculty-guest and student-led discussions. The course meets for a one-hour seminar, once weekly.

Symposium Events

All students are expected to attend the ICGC/ISEES workshop event, on the Rio+10 Summit to be held at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Friday, April 22, 2002 (We have reservations for your attendance). Students are also expected to attend one of three events scheduled on-campus related to Rio+10 for Spring semester, 2002.

Class assignments and Grading

For undergraduates, the course will be offered only for an A-F grade. Graduate students have an A-F grade or Pass-Fail option. Students will be evaluated on the following criteria (percentage of grade is given):

Public event participation – 10%

Students will be graded on their preparations and participation in a discussion at the MacArthur/ICGC/ISEES Workshop on the Rio+10 Summit, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Friday, April 5, 2002, as well as attendance to at least one other campus events relevant to the topic. Please let us know in advance if you cannot make the April 5, 2002 workshop event.

Class participation -- 25%

Your weekly preparation and participation in this seminar is an important component in the course. Students will be graded for attendance, participation in discussion in class and in on-line discussion forums, and preparedness for discussion.

Rio+10 Topical Discussion Research Assignment -- 20%

Each student will be asked to develop one discussion topic literature review in the course, with the first draft due in class on February 21. This literature review will include the readings that you would recommend for the discussion your group will lead (with a limit of 30 pages total), an outline of what you will contribute in presenting the topic to the class (your whole group should use less than 30 minutes), and the questions that you would propose your group address with the class in discussion (we ask for less than five questions total). Each student will produce a unique bibliography and review of literature, outline and questions relevant to the Rio +10 Earth Summit topical discussion that they are leading in class. The presentations should include local and global scales when addressing the case in question. We ask that you post your assignment on a website that is designed and managed by your group for your designated discussion date.

Rio+10 Topical Discussion Leadership -- 25%

Each student will be asked to develop and lead one topical discussion in the course, in the second half of the semester. Students will collectively design the schedule and topics to be covered in the final six weeks of the course during the first three weeks of the course, based on those topics to be addressed at the Rio +10 Earth Summit.

Take-home final – 20%

Each student will be asked to address three questions in a take-home essay final exam related to Rio+10 course reading materials, and related public events, and their the discussion section that they lead. These three questions will be presented by the instructors in the first half of the course during class so that you can prepare them during the second half of the course. Each of the three questions is to be answered in one page. These final questions are to assist the students in synthesizing and evaluate the material that they learn throughout the course.

Required Texts

Students are required to purchase the following texts for the course:

Harris, J.M. and T.A. Wise, K.P. Gallager, and N.R. Goodwin (eds.). A Survey of Sustainable Development: Social and Economic Dimensions.(Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2001).

This text contains a series of abbreviated, peer-reviews articles that have influenced the definition of sustainable development in economic and social disciplines. We will some read some chapters of the text in full, and some selected articles within other chapters.

Dodds, Felix (ed.) Earth Summit 2002: A New Deal. (London: Earthscan, 2000).

This text contains a series of essays by major leaders in the history of the Earth Summits. Here they, “present a frank assessment of progress to date. They set goals and describe mechanisms that will enable the international community to complete the tasks set in Rio and prepare for new challenges and opportunities.” The text provides both a historical and a future vision of international organizing around environment and development issues.

Course Absences

Because our course meets for a short time only once a week, it is critical that you attend class. If you miss class we expect that you will: (1) notify Emily E. Pullins in advance when possible, with the absence explained in writing (via email); (2) in addition to other make-up assignments that might be given to you by the instructor, you present to the instructor in writing replies to the questions posed for the class discussion that week (no more than 500 words, no less than 200, answering a minimum of two of the questions posed) within 2 weeks of the absence; (3) you determine, from other students in the class and from the instructor for the class session that you missed, the discussion topics and scheduling issues covered in the class; and that, (4) you not miss more than three class sessions in total, or you will fail the course. Under very unusual circumstances the instructors will negotiate a special contract with the student for more than three absences in the class (such as military service, serious illness, etc.).

Discussion Sections

We will often break our discussion into small sections. We will ask that each discussion group take on a formal structure with a facilitator and time keeper in order to ensure that each students speaks.

Course Assignments

Because this is a one-credit course, we have kept course assignments to the load advocated by the University of Minnesota. According to University policy, “One conventional credit is…equivalent to three hours of learning effort per week…to achieve an average grade in that course.” Weekly reading requirements, periodic assignments, and outside public participation have been tailored to this expectation. We have limited required readings to 30 pages per week. With an hour of attendance in class, and an hour of reading each week, we expect that you will use the other hour of time to consistently prepare for discussion (20 min.) and prepare for your group presentation (40 min.). Please notify the instructors when you find that your efforts for the course are not meeting this schedule, so that we can reconsider assignments and course scheduling.