Despair and Hope in the Anthropocene

This Class is Full

Humankind has wrought remarkable changes on our planet in bringing about productivity and trade which support billions more people today than just a few centuries ago. At the same time we are heating, polluting, depleting and corrupting our earth and atmosphere to the extent that our very productivity is limited and our long-term survival as a species is in question. Because of human effects geologists are considering a new name for the epoch in which we live. The changes we are seeing will strongly affect our children and grandchildren. In this course we shall converse, through print, with prize-winning journalists who have witnessed up close the changes taking place around us. We will discuss what is happening now in social, political, technological and economic arenas, and learn more about what we can do to change course, conserve what we have and adapt to what we lose. The course will be conducted in a seminar fashion so that everyone can have their say. Some intense, though limited, reading will be required. Textbook supplied.Classroom